In Angel of Death, our hero George Stobbart has again fallen on hard times and is working in New York at a Bail Bond Office in a crummy neighbourhood. However his reputation is widespread and he suddenly finds in his office the mysterious and beautiful Anna Maria who has a job for him, but she has some men following her...
There are some definite improvements from the last adventure. The reliability is considerably better as it did not crash once on my PC, which is not something I can say about BS3. The puzzles are more varied and more logical, with less pushing of boxes to solve every other problem. The use of a PDA for hacking is an original feature that is entertaining if slightly over-used. The graphics look impressive throughout the game. The story is good if you can ignore the large plot holes that make motivation sometimes unclear.
There are some great wacky minor characters that outshine some of the repeated ones - it really is a small world when you come across some of the same people in every game no matter what the location. The most irritating point in this is when George states that he first met Duane Henderson in Quaramonte City (BS2 instead of Syria in BS1), when surely even the most casual of fans could have got this right. It just makes the game look a little rushed. Nico is again voiced by yet another actress - why is this when Rolf Saxon has remained as George throughout? At least the voice acting is almost universally good, with a large talented cast that means the characters all sound different and real - how many adventure games can claim that? The dry humour is still there in abundance as George has a mine of stories about his family and plenty of wisecracks even when in the toughest of situations, but probably the highlight is the hilarious "is it safe" dialogue, presumably inspired by the infamous dentistry scene from "Marathon Man." It would have been helpful if the designers could have added a way to skip dialogue as this can be annoying.
The camera is often a worse enemy than the main adversaries as it will quickly swing around especially when you reach doorways and can be a real pain if you are in a hurry. Control when going up and down stairs is almost impossible at times without using the keyboard.
BS4 may have its problems, but it is still streets ahead of most of its competitors who in the main can only come up with weak murder mystery adaptations based on Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle - a new Broken Sword game would still come near the top of my wish list, closely behind Gabriel Knight 4. Without spoiling the ending, it would be a shame to terminate the series here. With its globe-trotting nature, there are plenty of places and secrets to explore yet.
There are some definite improvements from the last adventure. The reliability is considerably better as it did not crash once on my PC, which is not something I can say about BS3. The puzzles are more varied and more logical, with less pushing of boxes to solve every other problem. The use of a PDA for hacking is an original feature that is entertaining if slightly over-used. The graphics look impressive throughout the game. The story is good if you can ignore the large plot holes that make motivation sometimes unclear.
There are some great wacky minor characters that outshine some of the repeated ones - it really is a small world when you come across some of the same people in every game no matter what the location. The most irritating point in this is when George states that he first met Duane Henderson in Quaramonte City (BS2 instead of Syria in BS1), when surely even the most casual of fans could have got this right. It just makes the game look a little rushed. Nico is again voiced by yet another actress - why is this when Rolf Saxon has remained as George throughout? At least the voice acting is almost universally good, with a large talented cast that means the characters all sound different and real - how many adventure games can claim that? The dry humour is still there in abundance as George has a mine of stories about his family and plenty of wisecracks even when in the toughest of situations, but probably the highlight is the hilarious "is it safe" dialogue, presumably inspired by the infamous dentistry scene from "Marathon Man." It would have been helpful if the designers could have added a way to skip dialogue as this can be annoying.
The camera is often a worse enemy than the main adversaries as it will quickly swing around especially when you reach doorways and can be a real pain if you are in a hurry. Control when going up and down stairs is almost impossible at times without using the keyboard.
BS4 may have its problems, but it is still streets ahead of most of its competitors who in the main can only come up with weak murder mystery adaptations based on Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle - a new Broken Sword game would still come near the top of my wish list, closely behind Gabriel Knight 4. Without spoiling the ending, it would be a shame to terminate the series here. With its globe-trotting nature, there are plenty of places and secrets to explore yet.