A captivating story, quirky characters, interactive environments and great visual makes this an awesome adventure game.
It starts off as you control the journalist Nico Collard caught amidst a costumed murder. From then on unfolds a captivating murder mystery, balanced with just the right amount of humour, mystery, and fun.
It is a completely new environment, new characters, new puzzles, and you wonder whether it is the same game as the PC version. Those who aren't familiar with the original Broken Sword will enjoy the detailed, cartoony and colourful visuals.
The controls are fairly easy to learn, all you need is to tap the stylus within the interactive, cartoon environment and certain hotspots appear. Like the traditional version of broken sword, different ways to interact with objects appear - look, touch, pick up item or talk. This execution is almost flawless on the DS, making the game very intuitive and easy to play.
The addition of the new hint mode available to you at every point of the story makes for an easier time when playing the game, however adventure game veterans can turn it off (and on) whenever they need to.
After you explore the first mysterious death using Nico Collard, our beloved protagonist George Stobbard arrives on the scene of the Cafe - the very first scene in the PC's Broken Sword.
The puzzles and the story do not diverge from the original game, but there are new puzzles geared to use the DS touchscreen controls and new scenes involving Nico's background story. The DS version has replaced voice acting from the game with written dialogue instead, which unfortunately does flatten out the personality of the characters you interact with. The DS version has also been more streamlined and made easier, with less things to interact with than the PC version. It may have also been geared towards a wider audience, probably attempting to capture new fans to the Broken Sword trilogy.
Broken Sword DS, although a bit short (clocks up to less than 10 hours) captures the essence of the original Broken Sword and makes it a worthwhile play for fans of the series. Anyone up for an immersive plotline, great visuals, interactive environments and well developed characters will also enjoy the game. It is now one of my favourite adventure games for the DS, and I couldn't put the game down until I finished it.