Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

"Broken promise: shadow of a complete game"

Broken Sword(Shadow of the Templar, or SoT) has an engaging introduction that promises a complex plot, with a fast paced game. Sadly SoT breaks the promise around the way, with prohibitive loading times during the frequent moves between location. It descends into nonsense near the end, of the sort not even a sequel could seem to untangle. It's good enough that I will hope against hope and check out what's next, but a few drawn out puzzles after a bizarre beginning killed the suspense or excitement this game might have in book form. Which is too bad because the situations in the game are exotic for a point and clicker--it's worked a great excuse to jet you off to several different countries with a clear end goal.

George Stobbard, whom you control in SoT, is a law student on about as Bohemian a trip as he can expect before he gets down to his six-figure salary. He's in a cafe in France, which has been done, until a man in a clown suit walks in and sets off a bomb, which is a less common tourist occupation. A girl is around, taking pictures, and nobody seems particularly talkative. The question is, what's happened here? A brief scene where your questions don't matter for the game purpose(even trying to be sleazy, you get pigeonholed into a certain outcome) bowls you over a bit but establishes several places you can go. Show a clue to the right person, and you can find somewhere else.

The clues are often tough to find--a red ball becomes a clown nose, or a small scrap of paper reveals a phone number--and some items require creative and even grotesque uses(an undercover toilet scrubber, makeshift flag, or a blood pressure gauge,) but eventually you get a chain of evidence that ends in an apparent dead end. You'll generally chain together conversations with several natives, supplying their trivial needs or placating them saying the right things(thankfully, you get second chances) before they leave and get you an item that may seem more useful. Having the right conversation also opens George to more possibilities; for instance, he can't open Nicole's apartment door, which is jammed, until he talks to the right person. And you need to see her--in fact the game seems to try to break free from her building before snapping back to where she and George sit around, wondering what to do next.

That's a bit awkward but talking in general is quite stilted, as the cursor for highlighting subject icons, or items to show or offer other people, moves S-L-O-W-L-Y. By the time you get a decent response you want to cut short the voices, which make one of the strong points of the game. It all almost works, but the failings are too obvious. If you get through the load times you may find you've saved at a point when you can't win--despite doing something logically. Critical people you need to talk to seem to know if you've gotten out of line and visited Spain before Syria or temple number one.

But let's look at the creative element that this all disrupted. The first act involves George sneaking into a hotel, using identities and an imperious but friendly foreigner to break into the bomber's room, and leaving the hotel without the parchment--but with access to it. Two comic thugs shake him down otherwise in one of the few scenes where George can actually get killed--which is still a pain even if he generally gets humiliated a bit first, because progress can be slow enough in the game that you don't want to put up with more saving and loading scenes...until you've done something significant. Which usually happens just after you click on an item in the brief flash between when an enemy says he wants to kill you and when he actually does. The game lapses into several of these in a row near the end, bearing away from the organized yet complex plot early on.

But once with the bit of parchment, George gets a history lesson from Nicola and can begin a journey that wanders through Ireland, Scotland, Syria, and Spain as more of Paris opens up to you. Sadly whether George takes an airplane or walks into the next room over, you'll have a bit of a wait, making backtracking for information a pain. It's not a real issue until an ignominious scene with a wet towel and dry plaster. The towel dries out quickly, you see, and you must move so quickly that the loading time between areas is several times the time you're allowed to walk around. After that the game got much more tedious. I got to break into a museum, but I missed points to click on as my cursor dragged across the screen.

But the plot turns kept me coming back--SoT explained the role of templars in the Crusades, leaving several cathedrals with a sense of mystery. Eventually there are confrontations on the edge of a cliff or climbing around a train, which all feels very noir despite the color that's almost worth(and which explains considerably) the loading times.

George Stobbard's California accent and demeanor works well, and although he's not the nicest person you'd want to meet, you quickly can establish that he's much better than the shadowy gang he's up against. SoT clearly captures his preppiness combined with the laid-back West coast mentality. He sounds like he's from California and matriculated through prep school, and few games manage to capture an American subculture like that without resorting to vulgar cornball Southern parodies. Too many heroes are generic Americans(replacing that fat with muscle,) or have impressive voices, but you're free to find George a bit weaselly if you want. He cracks occasional jokes and really feels like someone who was just sucked into the mix. Which includes other interesting characters: B. Todryk, the dry cleaner who down to his name, seems inspired by Herge, Inspector Roux who relies on bizarre heuristics, and Nicole, the French girl whom George wants to pick up although she isn't immediately amenable. The love affair where George can't make any quick moves allows for some comedy, and some of the puzzles that reek of retread comedy are just the sort of stunt you'd expect a wise-guy like George to pull.

SoT also projects other nationalities without too many tasteless stereotypes, or any that made me groan besides the high-pitched Arab market-stand seller. George has already been skewered, and plot development trumps character development in this sort of fantasy mystery. A few characters were too exuberant, but the nervous Fitzgerald(who, sadly, is one of the loose ends in the story after he appears from view) is part of the drama, a fitting contrast in the lazy Irish pub area. But it doesn't last; Kahn, the murderer, turns up in progressively less believable places, and at the end we get to see who is in the cult that's behind the scheme without a hint of why. In a game like this, of course some people you run across will be the bad guys, but there's never any explanation.

Despite its inconsistencies you can't deny SoT's creativity. It will take several sessions to finish, after which you will need to backtrack to reacquaint yourself. This all is a big waste of time, and when informed there was a sequel, I went and bought the PC version cheap. It seemed more suited to the game controls, and with even half the originality the game would be worth my time.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/03