From point and click, to swipe and tap
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is a retro beast that refuses to go away. When it first came out in the 1990`s, this was a fresh take on the point and click adventure game genre. This was a genre made popular by the amazing Lucas Arts gems such as the Monkey Island games and Day of the Tentacle. Broken Sword was a breath of fresh air, and played as an atmospheric murder mystery. You fill the shoes of George Sobart, who, whilst vacationing in Paris, gets caught up in a web of intrigue, starting in a freshly bombed caf�, and takes you round the globe.
With the success of Professor Layton on the DS, it was decided to bring Broken Sword back to the public conciseness, only updated as a “Directors cut”. The original story has been expanded, and allows you to play as Nico, expanding her involvement in the story. We also have some of the puzzle elements in first person, allowing them to lay like mini games. Also we have some close up artwork , drawn by the legend that is Dave Gibbons (who did the artwork for the Watchmen graphic novel in case you didn’t know), which are used for conversations, almost like a cut scene.
The graphical style was very cartoon-like, but now the animation is very smooth, and has been brought in line with what is expected these days on a handheld device. The DS version obviously uses the stylus as a control method, but due to memory issues one assumes, we have lost the excellent voice acting. Now as you can tell by the title, I am not actually reviewing the DS version, if you go to the apps store on I-tunes, you will see that Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars- The Directors Cut is available to purchase. And if truth be told, it`s probably one of the best games available to buy for the iphone (or ipod touch if you have one of them instead).
The iphone seems even better than the awesome DS version of the game, as they have managed to include the voice acting as well. Also the control method of tapping the screen to make your character walk in that direction works very well. Another neat feature is when you swipe your finger across the screen it highlights “hot spots”, where you can talk to various character, interact with items as well as move onto the next screen.
Now then, since this is an action adventure game, as well as a puzzle game, you may expect a hard learning curve and you will not be mistaken, but since this is an iphone game, there is a question mark at the top right which can provide you with hints if you find yourself stumped. The story has been paced so well, that it can be played in short bursts, but does not lose any of its charm. I personally completed it in 30 minute bursts during my lunch break, clocking in about 12 hours of game play, which is pretty damn good for an iphone game and value for money at �2.99.
The Bad: sometimes the small screen has too many “hot spots” that are too close together
Gold Y Award