Broken Sword: Director's Cut

CNET Editors' review

by: Tuong Nguyen on November 06, 2012

Broken Sword: Director's Cut is the rerelease of the 1996 classic point-and-click adventure/mystery game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. In addition to the original game, Broken Sword: Director's Cut has also added a slew of new content and gameplay to flesh out the back story of Nico, one of the major characters. You play as the American tourist George Stobbart as in the original game and for selective sections as the attractive freelance journalist and part-time petty thief, Nicole "Nico" Collard. They must brave the dangers of a Parisian underworld to solve the murder of a famous media tycoon and uncover old family secrets.

To control George/Nico, you simply have to touch certain parts of the scenery. If a tiny blue circle appears, it means you've landed on a key point. From then you can choose to do a variety of actions such as a close-up investigation, manual interaction, or even confiscation of certain items as evidence. Other parts of the game will have you solving puzzles to advance to the next stage of the game. If puzzle-solving isn't your thing, there are handy cheats that allow you to skip puzzles to dive straight into the plot.

Visually, Broken Sword is magnificent with new high-resolution artwork. The opening introduction boasts amazingly drawn scenery of Paris' cityscape. Transitions from one locale to the next often come with intricately drawn buildings, rich with France's most celebrated architecture. Broken Sword also features complete voice acting for almost every line of dialogue to immerse you even further in its story. The downside of this is that you'll have to suffer through Nico's snarky French-accented comments on everything ranging from the curtains at a brutal crime scene to the murder victim's taste in women.

Overall, Broken Sword: The Director's Cut is a very enthralling adventure game for mobile platforms. Broken Sword was designed for gamers who can appreciate an intricate story line, beautiful artwork, and puzzle-solving elements. It has enough mystery and intrigue to keep players interested in finding out more, although it's not a game to be played for only 10 minutes at a time, but rather in a long sitting. We should also add that those with an intense fear of mimes should avoid this game.