Circle of Blood

The Good
After hearing for years about how good this game was meant to be, I finally tracked down and bought a copy. It was, perhaps, surprising that I hadn't played the game before, especially as Revolution's earlier game, Beneath A Steel Sky still ranked as one of my favourite adventures of all time, and before that, Lure Of The Temptress was also pretty good.

What had put me off playing Broken Sword was the globe-trotting plot (really not my kind of thing) and the graphics, which I really didn't like the look of.

Oh, anyway...I finally bought it and played it. And my opinion?

It's good. Nothing great or classic, but definitely good.

It just seemed to me very ordinary and uninspiring. It was also over rather too quickly. Your character, an average American tourist, wanders through scenic locales around the world, chatting with amiable locals and solving a few puzzles. I never found the game gripping or particularly exciting and I was never that intrigued by the plot. OK - It does have its moments - Some enjoyable spy tomfoolery at a hotel, early on in the game, and then, right near the end, it surprised me with a classic set-piece on a train, which (especially thanks to the music in that section) was actually quite tense and engaging. But most of the time, it merely held my interest, occasionally slipping over into 'dull'.

The main character's voice acting is nicely done, oddly reminding me at times of the whimsical, enthusiastic narration in cult British kids' TV show, Mr. Benn. Other characters vary - Some are very well done - Others are drearily irritating.

The interface works well.

Graphics are generally nice.

The music is fine - Nothing at all memorable, but it usually does its job well enough, and also sounds quite different from most other game scores. The one piece of music that really stood out, for me, was the bit used on the train.

I liked the way the phone conversations were done, and the development of the relationship between George and Nico was nicely done.

The Bad
There is nothing bad about this game, just as there is nothing remarkable about it.

Some of the characters' voices irritated me, and one actor in particular was used a bit too much, providing identical voices for about three different characters. Conversation did become tedious, at times.

I didn't find the game amusing. There were perhaps two or three moments when I chuckled.

The game is pretty short, and each country you visit only has a few locations to see - With the exception of Paris, which is your 'home base' - The result was that I felt the game had spread itself too thin. Paris felt quite homely and fleshed-out, but the rest of the world wasn't too interesting.

I didn't enjoy many of the puzzles. They were a mixed bag - Some too easy, others far too obscure. It was rare that I felt much satisfaction from successfully completing a puzzle.

The Bottom Line
This is a well-made, quality game. All the elements are there. But somehow, it's just not that interesting. None of its elements rise above 'good'. There's nothing that makes me go "Wow". But it confuses me...As soon as I'd finished it, I found myself installing Broken Sword II...Hmm...

The Good
This game sports one of the best stories I've ever encountered in a point and click adventure along with very nice graphics, better than average voice acting and a tremendously marvelous soundtrack!

The Puzzles range from very easy to quite hard but for the most part they are all logical!!! note to developers work more on logical and story and less on how badly you can frustrate someone with nonsensical puzzles, aka bury the fish by the palm tree in the desert to get the door to the temple open, I really should quit giving them ideas ;)

If you haven't played it then go out and buy it at any cost!!!! I've played this game three times since it's release and never get tired of the thrill it brings me!

The Bad
What's not to like?

The Bottom Line
An absolute wonderful romp around the world and a mystery that will draw you in so deep you'll be dreaming about it!

The Good
I was surprised when I first heard that an adventure series, previously released for the PC and Playstation, was going to be ported to the Game Boy Advance. Having never had the opportunity to play this game, and being quite a fan of adventure games, I sought out this game for the Game Boy Advance. Suffice to say, this game is one of my most pleasant buys I've made so far for the little handheld console.

The game itself starts out in Paris, where George Stobbart is quietly enjoying his vacation. In the beginning, the peaceful life takes a turn for the worse when the restaurant where Stobbart is relaxing is suddenly blown up, and a single man dies in the incident. For various reasons, George feels that he has to solve the mystery. Little does he know that this little adventure will soon turn out to be a world-wide quest of epic proportions...

