Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror

The sound is another area in which The Smoking Mirror excels. Although there isn't a constant soundtrack playing, haunting music often accompanies certain actions, much like the original "Tomb Raider."

The puzzles are generally entertaining and fun to solve and the game sweeps you along with its great characters, story, humour and dialogue.

It's "Circle of Blood" with new characters, a new storyline, a new threat to world harmony, and a few omissions and additions that help to streamline the adventure.

I would recommend this game for the good story line and the beautiful graphics, but if you want a game that has more adventuring, look for another.

Like far too many other sequels, the game doesn't live up to the expectations its predecessor set forth. Though it is well produced and solid, most adventure veterans will probably find themselves wishing for a little more "Circle [of Blood]" rather than such a straightforward Sword.

I would only recommend this game to someone who would like to try out an adventure game without too much challenge, or who really likes the artifact-chasing, save-the-world type of adventure. For the more experienced adventurer, I would recommend that you pass this one up.

If you're looking for a really great graphic adventure game, give "Circle of Blood" a try, but resist the temptation to pick up its sequel. Like the game's title implies, it’s all smoke and mirrors, and very little substance.

This is one of the best games of all time, just as good as the first broken sword if not better, the story and characters are brilliant and Stobbart is compelling. I played the first two games in my mid teens and I can say its the only game to ever have a lasting influence on me. Anyone who enjoys humor, adventure, puzzles, film, or has an interest in history or the world should play this game. These days people might not like this game as its not an action game but if you do play games occasionally or more frequently there will be something you can take away.

What the hell is wrong with the critics!? This is one of the BEST adventures of ALL-TIME, and almost equally good as BS1! Really, MW3 has a better Metascore? Pfh....

I actually agree with BadByron's view but I will give it a slightly higher rating. All things considered this is still a decent game. It's also a let down from the first one. The major difference is that the first one was a work of art; it was crafted. This has a rushed feeling to it; it's more stereotypical Hollywood story. The decision to allow the main character to die if you made a mistake was a poor one as it made saving the game a distraction. The hint system is also not as refined. The ending is shockingly poor. On the upside it still has fine music, great visuals, and it could still make me laugh. The game is worth the money but it isn't nearly as good as the the original.

In a nutshell, it's Broken Sword minus the heart. The developers killed everything I loved about the strong characters in the original Broken Sword... okay, George is still a little funny, but nothing in comparison to the belly laughs I got playing the first game in the series. Nico is now this strange shallow thing, having somehow lost that quick wit and sharp strategic air she used to have. As a stand alone game, I would likely rate this game higher because of the good logical puzzles and unique adventure situations, but I feel a lower rating is necessary, because the magic of the series is utterly lost in terms of story, character, and voice acting.

Although the art and music are up to par, this game is a significant downgrade from the previous game in the series as far as writing and gameplay are concerned. The characters are cardboard cutouts of their previous selves, and dialogue is forced at best and poorly scripted - at times accidentally giving the player spoilers about puzzles they have yet to discover, but not allowing them to actually do whatever action the character seems to know is necessary until after an arbitrary conversation cue. Speaking of puzzles, they are arbitrary and confusing, and actions with no easily foreseen benefit must be done in a particular order to unlock options that are necessary to proceed. Transitions between major locations are both abrupt and automatic, whisking the player away to the next fairly random location with no warning. As far as game engine concerns: The player walks extremely slowly, especially on large, scrolling screens. You also cannot skip directly to the next screen just by clicking on a "go here" area anymore: you must watch the character walk the entire way. These problems are compounded by the large number of puzzles where you must walk back and forth between semi-distant locations in order to proceed. There are often long, awkward pauses between clicking on something and the resultant conversation or action beginning. It is extremely easy to accidentally skip entire cutscenes, which you cannot pause during in any way, and skipping through dialogue (mostly in cases where I had seen it already : The save system could use some work) seems marginally slower. The last, minor issue is just that the game seems a little bit short, and there's often no resolution for the minor subplots that come up before one is whisked away. Overall, this game could have been much better than it is. If it had good gameplay, it could have been a smoothly worked adventure with a mediocre story. If it had a great story, one could look past the engine to just enjoy the narrative. As it is? I guess I'll just hope the third one is better.