90s PC point-and-click adventure Broken Sword reaches the DS, but has time been kind to its retro gameplay?

We delve in to find out…

In a sense,Broken Swordlives up to its name.

Adventure game standards were lifted to a new pinnacle just as they met with their commercial downfall.

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The game is indelibly French.

Within the first few scenes youre already in a cafe.

Indiana Jones is another strong influence, but with fewer Nazis and implications of light bondage.

Right from the start theres a warm, fuzzy genre comfort blanket draped around the story.

Or maybeJoe Versus The Volcano.

OrThe Burbs… Clearly, Hanks is the greatest actor of his generation.

In short, the game manages not to take itself too seriously.

You will, scouts honour, have to track down a foreboding man with a horseshoe-shaped scar.

There might not be trololo-ing but grins will be emitted from your lovely face.

On the subject of lovely faces, the characters expressions are drawn with flair byWatchmenartist Dave Gibbons.

When further interaction is required the screen will zoom in on certain areas, and these are well drawn.

While the backgrounds are rendered in two-dimensions, theyre lush and detailed.

A permanent backdrop of Paris in the top screen gives a pleasant sense of anchoring the location.

I plumped for Tom Hanks as George.

Its odd that more classics havent been reinvented for the platform.

ForgetMonkey Islandon Xbox Live, shrink Guybrush down just!

Handy objects are combined in the top screen.

his initials also stood for British Airways.

Finding yourself stuck is hard to achieve unless you cant open a jam jar in real life.

Some nifty features add freshness to the remake and improve on those of the original.

A diary records what youve done and is crucial sometimes to solve puzzles.

Good or evil responses can be picked.

Theres a mixture of classic point-and-click intrigue and new features that improve on the original and further the story.

Man meets woman, man and woman meet cult, light entertainer blows things up.

Rating:

4 out of 5