Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death (2006)

Broken Sword 4 is two games in one - if you only listen to the audio, it's a decent yet underwhelming Broken Sword installment, but if you look at the visuals it's a bargain bin adventure game you'd buy for a couple of bucks. Not to say visuals are everything, but if you want the humor of a Broken Sword game, you'll have to first traverse the ugly visuals and the boring start to the game. It took me several playthroughs before I managed to get past the opening scene and actually get to enjoy some very good jokes, and actually start to enjoy the game. Sadly, the graphics aren't the only problem of this game - Broken Sword 4 simply feels rushed. The plot you get to experience is as uninteresting as possible, with yet another templar treasure you need to find. Instead of Nico you get a companion that just tags along and does absolutely nothing, and most levels are located in closed areas, no matter which part of the world they take place in. In those levels you'll also encounter a lot of barriers forbidding you from exploring the place, instead you're nudged along a path chosen for you, with a string of mostly easy puzzles strewn throughout, to slow you down. Puzzles are at the level of come across a locked door, walk two steps right, pick up the only item available, walk two steps left, use said item on door and advance. You'll rarely want to use a walkthrough, if at all, since even the tougher puzzles can be solved using brute force. The only problem I had was with the minigames the creators inserted into the game - mainly the computer hacking minigame. Once or twice they're okay - a cheap way to add difficulty to the game, but they get repeated so many times, after a while I got sick of having to solve them to advance the plot. Not to say the plot is any good - it's as nonsensical as the solutions to the puzzles, and the ending is a huge whimper, preceded by uninspired puzzles - some tough, some incredibly easy. Drama just doesn't work in such a humorous game.

I've played this game for ~5 screens, and I'm not interested enough to play more. If you know these all-the-same point-and-click titles (like that Poirot/Sherlock Holmes games where you have to solve puzzles just to pass somebody at the market who do not intentionally blocks your way), so this game is one of them. But if you like Tunguska/Syberia style, this may be your choice among Broken swords. If you prefer Lucasarts style, go for BS1 and BS2.

Controls are AWFUL. Started twice, quit twice, never finished. The horrible controls kill gameplay. I really wanted to play it because I'm a big BS fan, but it's nearly unplayable this way.

Everybody hated 3 and 4 because they were 3d. So, much hatred that i even reviewed 3 with it being the last 3d when i was wrong. I bought this because i have never played it and never heard of it unlike number 5 and finally it was cheap. So i bought it because it was unknown to me and it was cheap.

I've played every single Broken-sword game, apart from the director's cut, although this game is is'nt like its 2d counter-part Broken sword 1 or 2, it never the less brings its owen style but thats not to say it has lost it routes. it still has the fanstic story line and outsanding humor. A game you can't go wrong with.