Adventure Gamers - Forums

GameSpot: 8/10

I actually would have been fine waiting for the full game early next year. It was nice of them to feel obliged to get us something before Xmas, but I think it would have been more beneficial to release a full game as opposed to this half-game that ends just as things pick up. Also could have used the time to add some polish to some of the things in this half, such as adding some cutscenes when travelling between places (i.e plane taking off, the classic red line over a map) instead of the black screen with the text which I thought was overused, and just made it feel that slightly bit cheaper.

That said, overrall, they did pretty darn good job.

rottford - 11 December 2013 01:35 PM

Almost the entire first half of the game felt like classic Broken Sword, except for one part: Henri’s apartment. Is it just me, or does that location look and feel like something out of Runaway? Even the dress-up puzzle and the “Jasmine” song seem like stuff taken from the Runaway series. That whole part of the game threw me off and made me feel like I wasn’t walking in George’s shoes anymore, but Brian Bosco’s shoes. Did anyone else think the same?

Also, I couldn’t help but feel like the street vendor was the grown-up version of the boy vendor in Syria from BS1. Anyone else?

Yes to both of these. The dress up puzzle felt very out of place for a Broken Sword Game, as did the music sequence - I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but you’re absolutely right about it feeling more like Runaway at that point.

And it did cross my mind that the business-savvy Arabic street vendor could’ve been a nod towards a grown up BS1 kid.

Anyone noticed the flying pig in the sky?

Also thought Richard Langham was a nod to Robert Langdon(same initials).

I have waited for this game for a long time, and was very exited for a true old school adventure, and now after part 1 was left disappointed.

I was so annoyed that I had to share my thoughts here, and as you see this is marked as my first post, although I have been registered since 2006 and been playing adventure games since 2000, and played a lot, really a lot, that is how much I was disappointed.

To make it clear and structured:

CONS

1. It is waaayyy tooo short, I have finished the first part for 3-4 hours and I honestly expected couple of days, and the game shown 50% when I saved, and my thoughts where this is the 50% of this 1 part, and not the whole game, but nooooo, very disappointing

2. To short man, to short, if this is 50% as the game says, and the 2 part is the other 50% then I can expect another 3-4-5 hours of play for a game that was developed for a long time and still isn’t finished, and used money of passionate players. Everyone deserves much much much more of game play

3.The story seems some kind of artificial if you know what I mean, like forced story, like empty story but we need to make something and give to the fans, I didn’t feel the writers passion and mystery from one bit of the game, it is more like you know there is this painting very old, we tried to paint it to be mysterious and scary (but it isn’t) and there are these Gnostics, and this evil, and this little boy, but really not put together as something dark, something mysterious, but on the contrary a CHEARFULL feeling.

If this is the real BS then the killer wouldn’t be some lame guy with pizza and motor helmet, c’mon we want mystery killer like ninja, like cloaked guy appearing from nowhere.

And father simon, c’mon, so artificial character, forced lines, evil, evil, and his face looking so non emotional.

The wife of Henry, and the whole story and feel of having a body of her dead husband in her home for 2-3 days in open coffin is disgusting, and unrealistic if she is ALL the time alone with him, there is nobody with her, her sister maybe, her best friend, relatives, cousins, anyone, it is well know that in situations like that someone always have to stay with the wife as she could kill her self or do whatever, very forced and artificial.
Also the body was delivered to her I would say immediately, what about an obduction as it was a murder, that last at least for 3 days, and then the court decides to give the body to family

4. Audio and character visual not in sync when speaking, like random opening of mouth it annoyed me a lot, as the characters are offten shown at close angle.

5. SELF closing doors, someone enters the room and doors closes by it self (and I’m not speaking of doors with sensors, but normal home doors) by push of the ghost I guess, it looks so stupid and artificial. And we have that in almost every sceen.

6. EVERY DAY, and I mean EVERY day the same clothes on all the characters, on all, nobody changes it clothes, not even after a 2-3 days, even if they travel to another country, get back home, and then again travel the other day always the same clothes C’MON….

7. No cut scenes, this really sucks, we had an introduction, and that is it. They didn’t dare to make a few cut scenes, between days, going to sleep let’s say in a cell, or when traveling, or when the murder is being executed of father Simon, or the painter, or setting the fire, or firemen arriving…
People just appear practically from nowhere in new scenes.
We want a map of Europe or where ever they travel, to choose where to travel, and see it, if it was in BS1 or BS2 with extremely limited ethnology at that time, now we can have a friking 3D globe as a map connected to my thoughts, let alone NOTHING.

8. Everything is sooooo empty, as if the whole city is vanished, nobody on the streets, you can’t enter anywhere, you can’t try anything, you can’t speak to anyone, it is sooo rigid and artificial.

9. Boy with a stand, c’mon, so forced and artificial, at the end of the mall, no people, nobody, like they live alone in the world. What is the sign for if there is absolutely no one to see it EVER.

10. Everything is done in one or 2 rooms, so you know the solution is only there as George refuses to leave the premises, and you combine what you have and find the solution, this is so lame.

PROS

1. BS is finally here, after a long wait, an old school adventure, and by the first look it graphics have returned to the old BS1 and BS2, very very good.

2. Graphics are really beautiful and very very detailed

3. That is it for pros, I don’t know if I even can squeeze the dialogs, maybe, for me they where very boring at most times, and I skipped them, but can say that voice acting as a separate element was very good.

Conclusion for me is this: very very beautiful graphics, old school feeling like BS2 mostly, non finished and non polished game, and very very hollow, empty, forced and non interesting and non mysterious story.

Dag - 13 December 2013 08:44 PM

Did everyone finish at exactly 50%? When I finished the episode, my overall game progression stopped at 51%. Does this mean I actually managed to find something nobody else did?

I guess you have find out that you have thrown your money out of a window