There’s one game that is eating up my time now, it’s Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (The Director’s Cut) for the Nintendo DS. And it’s nothing short of genius. A 2D adventure games, it features graphics done by Dave Gibbons, the same man who was the co-creator of Wathcmen. Outsanding 2D graphics aside, Broken Sword takes pride in its intriguing storyline (no spoilers here) and puzzles that you will encounter along the way.

brokensword

Replacing the point and click interface of its PC predecessors, Shadow of the Templars is stylus driven with contextual points of interests in every scene. Using the stylus, you can choose to investigate, pick up or even drag an object from your inventory (e.g a key) into the point of interest (e.g. keyhole). The same interface is also used to talk to NPCs to find clues on the murder (oops) that you are investigating.

The game is surprisingly engaging and while some might find the puzzles tough (cyphers and locks are the first few you would encounter), it has a hints system that reveals more on how to solve a puzzle the longer you dwell on it.

The dialogue goes hand in hand with the graphics, top-notch and the game never takes itself so seriously. After all you are investigating murders (uh-oh) in which the suspect dressed up as a mime and a clown among other disguises (part of the plot is gone…but there’s more, trust me, play the game).

brokensword_asian

Another good thing about the game is that there are two versions of the game available. Both are essentially the same,  the only difference being the price tag. The US version is selling for USD 34.90 whereas the Asian version is going for USD 29.90. Both titles are available at Play-Asia, click on the versions for purchase information.