A decade and a half ago, the 2D point-and-click adventure game was king, with the likes of LucasArts moving the industry forward with complex narratives and characterisation, sharp scripting and high adventure. As cerebral puzzling gave way to the visceral thrills afforded by a shift into the third dimension though, the clamour for point-and-click games dwindled.
We've seen a resurgence in their popularity recently though, Nintendo's consoles lending themselves perfectly to the genre thanks both to their broad audience and tactile control schemes. Now, Ubisoft and genre veterans Revolution Software have teamed up to rejuvenate the revered Broken Sword series, having recently announced a director's cut of adventure classic Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templar on Wii and DS. We sat down with Revolution managing director Charles Cecil for the first, full lowdown on the games ahead of their release this spring.
IGN UK: It's generally regarded that classic 2D adventure games have fallen out of favour with the larger gaming populace in the last decade. What is it about the Wii and DS that makes them the perfect home for a rejuvenation of the genre?
Charles Cecil: I am not sure that adventure games have so much fallen from favour, but more that they have been left behind as more visceral game genres have come to dominate. As the cost of producing ever more detailed 3D games has spiralled, genres such as adventures have been pushed aside. However we are now starting to see that this process has come full circle – particularly since so many Nintendo gamers like the crisp look that 2D offers.
The Nintendo formats really are perfect platforms for this renaissance - for two reasons. Firstly the control systems are so tactile – it's almost as though you are drawing onto the screen, and this is just such a great way to drive the story forward through solving puzzles and interacting with characters.
Secondly, gamers who are playing on these formats are exactly the people who either love, or would love, adventure games. We hope to appeal to two main audiences – traditional adventure fans and fans of the series, plus the casual gamer who has developed beyond simply wanting to find shapes hidden in a background, or endlessly matching three gems. These are the people who are beginning to realise what potential games have – and the adventure is the perfect genre for them to do this. They are the same sort of gamers who made adventures popular in the past but then felt alienated as games went 'hardcore'. Casual publishers know that the tastes of their audience are changing – and have identified adventures as a core genre onto which they are likely to migrate.
IGN UK: Revolution is synonymous with the traditional adventure game. What is it about the genre that you find so appealing?
Charles Cecil: Personally I like a broad range of game genres, but adventures I find particularly appealing because of the way that the story interweaves with the puzzles – something that is unique to the genre. Adventure games can portray a wider range of more interesting scenarios, and less clichéd characters, than we currently tend to see in the big, dominant genres. The interactive medium has been particularly good at delivering a visceral experience but more profound emotions are harder to create. We are learning, and continue to learn about how best to do this. Clearly interactive entertainment is an extraordinary new medium – and we are the pioneers. What a privilege!
IGN UK: How has Revolution exploited both the Wii and DS's unique features in Broken Sword? What new elements have these enabled you to include in the game?
Charles Cecil: The 'Director's Cut' has been considerably enhanced to include new content, graphics displayed at a higher resolution, animated faces in conversations, a hint system, two player mode on Wii, and many other additional features.
We start the game a day earlier than the original, told from Nico's perspective. This adds a considerable amount of gameplay over and above the original – lots of new screens. That gives us the opportunity to explain a bit of background that was not clear first time around. Nico's story then, obviously, juxtaposes with George's. However, our rule in designing the new content was that everything from the first was the absolute truth – nothing in the new content could contradict or change it. So we have added a new subplot for Nico which resonates throughout the game – juxtaposed seamlessly with the original George gameplay. I won't give anything away, but I was very pleased when our casual testers indicated that they were very surprised that the story had been added to – they had no idea where the joins took place. Hopefully people will feel that it works well!
We have also added a facial animation system, which I'll elaborate on later, plus a number of first person views for when your character is examining a small area. Sometimes the interface reflects that of the main game, sometimes it offers a mini-game. This makes the game feel very dynamic.
A diary has also been added so that players can recap on the story so far and we've taken the opportunity to tweak puzzles that maybe could have been better designed first time around too – for those familiar with the original, the diary entry for Lochmarne Castle reads "So the 'ghost of Locahmarne' is no more than a fierce Billy goat. For a moment I thought it was going to be incredibly awkward to get past, but in the end it was surprisingly simple. Who would have known?". Should I take this opportunity to apologise again for the infamous goat puzzle while assuring all that it's now more logical in its execution? Another interesting thing about the new diary is that even those of us who've played the game through many many times during testing tend to click on the diary each time a new entry is added. It seems to work pretty well, so I'm pleased about that.
