Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a point-and-click adventure video game originally released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1997. It was re-released on Microsoft Windows, OS X and iOS as a remastered edition in 2010 and on Android in 2012. This is the second installment in the Broken Sword series, and the first game in the series that does not follow the Knight Templar storyline. The player takes on the role of George Stobbart, an American youth who is an eyewitness to the kidnapping of his girlfriend, Nicole Collard.
The game was compiled in 1997 by the Revolution. Though serious in tone, The Smoking Mirror combines some humor and animated graphics in the style of classic animated movies. This is the fourth and final game created with the Virtual Theater engine, which is used to render the game event location.
Unlike the first Broken Sword game, which received critical acclaim, The Smoking Mirror received various, positive reviews, largely because it did not fit in with its predecessor. Nevertheless, it was a commercial success, selling about a million copies in the mid-1990s. Revolution released a remastered version of the game in 2010, which unlike the original version, received excellent reviews from critics.
Video Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
Gameplay
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Through the point-and-click interface, the player guides the protagonist George Stobbart through the game world and interacts with the environment by selecting from several commands, while Nicole Collard is also a playable character in the selected part of the game. The player controls George's movements and actions with the mouse (PC and PlayStation), or gamepad (PlayStation). Players can collect objects that can be used with other collectible objects, sections of the scene, or with others to solve puzzles and advancements in the game. George can engage in dialogue with other characters through the conversation tree to get clues about what needs to be done to solve the puzzle or to develop the storyline. Players use maps to travel, and new locations are added to it as the story unfolds. By right-clicking on the object, the player gets the description and instructions. Death player characters are possible if the player makes the wrong decision.
Maps Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
Plot
Six months after the Shadow of the Templars, protagonist George Stobbart and his girlfriend, Nicole Collard, visited an archaeologist named Professor Oubier to learn about the mysterious Mayan stone Nicole discovered while examining a newspaper story. At Oubier's house, they were ambushed by two Central Americans, who kidnapped Nicole, tied George to a chair and set fire to the building. George released himself and put out the fire. He contacted Andre Lobineau, who revealed that Nicole had suspected that something was wrong and had left the stone with him. Lobineau tells him about the gallery owner who can tell you more about Maya art. George discovers that Oubier supplies galleries with Maya artifacts, which he imports through a company called Condor Transglobal. Following these instructions, George found two Central Americans who kidnapped Nico. One of them, whose name was later revealed to be Pablo, was shown threatening and berating the others (later revealed to be called Titipoco). George knocked Pablo unconscious and discovered that Condor Transglobal had a relationship with Quaramonte City in Central America. He also freed Titipoco, whom Pablo had undermined. George discovers Nico, who reveals that, while trying to expose a drug ring run by a man named Karzac, he sent a stone instead, prompting him to set an appointment with Oubier.
Both escaped from the barn and took the Mayan stone from Lobineau. After that, they went to Quaramonte City in the hope of finding Condor Transglobal. They found the city under dictatorial rule by 'Madame La Presidente' Grasiento, and learned that the city does not have the office of Condor Transglobal. The two met with Professor Oubier, who spoke with the police chief, Raoul 'The General' Grasiento, about the mysterious chart. George confronts Oubier about the kidnapping of his girlfriend, but the professor admits he does not know anything, and that he has not been in Paris recently. George decided to help CIA agents, Duane, release a local agitator, Miguel, from prison by distracting General Grasiento. After that, he prepares to blow up the prison wall but is captured in the process. George gets Duane to tie the rope to the bars and pull the wall down with his truck, reminiscent of General Grasiento. Miguel escapes, and Nicole and George escape to the river by boat. However, the ship sank after being attacked by a helicopter.
George woke up the next morning by the river, and found a tree house belonging to a Christian missionary named Pastor Hubert. Hubert has nursed Nicole back healthy, but he has suffered a snake bite and needs special medication. He brings George to the local Maya village, because he believes the village Shaman will be able to help. George pointed his Mayan stone to a dukun, explaining that, hundreds of years ago, the Mayan shamans had trapped Tezcatlipoca's god in the mirror. However, he was so strong that he would surely run away, so they created three stones that contained the power to keep him imprisoned. Before they can be placed, they are stolen by explorers: one by a Spanish pirate named Captain Ketch, who hides it in the Caribbean; one by a British ship, which took him to England; and one by the Spanish explorer, who brought him back to Spain. These three stones are in the hands of Nico and George. George returns to the tree house and heals Nicole with medicines from the shaman. Shortly thereafter, the two were separated to find the two remaining stones.
Nicole traces the stone to a museum in London, England, where she meets but does not recognize Professor Oubier. After he left, the stone was found missing and the museum was locked. Nicole escapes through an abandoned subway station and finds Oubier on a boat on the Thames River with Karzac. Nicole watches Karzac kill Oubier, and then sneaks in, grabs a stone and runs off. Meanwhile, George traces the remaining stones to a small museum in the Caribbean. Following the fine instructions Captain Ketch left behind, George learned that the stone was left on the nearby "Zombie Island". George explores Zombie Island and finds that a remake that was massacred from Treasure Island was being filmed there. He acted as a stuntman to gain access to the place where the stone was kept, but was captured by Pablo and his men for use as a sacrifice for Tezcatlipoca. Nicole returns to Quaramonte and rescues George; along with Titipoco they entered the Tezcatlipoca pyramid. When they reached the living room, Karzac freed the ancient gods there. However, Tezcatlipoca immediately killed Karzac. President Grasiento appears and attacks Titipoco, and their fight sends them to the abyss. Raoul, realizing that he was thrown to his mother, chose to save Titipoco. The protagonists place the stones into their respective slots, which causes Tezcatlipoca to be pushed back into the mirror. George and Nicole briefly celebrate and the last cut-scene fades into credit.
