[orient]

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (The Director's Cut) has been reviewed in the Official Nintendo Magazine and was rewarded a commendable 86%:

+ Superb hand drawn graphics
+ Great voice acting
+ Hint mode is a nice touch
+ New scenes and puzzles
- Video scenes are quite fuzzy

IGN also posted a recent hands-on with the game here. The article takes an interesting turn towards the negative:

"If we've one complaint, it's that bounding boxes can be a little small on certain items, meaning a steady hand is required to interact with them. It's easy to miss important objects when icons flicker for a mere split-second as you pass over – the brief rumble employed by similar games on Wii would certainly go some way to alleviating frustration for those of us without perfect 20:20 vision from the comfort of the couch.

In fact, if we're being really honest, at this stage there's a general lack of polish all-round – something we hope will be rectified in the game's final build. Interface elements are crude, and often unintuitive, and it really detracts from what's an otherwise striking, engaging package. We're also disappointed by Broken Sword's audio. While Barrington Pheloung's beautiful original score is as sumptuous as ever, there's a huge disparity between the newly recorded voice elements and the muffled, aging sub-standard samplings of the original game. In some instances, it's merely jarring but in worst cases, voices are completely unintelligible."

It's these presentational issues such as the fuzzy cut-scenes, the poor audio quality and the "general lack of polish" that I wanted to address. I honestly believe, as a consumer and a lover of the original game, that if Revolution Software want people to buy this game, it needs to be cheaper than $49.99 (US full retail price).

I'm not for one second questioning the value of adventure games in today's market. A new point & click adventure game is worth just as much as a new first-person shooter, but herein lies the problem; Broken Sword isn't new. It's 13 years old and while Revolution seem to be doing a good job of updating the game with new content and better graphics, they haven't completely hidden the fact that it's an old game.

Maybe if they went that extra mile and redone the cut-scenes and all of the audio, as well as some other things, then I would agree with the full retail price. As of now, though, I can't see why we should pay full-price for a game that was clearly developed on a budget, especially when you can buy a Broken Sword 1 & 2 bundle for less than $20.

It's the principle of the thing, I guess, and the fact that new games nowadays shouldn't have poor quality audio and/or cutscenes. But it's also because I want so badly for this game to sell well and I'm scared it's not going to. People have less money now more than ever and Broken Sword is practically a new IP to most people. Also, the box art for most Broken Sword games are terribly bland in my opinion and aren't very representative of the game's visual style. Why don't they ever have a wonderfully drawn backdrop with George and Nico on the front in all their colourful glory?

Thoughts? Can you honestly see Broken Sword selling enough units on Wii to warrant a newly developed BS or BASS sequel?

[fov]

Has the price been announced at $49.99?

The hotspot issue can be a big problem when you port a point & click PC game over to Wii, and I hope they address it. You just don't have the same level of fine control over a Wii remote that you do over a mouse and the game should accommodate that if possible.

[loobylou26]

i agree with the hotspot issue. also wont my arms get tired hovering the wiimote while pixel hunting. in truth im probably gonna wait for the ds release even though the hot spots may then be too tiny lol. hopefully the release will inspire loads of new adventure gamers to the scene and then we might see a new broken sword as its been far too long coming imho since the last one x

[Jadefalcon]

I'm not a Wii player and won't ever be, but I can see where it might be a problem. I remember playing a demo of Discworld 2 on the PS1 and it was a nightmare after being used with the mouse. Some of the hotspots in the original game were very sensitive and quite tiny, though wouldn't the Wiimote make it easier to use, far more so than a gamepad would anyway?

[fov]

The Wii remote is definitely better for point & click than a gamepad, but you're talking the lesser of two evils...

When Telltale was porting Sam & Max to the Wii*, I found that when aiming the Wii remote, I have a tendency to jerk my hand up as I press the A button. On a mouse, the action is registered as you press the button down, but on the Wii remote it registers when you lift your finger off the button. (Little known fact!) So if the hotspot was small enough for the cursor to move outside of it when my hand jerked, I was unable to select things.

This was really early in the porting process and at some point it got worked out, through a combination of the cursor behavior being tweaked by our programmers, and me learning to keep my hand steady. But it definitely stood out to me in the beginning as something that needed attention. I haven't played the Broken Sword port yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the same sort of issue they're dealing with. On the other hand, it's not a terribly difficult thing to fine tune once it's been identified as a problem (at least, it wasn't with Sam & Max), so I hope that it's one of those things the Revolution team is able to fix up before they're done. Even if it's an "oldie," Broken Sword is a great game and I think it could find a whole new audience on the Wii.

*Standard disclaimer: I work for Telltale.

[orient]

Originally Posted by fov

Has the price been announced at $49.99?

It's available for pre-order for $49.99 and I can't find any evidence to prove otherwise.

Also, I should point out that I realize pricing is sometimes out of the developers hands. It could very well be Ubisoft's decision to make the game full-price, if indeed it is full-price.

No doubt there's a market for adventure games on Wii, but wouldn't there be more of a market if it was $10-20 cheaper? Aren't Wii gamers looking for cheaper games? I'd be less skeptical if Broken Sword was getting the same marketing as say, the new Prince of Persia, but it's highly unlikely.

[Trader]

I am looking forward to the new games in Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars -- The Director's Cut for the Wii. I am trying to get my hands on Sam and Max episode 1 but all the shops say they are sold out.

