Together Retro Game Club: Broken Sword
Presented by: Fastbilly1 & Racketboy
New To Together Retro? Check out the introduction to the club
1996 introduced pc gamers to many things. Descent 2, Duke Nukem 3d, Diablo, and thats just the D’s. In the fall of 1996 Virgin released a one of the more cinematic point and click adventure titles released. That game was Broken Sword and as you know it is our choice for this months Together Retro. It is the second Point and Click adventure we have chosen (Secret of Monkey Island begin the first), and the reason being is that it we are entering into a holiday season and the title is not terribly long and it is engaging enough that you can play it with spectators or as a team. Also it has been officially released on a half a dozen platforms and unofficially on a dozen or so others. So gather your wits, it is time to step into the shoes of George Stobbart and solve the mysteries of the Templars.
History:
In the mid 90s, Revolution was a small English programming company trying to make a name for themselves in the adventure game genre. Fighting against both Lucasarts and Serria, Revolution had quite a challenge ahead of them. Their first title, Lure of the Temptress, was a minor success. Their second title was the infamous Beneath a Steel Sky. Neither of which were really huge commercial successes – Beneath a Steel Sky was well received however it just did not have the sales behind it. Their third title did very well and became synonymous with the company.
When Broken Sword was released it took the best of what the others had provided and brought some new tricks to the table. Beautifully animated cutscenes and a solid voice cast gave us a vibrant world. Witty dialogue, challenging puzzles, and a very engaging plot, gave us the masterpiece that Broken Sword is. When released reviewers held it in high honors, and to this day it is widely considered one of the best adventure games.
Since it did well, Revolution quickly created a sequel, Broken Sword 2 The Smoking Mirror – which has a very creepy cover I must say. It is a very good game on its own, but no where near as good as the first. They released a third title, the Sleeping Dragon, in 2003, and a fourth The Angel of Death in 2006. Though even with many great writers attributing to the titles, they all fall short of the first one. Well Sleeping Dragon on the pc had Starforce which I like to think caused its low sales (I know I still dont own a copy because of that).
Controls:
Like most point and click adventures you will use your mouse to guide a pointer through the world of Broken Sword. Nothing really to write home about here.
Ports:
So yes the PC version is the classic version, but the PSX port is quite good. The GBA port does have one big bug which makes the game unbeatable, but other than that all the ports are solid. Now if you choose to play the Wii or DS version, the game will be different in that it is a Directors cut. The developers added new scenes, new puzzles, and a some other new things I wont say. But I will say you et to control Nico in some areas that are mentioned in the other versions and that alone makes it worth the price of entry.
- Broken Sword – PC, Mac, PSX, GBA, Palm Pilot and Windows Mobile
- Broken Sword Directors cut – Wii and DS
- Unofficial ports – Whatever will run ScummVM
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One of the best adventure games of all time!