Warning: This text contains some spoilers, so if you plan to play the game later, do not read this! :)
So I've finally convinced myself to download second part of the Broken Sword 5 game and actually finish it. The convincing took some time as I was quite dissapointed with the first part and I have even written a post to Revolution software forum about it (I can't find the post now and apparently I can't even log into the forum :)).
However I must say that after playing the whole game my rating would be a bit higher. What I criticized most after playing the episode 1 was generally the length of the game as there were too few playable locations for my taste and for the price they were asking for it. Of course this was because I was comparing the separate first episode to previous Broken Swords games (specifically 1st and 2nd game). If I now compare merged episode 1 and episode 2 of BS5 with previous games, I guess it would be about the same in terms of game length. Also the price for both episodes is lower (currently $25 on GOG.com). I can't remember the non-sale price they were asking for separate episode 1, but I have a vague memory of it being near $20 (I may be wrong though).
Anyway I still feel the game could be better and is behind the top games in genre wich are available now (most notably my all-time favorite Blackwell series - very similar point and click adventure series made by Wadget Eye Games).
Story
What Broken Sword lacks the most is some better plot and story-telling. I mean you can't just take all the 'cool' stuff, mix it together and expect that 'coolness' is multiplied. Nazis, old heretical cult (Cathars this time, Templars are not in anymore), Russian mob and magical RGB (yes red, green, blue) essence of life and expect this to work well.
This might have worked well 15 years ago but nowadays the competition is bigger and people are used to more mature and believable stories.
Some parts of the story were just quite off and I've got this feeling that this might be the result of adding additional plot after the Kickstarter campaign was earning more and more money.
Graphics
The graphics was a mixture of hand drawn backgrounds and 3D modeled characters (cel-shaded, so they fit in) and although this is definitely the best part of the game I think it might have been even better, especially the characters.
As for the mentioned background - I can't say a bad word. Quite contrary, they were just astounding and beautiful and solely for this purpose I recommend playing the game. I can't remember I've seen such a nice scenes in any adventure game before.
The characters on the other hand had some flaws in in-game animations and also the full-3D animated cutscenes were quite bad (for me they just didn't fit into overall graphics and looked too amateurish). I guess this was an experiment that didn't go that well.
Puzzles
The puzzles were quite good I think and I enjoyed solving them. I didn't get stuck at all so their difficulty was fine, maybe some of them could have been a bit harder, but I guess this may alienate some casual players, so overall I'm quite pleased with them.
Argh!
There are few things that bothered me quite a lot when playing this game:
1. The reaction time of characters (both playable and NPCs). For example you had to talk multiple times with old man Tiago (I think that was his name) and everytime you had to wait about 3 second till he turned his head to you and dialogue window was opened. This can be quite frustrating over the time and it happened with some other characters in other situations as well.
2. Duane and Pearl Henderson puzzle in Santa Cova! Who on earth did design this part? Pearl is sad so she will not talk to you unless you create holy atmosphere? What? Why? ... Really this is like a giant slap to any proper story-writing.
3. Actually the same as point two can be applied to more parts in the game - another one that pops into my head is when you have to look like Henry to be able to talk to Bijou. That part had also the worst animated (disco!!) sequence in the game. I'll think about putting a picture of it here (... or rather not - they are really plain looking compared to the beauty of illustrated envinronment).
Conclusion
I have a feeling I should write some conclusion but I can't think of anyting wise :). Despite my criticism it is still one of the better games around. So if you fancy classic adventure point and click games I'd definitely recommend playing this one. Or even better, if you haven't played Broken Sword 1 or 2, go for these first.
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| Santa Maria de Montserrat |
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| Property theft again |
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| George definitely knows his way around pretty girls |
What Broken Sword lacks the most is some better plot and story-telling. I mean you can't just take all the 'cool' stuff, mix it together and expect that 'coolness' is multiplied. Nazis, old heretical cult (Cathars this time, Templars are not in anymore), Russian mob and magical RGB (yes red, green, blue) essence of life and expect this to work well.
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| This is dangerously close to the goat! |
Some parts of the story were just quite off and I've got this feeling that this might be the result of adding additional plot after the Kickstarter campaign was earning more and more money.
Graphics
As for the mentioned background - I can't say a bad word. Quite contrary, they were just astounding and beautiful and solely for this purpose I recommend playing the game. I can't remember I've seen such a nice scenes in any adventure game before.The characters on the other hand had some flaws in in-game animations and also the full-3D animated cutscenes were quite bad (for me they just didn't fit into overall graphics and looked too amateurish). I guess this was an experiment that didn't go that well.
Puzzles
The puzzles were quite good I think and I enjoyed solving them. I didn't get stuck at all so their difficulty was fine, maybe some of them could have been a bit harder, but I guess this may alienate some casual players, so overall I'm quite pleased with them.
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| The backgrounds are simply amazing |
There are few things that bothered me quite a lot when playing this game:
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| Is that you Indy!? |
2. Duane and Pearl Henderson puzzle in Santa Cova! Who on earth did design this part? Pearl is sad so she will not talk to you unless you create holy atmosphere? What? Why? ... Really this is like a giant slap to any proper story-writing.
3. Actually the same as point two can be applied to more parts in the game - another one that pops into my head is when you have to look like Henry to be able to talk to Bijou. That part had also the worst animated (disco!!) sequence in the game. I'll think about putting a picture of it here (... or rather not - they are really plain looking compared to the beauty of illustrated envinronment).
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| Fleur's flower shop from first game |
I have a feeling I should write some conclusion but I can't think of anyting wise :). Despite my criticism it is still one of the better games around. So if you fancy classic adventure point and click games I'd definitely recommend playing this one. Or even better, if you haven't played Broken Sword 1 or 2, go for these first.
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