Review: Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars
Astraware have a nice habit of bringing us quality puzzle games to wile away the hours on our PPCs and Smartphones, but have also on occasion teamed up with another developer to provide us with something a little different. I was thrilled when they announced a cooperation with Revolution Software, to bring us the classic graphical adventure Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars. I reviewed Astrawares Moonfighter last year and it impressed and earned a gold medal. Can George Stobbart's first Pocket PC adventure live upto its heritage?
Read on to find out!
Special thanks go out to Alison from Astraware for supplying us with a review copy, and to Kieren from Astraware for technical support.
For your delectation all photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load an image. The images shown are either the 240x240 or QVGA resolution and once clicked the equivalent VGA image is displayed.
Supplier: Astraware
Product: Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars
Cost: $29.95 or $19.95 by preorder
Supplier Web Site: Astraware
Supplier Product Web Site: Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars
Introduction
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars was first released on the PC in 1996. It was the first of what should soon be four epi***es of the critically acclaimed Broken Sword series, and has thus far been released on PC, Playstation and GBA. The games developers of the first three platforms, Revolution Software, have teamed up with Pocket PC supremos, Astraware, to bring the first of George Stobbart's adventures to a Windows Mobile screen near you. Personally I always loved the early LucasArts graphic adventures from the early 90's; Sam & Max hit the Road, The Day of the Tentacle etc. Somehow though, and it seems incredible now, I seemed to have completely missed the entire Broken Sword series even though I owned all three platforms on which it has appeared. Heaven only knows what I was doing in 1996, but it must have been either very special, or a little illegal.
Installation
The installation for Broken Sword is not one to be taken lightly. At 120MB it's easily the biggest PPC game I've ever seen, and obviously needs to be installed to an SD card. This doesn't cause a problem, although I did experience some slowdown in the animated sequences, but that was down to the marginally underpowered Wizard I was running it on.Tests on nice shiny new Loox and HTC Hermes devices handled the sequences fluidly. I've included the installation instructions below, because they're a little unusual, and you really need to understand the scope of the process. You'll need at least 250MB of SD space to install to (256MB SD card minimum), and either a WM5 or WM2003SE Pocket PC device to install to. The game natively supports VGA, QVGA and 240x240.
Windows Mobile 2003 or 2003SE devices
1) Run desktop installer
2) Make sure a storage card with at least 250Mb of free space is inserted into the Pocket PC (the operating system will first need to copy the CAB file to the device before it starts extracting it, hence the extra space required at this step).
3) Attach device and wait for ActiveSync to fire up and start installing the application.
4) If you are on a Windows Mobile 2003 or WM2003SE device, then when you are asked whether to install to the default location or not, choose "No", then select the appropriate Storage Card from the options provided
5) If you are on a Windows Mobile 2003 or 2003SE device, the game will now extract itself and install, and the CAB file should automatically be deleted by the operating system. Have fun!
Windows Mobile 5.0 devices
1) Run desktop installer
2) Make sure a storage card with at least 250Mb of free space is inserted into the Pocket PC (the operating system will first need to copy the CAB file to the device before it starts extracting it, hence the extra space required at this step)
3) Attach device and wait for ActiveSync to fire up and start installing the application.
4) If you are on a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, you may be prompted for a location to save the CAB file to - select a storage card with at least 250Mb free space. Wait for ActiveSync to finish copying the CAB file to the device.
5) Once the CAB file has finished copying, you will see an error message saying that the "Installation of Astraware Broken Sword was unsuccessful". This is normal, and caused by a known bug in Windows Mobile 5! Open File Explorer (normally found under "Start -> Programs -> File Explorer) and browse to the location you saved the CAB file, which you should see as "Astraware Broken Sword.CAB".
6) Tap on the CAB file to start the installation, and when prompted, select a Storage Card with at least 115Mb of free space. Once complete, you may need to delete the CAB file manually (Some carriers and manufacturers configure their versions of Windows Mobile 5.0 not to automatically delete the CAB file after install).
Unfortunately, as the instructions say, the current limitations of WM5 struggle with cab files over a certain size, and this is indeed a big boy. I can understand this issue and sympathise, but wonder whether a different approach with either multiple cabs or a simple file copying process could have rectified this? That said, as long as you follow the instructions, you shouldn't have any problems.
Graphics
Broken Sword is a combination of portrait quality backgrounds and characters animated in a cartoon style that works very well. Graphically Broken Sword is excellent. The backgrounds are very atmospheric and excellently illustrated, while the animations give it a sense of realism. It's not just the main and supporting cast anims either; the little touches here and there bring the scenes to life. International flags fluttering on a hotel mezzanine, traffic passing on a busy street. Both examples of small atmospheric graphic details that help you immerse yourself in George's world.
