Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror

"Lacks the mystery and depth that made the original game so good"

After the success of the original game, it was natural that a sequel would be made. Broken Sword 2 begins shortly after the previous game. George, the main character from Broken Sword 1, was forced to leave Nico, the photo journalist from Broken Sword 1, in order to tend to his dying father in America. A few months later, George returns to Paris for a reunion. While George was away, Nico was trying to expose a drugs smuggling ring, but accidentally found something far more sinister when she gained possession of a strange obsidian stone. George and Nico go to visit the house of Mayan archeologist Professer Oubier, hoping to learn more about the stone, they are attacked. Nico is kidnapped, and George is tied up, the house is set on fire and to make things worse, he is left to be eaten by a tarantula.

The graphics in Broken Sword 2 have even improved over the original! The game still goes for that realistic approach, rather than the cartoon style of graphics seen in many adventure games. The animation is great, and every animated character and object in the game seems to move very well. The character's movements and expressions look realistic and well drawn. The backgrounds and foregrounds look like they have had a lot of work done on them, and all of the graphics really give the game a nice atmosphere.

Compared to the original, there are more music and sound effects in this game. One of the main parts of any adventure game is sound. Sound is a very important part of an adventure game, because it brings that sense of realism to a game. The speech in this game is done very well, and there is a lot of it! There's so much to read in this game, but luckily, every single line that the characters say is professionally spoken by real-life actors. It's definitely more relaxing to listen to the actors, than to read the literally thousands of sentences that are in this game. The sound effects too, are a major part of any game. There are apparently over 260 sound effects in this game, which is not that hard to believe as everything that you do in this game is usually accompanied by a sound effect. There are apparently over 2 hours of music in this game, and the sound effects suit the game very well.

I'm glad to say that the gameplay in this game is just as good as the first game! There are hundreds of puzzles, and they are all well thought of, and extremely difficult to solve. There are over 60 characters to talk to in this game, each with their own story to tell. Broken Sword 2 is also designed for people who are new to adventures, using a simple user interface. If you move the cursor over an object, some words will appear naming the object. If you left-click the object, then you can use, look at or get the object. If you right-click the object, then you can examine it. So despite the extremely simple and well thought of interface, the game is also designed for advanced adventure game players, as some of the puzzles are extremely difficult. Talking to characters is easy, and a lot less stressful than in some games. When you talk to a character, you have the option of asking them about an object you have in your inventory, or by talking to them about a clue that you have found in the game.

Overall, it's easy to tell right from the start that a huge amount of effort was put into this game. Most of the puzzles are very well thought of. There are many different characters to talk to in the game, each with their own things to say. The graphics are brilliant. The sounds really suit the game well. The gameplay is great, because not only is there an extremely simple user interface designed for beginners, but there is also enough puzzles to solve to keep even an advanced adventure game player happy. But the question is, is Broken Sword 2 better than the original? Well... no, it's not. There was just something about Broken Sword 1, that I very much doubt could be matched again in any adventure game. But if you enjoyed the original, then this is definitely worth playing.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/00, Updated 01/22/04