What really puts the icing on the cake, though, is the animation.
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Multi-layer parallax scrolling in svga anyone? Sounds rather smart, doesn't it?Īs you can see from the screen shots, all of the backdrops have been beautifully produced (by professional layout artists) and the characters are particularly lovely in a stylised kind of a way. They're all in hi-res svga, they've all been beautifully animated by chaps from Disney (see Quality Teamwork box) and to cap it all, they've been produced to give a tremendous sense of depth. the graphicsĪs well as having what will certainly pan out to be a rich storyline, the game also boasts something that will turn heads when it arrives for review. If you're anything like me, it'll certainly pique your interest in the Knights Templar for starters (see Some Interesting Stuff. You pick up loads of titbits, but in the way that you would do while watching, say. The game contains an awful lot of history, but from what we've seen so far, it never actually rams the stuff down your throat. Okay, so the story deals with lots of historical stuff, but one of the cool things about Broken Sword is that the subject matter is handled in an 'Indiana Jones' kind of way. The ensuing quest takes you round Paris and eventually out to Syria in an attempt to track down the treasure. As everyone comes to, you are greeted by both the police and a particularly foxy journalist who you end up helping out. Unfortunately, he never walks out again as the whole place is blown up by a clown (?!?) who then nicks the briefcase and sods off. When the game opens you are drawn into a feud between the Templars and some ancient adversary, as a man with a briefcase (containing a manuscript pointing to the location of the Templar treasure) walks into a small cafe where you are nonchalantly sipping espresso. It seems that despite having disappeared hundreds of years ago, a sect of the Templars is alive and well and behaving in a seriously right-wing fashion in underground France. Set in Paris, the game centres around a quest for the great secret guarded by the Knights Templar (quite a popular choice at the moment with a number of games recently, including Time Gate and AzraeVs Tear). This style of game has been out of fashion for a while, with the likes of Gabriel Knight 2 and Phantasmagoria taking precedence, but Broken Sword is certain to re-establish its importance within the genre.
Combining the artistic talents of Dave Gibbons (who produced the artwork for Watchmen, Give Me Liberty and countless other graphic novels including loads of Batman stuff) and the 'Virtual Theatre' adventure gameplay engine developed by Revolution head-honcho Charles Cecil, the game proved that it wasn't just the yanks who could produce a half-decent point-and-click adventure.īroken Sword is the team's latest effort, and it has to be said that it's one of the most gorgeous-looking offerings we've seen for some time. It's Been Two Years Since Revolution dished up Beneath A Steel Sky to a surprised public.