Broken Sword

After a long break George and Nicole return in a new Broken Sword adventure. The two plucky adventurers have shifted into the third dimension - but does this change into the world of 3D signal an end to classic adventure games? Read and find out.

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars was one of the first games I played on PlayStation. It's blend of puzzles, engaging characters and a strong narrative were a welcome change from a plethora of football games, arcade racers and un-ambitious platform titles.

Apparently, according to Broken Sword's creator Charles Cecil, point and click adventures are now dead. A strange statement considering that despite the removal of the pointer, the latest iteration in the Broken Sword series plays very much like the previous games.

Sadly, George and Nicole are no longer together. George is working as a patent attorney in Idaho, meanwhile Nico is working for a Paris newspaper, However, the murder of a scientist and computer geek on two sides of the world bring the two together in another emotional and humorous tales of secret cabals and spooky goings on. In fact, it's kind of like Scooby Doo for incurable romantics. Or is that just silly?

The game has taken the leap into 3D rather successfully. Revolution has managed to capture the look and feel of the original games yet with a beautiful palette of 3D environments and lighting. Navigating this bright new world is down to the use of joypad or the keyboard on a PC. The creators of the game have gone to great length explaining this is not a point and click adventure – but the actual interaction with the world is very similar to the previous Broken Sword games despite the removal of the mouse from the equation.

One thing the removal of the pointing and clicking has achieved is removing the hours wasted in every adventure game clicking around the screen trying to find objects to interact with. Some adventure games in the past have hidden items so they are almost impossible to find – such as the one-pixel-high piece of sticky tape in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Objects of interest are highlighted with a twinkle, however this doesn't dumb down the game as many of the objects and items are superfluous to completing the game. Yet, at the same time it is annoying that nearly every door is highlighted in this way even though the vast majority of them can't be opened.

Some adventure fans have been worried about the inclusion of action sequences in the latest Broken Sword. Let me reassure you that these aren't at all jarring and hark back to sequences in classic Lucasarts adventures where a little timing or thought was required. Take for example the first scene in the game where George has to scale a cliff face. In a Tomb Raider game, this would all be about pixel perfect leaps and joypad control. Here it's a case of telling George where you'd like to jump, climb or shimmy to; he handles the matter of making the jump himself.

The characters in the game are similar to those the player bumped into in previous Broken Sword games. Many of them are broad caricatures with outrageous accents. These larger than life characters have always been part of the charm of Broken Sword, but I realise some people may want a little more realism in their characters. I, for one, prefer this style for the franchise.

[Jen] Broken Sword is a joy. So many developers seem to have lost the art of storytelling and in-depth plots. But here we have a game that's beautifully paced, acted and constructed. For those of us suffering from the lack of classic style adventure games to play it's a genuine treat. However long loading times on the console version do hamper the game a little.

[Harry] I'll make no bones about it, I simply adored the first two games. Yes, the characters are larger than life, yes some of the puzzles can seem a little obscure; but the series has always been about delightful character interplay and a fascinating storyline. The third in the series is just as good and it's been a genuine joy to play.

[Alex] I've never played the other games in the series so I didn't have any prior expectations about the game. What I found was largely enjoyable, especially the touching relationship between George and Nicole. The removal of mouse control didn't seem much of a big deal either – the keyboard or joypad make for just as easy an experience.