Circle of Blood

The Good
The Shadow of the Templars is the first game in Revolution's Broken Sword adventure series, and like Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers before it, it delves into some history besides concentrating on what usually happens in the introduction. The player takes on the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist on vacation in Paris, who barely survives an explosion outside a Paris café when the killer walks in, takes a dude's suitcase and replaces it with an explosive, then walks back out. Now George has to find out the identity of the killer and track him down. He discovers that there is something much larger and more dangerous going on that stretches back as far as the Knights Templar. As the game progresses, he finds out (with the help of a French journalist) that the suitcase contains a manuscript once belonging to the Knights Templar. This leads them to various locations such as Ireland, Syria, Spain, and Scotland; and soon, they want to get down to the nitty-gritty of it all.

More often than not, you will spend most of the game interviewing people for information that will lead you to the next clue. I enjoyed interviewing people because I wanted to know what would happen later if I get the right information out of them. The script is well-thought out, and I felt that it is enhanced if you play the game with subtitles, which is what I do because I sometimes do not follow dialogue unless it appears on screen.

The interface in Templars is a bit unusual. It looked to me as if the game is presented in widescreen, but what made me think otherwise is the top and bottom bits are reserved for the inventory and interview topics, respectively. I like the way when you move the mouse to these areas, you get a smooth transition effect. The interface will still be around in the future BS games.

The hand-painted backgrounds are nice. The artists did well in determining what is in each location and make us experience what it is in real-life. For example, Ireland has pubs almost around each corner, and if you actually go there, you will see this. The buildings that I enjoyed looking were mostly in Paris. When I went to Paris four years ago, I remembered the buildings were basically in pink, yellow, and white; which is what the buildings in Templars look like. The individual cut-scenes are nice, and they trigger whatever major event is going to take place. During the game, you have to use the phone, but unlike other adventure games, you can actually see the person that you are talking to.

The music in the game is created by the London Symphony Orchestra, and it reflects well with what happens and what you are doing. In my opinion, some of the music is heard when you are in Syria. I did not know the difference between Indian and Arabian music. I thought that they were similar in style until I played this game. Other notable music include the Irish music in Lochmarne.

I read most reviews of this game here on MobyGames where the writers say that the game can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a comedy or a serious adventure. To me, this game is not humorous. Apart from what one of the lieutenants on the case says at the beginning of the game, not one conversation after that made me laugh.

The puzzles in Templars are simple, they probably take just a few minutes to complete. An example is the chess puzzle somewhere in the middle of the game, in which you only have to move the white chess pieces in the middle of the board and not the red pieces that surround it. If you place them in the correct order, something will happen. That is the only puzzle that I saw in the game, that is worth mentioning here.

I was impressed by the installation program. It is not one of those boring old installation programs where the desktop is still shown (like InstallShield), but it is based around the same color as the in-game control panel, which has shades of brown. The program has a nice transition effect where the options appear scrolling from the left or right. While files are being copied to your hard drive, you can play a Breakout game until the installation has been completed. What sets this game apart from other Breakout games is the fact that there is no lives or score, and the blocks reset when the paddle does not connect with the ball. There is a female voice to guide you through the installation as well.

The Bad
I didn't like how, during the game, you are required to do a bit of CD swapping, even though you are asked to CD-swap during the installation.

The Bottom Line
Templars is a brilliant adventure game from the dudes who brought you Beneath a Steel Sky. The hand-painted backgrounds are nice, and each building in them is modeled on real-life ones. The music suits the situation that you are in, the puzzles are not too hard, and the game comes with a superb installation program. Game number one is suitable for the whole family as there is no violence, sex, or bad language here. My sister would love to get her hands on this.

The Good
After hearing for years about how good this game was meant to be, I finally tracked down and bought a copy. It was, perhaps, surprising that I hadn't played the game before, especially as Revolution's earlier game, Beneath A Steel Sky still ranked as one of my favourite adventures of all time, and before that, Lure Of The Temptress was also pretty good.

What had put me off playing Broken Sword was the globe-trotting plot (really not my kind of thing) and the graphics, which I really didn't like the look of.

Oh, anyway...I finally bought it and played it. And my opinion?

It's good. Nothing great or classic, but definitely good.

It just seemed to me very ordinary and uninspiring. It was also over rather too quickly. Your character, an average American tourist, wanders through scenic locales around the world, chatting with amiable locals and solving a few puzzles. I never found the game gripping or particularly exciting and I was never that intrigued by the plot. OK - It does have its moments - Some enjoyable spy tomfoolery at a hotel, early on in the game, and then, right near the end, it surprised me with a classic set-piece on a train, which (especially thanks to the music in that section) was actually quite tense and engaging. But most of the time, it merely held my interest, occasionally slipping over into 'dull'.

The main character's voice acting is nicely done, oddly reminding me at times of the whimsical, enthusiastic narration in cult British kids' TV show, Mr. Benn. Other characters vary - Some are very well done - Others are drearily irritating.

The interface works well.

Graphics are generally nice.

The music is fine - Nothing at all memorable, but it usually does its job well enough, and also sounds quite different from most other game scores. The one piece of music that really stood out, for me, was the bit used on the train.

I liked the way the phone conversations were done, and the development of the relationship between George and Nico was nicely done.

The Bad
There is nothing bad about this game, just as there is nothing remarkable about it.

Some of the characters' voices irritated me, and one actor in particular was used a bit too much, providing identical voices for about three different characters. Conversation did become tedious, at times.

I didn't find the game amusing. There were perhaps two or three moments when I chuckled.

The game is pretty short, and each country you visit only has a few locations to see - With the exception of Paris, which is your 'home base' - The result was that I felt the game had spread itself too thin. Paris felt quite homely and fleshed-out, but the rest of the world wasn't too interesting.

I didn't enjoy many of the puzzles. They were a mixed bag - Some too easy, others far too obscure. It was rare that I felt much satisfaction from successfully completing a puzzle.

The Bottom Line
This is a well-made, quality game. All the elements are there. But somehow, it's just not that interesting. None of its elements rise above 'good'. There's nothing that makes me go "Wow". But it confuses me...As soon as I'd finished it, I found myself installing Broken Sword II...Hmm...

The Good
Broken Sword is one of those games that can be compared to the games of Lucasarts. Sure Broken Sword shares many similarites with say, the Monkey Island games, but what makes it different is the control system. The game uses the same control method that was used in "Beneath A Steel Sky only better. The characters in the game are well animated, in fact they give Disney a run for their money!. The music is well used in the game, it is even composed by Barrington Pheloung (who did the music for the popular UK TV series "Inspecter Morse")

The Bad
Some of the puzzles are a bit hard and can take quite a while to figure out. Other than that there's really not much to say about what makes this game bad.

The Bottom Line
A Brilliant game that needs to be in any gamers collection, adventure game fans will enjoy this a lot.