Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (Director's Cut)

Title: Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (Director's Cut)
Platform Played On: Nintendo DS
Release Date: March 24, 2009
Date Played: Summer 2009
Time Played: 8 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5

Opinion:
Although I am a fan of point and click adventure games since the days of Scooby-Doo Mystery on the Sega Genesis (1995) I never had a chance to play any of the Broken Sword games. When I saw that the first game in the series (Shadow of the Templars) was ported to Nintendo DS I could not miss the chance to check it out.

The main obstacle with going back to old games is the fact that they were not designed with the gaming conventions we are all so used to today. Back then it was the wild west, everyone charted their own frontiers with gameplay and controls. While this made it an exciting time in the gaming industry with innovations around every corner it also meant having huge learning curves. Which leads me to my next point, knowing that Broken Sword was being ported on to a modern platform I knew that they would have to adjust it in such a way as to make it more accessible and easy to get into and play than it was in 1996 when the original came out. With the DS port I knew that I could jump in and enjoy the game and not have to struggle with all of the conventions of playing the games from the 90's (DosBox emulation and all that).

Story in Broken Sword is not what I am accustomed to seeing in adventure games. While it is still primarily a puzzle driven adventure it has a much more mature theme. It features murders, poisonings and terrorist acts. I was really surprised to find such mature undertone in an adventure game. I liked it though. It made Broken Sword seem more like a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle than a video game.

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is presented via an art style and animation akin to the cartoons of the early 1990's, and to my surprise has every character completely voiced. Most of the major plot turns are told via great looking animated shorts. Together these elements make Broken Sword seem like an interactive cartoon. I can only imagine how impressive it was when it came out in the mid 90's.

Although Broken Sword's story is full of mystery and intrigue it is by no means perfect. While trying to keep interesting and engaging to the player it at times gets pretty ridiculous. At one point you chase clowns, at another you are solving mysteries of the Templars. The game changes locales quite frequently, which is great, as it keeps things fresh, but this also means introduction of new characters and mechanics which may become overwhelming at times. Especially with all of the crazy French names everywhere.

As far as adventure games are concerned Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is one of the best. It's masterfully crafted settings and animations are a pleasure to look at, it's voice acting allows for relaxed narrative akin to an audio book, and it's availability on portable platforms such as Nintendo DS and iOS devices allows for spontaneous and incremental gameplay anywhere.

If you are an adventure game junkie, you cant go wrong Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. For those that played it back in the 90's there is a whole new opening chapter in this "Director's Cut" version of the game, and for those that have never played it... well what are you waiting for?

One Of Numerous In Game Animated Shorts