Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror

The Good
The story was on the quirky side, but the characters, the dialogue between them, and the way the voice actors brought it all to life was simply a joy. At first glance the graphics looked like something that wound up on Hanna-Barbara's cutting room floor, but once into the game they animated with a nice frame rate that settled all fears. Also, the difficulty level was low, making this perfect for beginners or people mainly interested in the story. The puzzles were pretty well integrated into the game, with none of the noticable "adventure game syndrome" coming to the surface. Another glowing point that deserves praise is the execution of the plot. There were a lot of things going on here, but so many of them were subtle. Farces on pop culture lay everywhere, but never does the script beat them over our heads. They're just there to pick up on in passing. So too is a lot of the game's adult content. Instead of coming right out and screaming in the user's face that this is a no-holds-barred gorefest or language-spree, instead it is once again shuffled into the deck and produced as the plot requires.

The Bad
Well, the game was easy. I know I listed this as a good point, but it can also be bad. Sure, you can sit back, look at the big picture, and figure out the solution, but veteran gamers will not be challanged at all here.

The Bottom Line
Quick-witted and fun as a piece of entertainment, this is something to enjoy if you're here for the story and dialogue. Mensa members seeking to challenge themselves should move on.

The Good
What first caught my attention was the first puzzle, a great beginning for an adventure game. The gameplay made a good improvement that some missed playing BS1, when you move your cursor over a hotspot the game displays the name of the object or person. You can also play with Nico too in BS2. The graphics, similar to BS1 but with some technical improvements, were a good surprise too. There are a lot of animated cut-scenes giving the game a cartoon feeling. The music is composed again by Barringhton Pheloung, something good because the music from the first installment was amazing.

The Bad
Maybe too similar to BS1 but with just some improvements. The two wheel puzzle near the end was a bit annoying as it drove you away from the climax of the situation.

The Bottom Line
This game wasn't a big success (or at least not as BS1 was) maybe because as the back cover says, it was prohibited in South America (for some reasons that you will see when you play the game), a shame, as not being able to sell a game in a huge territory as South America is a great loss, and could have gained some more benefits. Anyway a great game, with tons of well-thought puzzles and a cinematic feel on it. Another guess is that it could have been more, it looks just like an add-on to the first game...

The Good
It starts interesting, it puts you on fire, and ties you to a chair. And as much as it sounds I'm referring to a player, this is just about what happens to George as the game starts. George... player... George... player... what's the difference, right? Well for one thing, George rushes too blindly into anything that starts with 'dangerous', not much different from Indy, actually. The story takes on after the original as it is clear that George and Nico aren't such strangers anymore (and if they were ever any less, alas, we don't get to see that like in GK3). The graphics is as beautiful as ever, and the game comes with plenty hand-drawn 2D cinematics just as its predecessor. Furthermore, there's an ability to "enhance" how the graphics look, even though I'm not entirely sure what was that about, it's probably something no other game tried before (and never will).

This game as well will take George and Nico across the globe in search for whatever they'll be searching to uncover this time, and dialogues and puzzles will keep you amused, and if they don't, the scenery should, because it's really one of the finest (and alas, among the latest rare few) 3rd-person point-and-click 2D graphic adventures. This time soundtrack is 'better' and it doesn't consist of only short clips, and credits even have a song with lyrics. Only one year pause, and it seems as they did invest a lot of sweat into creating this game, which ultimately turned into a fine product.

And by now, it was nothing new, but still great to see, you could control Nico as well as George.

The Bad
The story doesn't seem as interesting as the original, and becomes really dull at some points. Going into supernatural stuff just doesn't fit characters like George Stobbart or Indiana Jones, it's more for those like Gabriel Knight. Also, cover art doesn't seem much creative, at least US one I got, box front cover, and jewel case front, inlay and back have the same picture on it. Since they lost "ink" on printing the picture at all, what difference would it be if they actually added some more creation to the cover art, if for the players who bought their games.

