When it comes to adventure game ports to consoles, many struggle to make the transition from the PC format without some sacrifice in quality. Recent adventure games for the Nintendo Wii have fared better in this respect – in particular the Sam & Max and Strong Bad series suiting the console and its remote point system well – but for every decent release, there have always been a handful of poor imitators waiting in the wings. This was particularly the case back in the ‘90s, where many PlayStation/PlayStation 2 adventures struggled with poor controls (the gamepad truly wasn't a good substitute for a mouse) and developers failed to adapt the games to suit the console.

Yet it is with some interest that I'm looking forward to the release of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut on the Wii and DS, curious to see how the game will make use of each platform’s unique control systems. The reason being is that Revolution Software has been one of a handful of companies that have managed to port computer-based adventure games across to a console successfully whilst bearing in mind their various strengths and weaknesses. Broken Sword is already a great example of this, and although the PlayStation version was a decent conversion only slightly hampered by loading times, it is the Game Boy Advance release that impresses the most.

If consoles are a particularly tricky subject for adventure crossovers, handheld machines have even more limitations regarding memory and graphical prowess. Where Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion was an appalling port that tainted the franchise's reputation by using a poorly implemented control system, grainy graphics and scaled down puzzles, Broken Sword was an almost perfect conversion. Revolution managed to take into account the limitations of the Game Boy Advance and fit the game to the system, rather than mindlessly porting it across. With the realization that the handheld wouldn't be up to the full challenge, voices were kept out in favour of subtitles and despite shrinking the graphics and animation down in resolution, it's so expertly done that it's barely noticeable. Rather than eliminate the cutscenes, they are presented in a series of stills that do a good job of portraying events to the player. The master stroke, and a move that actually improves the game, is the ability to move George Stobbart with the control pad rather than pointing and clicking, with the buttons carrying out examinations or actions. It's a decision that really suits the system and shows that with some adequate planning, adventure ports can work on most console platforms. Even now, although getting on in years and only possible to find in the second hand market, it's still worthy of your time and attention.

Then again, it’s probably just easier to wait for the Director’s Cut versions at this point, since they should be out later this month. Having seen footage of the Wii version, it already looks visually better than the original game and seems to make good use of the remote's capabilities. Hopefully we'll find out soon whether the Director's Cut on both the Wii and DS will live up to the game's illustrious pedigree and improve on an already well-received adventure, but I’m confident that if any developer can pull it off, it’s Revolution.