Having never played a Broken Sword game, Decided to give this one a try. Glad I did-well worth the journey, in spite of some minor irritations.I will for sure play BS Smoking Mirror, which has been languishing on the shelf way too long
That being said-I thoroughly enjoyed the delightful romp with George and Nico through a fascinating and often hair raising adventure. You get to help them solve a mystery and prevent some very evil and nefarious baddies from using an ancient powerful force to destroy the world(of course!)
The game begins with George on a terrifying flight thru a storm with an Aussie bush pilot named Harry. Seconds later you see George fastened in his seat in the plane which is hanging over a bottomless chasm. Somehow you've got to get him out. Harry is now passed out in his seat.How can he help?
And here is where you are introduced to the game's quirky controls: Little stars light up hot spots. At bottom right of screen is your action panel-gears for action, eye for look, ect. The game is keyboard controlled-WSA&D for actions and arrow keys for walk/run. You will soon find out how difficult it is to move George in the direction you want, but with some practice he'll get there. I'm wondering at this point how He'll fare when running for dear life away from armed guards and other enemies. ( answer: not well.) he will die numerous times when my nervous fingers press the forward arrow and he goes sideways instead and runs into a wall! (bang-you're dead!)Well, you get the picture. But never mind, this game is very forgiving, always bringing you back to try again-and again.
The characters you'll meet are well crafted, colorful, and often humerous. The dialogue is priceless, especially the great French accents in the Paris scenes. Example-the hilarious conversation George has with the restroom attendant-where he accuses her of keeping a filthy "Pissoir" and on and on.
The graphics are well defined, sharp, and colorful.Especially wonderful is the music, which always accents whatever is happening in the game.Heart-thumping and intense during getaway scenes. Locations are interesting and varied-Paris, Glastonbury, England, The Congo, Prague, and Egypt. City streets, an old theater, a castle, underground tunnels, ancient temples and mysterious machinery. Freedom of movement gives the feeling of an action game to the easier, less intenseness of the point and click adventure.A nice feature is-you can't fall off high places accidentally and get killed.
The puzzles are well integrated and serve to move the game along. Most are fairly logical and can be figured out even if you're not a math wizard. There are some action sequences where you have to get around armed guards and some where things happened so fast, I failed to notice the action panel light up to make George or Nicco pick up or do something to disarm a baddie, but, as mentioned, the game is very forgiving and quickly another chance comes up.However, I must mention here the other minor annoyance of the game: the crate-moving puzzles, of which there are many-way too many. You're progressing along nicely and-Oh No! not more crates!
In spite of these minor glitches, I found the game thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. I give it a well deserved
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