Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

"What?! You mean we can't actually USE the sword?!"

When I first stumbled across this GBA game, I thought "oh that game looks pretty cool." I had no clue what the hell kind of "genre" it was... for some reason I assumed it would be like an action/adventure or something. I was pretty far from being right about that. I had never played any sort of game of this ilk (point-and-click), and though I was definitely taken aback when I first began playing Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, I'm glad I stuck it out til the end.

STORY:
A tourist sitting outside of a cafe in France. Nothing special. A clown walks by. ...Oookayyyyy... Le clown walks into le cafe. Le cafe eclate!!! (Translation: the cafe explodes!!!). So the tourist, George Stobbart, is just kind of watching this whole thing play out. Naturally, he's just a wee bit surprised that the cafe he just stopped at exploded. He becomes very concerned about what the hell just happened, and decides to go investigate himself. What he gets wrapped up in is a tale of mystery, legend, history, murder, and betrayal. All because of a clown!! You know, I never liked Bozo. Okay, all sarcasm aside, what George (and his attractive reporter friend) becomes involved in is really a bewildering experience. Definitely one of the most original storylines out there. The clown is just the beginning—wait til you get into the thick of things!!!
STORY: 10/10

GRAPHICS:
Definitely some of the most beautiful backgrounds you'll see on the GBA are in Broken Sword. Gorgeous churches, creepy sewers, breathtaking fields of greenery… the backgrounds are really astounding.

The characters actually don't look half-bad either. Some, mainly George, have many very fluid animations, and they look as realistic as they can by GBA standards.
GRAPHICS: 9/10

SOUNDS:
The music in Broken Sword also surprised me. It's the Gameboy Advance! How did they cram such a beautiful score into it?! I must admit though, a lot of the time there isn't any music at all, just background noise such as birds chirping (which also sounded great).
SOUNDS: 8/10

GAMEPLAY:
Originally this game was a tried and true point-and-click adventure. This is changed for the GBA version. Now, you actually have George walk around to investigate things. This will definitely make you happy as a GBA player.

As George, you are able to examine countless things on your current screen. Most things are necessary to interact with in order to advance in the game. You must collect as many clues as possible, after all! Some things can be picked up by you for later use to… and trust me, you WILL use the things you pick up, even if it takes hours of gameplay. At times you need to combine two of your items. I didn't really like this… because it only happens a couple times so you just don't know when to do it at all. Most of the time the puzzle solving will be cake, which is kind of a given. You either do it right or you don't. I mean, this game is pretty easy unless you can't figure out what you need to interact with or say to proceed.

Obviously, you also will be talking to many people to help solve the mystery. There are a bunch of icons that will appear to designate the choices as to what you say. Most of the time you can choose all of the icons, but be careful just in case!

There are two main problems with this game. One is what I said above—for the most part it's very easy. Honestly, this didn't bug me personally because I mainly played the game to see what would happen next in the story. You'll be on the edge of your seat the whole time, really.

The second problem is huge. There is a possible glitch in Broken Sword that can cause you to not be able to advance in the story at ALL. This means that you can't finish your current game and have to start over!!! Why this wasn't tested thoroughly is beyond me. It happened to me, it happened to others, it could happen to you. Read the FAQs for more info. It's ridiculous, really.

But anyway, overall the gameplay in BS: SotT is pretty solid. This genre will probably not appeal to most gamers, but anyone who appreciates an exciting story will definitely want to keep playing.
GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

LASTING APPEAL:
One playthrough will probably last you awhile. And if you get the bad glitch but want to restart, it'll last even longer. But we no likey the glitch!! After you beat it though, you might be finished for good.
LASTING APPEAL: 5/10

OVERALL:
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars boasts one of the most intriguing mystery stories you'll ever see in a videogame. If you don't like point-and-clicks but are interested in George's adventure, by all means PLAY IT. It's really not that bad. And anyway, how could you resist those beautiful backgrounds? Give it a try, you won't forget it.
OVERALL: 8/10

Thanks for reading =)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/06