Secrets of the Ark

The Broken Sword series just keeps on keepin' on, even though an increasing percentage of young gamers have probably never heard of it. Considering the series is over 10 years old, it's surprising we're only now getting the fourth installment.

Secrets of the Ark is pretty much what you'd expect from an adventure game nowadays. A lot of classic talk-and-puzzle gameplay mixed with an attempt at a contemporary look and interface. And at the minimum system requirements, the game will chug on all but the lowest graphical settings.

What's odd is it does this even though Secrets of the Ark doesn't really look all that great. Sure, the visuals are passable, but nothing to write home about. The controls, which are apparently supposed to be the best of both worlds - a mixture of classic point-and-click adventuring with keyboard commands for movement and such and an icon-driven interface - are clunky at best. The icon system in particular is a bit irritating, since multiple objects will react to two different commands (look and use) and you have to double check each item to see if both icons will appear or not.

The Broken Sword games, with bumbling hero George and his too-hot French girlfriend Nico, have always had decent writing, and Secrets of the Ark is no different. Fans of the series will definitely feel right at home here, even if this isn't the best game in the franchise. The acting is solid; the characters are likeable and fleshed out well for the most part; and the dialogue is fun.