While Revolution Software seem to have done an excellent job in converting the awesome visuals from the PC version, there are a few issues. Although the in game graphics seem almost perfect, the full motion sequences appear jumpy on slower devices, and the image quality has noticeably deteriorated by the compression. I didn't however, find these few minor annoyances affected my enjoyment of the visuals, or the game. One thing that was a bit annoying, and again these are minor issues in an otherwise exceptional piece of work, was that in a couple of instances something would effect a change in an image vital to the progression of the game but the difference was really too small to notice on the QVGA screen. Maybe in a couple of instances the scenery could have been made a touch bigger to remedy this. Like I said though, a minor annoyance. There is an ability to highlight all the activity spots on the screen which somewhat gets around this, but in a couple of instances it is still an issue.
Sound
In my opinion, the sound in Broken Sword is second to none. Even with a 120MB installation I was still shocked to hear every single word of dialogue spoken, as well as be displayed on the screen in text. The voice acting is excellent, incorporating some sufficiently stereotypical accents to vocalise the aforementioned comical conversations. The musical score is composed by Barrington Pheloung, the man behind the music for Inspector Moorse, and is at least equal to the speech, nice jolly dittys to set the scene and sufficiently atmospheric when required. The quips and sly insults sound so much better than they read, and the music is definitely worth hearing. I'd advise either turning up to ten, or using headphones.
Gameplay
Broken Sword is a classic graphic adventure. That is, to progress through the game you need to question all sorts of non player characters (NPC's), and figure out some puzzles to progress. The puzzles aren't overly difficult, but some are hard enough to make you stop and think for a while. It's mainly a case of asking someone's opinion, and picking up and putting down items in the right places, in the right order. The questioning of the NPC's can get boring in some games, but as I've already mentioned a couple of times, the dialogue really does make it worth while here. Speaking to everyone really is fun, and I think there's definitely enough joviality to go round. The game's a little linear, in that you have to follow a predetermined path. You can explore as you wish, but for the story to unfold, you do have to follow that path.
The game opens with a brief but somber narrative to set the tone, but quickly continues on with witty dialogue. I loved the initial conversation between George and Moue, the gendarme; "Don't shoot I'm innocent, I'm American" to which Moue replies "Can't make up your mind eh?". Quality. Both aspects continue on well into the game, with the intriguing plotline punctuated by comical exchanges as it meanders along. It really is a joke a minute. Oh, and watch out for the Syrian Taxi driver Amut. Most amusing!
The underlying story behind Shadow of the Templars is excellent. It shares a lot with The Da Vinci Code I thought, but obviously predates Dan Brown's book by several years. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Dan might have got a few ideas from Revolution Software. I'd probably say I preferred playing Broken Sword to reading the Da Vinci code though! Just to whet your appetite, you play George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, who stumbles upon murder, deceit and the folklore surrounding the Knights Templar. You begin at the scene of a cafe bombing, and, sensing the ineptitude of the local authorities, decide to solve the crime aided only by the lovely Nico, a journalist. I could go on, but don't want to give too much away.
One last note is that I recommend you save often, as you CAN die, and at one point my Wizard got into a loop where the game didn't update some of the puzzles. This meant I couldn't get to the next "chapter", having to restart the previous one. Had I not saved I think I'd have had to restart the game. There's probably between 10 and 20 hours worth of gameplay here, for about the same price as a DVD if you preordered. Bargain. I got quite into it, and played it for a couple of hours a day. It took me just under a week to complete, and like a good book, I just couldn't put it down!
Pro's
Great graphics.
Excellent soundtrack.
Quality storyline.
Native graphics for VGA, QvGA & 240x240.
Preorder for only $19.99!
Con's
IF you've played one of the other versions there's not a lot extra to offer.
Sometimes the screen is too small to see the detail.
Framerate & video quality on video sequences not good on lower spec devices.
4WM Rating
95%
Conclusion
For readers who've never experienced Broken Sword in any of its previous incarnations you need to do two things. Firstly, like me you should look into your past and find out what was so important you missed the PC, Playstation and GBA versions, and secondly you need to get to the Astraware site and let your credit card do the talking. There's Great graphics, quality sound and a plotline that belongs on the silver screen, as opposed to the QVGA screen. It's obvious to see why it was such a hit on the PC and the combination of Revolution Software and Astraware have ensured a solid conversion to the Pocket PC.
If you have already experienced the adventures of George Stobbart then I think its well worth a second look. It'll depend on how much you enjoyed it the first time around obviously as to whether you'll want to splash out again though, especially with the quality LucasArts graphic adventures available for free (if you already own the PC version) via the SCUMMVM emulator. Either way, I'd download the trial and let nostalgia wash over you. I for one had forgotten just how good the old graphic adventures are. Top stuff.
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