Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror

"A wonderful game."

When I first played the demo of this game for many, many years ago, I found it to be very entertaining. After a few weeks, I borrowed the game from a friend and finished it for the first time. I soon purchased it for myself...the game was simply that good. I'll explain why below.

Gameplay & Controls: 10/10
Using only the mouse too look around and check things in a game has never been so fun. Everything that can be touched can both be examined and interacted with. You can for example listen to what the character says about a bottle with one mouse button and actually try to do something with it with the other. If you are a person like me, who enjoys to read and hear everything a character might say in a game, you too will like this. Even though a game like this might seem very limited in some ways, it's actually also very challenging.
Even though the puzzles in the game are not fully as hard as in the first one, it should offer you a real challenge, especially if it's your first time playing it. Overall, I can't really think of anything that could make the gameplay or controls better than they already are.

Graphics & Music: 9/10
The graphics in the game are much like in any cartoon, it's full of life and colors. Still containing realistic characters and environments, it's a pleasure for the eyes to look at. Much better than any half-crappy 3d models if you ask me. The music is usually very calm and nice and adds a lot to the game's already brilliant atmosphere.

Replay Value: 10/10
You can re-play this game many times without getting sick of it as long as you wait a little while before each time. It's one of the few games I absolutely love every second of playing through even though I've finished it plenty of times already. It's a quite long game after all, filled with first-class entertainment.

Overall Score: 9/10
I have nothing to complain about, this game is simply amazing in my opinion. Buy or rent? Buy. Now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/06