I am very surprised how well an adventure game works for the GBA. Broken Sword originally used a point-and-click system, but the developers chose to implent a different system for the GBA release. It reminds me pretty much of playing style found in Grim Fandango... The player controls George movement with the D-Pad, essentially making George the 'cursor' in the game. Whenever the player comes near a usable object, a small icon pops near the object in question, usually signifying what one can do with the object(ie. a pointing hand shows that George can walk towards a new room, whilst magnifying glass signifies that George can take a closer look at the object). The player interacts with objects using the A Button, whilst he can use the B Button to look at an object. The L-Pad brings up the inventory, in which the player can use an object or merge two objects together. The R-Pad brings up a nifty feature that will reveal all the hotspots within a room. Whilst this option makes the game less difficult, it also prevent the game from turning into a 'find-the-hotspot/pixel' game.

The graphics have been extremely well ported from the PC/PS versions to the GBA version. Every room is displayed with crisp detail, and characters only become somewhat pixelated when they come very close to the screen. All icons found in the game define very well what they're represent.

The sound effects and music are well represented. The music ranges from average to very good. The sound effects are somewhat average, they don't really stand out. Naturally, the GBA version does not have any speech, unlike its PC and PS version.

And of course, now I come to one of the (if not, the) most important part of an adventure game : the story. Suffice to say, Broken Sword delivers. Actually, Broken Sword delivers EXTREMELY well. The mystery starts out good, with a mysterious clown blowing up a restaurant. Once the smoke clears, you can start digging up several clues, and meet a fascinating French reporter who can aid in solving the murder. However, once the player starts digging further into the mystery, and searching for the identity of the murderer, everything gets turned upside down. Once you think that you have figured someone/something out, a new clue is revealed that invalidates your theories, and your mind immediately start to absorb all the information, and new questions arise... the story will surely hold you from the explosive start to the surprising ending.

Of course, an adventure game can't be an adventure game without its puzzles. Just like the story, Broken Sword delivers with its puzzles. They are often laid out in a logical fashion, but won't pose too much of a problem for the average adventurer. The difficulty is just right. You might be stuck for a long time in a certain scene, and just when you're about to get frustrated, you suddenly notice that one clue that you missed, and immediatley solve the puzzle and move on. Then, you might get stuck again, but once more before getting frustrated, the puzzle is solved. One puzzle I sincerely enjoyed was the mystery that a certain manuscript contains. I studied it whenever I could, and it's just so fulfilling to travel to a different location and suddenly recognize something from the manuscript that will help you solve the problem.

The Bad
Unfortunatley, Broken Sword has one thing that has plaqued many a game before : Bugs. There is a bug that will leave the player stuck in a situation from where he can't continue. If you have saved past this point, you'll have to completely restart the game... Apparently, if you travel to Spain before visiting Syria, you will encounter this bug. Luckily, I had been warned of this bug beforehand and didn't walk into the death-trap myself. This happens pretty far in the game and it could be annoying to start all over. Also, on a few rare occasions, George managed to get stuck in a location, and he couldn't move at all... saving often is recommended.

I've heard from several reviews that Broken Sword is pretty hilarious on the PC and PS version. Although several sarcastic comments from George made me smile from time to time, I didn't find anything that truly made me laugh out loud(a feat not too hard to accomplish). Mayhaps most of the jokes were cut from the GBA version, or the delivery of the voice actors manage to bring out a joke, but I didn't find anything outstanding..

Also, the game is somewhat short... I managed to complete the game in about three days. Of course, I also played this game as often as I could.

The Bottom Line
In the end, playing Broken Sword feels like reading a good book. The mystery manages to keep itself mysterious throughout the story, every character manage to possess a characteristic of its own, and plot twists often come at the right moment. Once you've finished the game, you might put it away, but you'll dig it up pretty soon to go through it again to see which plot points you missed, or just to be completely entertained by its enthralling story.