Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror (1997)
Revolution Software's Dual-Protagonist Mayan Eclipse Thriller Expanding Virtual Theatre's 2D Craft
Delivered just thirteen months after its blockbuster predecessor in October 1997 by Charles Cecil and producer Steve Ince at Revolution Software, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror traded European Templar lore for Mesoamerican mythology and dual-character gameplay. Making Nico Collard directly playable alongside George Stobbart as drug lords plot to unleash the dark god Tezcatlipoca during a solar eclipse, it refined every visual layer of the Virtual Theatre engine.
Playable Nico Collard, Mayan Cosmology, and Virtual Theatre Upgrades
Reuniting George Stobbart and Nico Collard in Paris only for Nico to be kidnapped and George left tied beside a venomous tarantula inside a burning mansion, The Smoking Mirror immediately elevated Nico from NPC confidante to alternating co-protagonist with her own investigative chapters in Marseille docks, London's British Museum, and Underground ghost stations. Upgrading the Virtual Theatre engine within a tight twelve-month schedule, programmer Tony Warriner added multi-plane parallax scrolling, translucent smoke and water shaders, and colored atmospheric lighting over lush hand-painted sets scored once again by Barrington Pheloung.
Quaramonte City, Tezcatlipoca's Eclipse, and 2D Adventure Pacing
Tracing obsidian mirror stones smuggled by ruthless cartel boss Karzac and shamanistic General Raoul in the banana republic of Quaramonte, George and Nico race across Caribbean film locations, riverboat jungles, and subterranean Mayan gear-temples before an impending solar eclipse frees Tezcatlipoca. Consciously tightening dialogue trees after players found certain historical lectures in the first game overly verbose, Cecil and Steve Ince crafted a brisker, pulpier Indiana Jones-style globetrotter that sold nearly another million copies before Revolution transitioned the series into 3D six years later with The Sleeping Dragon.