Introduction

I won't say I jumped at the chance to get hold of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars when it was released, as this sort of gaming is not something I am naturally inclined to use a PDA for. I was interested, however, as having played this sort of game on the desktop (in my dim and distant past) I was intrigued to see how the format translated to PDA use. Writing this style of game for a platform with a full keyboard and mouse is a little different to producing the same feel on a PDA with only a few buttons and a touch sensitive screen.

In this respect, it probably helped that I hadn't played the original version of this game in any form prior to getting it onto my T5 so I had no expectations regarding the format or the control requirements. Of course, this also works against me as a reviewer as I have no means of comparing the quality of the job done here with that of the source material. All I have been able to do, therefore, is dive into the game and see just how it 'grabbed me' as a means of passing the time.

The Game

The first thing to say about Broken Sword is that you do need quite a lot of time if you want to be able to play this through to completion…or even part way through. There’s a lot to do and a lot to see in order to get through the challenge presented and all of that will take time and effort!

Playing the game, you will take on the role of an American tourist in Paris who witnesses an explosion in a street café and nearly gets killed as a result. Your curiosity piqued, you decide to investigate the event and slowly get drawn into a web of intrigue taking you round Paris and well beyond meeting and interacting with all sorts of people along the way.

I started off by playing the demo which in some ways is quite deceiving. While the story was good enough to get me interested, the game play itself was perhaps a little less challenging than I had expected. Obviously, the point of a demo version of anything is to get the user interested and so attract sales but I found that in this case, while it achieved its goal, it did leave me with some questions regarding the relative ease of what I was about to take on. In actuality, I didn't need to worry as once I got into the game itself, the difficulty tightened up a little and the whole thing started to become a lot more of a challenge.

In Broken Sword, this challenge lies not so much in working out which of the possible things you should do as in working out what is actually possible. Generally, if the game will allow you to do three things at a particular point then it is probably worth doing all of them and you will normally progress as a result. Working out what is possible, however, is not always straightforward and it is in this area that the main path to frustration lies. I won't claim that this is the most devious game I have ever encountered, if it were, I'd have given up on it a while ago. It does have its moments of pure head scratching frustration however, generally experienced whenever I hit a problem that lies in one of my mental 'blind spots'. (I did have a 'cheat sheet' available to help me in these moments, fortunately!)

I say that things are 'probably worth doing' if they’re possible because while this holds true for much of the time, you can't always rely on it. There are a few points where you can go wrong and when you do, you normally end up dead as a result so you need to keep on your metaphorical toes (and keep a few saved games stashed away just in case).

Implementation

The game play itself may be managed using either the hard keys of the stylus with just about all functions being available via either interface. I used a combination of both on my run through finding the stylus more accurate for character movement and the hard keys more convenient for managing inventories and looking about. (I use the stylus far too much in my opinion, though, such that I find I'm beginning to suffer from some stylus related RSI after a long lunch time play session.)

Graphically, I'd describe the game as 'interesting'. Unfortunately, I can't easily define what I mean by this but there is a quality to the backgrounds that is subtly different to anything else I've seen. Whether this is a deliberate artistic feature of the game (or of my brain) I don't know. I suspect it may be more related to the conversion from the original PC format than anything else but, whatever the reason, the visual surroundings have a feel all to themselves. I wasn't sure I liked it initially, but as I've played through the story, I've grown to enjoy it.

The movement of the characters over this background is actually very lifelike which surprised me on one level. Required only to move you from action point to action point around the screen, the movement is therefore not a major factor in the play. It does add to the experience however, particularly as I’ve noticed a tendency toward 'mincing about' in some of the men!

Having a T5, of course, means that I have been able to play this game on a full screen 480x320 area. The graphics being rectangular in this way, however, results in a ‘letter box’ format display on square 320x320 displays with DVD-like black bars above and below. It is still playable and the text readable, but it does detract somewhat from the overall visual impact.

Sound claims to be supported but to be honest, there really isn't very much of this to go around. The game file is big enough already and I suspect that had a full sound and speech suite been added then it would have just made the whole thing unmanageable. The sound works but as I tend to play at my desk, it’s normally disabled.

During my run through, I've had no real problems except for one story related ‘feature’ (that Astraware are investigating) and one side effect of alarms cropping up in the middle of a game. Once that happens, continuing to play results in periodic flashes of the Tool Bar at the bottom of the T5 screen which creates a bit of a discontinuity in the graphics. A stop and restart is required to sort this out but it isn’t terminal by any means.

Conclusions

It's a long time since I've played anything like this and I'd forgotten some of the challenges these games present. As I said, this isn't the normal form that my PDA usage takes so I wasn't necessarily expecting to be able to stick with it for the duration. Having now completed the game, however, all I can say is that the battery on my T5 is not up to the task of supporting the time I've put into it as it keeps going flat during play. (I'm sure that this is no reflection on the time I'm spending playing however, there must simply be something wrong with the device.)

As you may conclude, I've surprised myself with this one. The story is there and the puzzles are there to make this a real challenge and one that I've quite enjoyed. As with all games of this type, however, it takes a certain mindset to be able to appreciate it, and a certain level of patience to be able to figure it out. You’ll know best whether you’re cut out to enjoy this sort of game but if you are then Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars should provide a nice extended distraction from the stresses of everyday life - just make sure your battery is up to the task!.