I have long been concerned that while some people love the cerebral challenge of a tricky puzzle, others get frustrated. Having to look the answer up online is thoroughly unsatisfactory, so we've added a dynamic hint system – which players are invited to turn off it they don't want it. For those that do, a question mark discretely flashes when the game thinks the player is getting stuck. This offers a vague hint. If, after a certain time, the puzzle has still not been solved, then a further clue is offered until finally the solution is given. The only downside to asking for clues is that the number is tallied and is displayed with your save game. Again, this feature was greatly appreciated by the casual testers – it gives the opportunity to play through fast, almost like an interactive movie, or at a slower, more thoughtful rate.
On Wii, we've gone back to the source art material and now display colours in 16-bit rather than the 200 colours of the original, plus we've added alpha layers, redrawn the icons and so on. Graphically, the game is now much richer.
The Wii version's control system uses the pointer to highlight hotspots, in a way that is not dissimilar to the 'point and click' system, although we use rumble and, where appropriate, motion control for turning objects. Meanwhile, the DS version is totally stylus driven. After a lot of experimentation, we settled on a control system which has the player sliding the stylus over the screen to find and highlight hotspots then selecting the specific action by lifting. It works really well. The upper screen is used to display facial expressions when character engage in conversation – or talk to themselves.
IGN UK: What's Dave Gibbons' role in this Director's Cut version? Tell us more about the updated facial animation system and what it means for the series?
Charles Cecil: Since we strive to create empathetic game characters, it seemed obvious that the upper screen of the DS would be perfect to convey the changing expressions of the many characters you meet and talk to in the game. On the Wii, these facial expressions are displayed just above the characters when they talk. I just needed to find someone who could really bring them to life…
Dave and I have been talking about working together on a project ever since we completed Beneath a Steel Sky – so for almost 15 years! I approached him to work with us on this game at just the right moment – he was finishing a long-term project and was yet to move onto his work on the Watchmen movie. Dave drew all the various character facial expressions, which were then animated. Dave also drew the characters and backgrounds for new cut-scenes, in-game elements like photographs, paintings and so on. It's been really fun getting back together with him.
IGN UK: With new sequences and story elements this time around, how hard has it been to integrate the new elements alongside those of the original? For instance, do you have the original cast back on board?
Charles Cecil: I wanted to keep the original voices wherever possible so that the game felt authentic. We were lucky enough to be able to hunt down the original George and Nico actors – and they recorded the new dialogue to sound like the old. So there is a feeling of continuity between the games. One other character has additional dialogue, so we simply re-recorded all their script. The remaining characters are new.
IGN UK: If this latest outing for Broken Sword is a success, how likely is it that we'll see Director's Cuts for the series sequels? Do you already have ideas floating around for expanded sequels?
Charles Cecil: The answer is yes to thoughts of potentially doing more Director's Cuts but, frankly, I haven't thought too hard about how they would be approached. When you write a game, there are so many elements that need to be balanced – and it is very easy to misjudge some of those elements. It's such a pleasure and a privilege to be able to re-visit the first Broken Sword game. It would be great to do the same with the others.
But that's not to say that this is the future in its totality for the next few years. We are always thinking of new projects – and that is not to forget the approach from the movies studio to make a Broken Sword film which we are taking very seriously.
IGN UK: Finally, now that Revolution has re-teamed with Dave Gibbons, how about that Beneath a Steel Sky sequel? Isn't it about time?
Charles Cecil: It is time – and lots of people ask the same question. A few years ago we released the original for free to be played using the Scumm VM emulator. Our thinking behind this was that no one could play the game without Scumm VM – and Scumm VM was free, so it only seemed fair to give it away. This was, in hindsight, a brilliant marketing initiative (I wish I could claim that we were strategic enough to have seen this at the time) because literally millions of people have played it in the past couple of years. And many of them have joined the clamour for a sequel. This Broken Sword Director's Cut will go a long way to proving the potential market for this type of adventure – if it is successful then we will certainly explore opportunities for a BASS sequel.
Me too! Nice finding 
com esta notícia, esta versão de director's cut virá compensar-me nessa falha. 
E realmente as imagens já deixam água na boca... 
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