A very good point-and-click adventure for new players. A nice update for those who have played the GBA version.
For those of you who have never played the game before, Shadow of the Templars is a very humorous point-and-click adventure game. Everything from the dialogs to the unique character movements makes it clear that the game has lots of personality. For instance, you can ask all the characters about all the items you have picked up. Although sometimes it's necessary to trigger events by showing certain people certain items, a lot of the items will trigger very amusing yet useless comments from people.
When compared with the previous handheld game on the GBA, two new sections were added to the DS version. Before, you only get to play as George, the main character; now, in the two new additions, you control Nicole, the other main character. Another major difference is the lack of game-overs in the Director's Cut. Instead of possibly dying at certain points in the game, either the wrong choices are not present, or George automatically does the right thing. Also, item combining is rarely present in the DS version. If I remember correctly, the other game had a lot more interactions between items, at least more than around 3.
Now all the characters have portraits, which may or may not be good. I personally think they are rather ugly, and liked it much better when I didn't know exactly what the characters looked like.
Despite the fact that this game is like an "upgrade", there were still graphical glitches. Things in the background would be over characters or objects that are in front of it. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but they give the game an unpolished feel.
One other thing that I didn't quite like was the overly sensitive touch interface. You would be sliding the stylus over the screen trying to find interactable areas, but in the process sometimes your character would start walking toward where you pointed to, even though you have not lifted up the stylus. Also, same thing with the hint button at the top right corner of the screen. Too often you would accidentally put your stylus over it, and chances are, the window will open.
In summary, are the changes and extras worth purchasing the game if you have already bought the GBA game? Probably not, not unless you are a hardcore fan of this game, or are interested in the side-story of Nicole and her father. If this is your first time, then you definitely should not miss this gem of a point-and-click.