[Veovis]

Both the DS and Wii versions are now in stock at play.com. They are £25 and £35 respectively, which should equal around $35 and $50. I preordered a couple of months back though, while they were listed at £18 each and that's the price I had to pay. Sometimes it pays to preorder!

Can't wait to try out especially the Wii version. Haven't played the game since it was released for Mac in 1996 or so.

[MikeLXXXVIII]

Originally Posted by Veovis

Both the DS and Wii versions are now in stock at play.com. They are £25 and £35 respectively, which should equal around $35 and $50. I preordered a couple of months back though, while they were listed at £18 each and that's the price I had to pay. Sometimes it pays to preorder!

Can't wait to try out especially the Wii version. Haven't played the game since it was released for Mac in 1996 or so.

Amazon uk which I ordered it from with the same price just sent out my copy! So can't wait to get my hands on it in some days !

[orient]

IGN has put up their UK review of the game. They gave it a 7.5. Good score

[kn0wl]

In regards to pricing, both Wii and DS games are victims of Nintendo's current success. Unlikely the PC market you can max out the RRP and people still buy the game. The rereleases of Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis are even more over priced given the fact only the controls have been changed.

It's my opinion that price should not come into the review score.. but that it's best to state what a fair price would be, and in the case of Broken Sword, say that you can buy the original two games together for £5, or the trilogy for £15.

[The Seed]

Mine arrived today from GAME.co.uk, a full day before the official release date , although I haven't had the chance to playtest it yet.

I actually paid only £17.99 for the Wii version because I pre-ordered it before they up'd the price so i'm quite pleased with myself. I'm pretty excited because this is only the third adventure game iv'e bought for the Wii, and one of those other two was And Then There Were None, so this'll only be the second decent Wii adventure game i've bought.

[nomadsoul]

http://ds.ign.com/articles/964/964230p2.html

Damn as expected not only missing vocals but midi cheap iterations of music and Wii has compressed music?

So only upgrade is art and new scenario and some puzzles where sound/music is compromised.

[dawboy]

i bought this game yesterday and finished it this past hour. gotta say im very disappointed in this effort from rev -- this is clearly low budget, from the menus to the sound and it all comes off as feeling very cheap. the new content sticks out like a sore thumb also and isnt integrated into the original game in a seamless manner at all, the whole experience feels very disjointed.

i'd say avoid even if your a big fan of this series and maybe pick it up when its budget priced if you really wanna try it out.

[Lucien21]

I might consider buying the Wii version if it wasn't £39.99.

Bloody rip-off.

[noknowncure]

Yeah, they've really thrown this together.

The original audio is muddy and jars awkwardly with the clearer, newly recorded stuff.

The great animation from the original has been spliced up, presumably in an attempt to focus on Dave Gibbons's character close ups.

The character close ups, while attractive - especially the secondary characters, I'm not so keen on his version of George - are static, or switch between a limited number of expressions.

Lack of lip sync is a missed opportunity, especially when considering that the original sprites - now occasionally obscured by the new close ups - were animated while speaking.

From what I've heard so far, the areas in the script that join the old and new material, has been really bad. George's new reaction following the explosion is dreadful.

We also lost the wonderful 'Paris in the fall...' opening speech, because of the new material. Instead we get a similar but inferior effort from Nico.

It would perhaps have been better to start with George - as in the original - then play Nico's 'prequel' scenes as a flashback, as she describes the tale to George.

One of the great things about the original game was the angle of an unsuspecting tourist accidently stumbling across a huge conspiracy without realising.

By starting with Nico's story, you immediately know that there's a conspiracy afoot. This means that, by the time you get to play through George's investigation, the element of mystery is lost.

The new puzzles and story elements are interesting for the die hard fan, but so far, the original is infinitely superior.

[orient]

I think I'm going to have to get the DS version as it seems to be the more consistent and cohesive version of the two.

That's interesting noknowncure, because the reviewer from IGN said the new plot was integrated seamlessly, apart from a sort of abrupt end to Nico's story arc.

[Kurufinwe]

I'm playing the DS version at the moment, and it looks pretty good. There are no voices, so you can't hear the difference between the old and new stuff. They used the platform well, with a really practical interface and a nice use of the two screens. And the new dialogue portraits look fine (apart from George, who for some reason looks like some middle-aged lady from the English countryside).

I must agree with noknowncure, though, that starting with Nico's story was not a good idea, as it's a far less powerful and mysterious opening than the bombing of the cafe.

Still, I've been playing for a couple of hours and I'm enjoying this version. So maybe it's a better choice than the version for the Wii?

[dawboy]

Originally Posted by orient

I think I'm going to have to get the DS version as it seems to be the more consistent and cohesive version of the two.

That's interesting noknowncure, because the reviewer from IGN said the new plot was integrated seamlessly, apart from a sort of abrupt end to Nico's story arc.

it is incorrect thats it integrated seamlessly, it is certainly not. even Nico doesn't mention to George so much as once the details of her story. instead they slip in a line where she says to herself she must keep it secret for whatever reason. it just feels very awkward. and yes, it does end quite abruptly.

honestly, if your paying full price for this i'd have to honestly recommend you pass -- and im a huge fan of the original.

edit: whats everyones opinion on the new puzzles which take advantage of the wii/ds features such as the sliding blocks? i feel those should never have been addded, awful.

[cwapitm]

Sad to hear these terrible reviews. Oh well, I'm still probably going to get it if only to play an adventure game on the Wii.