The Bottom Line
Graphically reaches the first place in the trilogy, story cuts it down to last, and any other characteristic makes it equal with the trilogy. George is back, that is reason enough to buy this game, he's a character we players like, and good adventure game characters can be counted on one hand. This is a good game, and good adventure game that should not be left out if you played either from the series, it's part of a bigger picture, and I can say I would really like if they continued making game like this every 1-2 years than what I waited for 6 years and got BS3.

The Good
When the first Broken Sword game, entitled The Shadows of the Templars, sold very well, Revolution wasted no time releasing its sequel. After six months of separation, George and Nico get back together again, and the two of them visit a professor's mansion. There, Nico is kidnapped, and George is knocked out and strapped into a chair guarded by a deadly spider. Starting from this point, BS2 becomes an adventure involving an evil Aztec god, some ancient Mayan stones, and a conspiracy revolving around a solar eclipse.

George has the same personality that he carried in BS1, and mostly throughout the game, he wears the same clothes he did before. Most of the characters are quite friendly, especially Duane, the fellow American George met in Syria back in BS1. Nico, on the other hand, decided to abandon her old clothes and put on something much sexier.

The majority of The Smoking Mirror has George talking to characters, asking questions about people and on what he has discovered so far. Most of the information George receives is rather quite interesting, and it can help the player on what to do next. Most of the time, I felt like talking to every character I met, and by doing this, it gave me insight of what the characters I already saw, or will see, are like, and whether they are dangerous.

George starts his adventure in Paris, which happens to be the same city George started in in the last game. From there, he travels to more exotic destinations like Quaramonte, jungle, Caribbean, and Zombie Island. With the exception of Zombie Island, most of the locations are real. In the game, each location is beautifully hand-drawn, making it a joy for me to walk around each location and see what I can see.

I had no trouble getting used to BS2, as all the usual elements are there, such as the mouse cursor and control system, as well as the false impression that the game is presented in wide screen. As I may have said in my review of the first game, I like how the icons appear in both black areas.

Each cut-scene in the game has the same quality as the ones in the first game. I love the cut-scenes at the beginning. (That South American tarantula gives me the creeps.) I found that most of them are enjoyable to watch, and I just wish that there was a feature in BS2 that lets you view all cut-scenes that you've previously watched.

What makes the sequel different to BS1, however, is the way that the player has the opportunity to control two characters at different times. Not many games allow you to do this, and I can only remember the last two games of the Gabriel Knight series, plus Guilty, where you get to control more than one character. Controlling more than one person in this way is very good for people who are fed up playing the same person all the time.

The music in the game is very good, and it reflects well to what you are doing. There are often times when conversations with archeologists/historians goes deeper into the plot that the music becomes a bit powerful, with some pieces of music containing drums as the main instrument, while others with chanting in the background. Also, I enjoyed listening to the title song called Happiness Is An Inside Job by Bob Sekar, as well as the music played whenever players access the control system.

Now onto the puzzles. The first puzzle of the game is right at the beginning, where George is tied to a chair and he must find some way to break himself free before that tarantula kills him. This puzzle is easy enough, as it is a matter of clicking everything the player sees. The hardest puzzle is at the end of the game, involving the player to turn two huge Mayan wheels and pressing a few tiles in an effort to open a secret door. Besides these two puzzles, I hardly found any throughout the game.

The Bad
Nothing I noticed.

The Bottom Line
BS2 comes into line with BS1, featuring a storyline based on historic events. To complete this adventure, players have to visit a variety of locations, most of them exotic, and deal with characters that can either help or hinder them. The script is well-thought out, making some of the conversations between two people interesting to read. Besides those from the beginning and end, there are no puzzles I know of during the game. Finally, the interface and control system is similar to BS1, so players can easily get used to the game.

The Good
As this game uses the same game engine as its predecessor the graphics are as beautiful as ever, plus the credits even have a song with lyrics now. There are some technical improvements to the interface, for example, you can now jump to locations by double clicking on an exit.

