Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

"Broken, but not worthless"

Story

You star as George, a tourist who's sitting outside of a cafe in the grand city of Paris. Within the first minute, you witness a clown thief and an explosion from only a few feet away. Naturally, this is only the beginning of the political intrigue, and you'll be globetrotting around Europe as you search out the reason for the explosion. At first glance, the story seems a little thin, but since the game is mostly story-based and has little to no filler action scenes, it holds up quite well on merit alone. The game was created with the story as its hook, and it doesn't falter on that end.

The game never definitively tells you the time period the game takes place in, but I believe it's Cold War-era civilization. Only adds to the international thrill, no?

Gameplay

You will mosey around Paris, Ireland, Syria, and Spain, unraveling clues in a gameplay style reminiscent of the Myst series, just with an urban turn. Controlling George is fairly simple -- you can talk to people, pick up items, use items, observe things; it's the putting two and two together that can get tedious. You'll have to use your wits to outsmart the upstanding citizens of each place (that makes him sound like a bad guy...) in an effort to keep on the trail of the enemy. Sometimes, you'll have to combine items to progress, and sometimes you'll have to press a button at a right moment so that you don't catch someone's bullet in your face. It's simple fingerwork, and there aren't any pushblock puzzles or the like -- elementary stuff.

That said, the gameplay has the story to back it, and it doesn't get old. However, if you were to get stuck and not know where to go, you'd have to go around the locations (each city has several) and re-question people, use trial and error to make sense of your inventory. The game is also host to a few (known) glitches that really kick you for not being meticulous -- they can even force you to restart at times. In summation, the gameplay is a little repetitive but it feels like you're working the story's ins and outs -- you can even get yourself killed if you do a wrong turn. If you're not fond of the story or you've played the game before, the shine wears off and the boredom rears its head.

Music

Background music to say the least. Nothing is a standout, but nothing really makes you reach for the volume button...mediocrity at its best. Prepare to hear the sorta-ethnic-inspired pieces quite a bit if you're a first-time player, because you'll be hearing them a lot as you get acquainted. ;)

Graphics

Cartoony, 2D-ish... For the story, they're not bad and certainly don't detract from playing the game. I believe all styles can be spot-on if they're done right, and Broken Sword almost reaches that level. One tiny fault I'd pick at is the cheesy, freeze-frame cutscenes that make up the game's transition pieces. It's just a frame, then the next-in-sequence frame... Certainly not tempering new uses for the GBA's abilities.

Replay Value

The story plays like a combination of a murder mystery and a Dashiell Hammett novel, so it works the same way as watching a movie: if you know how the movie goes, it's not going to be as much fun; if over time, your memory gets a little less refined, the game will be great to play again. The game banks a lot of its entertainment on the intricacies of the game -- the item merging, the conversations, the air of a whodunit -- so as long as it retains that, the replay value is still there. As anyone who finishes the game for their first time may find, you've already started forgetting how some things go (I know I did!).

Being a more action-oriented title, it won't eat up your time in the same way an RPG would, but it can offer the same twists and turns so that you may end up donating more of your time anyway. You could easily beat this game in 10 hours if you're an attentive novice, way less if you know the ropes, and way more if you're running around without paying attention to anything.

Pros/Cons

+ Story is money
+ Characters are all interesting, and diverse
+ Shroud of mystery delivers for the player
+ Seems kind of expansive for a little GBA game

- Music fails to enervate
- Kind of short, for all the fun it can offer
- Multiple nasty glitches can make players restart

The Verdict™: The story has a gravity of its own, making the pen truly more mighty than a (broken) sword.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/06