Development
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror was conceived in 1997, by Charles Cecil and the Revolution. Charles Cecil is the director and author of the game; Tony Warriner, David Sykes, Jonathan Howard, Paul Porter, James Long, Patrick Skelton, Chris Rea, and Pete Ellacot worked on the software side of the project. Noirin Carmody is an executive producer. This game uses the Virtual Theater engine, previously used for Led of the Temptress, Behind Steel Sky, and Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars .
The artwork for Broken Sword II is developed through a number of stages. Initially pencil drawings are made of characters that are then colored digitally, before being cleaned. The background layout is produced in the same way, started as a pencil design, and all drawn by Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen, previously working on the first Broken Sword, in collaboration with Amy Berenz and Lee Taylor. This game graph is animated in a style that resembles a classic animated film.
In-game music was composed by Barrington Pheloung, who also composed music in Shadow of the Templars , with Bob Sekar adding closing scores. Audio features in the game include recorded sound effects, orchestral music and sound acting directed by Edward Hall. While Rolf Saxon re-voiced George Stobbart, a new actress, Jenny Caron Hall, acting as Nicole Collard. The rest of the voice actors in this game are Dennis Chinnery, Stephanie Clive, Jeff Fletcher, Corey Johnson, Chris Miles, Gary Parker, Flaminia Cinque, and Leo Wringer.
Remastered edition
When considering the project, Charles Cecil played the game again and noticed many problems, including mixed backgrounds, FMV and poor quality audio, and he also felt some dialogue was out of place. He thinks all these elements can be solved and improved in the remastered edition, where they can add Dave Gibbons's diary, instructional system, and new artwork, which they can offer as interactive digital comics.
On December 9, 2010, Revolution Software announced the release of Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered on iOS devices, and was released on December 16, 2010. New features include interactive digital Comics exclusive from Dave Gibbons, full animated facial expressions, enhanced graphics, high quality music, context-sensitive system manuals, diaries and Dropbox integration that facilitate unique cross-platform storage features, allowing players to enjoy the same adventures simultaneously at multiple devices. It also features complete Game Center integration - including in-game achievements. Mac and PC versions follow in early 2011.
Marketing and release
A launch trailer for the iPhone and iPod touch versions was also released on the revolutionary YouTube revolutionary channel . On the second day of Apple 12 Days of Christmas , Broken Sword II - Remaster was made free to download for 24 hours.
The original PC version is available from the Sale Software and GOG.com (with the purchase of Broken Sword II - Remastered ). However, the Remastered remastered version is available from various digital distribution services, including iPhone/iPod Touch and AppStore iPad, Mac AppStore, Intel AppUp, Steam, and GOG.com. Broken Sword II - Remaster is also part of Mastertronic's Broken Sword Complete package.
With the purchase of Broken Sword II - Remastered at GOG.com, consumers also get original games, manuals, exclusive game guides, 18 artworks, and comic books. Broken Sword digital book: The Smoking Mirror - Remaster created by Dave Gibbons. Short comic gives information about what happened before the beginning of the game.
Reception
The game was commercially successful. According to Charles Cecil, it sold about a million copies in the mid-1990s. The Smoking Mirror and its predecessors jointly sold 2 million units in March 2001.
The Smoking Mirror received positive criticism from critics. Game Age gives game B, saying: "The sound is another area where The Smoking Mirror excels.Although there is no constant soundtrack playing, haunting music often accompanies certain actions, very similar to the original Tomb Raider. " PC Gamer gave it a score of 82%, saying it was" more than the same dense adventure costs found at Circle of Blood. " GameSpot gave the game 7.9 out of 10 and praised it for its addition that "helped streamline the adventure", but criticized "insufficient information about Tezcatlipoca and Mayan civilization altogether" when it came to the storyline. Jen of the Four Fat Chicks gave it a "thumbs up" and declared that he would recommend this game for a nice storyline and beautiful graphics, but if players want more adventurous games, they should look at another place. "Mr. Bill and Lela" from Mr. Bill's Adventureland praised his control and humor, and called it a very good sequel, that they did not want to miss playing.
Remastered Edition
Unlike the original release, Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror has received very positive reviews from critics. AppSafari gives this game a 5 out of 5, saying: "The production value for this game is very high, with beautiful graphics, challenging, well-designed, and perfect voice acting.The sequel also implements the same fantastic touch interface. AppGamer gives game 10 out of 10, says: "Broken Sword 2 will last for hours, have all full PC game playbacks at full price.This is a kind of game that can convert people who will not see twice in adventure games, and easy to become one of my most recommended titles on the platform. "GameZone gives this game 8 out of 10 and praises the controls and snippets of the game scene, but states that the iPad version of this game can be opaque at any given time. Carl Stevens of TouchGen gave the game a 4 out of 5 start and stated that it should be on everyone's "play list" and that the ease, and restrictions between some puzzles are the only ones that are let down in the game. Jeniffer Allen of 148Apps gave this game 4 out of 5 stars and praised it, saying: "Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror is a fantastic game. hours of entertaining stories lie ahead. "
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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