Broken Sword
Encyclopedia
Broken Sword is a video game series created by game designer Charles Cecil
of Revolution Software
. The game series revolves around the adventures of Idaho
-born George Stobbart
and the French Nico Collard in several fictitious stories based on history and mythology. The first two games in the series are controlled by a traditional point and click interface. The third and fourth installments are based on a 3D graphics engine, with the third game using a direct control mechanism. The fourth game, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
, returns to the standard point-and-click interface but within the 3D environment.
tourist on holiday in Paris
in the autumn
. The story opens with George's quiet coffee at a café 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
.
The game, which was a critical and commercial success, was released as Circle of Blood in the United States
.
Ports of the game were released on the PlayStation
, Game Boy Advance
and Mobile phone
.
, and was released on the Wii
and Nintendo DS
in March 2009.
The game includes extra story elements and settings dealing with Nico and her investigation of a murder and the truth about her father. It also features hand-drawn illustrations and animations by artist Dave Gibbons
.
The game uses the Wii Remote
and DS stylus respectively to deliver both point-and-click styles and new puzzle-solving elements specific to each platform.
In January 2010, the Director's Cut was released on the Apple App Store for iPhone
and iPod touch
. A PC release was announced simultaneously and was finally released on September 2, 2010 on various digital distribution services. In May 2010, a version with higher resolution graphics and a digital comic was released for iPad
.
The game was released as Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror in North America.
The game includes an exclusive new interactive digital comic from Dave Gibbons
. It will also feature fully animated facial expressions, enhanced graphics, high quality music as well as a context-sensitive hint system, and diary.
The game also features Dropbox integration which facilitates a unique cross-platform save-game feature, enabling players to enjoy the same adventure simultaneously on multiple devices, and full Game Centre integration – including in-game achievements.
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. This fourth installment returns to the point 'n' click system used in the first two games.
The game was released as Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game in North America.
As a gaming first, the game allows the soundtrack to be purchased, from a direct link in the game to iTunes
.
announced it in an interview with Pocket Gamer
. Cecil also confirmed that Revolution
will start making 2D games
again in a video interview with Adventure-Treff.
game engine
. While these games were originally produced for DOS
and Windows
, it is now possible to play them on a variety of operating system
s 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.
had begun the work of bringing the game franchise to the silver screen. There have been no more developments since.
Charles Cecil
Charles Cecil MBE has worked in the interactive entertainment industry for 25 years. He is currently operating as Managing Director for UK based company Revolution Software which has released such critical and commercial hits as Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series...
of Revolution Software
Revolution Software
Revolution Software Ltd. is a British adventure game company, based in York in northern England.The company was founded in 1990 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody...
. The game series revolves around the adventures of Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
-born George Stobbart
George Stobbart (video game character)
George Stobbart is the main character in the Broken Sword adventure game series by Revolution Software. He is voiced by Rolf Saxon.Stobbart currently lives in New York City, USA and works as a bail bondsman....
and the French Nico Collard in several fictitious stories based on history and mythology. The first two games in the series are controlled by a traditional point and click interface. The third and fourth installments are based on a 3D graphics engine, with the third game using a direct control mechanism. The fourth game, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, known in North America as Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game, is the fourth installment in the Broken Sword series of computer games, released for PCs running Windows in Europe on September 15, 2006, and in North America on February 13, 2007...
, returns to the standard point-and-click interface but within the 3D environment.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
The first game in the series was released on September 30, 1996, published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment world wide. George Stobbart is an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tourist on holiday in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the autumn
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
. The story opens with George's quiet coffee at a café 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
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
.
The game, which was a critical and commercial success, was released as Circle of Blood in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Ports of the game were released on the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
and Mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut
The Director's Cut is a remake of the original Broken Sword by UbisoftUbisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
, and was released on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in March 2009.
The game includes extra story elements and settings dealing with Nico and her investigation of a murder and the truth about her father. It also features hand-drawn illustrations and animations by artist Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
.
The game uses the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
and DS stylus respectively to deliver both point-and-click styles and new puzzle-solving elements specific to each platform.
