Baphomet's Curse (computer game)
| Baphomet's curse | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Original title | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | ||
| Studio | Revolution software | ||
| Publisher |
 Ubisoft (Wii / DS) Virgin (Win) Astraware (PalmOS / WM) Sony (PSOne) BAM! Entertainment (GBA)  
|
||
| Senior Developer | Charles Cecil , Steve Ince | ||
| composer | Barrington Pheloung | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1996 | ||
| platform | Android , DOS , Game Boy Advance , iOS , Linux , Mac OS , Nintendo DS , Palm OS , PlayStation , Wii , Windows , Windows Mobile | ||
| Game engine | Virtual theater | ||
| genre | Point-and-click adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse | ||
| medium | CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | German English | ||
| Age rating |
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Baphomets Fluch (English original title: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars , in the USA Circle of Blood ) is a point-and-click adventure and the first part of the series of the same name . It was developed by the British development studio Revolution Software and first published in 1996 for Windows PCs . Since then, numerous ports have been made to other systems as well as a revised and greatly expanded version as a so-called Director's Cut .
action
The American George Stobbart (voiced by Alexander Schottky ) spends autumn on vacation in Paris and enjoys the flair of a street café when a clown enters the café. A short time later the clown comes out again and a bomb explodes , devastating the café and killing a guest. When George begins to investigate on his own, he meets the French journalist Nicole Collard ( Franziska Pigulla ) and finds out with her that a certain Khan, who belongs to the old secret society of the Hashshashin , is behind the murder . They want to prevent the Templar Order, which also operates in secret, from successfully summoning the demon Baphomet .
Most of the adventure takes place in Paris, but George also travels to Ireland , Spain , Syria and Scotland in between . During the experience, George and Nicole get closer in person.
Gameplay
In the original version of the game, the player only takes on the role of the American tourist George Stobbart. The game is a classic comic-style point-and-click adventure game . The player moves the figure indirectly through the game world by clicking on or tapping certain positions on the screen, collecting objects, holding conversations and solving logic and combination puzzles typical of the genre. Despite the serious conspiracy subject, George's biting, sometimes black-humored comments are a typical feature of the series. Unlike in the LucasArts Adventures ( Monkey Island , The Dig ) or other adventure titles of the time, the character in Baphomet's Curse can die in some scenes.
Development history
The idea for Baphomet's curse came about during a dinner between Revolution CEO Charles Cecil , Revolutions Commercial Director Noirin Carmody and Sean Brennan, Deputy Managing Director of Revolutions publishing partner Virgin Interactive Entertainment . Shortly before the release of Beneath a Steel Sky , there were considerations of what the studio should work on next. Brennan suggested that Cecil read the novel The Foucault Pendulum by Umberto Eco , which also dealt thematically with the Knights Templar. This laid the foundation for the later game.
The music for the game was composed by Barrington Pheloung , who also contributed some new titles for the Director's Cut .
Since the original release for Windows and the Sony PlayStation, the first part of the series has been ported several times to other platforms. 2002 appeared on BAM! Entertainment a version for the Game Boy Advance in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. Astraware released an English version for mobile phones with the Windows Mobile 5 operating system in August 2006 and for PalmOS 5 on November 21 .
2004 was the Revolution ScummVM team insight into the source of Broken Sword take and allowed the download of the proprietary Bink- into MPEG-2 format transcoded scenes (cut scenes), which facilitated the integration of the game in the platform-independent Adventure interpreter.
Director's Cut
The Director's Cut is a revision of the original title and adds numerous scenes and new puzzles to the game. Among other things, Nico is introduced as the second playable character and many issues such as Nico's previous history are discussed that were previously only hinted at in conversations. For the new edition, both German main speakers could be won over to synchronize the new lines of text. However, some supporting roles, such as the flower seller in front of Nico's house, were set to new music. The revised inventory and close-ups of the protagonists during the dialogues are visually new , although the original background graphics have been retained. A help system now shows all possible points of interaction with the help of hotspots and, if desired, gives advice on solutions. The also newly introduced diary records the results of the previous course of the game and makes it possible to recapitulate the previous plot. Compared to the first publication, the goat puzzle has been defused (see below) and the options for dying have been removed from the game.
Criticisms of the Director's Cut were, among other things, that there were clear quality differences between the old and new recordings in the voice output. The new drawings are also clearly distinguishable from the original graphics.
The Director's Cut was released on March 19, 2009 for Nintendo DS and Wii , on January 20, 2010 for Apple iOS , on May 30, 2010 in an iPad -optimized version and on August 28, 2010 for PC and Mac. On June 28, 2012, the Director's Cut was still released for Android , although the graphics were improved again compared to the iPhone version. The game offers a completely German voice output with subtitles with the additional option of downloading other languages as well.
Speaker list
The synchronization was carried out by the Düsseldorf studio Fröhlich. The translations were done by Antje Hink, Rolf D. Busch and Harald Fette.
| role | German speaker | English speaker |
|---|---|---|
| George Stobbart | Alexander Schottky | Rolf Saxon |
| Nicole Collard | Franziska Pigulla | Hazel Ellerby |
| André Lobineau | Pius Maria Cüppers | |
| Countess de Vasconcellos | Karin Buchali | Rachel Atkins |
| Duane | Colin McFarlane | |
| Fleur | Rachel Atkins | |
| Countess Piermont, Pearl | Karin Buchali | |
| Inspecteur Rosso | Rolf Berg | |
| khan | Walter Gontermann | |
| Museum attendant | Uwe Herzog |
reception
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Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars received almost exclusively positive reviews. The GameRankings review database aggregates 5 reviews with an average value of 84% (PC version) and 6 reviews with an average value of 80% (PlayStation version). 9 reviews of Broken Sword: Director's Cut were given a value of 91 by the Metacritic review database aggregated.
The so-called goat puzzle , the solution of which was not apparent to the player, became particularly well known . In the entire game there was exactly one place where George could and had to run. Since this was not described anywhere and not apparent to the player from the course of the game, many players could not solve the puzzle on their own. The goat puzzle has since become synonymous with this type of design flaw. This error has been fixed in the Director's Cut.
Web links
- Baphomet's curse at MobyGames (English)
- Baphomet's curse at Ubisoft
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/08/22/broken-sword-the-serpents-curse-coming-soon-to-ps-vita/
- ^ Website of the composer Barrington Phelounge
- ↑ Astraware: press release . Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ↑ Astraware: press release . Retrieved April 9, 2010.
- ↑ Philipp Spilker: Test: Baphomets Fluch Director's Cut . Gamersglobal. May 23, 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ↑ Appdevice.com: Broken Sword: Director's Cut HD Now Available ( en ) May 26, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ↑ Julian Dasgupta: Android version available . In: 4Players . freenet AG . June 28, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
- ↑ a b GameRankings.com: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. Retrieved February 13, 2019 .
- ↑ a b GameRankings.com: Circle of Blood. Retrieved February 13, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Metacritic.com: Broken Sword: Director's Cut. Retrieved February 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Test: Baphomet's Curse . In: Adventurecorner.de, March 25, 2008. Accessed February 21, 2016.
- ↑ Steve Ince: The Infamous Goat Puzzle . Blog entry by the Baphomets curse producer, October 31, 2006. Accessed April 9, 2010.