Posted January 03, 2009
The second game in the Broken Sword series continues with the standard and style of the first game, to which "The Smoking Mirror" takes off a couple of months down the track after the ending of.
Unlike many adventure games, the puzzles in "The Smoking Mirror" are very logical and rarely will you find yourself stuck for long. While this is great to those new to the genre, or to those who dislike hard puzzles, it may prove disappointing to genre fans. There is no strange combination of items and method here.
But disappointment will only last a short while, as the games story, voice work and plot are all rather engaging. Characters are quite clear in who they are by personality and actions.
For the large portion of the game, you control the character George, but for some diversity you have control of Nico at certain areas. The two characters themselves have different views on solving puzzles, and Nico will even remark if you try to do something "George would do".
The Negatives? Only two stand out.
1) There are one or two points where the games takes too large a jump between scenes and you feel like you have missed something. Exposition by the characters does help, but can feel like it is tacked on.
2) The maze puzzle near the end game, finding paths can be a bit of pixel hunting not seen much in the game. And a Mayan Glyph puzzle that is twice as long as it should be.
There, that was a reach even to grab those two.
In short, "The Smoking Mirror" (And the first game) represent the best in the Broken Sword series. Genre fans yet to play should really consider getting this. Even if you don't really like "Point'n'Click" give it a go, as it's one of the few games that gets just about nearly everything right.
Unlike many adventure games, the puzzles in "The Smoking Mirror" are very logical and rarely will you find yourself stuck for long. While this is great to those new to the genre, or to those who dislike hard puzzles, it may prove disappointing to genre fans. There is no strange combination of items and method here.
But disappointment will only last a short while, as the games story, voice work and plot are all rather engaging. Characters are quite clear in who they are by personality and actions.
For the large portion of the game, you control the character George, but for some diversity you have control of Nico at certain areas. The two characters themselves have different views on solving puzzles, and Nico will even remark if you try to do something "George would do".
The Negatives? Only two stand out.
1) There are one or two points where the games takes too large a jump between scenes and you feel like you have missed something. Exposition by the characters does help, but can feel like it is tacked on.
2) The maze puzzle near the end game, finding paths can be a bit of pixel hunting not seen much in the game. And a Mayan Glyph puzzle that is twice as long as it should be.
There, that was a reach even to grab those two.
In short, "The Smoking Mirror" (And the first game) represent the best in the Broken Sword series. Genre fans yet to play should really consider getting this. Even if you don't really like "Point'n'Click" give it a go, as it's one of the few games that gets just about nearly everything right.