In January 2010, the Director's Cut was released on the Apple App Store for iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
. A PC release was announced simultaneously and was finally released on September 2, 2010 on various digital distribution services. In May 2010, a version with higher resolution graphics and a digital comic was released for iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
.
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
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 Mayan god. It is also the only game in the series that does not follow the Knights Templar story line.The game was released as Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror in North America.
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered is a remastered version of the original, it was announced by Revolution Software in December 2010 and is available for Apple iOS.The game includes an exclusive new interactive digital comic from Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
. It will also feature fully animated facial expressions, enhanced graphics, high quality music as well as a context-sensitive hint system, and diary.
The game also features Dropbox integration which facilitates a unique cross-platform save-game feature, enabling players to enjoy the same adventure simultaneously on multiple devices, and full Game Centre integration – including in-game achievements.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, released in 2003, is the third game in the series. At the start of the game, George and Nico are no longer together. 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.Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
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 workDecent work
Decent work is the availability of employment in conditions of freedom, equity, human security and dignity.According to the International Labour Organization ILO, Decent Work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social...
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. This fourth installment returns to the point 'n' click system used in the first two games.
The game was released as Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game in North America.
As a gaming first, the game allows the soundtrack to be purchased, from a direct link in the game to iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
Broken Sword 5
Broken Sword 5 is the upcoming fifth installment in the Broken Sword series, announced to be released in 2011 or 2012. Charles CecilCharles Cecil
Charles Cecil MBE has worked in the interactive entertainment industry for 25 years. He is currently operating as Managing Director for UK based company Revolution Software which has released such critical and commercial hits as Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series...
announced it in an interview with Pocket Gamer
Pocket Gamer
Pocket Gamer is a website and video game magazine that focuses on handheld video games. It was launched in 2005 and is published by Steel Media. The publication covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, Android, PSP and the various versions of the Nintendo DS and was...
. Cecil also confirmed that Revolution
Revolution Software
Revolution Software Ltd. is a British adventure game company, based in York in northern England.The company was founded in 1990 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody...
will start making 2D games
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
again in a video interview with Adventure-Treff.
Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars
Broken Sword 2.5 The Return of the Templars, released 28 September 2008, is an unofficial freeware Windows game by MindFactory, created by fans of the original series, and explains the story between Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror and Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. Originally voiced in German, an English voice pack was released on 18 October 2010 with voices (except George) directed by Dennis Keighron Foster. The game had a development cycle of eight years starting in 2000.Technical information
The first two games use an enhanced version of Revolution's in-house Virtual TheatreVirtual Theatre
The Virtual Theatre was a computer game engine designed by Revolution Software to produce adventure games for computer platforms. The engine allowed their team to script events, and move animated sprites against a drawn background with moving elements using a point-and-click style interface...
game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
. While these games were originally produced for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, it is now possible to play them on a variety of operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s using ScummVM
ScummVM
ScummVM is a collection of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system , it now also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft. It was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus...
. Both games were also released for PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, and the first one for Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
and later also for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
. The Sleeping Dragon is based on the RenderWare
RenderWare
RenderWare is a computer and video game middleware from British games developer Criterion Software.-Overview:RenderWare is a 3D API and graphics rendering engine used in video games, Active Worlds, and some VRML browsers...
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.
Film
On May 21, 2007, it was announced that Charles CecilCharles Cecil
Charles Cecil MBE has worked in the interactive entertainment industry for 25 years. He is currently operating as Managing Director for UK based company Revolution Software which has released such critical and commercial hits as Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series...
had begun the work of bringing the game franchise to the silver screen. There have been no more developments since.
External links
- Revolution Software Ltd.
- Revolution Software games fanbase
- Official Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon website
- Official Broken Sword 2.5 website
- Broken Sword on DotEmuDotEmuDotEmu is a French video game company created in 2007 by Xavier Liard and Romain Tisserand, with its headquarters in France. This company initially dedicated to B2B adaptation and emulation of old games and now provides a B2C distribution service on dotemu.com.Distribution service: Users can...