Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror is a robust sequal to its more famous predecessor.
BS2, was for me, a more engaging experience than the original. The story seemed somewhat fresher, albeit there were some notable similarity between the climax of BS2 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with its shankara stones. George returns to Paris hoping to renew his relationship with Nicole but she is more focused on finding out about some Mayan relics. The pair are quickly thrown into a sinister adventure, Nico is kidnapped and George has to escape a burning house. So the tale has a fairly dramatic opening and the narrative flows pretty well from thereon.
The characters, of which there are several, are memorable and it is difficult to work out who is the most evil adversary Karzac or Madame, the mother of the hen-pecked and amorous dictator General Grasiento. George is aided and hindered by an array of colourful characters, including a revolutionary, a land surveyor, a pair of daft sisters, a missionary, movie actors and a blow gun wielding midget as he searches for Nico and hidden Mayan artifacts. Much of the story plays out in Marseille, the Caribbean islands and the jungles of central America.
Gameplay is essentially that from the original. BS2 is a 2D point-and-click adventure, whereby you click on items to look at them or pick them up, and click on people to talk to them. The player interface is more intuitive than in the original and the onscreen point and click system is simpler. BS2 allows you to play as both George, the main protagonist, or as Nico at appropriate times in the game. George, who for me was far more likeable in this adventure, is still the star of the show although Nico plays an important role, especially as the game nears its end.
As before there are a number of puzzles, the solution of which allows an adventure game to progress, usually consist of using or combining one or more items in your character's inventory. BS2 is a lot more linear than the original as there is no map allowing you to select different destinations to visit. That said, there is a choice on which jungle path George takes while visiting an island, but this is more in the nature of a puzzle than as a route to an alternate destination. There are less arcane puzzles in this than similar adventure games and more exposition, but the narrative is less predictable with some genuinely funny moments. You play as Nico to work out the final complicated pictograph puzzle that triggers the events leading to the dramatic ending.
Graphically BS2 is essentially identical in quality to its predecessor, in other words of a high standard considering its age. Musical score and character dialogue is also quite good.
A warning to more regular adventure game devotees in BS2, as in the original, George and Nico can die if you fail to choose wisely; so save regularly to avoid lengthy replays.
OVERALL: Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror was, for us, a more enjoyable adventure gaming experience. While there are less challenging puzzles the narrative being a lot fresher set BS2 apart from our experience of the original. The characters and tone worked better this time around and felt more natural than in the original. So of the compendium of the first two Broken Sword/Circle of Blood games we enjoyed BS2 more than the original, though I suspect we may be in a minority.
BTW, we have decided to perservere with George and Nico in the unofficial German fan made "Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars" (by mindFactory) available, with spoken English dialogue patches, from www.brokensword25.com/ I will report on that game in my blog in due course.