Broken Sword
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Broken Sword is an adventure game series created by game designer Charles Cecil of Revolution Software. The game series revolves around the adventures of George Stobbart and Nico Collard in fictitious stories based on history and mythology. The first two games in the series are controlled by a traditional point-and-click interface that the player uses to interact with the cartoon animated backdrops. The last two games are based on a 3D graphics engine that the player operates through a direct control system. The latest game, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, is also using an advanced point-and-click interface similar to the first two.
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[edit] Official Games
[edit] Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
- See also: Characters from Broken Sword 1
The first game in the series was released on September 30, 1996, published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment world wide. George Stobbart is an American tourist on holiday in Paris in the autumn. The story opens with George's quiet coffee at a cafe rudely interrupted by the explosion of a bomb planted by a man dressed up as a clown. He sets off investigating the explosion and, gradually, he and photo-journalist Nico Collard are drawn into a globe-trotting adventure involving conspiracies, cults and murder, all revolving around the Knights Templar.
Despite the death and cults the game is a lighthearted and fun game, with high-quality hand-drawn animation and graphics. The game features a musical score composed by Barrington Pheloung, and a cast of voice actors led by Rolf Saxon as George Stobbart.
The game was a critical and commercial success, and is often today cited as the best game in the Broken Sword series. The game was released as Circle of Blood in the United States, Baphomets Fluch (Baphomet's Curse) in Germany, Les Chevaliers de Baphomet (Knights of Baphomet) in France, La leggenda dei Templari (Legend of the Templars) in Italy and La leyenda de los Templarios (Legend of the Templars) in Spain.
Ports of the game were released on the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Palm OS and Windows Mobile.
[edit] Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
- See also: List of Broken Sword 2 characters
The second game in the series, released in 1997, opens with George Stobbart witnessing the kidnapping of his now girlfriend Nico Collard. It is up to George to break Nico out, and uncover a secret drug ring that relates to the redemption of a sinister god.
[edit] Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
- See also List of Broken Sword 3 characters
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, released 2003, is the third game in the Broken Sword series. At the start of the game, George and Nico are no longer together, obviously separating between this game and its predecessor. However, as the game progresses, George and Nico realise that they are uncovering the same mystery, and begin working together again to stop the evil that threatens the world once again.
[edit] Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
- See also List of Broken Sword 4 characters
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, released 2006, is the fourth installment in the Broken Sword series. Since the events of the third game, George Stobbart has hit an incredible low in his life. He can no longer find decent work as a Patent Lawyer, and so he now works as a bail bonds clerk. When a mysterious woman, Anna Maria, enters George's life, he is thrown into another adventure. Broken Sword 4 returns to the point 'n' click system used in the first two games.
As a gaming first, the game allows the soundtrack to be purchased, from a direct link in the game to iTunes.
[edit] Technical information
The first two games use an enhanced version of Revolution's in-house Virtual Theatre game engine. While these games were originally produced for DOS and Windows, it is now possible to play them on a variety of operating systems using ScummVM. Both games were also released for PlayStation, and the first one for Mac OS and later also for the Game Boy Advance, Palm OS and Windows Mobile. The Sleeping Dragon is based on the RenderWare engine. The Angel of Death runs on Sumo Digital's own graphics engine, while scripting of the game utilizes a tweaked version of its predecessor.
[edit] Fan games and petitions
[edit] Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of The Templars
Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of The Templars is an unofficial Broken Sword game created by the fans of the series and it is planned for an underground release in 2008.[citation needed] The story takes place between Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror and Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon.Two versions of the demo are available online; one in German with English subtitles and one with English subtitles and no voices. The game is designed in 2D trying to follow the steps of the first two games.
[edit] Broken Sword games on the Nintendo DS
Revolution Software is currently attempting to gauge interest in bringing the Broken Sword series to the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system. To that end, Tony Warriner posted a link to an online petitionat the Revolution Chat website. The petition is an attempt to gauge interest in such titles on Nintendo's handheld in a more traditional 2D format. It isn't clear if this would lead to a port of the first two games, or entirely new games in the series. The petition can be found here.
[edit] Trivia
- In the opening animated sequence of Broken Sword II, the apartment of Oubier contains a portrait of Plantard and a painting of the Vasconchelos' garden.
- In the London subway in Broken Sword II is a ghost that will disappear when Nico goes too close to it. The ghost looks just like Khan in his old woman disguise. Using the chocolate bar on the ghost results in opening a new location to the left, which is reference to Beneath a Steel Sky, one of previous Revolution Software games
- In Vernon Blier's bedroom in Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is a poster of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars boxart.
[edit] External links
- Revolution Software Ltd.
- Official Broken Sword: The Angel of Death website
- Official Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon website
