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Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death Mini Review
Chris Leyton
19/09/2006
George is back to recover a stolen manuscript, scour the globe and save the Adventure genre...
Long before a certain 60-million selling author caught the world's attention with the convoluted tales of The Knights Templar, a certain floppy haired hero aimed to uncover the truth in Revolution Software's 1996 hit, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. Despite riding the ever declining wave of point ân' clicks, the Broken Sword series found itself success by satisfying a demanding fanbase with a compulsive blend of thought-provoking puzzles, a strong storyline and genuinely likeable characters focussing around the on/off relationship between protagonist, George Stobbart, and the French journalist Nico Collard.
Despite George's introduction into the world of 3D with the 2002 release of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon on PC, Xbox and PlayStation2, a generally poor performance on the consoles and a reported £2 million budget, left the hero-of-sorts facing an uncertain future.
Facing up to the challenge Revolution's Charles Cecil has changed things around quite drastically for the fourth title in the series. Chucking console versions out of the window, Cecil has essentially "sub-contracted" the actual development work to one of the UK's most prolific studios, Sumo Digital. Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death also marks the debut PC title to demonstrate the possibilities of Philips amBX technology, promising to heighten the sense of immersion with surround lighting, vibration and air movement - unfortunately TVG wasn't provided a chance to sample the "ambient experience", so this review is "sans-amBX"!
The Angel of Death finds George Stobbart in tough times; working for a bail bonds company and with Nico seemingly out of his life, adventure still appears never too far when a woman named Anna-Maria comes knocking at his door looking for help. Following quickly behind by The Mob, the mention of an ancient manuscript and a considerable reward are enough of an incentive for George to leave his desk and take an adventure across the globe, from Istanbul to The Vatican. The plot does seem to take awhile to actually get going, which does make the first hour seem like a tougher chore then what it probably is; fortunately after the manuscript Anna-Maria is searching for has been recovered, and the core storyline slowly revealed, many of the qualities that established the series amongst point 'n' click fans soon becomes apparent. Without wanting to spoil too many surprises, a predictable love triangle unfolds as the mystery unravels, though fans of the series could have a few questions and disappointments over the finale and a handful of other aspects tied to the characters. The focus on a strong central narrative comes at the cost of a largely linear structure to the game, leaving a wish for the design behind adventure titles to evolve beyond the guidelines in an effort to increase the sense of immersion and compulsion - something that Quantic Dreams Fahrenheit managed so effectively.
A prerequisite of the genre, The Angel of Death has more than its fare share of hair pulling, keyboard chucking, tantrum throwing puzzles to solve. From the onset, the game is teasing you with apparently logical puzzles with ridiculously obscure solutions. Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of side-splittingly, irreverent comedy featured in the classics of the genre's golden era. There's little to alleviate the mounting frustrations you face when trying to perform a relatively mundane action such as crossing an area blocked by electrical wires and holes in the floorboard - why can't you use that piece of wood standing right next to you, and why is it the main character always seems to revel in his knowledge of the solution but never willing to share it with you? There seems to be a distinct lack of cryptic clues to hint towards the possible solution, beyond a link to the game's website which essentially provides a puzzle-by-puzzle walkthrough of most of the game (yes I did have to resort to this on one or two occasions). Obviously with a point 'n' click title this aspect is entirely subjective, but you have to question whether the game's highly frustrating moments will help the series to find a new audience or cater for a market in decline. At the same time, The Angel of Death does have one or two situations that leave you with the smug sense of satisfaction that comes at finally solving a puzzle and the classic case of making a simple solution far more complex then it actually is - two crucial ingredients of a good point 'n' click.
The problems faced by the game, and ones largely faced by it representing the genre single-handedly, are caused by the series continued struggles with the world of 3D and the general interface. Undeniably, an improvement over the last title in the series, The Angel of Death attempts to portray the scenes in a similar manner to its 2D roots, keeping camera pans and zooms to a minimum. Providing the choice of a traditional point 'n' click or direct control, the system is, unfortunately, far from perfect and often a barrier between enjoying how the game and story is developing. With the former, George will often become stuck, head the wrong way or require continuously clicking to move mere footsteps because of a close 3D camera (it's also a shame that the otherwise unneeded keyboard is required to run); the latter closely resembles movement in the Resident Evil series - pre RE4 - and the frustrations that went with it.
If you have the perseverance to stick with puzzles that have been designed to test the patience of time itself, the slow introductory pace and continuous struggles with the game's interface (the genre's weaknesses as a whole) then Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death probably provides everything you're looking for.
It is, however, harder to see where George and Revolution Software head to next; despite the generally acceptable presentation, the game does feel undeniably dated and desperately in need of a next-generation make-over in terms of taking the core theme and improving the direction, presentation and overall concepts. With TellTale Games successfully demonstrating the creditable performance of point ân' clicks on a smaller scale, we question whether George may be heading the episodic way in the future or perhaps finally provide the fabled next leap that the Adventure genre continuously stumbles upon.
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