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Slices through the lackluster myriad of ho-hum adventure games and breathes a new breath of fire into the genre.

First off, let me say “Thank you Jane Jensen for coming out of retirement!” Secondly, I would like to ask, “May we have some more, please mum?” Now if we can just get some of those other ‘sleeping dragons’ out of retirement and back into game creation we could actually put the adventure genre back, smack dab in the middle of the gaming industry where it belongs!

Broken Sword is what quality gaming is all about, awesome graphics, great storyline, loads of humor, lots of interactivity, top quality voice acting, good music and sound effects, and so on and so forth…. Gush, gush, gush.

The third story in the series continues onward with two of the best characters created to date: George Stobbart, a handsome American lawyer, and Nico Collard, a sexy, French, hip swaying journalist.

On two separate sides of the planet, both Nico and George are drawn into a story of intrigue and mystery, uncovering a plot to destroy the earth with a hidden and dangerous power source that has existed throughout time.

The duo, unknowingly working on the same case, are brought together to figure out who is behind the sinister plot. Broken Sword takes players on George and Nico’s journey to beat the clock traveling through locals such as, Paris, Glastonbury, and Prague.

In Broken Sword, the player is not just figuring out puzzles, he or she is also dodging bullets and escaping predicaments through action sequences that add to the game’s suspense level, and in turn adds to the player’s fun level.


Let’s Cut to the Chase

The dialogue in Broken Sword is one of the best to date, filled with loads of humor, a suspenseful story, and topped off by stellar voice acting makes this game one of the top games in the genre.

The characters are well fleshed-out making them personable at an almost realistic human level, giving the player a sense of relation to the characters, enabling players to react with feeling to the various situations.

Although your character can die, Broken Sword makes it easy to restart from the perilous point and redeem yourself by easily getting past the sticky spot once you know what to do!

Puzzles in Broken Sword are fairly easy for both the experienced and inexperienced gamer to solve. There are quite a few unique puzzles combined with some of the familiar old standby puzzles like, figuring out how to get past a locked door.

There is a fair amount of pushing and pulling in the game, which tends to get a bit on the overdone side. The bright side is that despite this flaw, it does not detract from the story or fun because all of the puzzles are well integrated into the progression of the game’s plot so there is definitely a point to working through them.

The 3D graphics are stunning with realistic looking graphics that are higher quality than most games out there on the market today. Facial expressions, eye and body movement are realistic, and camera angles create a cinematic presence that makes the game more like watching a movie.

The only technical glitch encountered occurred within one room in the game where the voices speeded up, and all of a sudden, it was like listening to the Chipmunks, Alvin and Theodore talking to each other as if they were on speed. The glitch would disappear upon exiting the room but would then reoccur when returning.

My inclination is to attribute the glitch to a disk defect rather than a quality issue, as the game seems to have been gone over with a fine toothed comb. (THANK YOU for that Revolution!)

In a day and age where developers are putting out games that require patches, or don’t play on systems they are supposed to, it is nice to see that there is some integrity towards customers out there in the industry, so I can safely say that this game is well worth every penny.

The interface is not the standard point and click that most Adventure Gamers are used but rather it is keyboard based. For those who are turned off by keyboard controls, Broken Sword also works with a game controller, which can make a world of difference in ease of playing for purists clickers who are willing to try something a bit different so they don’t miss out on one of the best games out there.

Overall, this game is a major winner for adventure game lovers and is a feather in the cap of the industry. For sure, this title will end up as one of my most beloved games and hopefully yours too.


Review by Michelle Whicker.