Broken Sword: The Angel of Death

Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, known in North America as Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game, is the fourth installment in the Broken Sword series of computer games, released for PCs running Windows in Europe on September 15, 2006, and in North America on February 13, 2007. It is the first game to be amBX enabled, and also the first one in the series not to be released on any console.

Plot
The story begins, when George Stobbart down on his luck, is working for a Bail Bonds company. Since the events of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, George has failed to get any real work as a patent lawyer, and as a result, had to work delivering bails to his many aides.

When George is approached by Anna-Maria, the beautiful femme fatale who is aided by only a manuscript of great importance, the two are assaulted by a group of thugs hired to track down and kill Anna-Maria. George and Anna-Maria escape, and the two begin searching for this great treasure that the manuscript leads them to.

Soon however, the group of thugs return, and reveals another whole level of danger, when George finds and reveals corruption in Rome, the Vatican, and the Convent. Soon enough, Anna-Maria is captured, and it's up to George to work out who's taken her, and what is going on.

Development
On August 17, 2005, the fourth game in the series was announced by THQ and Revolution Software.

For the first time, Revolution Software was not the developer; instead, it was outsourced to Sumo Digital, a game development studio from Sheffield, England. Sumo Digital provided consultancy on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of The Sleeping Dragon. Rolf Saxon who voiced George Stobbart in previous games is back and a new voice actress by the name of Katherine Pageon was hired to play Nico Collard.

Ben McCullough composed the music for the game although the soundtrack also features several tracks from the electronic band Ūbernoise, all specially written for the game. There is also an accompanying soundtrack album on Sugarstar Records available exclusively from iTunes.

Reception
The Angel of Death received mixed reviews. The game received an aggregate score of 73/100 on Metacritic.

Adventure Classic Gaming said, "Not only the game succeeds in addressing many of the flaws in Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon that have plagued the previous title, this sequel is able to surpass the high standard and expectation set forth by past games in the series to create yet another chapter in the legend of the Knights Templar."

Eurogamer said, "As an example of classic, back to basics point and click adventuring, there can perhaps be no finer recent example in the genre than The Angel of Death - it's a nailed-down must-buy if you're an adventure diehard who plays every one."

PC Zone said, "It's hard, its opening acts don't match the quality of those which follow and some characters grate - but as a modern rendition of a traditional formula, The Angel Of Death has both pointed and clicked wisely. It's another nail out of the adventure gaming coffin - although admittedly quite a few remain."