Broken Sword: The Angel of Death Killed Me
Playing Broken Sword 4 was like spending half a year trying to finish a bowl of flour paste. I drag it through months, unable to spent more than an hour a week playing it. The only reason why I forced myself to play it was my completely disbelief. This couldn’t be THAT bad. My brain refused to believe it. Just like it refused to believe that the black character in the game was written by people who actually seen a black person outside of a north american thriller from the 80’s.
I know there are things to take into consideration before criticizing the game: First of all, it was an unplanned sequel. Broken Sword was supposed to end after the third game but the demand from fans for a sequel was overwhelming and, unlike Leisure Suit Larry, the ending actually allowed a 4th part to be possible. Second, it was released in a time where graphic adventures were dying and 3D graphics were a relatively new thing yet, so is easy to forgive the flawed action and stealth sequences… but not the bad puzzles, specially the hacking minigames. Not only they were tedious, but they were also nonsensical: yeah, redirecting, what I think, was some kind of flux of information towards different servers with some kind of hacking mirrors or whatever in a 2006 phone MAY have some kind of sense but, Adding a dozen of those things? Seriously? It was already hard enough to gather enough motivation to turn on my PC and finish the god darn thing. I didn’t need one of those puzzles popping up on my screen, draining my will to play, once every new stage.
The new characters are insanely unremarkable, aside from the ones in the Vatican. I only remember Anna Maria because she was exasperating. The evil guys? I forgot each and every one of them. Their plan, not gonna lie, did sound pretty interesting. Too bad the execution was poor and made the whole idea look like pseudo-scientific garbage.
The worst thing this game did was playing with my hopes. It actually gets good, almost enjoyable in certain parts. The catacombs, for example, have some great puzzles. The whole side-story in the vatican about a priest and a hobo that hate each other is fantastic and hilarious. Nico re-appearing to help George’s sorry arse not once but TWICE made me smile quite a lot. All together are barely enough to made me think that the game was gonna get better, that it was all just a weak beginning, that the ending is gonna be worth it… only to, you know, disappointing me like the 2nd part of Broken Age, only 5 times worst.
God, I feel like I’ve been ranting forever about this game. Bottom line: don’t play it, don’t have sex with nuns like George Sttobart did in that game and, if you do, at least wear protection or, whatever.