Agon: Lost Sword of Toledo

Agon: Lost Sword of Toledo could be accurately described as an interactive book, just as accurately as it could be called a game. In the first thirty minutes of play I’d already discovered more on-screen text than I wanted to, discounting the lengthy conversations I’ll talk about later.

I won’t criticise a game for including educational elements, as I’m sure that someone with the inclination (someone who, for example, enjoyed reading the books in Oblivion) would take great pleasure in poring over the digital texts. However, I’m not naïve enough to believe there are that many people out there who are of this ilk. I’m certainly not one of them.

You take the role of convivial British Museum employee Professor Samuel Hunt. His mission, quest if you will, is to investigate myths, legends and so on. In this particular title (the fourth of a proposed 14) your task is to discover more about the fabled Sword of Toledo. Of course, there are plenty of things to sidetrack the professor in his mission, such as family quarrels and incarcerated youngsters.

Movement is flick-screen, Myst-style, although thankfully the camera isn’t fixed. A 360 degree vision area allows the player to examine his surroundings more effectively, although the flick-screen element does annoy somewhat when manoeuvring in a small, enclosed space. It won’t irritate veterans of the genre, but more…exuberant players will uninstall the game after five minutes of this.

Movement is slow then, but not game-breaking. Conversations are, though. I was nearly in a coma after exchanging life stories with the very first character, which isn’t a good sign. Considering such conversations are so important to the development of the story, their brain-meltingly slow pace will challenge even the most hardened of gamers. Perhaps this says more about me than the game, with my lack of patience to endure, but I’m not so sure. Oh, and you can’t skip the dialogue either.

Positives include atmospheric audio, pleasant graphics, Max Payne-style comic interludes and a wide variety of items to examine, click on and pore over.

Recently, I praised Jack Keane for doing away with ludicrous logic puzzles. Agon: Lost Sword of Toledo slaps you in the face with them. I’m surprised the game box didn’t feature an arcane locking system, preventing access to the disc until you’d researched ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and their relation to astrological phenomena. There is nothing more frustrating in a game than to be prevented from progressing by a ridiculously obtuse puzzle. Please, no more!

Agon: Lost Sword of Toledo is suited to players with a lot of time on their hands, with a great deal of patience and, perhaps, ones who haven’t played an FPS in their lives. I’d also advise not turning on the subtitles, because you read them before the actors have got a quarter of the way through. Quite a shame, really.

4.5 / 10

David Brown

The Trailer