This month I have the pleasure of reviewing Broken Sword, which is actually the third in a series of adventure computer games based on characters originally introduced in the first game called The Broken Sword – The Shadow of the Templars. The original game was introduced in 1996 with two main characters George Stobbard and Nico Collard, you may think of them as Indiana Jones and female sidekick for the computer. The original and sequels are games of adventure, much the same as the Indiana Jones series. Solving problems and puzzles while guiding your character through danger is the object of the game, while watching events unfold. You may think of it as an interactive movie. This is just one genre of computer games, but probably has the widest appeal since the player gets entertained not only by the game but also by watching the plot unfold.

Let’s get housekeeping chores out the way. The minimum requirements for this game is a Pentium III operating at 750 MHz with 128 MB of RAM and running Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP. You must have an 8X CD drive, Direct X 8.1 compatible 64 MB GeForce 2 or equivalent video card, a Direct X 8.1 compatible sound card with speakers, 1 GB of hard drive space, and a keyboard & mouse or analog game pad. This is the barebones system needed, but the recommended system includes a Pentium III 1.2 GHz, a sound card with 5.1 surround sound support, and a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 or better video card. To those unfamiliar with some of the equipment, lets just say that you need a fairly powerful rig to get this game to hum.

The game loaded without much difficulty on my Pentium 4 2.4 GHz Windows XP system, although since it takes up 1 GB of hard drive space, it was a fairly long installation. There was also an activation code to install in order to get the game to run. This is done as you might expect to discourage attempts to copy the game and distribute it widely. After installation and the splash screens have passed, you are taken to a menu screen where you may set up options such as screen resolution, volume settings, save and load, and such. The screen settings run from the standard 640 x 480 16-bit all the way to 1600 x 1200 32 bit, for those of you with powerful monitors and cards. After starting the game, the player is treated to a near cinematic opening scene, which more or less sets the stage for the story. This particular game involves traveling to such exotic locales as the Congo, Prague, Paris, and the historic English village of Glastonbury. The player is in pursuit of unraveling a conspiracy bent on conquering the world by unleashing the ultimate evil power, The Sleeping Dragon. Kinda sounds like a great old Sam Spade/Maltese Falcon type of story, doesn’t it? In any case, most of the object of the game is to figure out how to get your character from point A to point B without either losing the trail of the conspirators or losing your characters’ life. These types of games are more of a brain teaser and therefore usually appeal to an older or more cerebral type of audience. I enjoyed this game, as it is as much a mental exercise as a good crossword puzzle or game of chess, along with being a great story to keep you guessing as to what comes next. There is a small game manual, which does a good job of explaining the basics of player movements and actions as well as giving examples of how you might solve a problem in the game. There is very good technical support at the Revolution Software website, where you can find hints and other questions answered either through website technicians or through the community forum. The community forum is where gamers come to discuss the game and help each other solve problems through suggestions or hints. It is a great resource not only for this particular game, but also for most computer games in general. The only problem I had with this game was that the screen appeared very dark making it difficult and, at times, near impossible to follow the action. I could not completely solve the problem through adjusting my monitors’ darkness, contrast, and gamma settings and may go back later for tech support myself. However this problem is probably just unique to my particular system, since no one else on the community forum reported a similar problem.

This game was as good as advertised and I did not feel let down at all after playing it. The game is available locally at the major computer game outlets such as Best Buy, Comp USA, Circuit City, and Electronics Boutique. The average retail price for this game was about $29.99. The game cannot be purchased online at the Revolution website, but can be purchased at other online sites such as Amazon.com. I would recommend it without reservation for the average gamer who has the computer with the horsepower to run it, and who enjoys a good adventure. That’s it in a nutshell folks, and I hope this is just the first in a long line of computer game reviews for me. Till next time, adios!