PC CD-ROM minimum system requirements: 486/66mhz; 8MB RAM; 18MB hard disk space; DOS 5.0; Dual speed CD-ROM drive; SVGA.
APRIL in Paris. Sipping his coffee as he sits outside a cafe, George Stobbart can't help but feel the French are treating him with a certain disdain. Just being American seems enough reason to be treated with suspicion and this perhaps explains somewhat his even more determined attempt to woo the cafe's waitress.
But his smooth talking is cut short by the arrival of another customer - a distinguished-looking gentleman attired in hat and overcoat carrying a briefcase. In the same instant, George notices the bizarre antics of an accordion-playing clown who then disappears inside the cafe. Moments later, the clown reappears minus the accordion, but carrying a briefcase.
Suddenly a huge explosion blasts the front of the cafe clean away: miraculously, George is shielded from the blast by one of the cafe's parasols, and emerges dusty but determined to discover what connects the man in the overcoat, the clown, the briefcase and the explosion.
This is where you take over in this excellent point-and-click adventure. There are more than 70 highly-detailed locations to explore, each exquisitely displayed in stunning SVGA graphics. They are of such high quality that you could be forgiven for thinking they were straight from a Disney animation studio.
What follows is not all it seems. Your journey to uncover the truth, which takes you across Europe and the Middle East, is riddled with cryptic puzzles and intrigue. You will even have to stop in Ireland where, unsurprisingly, your first port of call is a local hostelry. No marks for originality here! However, you're not likely to get any information from the locals if you're on the wagon. When in Rome and all that. . .
The smoothly-controlled interface is as user-friendly as one could expect and the only time you are likely to have to reach for the manual is in search of a hint or two. Using items, or interacting with people and your surroundings, will become second nature very quickly, which allows you to get right into the game with the least hassle.
Broken Sword is big and certainly won't be completed during a few spare hours over a weekend. This game is so compelling that what originally might have started out as an hour here and there can quickly spiral out of control. Even, so, you won't finish it in a hurry. While humour is not its particular strength, Broken Sword, like all great graphic adventures, doesn't take itself too seriously and is scattered liberally with some nice one-liners.
Graphics: 96%, Sound: 90%, Gameplay: 91%