The puzzles, for the most part, are straightforward and logical. You won't find anything similar to the infamous goat puzzle from the first game. The big difference to the first game, is that in Smoking Mirror the player has the opportunity to control two characters at different times. And even though it's nothing special like, say, Maniac Mansion, you just play one chapter with George another with Nico, it's still a nice diversion.

There's still plenty of interesting characters you'll meet along the way. Plus you'll also run into a few old faces from the first game like the American tourists Duane and Pearl, and get to find out what happened to Sergeant Moue.

The Bad
After the Templar grand plot in the first game, here the story feels rather cliche - bad guy trying to resurrect evil god and prevent others from stopping him. And that's a shame because the Mayans are just as an interesting subject as the Knights Templar but here it's wasted with the rather thin plot this game has.

The story is not nearly as well-conceived nor executed. There's one major event near the end that takes place totally off screen and isn't explained or even showed in a cutscene at all. But seeing as this game was released just one year after the original it's easy to suspect why production was rushed and major scenes were dropped.

It starts out rather dull despite beginning the game strapped into a chair guarded by a deadly spider. Unlike the first game, it failed to pull me in right at the start. Though it does get significantly more interesting from there one, that is once you get to Quaramonte and the Caribbean. But still, compared to the first game there isn't nearly enough location variety. Also the first one had an abundance of interesting and funny characters, here there's only maybe a dozen, there's also way less conversations (which to some might be a blessing though).

This game is also more linear than the original. There's no map and in only one area you have more than one choice about where to go next. You also no longer can ask everyone about every item you're carrying, only a selected few. If you try to ask about the others, the main character will just say: "I don't think he/she would be interested in that". Why not? For me that was one of the numerous strong points in the original, where you could, for example, show plaster to a museum guard and get some snarky response from him.

I don't know what is it with mazes in adventure games but there's one here as well. Even though the Zombie Island maze is not nearly annoying as the one in the third Kyrandia game it still felt unnecessary. The Mayan setting feels wasted on the puzzles as well, with only the last 2 puzzles right at the end happening in the Mayan temple. However the problem is that they don't gel at all with the pacing of the game by that time. Oh don't mind me while I do some wheel & lever puzzles, the villain will just have to wait resurrecting that evil god.

The Bottom Line
As expected the first one was a tough act to follow, as a result the second Broken Sword game doesn't really pull it off. In fact, I would say it's not even close, however Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is still a solid game with plenty of style and character, well worth checking out if you like adventure games.

The Good
Broken Sword 2 features superior graphics and sound fit for an animated movie by Don Bluth. Beyond the amazing, late 1990s visual and audio features, the game offers an enjoyable, point n' click, adventure game storyline. While the game's script may not be as funny as Monkey Island or Disc World, it's some of funniest stuff I heard in an adventure game in a long time.

The Bad
My complaints with the Broken Sword 2 mainly fall on its linear game play. Exploration in the game is limited to what is needed to complete a specific task or puzzle. You rarely have the option to backtrack in the game and the final puzzle in the game feels anti-climatic. Game play aside, I did notice a few, glitches on 'Zombie Island' where failure to complete certain puzzles in the proper order may force you to restart the game or load a saved game.


The Bottom Line
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror is a great graphic adventure game from the late 1990s. Fans of the genre, especially games that have some humor in them, will enjoy the ride, but may end up feeling a bit hungry for more, once the game is completed.

The Good
The control method from Broken Sword 1 has been kept, so it is still easy to play, and the addition to play as Nico provides a nice aternative to playing as George now and then. Revolution know how to create adventure games, and this is no exception, in fact it even rivals the adventure games by Lucasarts!

The Bad
The only thing bad about the game was it's ending, unlike in Broken Sword 1 you could not do anything once you reached the final part of the game, which is a bit of a let down.

The Bottom Line
A good alternative to the Lucasarts adventure games and more proof that a sequel can be as good as the original