Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, known as Circle of Blood in the US, was developed by Charles Cecil of Revolution Software and released for Windows, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance. This is the first in a series of games, spanning from 1996 to the latest one released in 2006. It has also been ported to the Palm OS by Astraware, and to the Wii and Nintendo DS. It was followed by Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror.

On March 21, 2009, Ubisoft released a special edition of Shadow of the Templars for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The special editions are extended versions of the original. Unlike in the original, players can play as Nico. The new ones include new puzzles designed specifically for each platform. The Wii version is titled Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - The Director's Cut and features new character artwork during conversations and a new first person view for certain puzzles. Unlike the original game, the updated version also allows for multiple solutions to puzzles and a new co-operative mode for two players.

Story
Opening in the city of Paris, George Stobbart is enjoying his autumn vacation when he narrowly escapes an explosion outside of a café. Following the clues left behind by the killer, who is dressed as a clown, George discovers there is something much larger and more dangerous going on that stretches back in time as far as the Knights Templar. You play as George and enlist the help of a French journalist, Nicole Collard, to follow an intricate manuscript which points you in the direction of various locations such as Paris, Ireland, Syria, Spain and Scotland.

Gameplay
The Shadow of the Templars is a point-and-click adventure game where the player interacts with the environment to find clues in order to solve puzzles. The game features pre-rendered, animated sequences and a full voice acting cast, with the option of toggling text transcription of game dialogue on and off. A simple mouse interface is used in the Windows version, with context-sensitive cursor changes enabling multiple actions to be performed with a single click.