Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars for GBA

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            Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars For Game Boy Advance

Review by Skinny MinnieJune 2002

Languidly enjoying the view outside a quaint French bistro, Californian George Stobbart was vacationing in Paris. A bit perplexed at local custom, George stared curiously as a clown dressed in spectacular garb and wielding an accordion barreled into said bistro on the heels of an older, grey-suited patron carrying a battered briefcase.  There wasn’t much time for reflection, though, as the explosion of the next instant found George knocked unconscious and flat on his back, covered by what was left of the bistro’s outdoor canopy …

Languidly enjoying the view lakeside on an American campground, New Englander Skinny Minnie was vacationing with her new Game Boy Advance. A bit perplexed at Nintendo custom, Minnie stared curiously down at the 2.9″ screen that seriously screamed for the addition of a backlight. There wasn’t much time for reflection, though, nor could many of those be seen on the screen either, as Minnie’s head craned and bobbed like a goose on the lake …

BAM! Entertainment’s true-to-the-original port of the 1996 PC tourist-turned-detective tale was humorous, serious, captivating, invigorating, and above all hard to put down! French photographer Nicole Collard (aka Nico), who arrived representing her newspaper at the opening scene to get shots of the cafe’s bombing, begrudgingly struck up what was supposed to be a “business only” partnership with eyewitness George. She agreed to this so they could string together the events surrounding the calamity. With police more apathetic than empathetic, it was up to George and the alluring Nico to conduct interviews with local inhabitants and to research the events of fourteenth century history to uncover a multinational cult conspiracy of knightly murder and mayhem. 

The 32-bit graphics capability of the Game Boy Advance itself was put through its paces here, resulting in colorfully detailed environments that belied their tiny roots and only occasionally appeared grainy or pixelated. The sound, although harkening back to the PC games of the early 90s, did offer melodious French accordion music, spooky synthesizer sounds, and soothing piano pieces. A lovely pealing of bells could also be heard whenever vital information was discovered or a puzzle was completed in the correct fashion.  There were occasional sound effects of explosions or creaky doors, but speech (and George’s hilarious thoughts) were represented solely by onscreen text. Actually, many areas were bereft of sound altogether, and sometimes the only thing that lakeside passers by, both human and chipmunk, could hear was the chortling of an amused gamer as she read George and Nico’s latest witty statements.

Controlling the two-dimensional George in this Game Boy Advance version of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (originally released in the U.S. as the PC game Broken Sword: Circle of Blood) couldn’t have been easier. The A and B buttons on the right side of the GBA functioned as neatly as a left and right mouse click would, allowing George to interact with people, places and things, depending upon what icons were on the screen. A mouth icon indicated the possibility for conversation via onscreen text.  A magnifying glass appeared when something could be examined further.  Round gears appeared when something could be activated or made to function with something else, often via interaction with inventory items on hand. Pulsing white hands indicated paths for impending scene changes and also showed when a new inventory item could be picked up. The only icon inconsistency I found was a few instances where inventory items needed to be used in spots where only the magnifying glass icon would appear, instead of the usual round gears.

The left trigger pulled up the actual inventory items, which were usually used in understandable ways that blossomed out of and served to further the rich plot. Attempting to use each inventory item in turn when stuck, or combining two or even three items that were pulsating in inventory and then using the newly created item, usually yielded results. The right trigger could be used to cycle through all available hot spots in any scene, showing if anything was overlooked. The directional pad on the left was used both to scroll through inventory items and to move George around in each scene. At the end of every successfully finished area, George was transported either to Nico’s apartment to reconnoiter or to a world map where he could walk in seconds from locale to locale or even from country to country.

The start button was used when beginning to play and when saving the game wherever desired. The only drawback to the save function was that one save slot would get continually covered over itself every time the game was saved, leaving little ability to go back to an earlier save in the event of George’s occasional untimely demise. The only workaround was that there were in actuality three save slots (allowing three different players the chance to have separate games going), and the options menu did allow the copying of one save to another slot. Eventually I learned to copy early saves into the second and third slots, still continuing play via the first save slot but able to regress back in time if need be via the other save slots.

Major Bug Alert!

With a Daddy Long Legs and a Baby Long Legs watching from my picnic table in horror, I spent a scary amount of time crying over bugs—game bugs that is! If you play this GBA game, do not visit the Spanish villa before you have returned from Marib, even if Spain shows up on your map first! If you visit Spain first, you will later find George trapped in a European sewer after having solved the Marib puzzle, with Marib stubbornly not showing up on the map as the next destination even though all indicators point that it should. Nico will refuse to mention Marib, too, if George visits her for ideas. You may send Mr. Stobbart back to all previous locales thinking you have missed something, only to find no new clues and all dead ends. You will in fact be forced to begin the whole game again, unless you have jogged around “copying” previous saves to other slots beforehand.  This was found out by me the hard way as I desperately searched for and found a GBA version of the walkthrough.

The Marib bug and also an inventory puzzle bug at the end were confirmed in that walkthrough, so I’m passing them along for your reference. The second bug at the end of the game occurs because a few red herring inventory items from the PC game were never removed, even though they are not needed in the GBA version. If you use the red herring items in place of the proper ones when solving the final puzzle (and believe me, they fit), they cannot be removed again, and the game comes to a grinding halt. I suggest a save copy to another slot before George enters Bannockburn Church with Nico, so you can experiment with inventory items as you please.

It is hard for me to estimate the length of time that this game would take for the average adventure gamer to finish, as I wound up having to repeat over half of it due to the Marib bug. Until then, I did not use a walkthrough, even though I paced around my camper more than a few times, causing the Long Legs family to run for the Dramamine as I puzzled out George’s next move.  After the Marib incident, however, I did begrudgingly scan the walkthrough in fear of another forced restart, finding out about the ending bug but ruining some of the story along the way.

However, bugs aside, it was an exciting and intriguing tale of both honorable and dishonorable knights, of love and laughter, and of tragedy befalling a noble family down through the ages.  I highly recommend this game to any adventure gamer, as its charming and engrossing storyline and puzzles are worth the price not only of the game itself, but of the Game Boy Advance (and obligatory 300-watt lamp) as well. I do rate it a star despite its glitches, and I fervently hope that if and when I play a future Broken Sword GBA port, the only bugs I find are the ones crawling up my legs … The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Revolution Publisher: BAM!  Entertainment Release Date: March 2002

Available for: Game Boy Advance

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

An Eye-Opening Opener

At the Bar in the Aftermath

George in France

Got Any French Fries, Miss?

Nico’s Pad

Quit Clowing Around!

Sewers Are a Popular French Attraction

Ubu Hotel

With the Boys in Blue

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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