Black Mirror
Mirror mirror on the wall, I double-clicked on uninstall.
Tags: Black Mirror Categories: PC Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Ludwig on Apr 5th, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Mirror (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Adventure | No | ||
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As this is a review of an adventure game, one would expect it to start with an obligatory paragraph detailing how the adventure genre is dead and that games like The Black Mirror are rare dishes that should be savored and appreciated. Well, that mantra is not entirely true – in fact, it’s a load of crap. Reports of the point-and-click purveying game and its demise are greatly exaggerated, as the true culprit behind the graphic adventure’s shrinking shelf space lies in the quality of titles released over the last few years. Like the Star Wars films, there just hasn’t been a good one recently and, in a rather shocking turn of events, people are acknowledging this by keeping their cash to themselves (if only the same applied to Enter the Matrix). If adventure games are to extricate themselves from cryogenic suspension and Mr. Disney’s company, they need some shining examples of what the genre is truly capable of – Mesmerizing stories, memorable characters and mind-bending puzzles. Is The Black Mirror such an example?
No.
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Nothing brings an aristocratic family together like an untimely and horrific death. After twelve years of absence, Samuel Gordon returns to his family’s prerendered English castle in order to attend the funeral of his grandfather. As you would expect, Grandpa met his demise under mysterious circumstances, though only mysterious enough to pique the interest of our main character (suicide being the more common explanation). Unraveling the secret leads Samuel to even more grisly murders, a sinister family secret and worst of all, obscure sliding tile puzzles.
An adventure with poorly constructed puzzles is akin to a racing game where all the cars have been inexplicably replaced with gigantic and highly competitive croissants. It calls the title’s very existence into question and just isn’t much fun to play. Luckily, The Black Mirror avoids said comparison with baked goods and contains a good variety of traditional object-based and jigsaw type puzzles that provide just the right amount of head scratching. Most of the puzzles are integrated well into the story and obey the laws of logic; an appreciated quality in a genre where using the frying pan on the mime’s hamster frequently unlocks the Tomb of Sentonar.
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The game’s interface is a classic point-and-click affair, with your mouse scouring the CG backdrops for hotspots: areas and items that can be examined and manipulated. It’s just as well that it’s incredibly easy to guide Samuel through the gothic estate; since going back and forth between certain places is a predicament he’ll often find himself in. The problem with Samuel is that he doesn’t quite get into the spirit of being a star in this sort of game. When you find yourself trapped within a graphic adventure, you should realize that even the most obscure item could eventually come in handy at some crucial point. In other words, you should pick up (and even steal) everything you possibly can. Samuel only takes things when he’s certain he requires them and that can cause some frustration.
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A frequently occurring scenario is one in which he examines an object and, as there is no need for it yet, quickly discounts it as a useless piece of scenery. When it comes to that crucial point and Samuel only has empty hands to assist him, you have to help him traipse back to a previously explored location in order to fetch it. That is, if you can even remember where it was. It’s almost as aggravating as pulling your hair out over a puzzle solution, only to discover an interactive area that wasn’t there before. Yet another annoying habit that’s inherent to the game is how certain things have to be examined not once, not twice but up to three times before they yield anything useful. Knowing when further examination is really necessary boils down to a guessing game, just like the vague right-click function that may or may not cause Samuel to interact specially with particular items. What should have been a precise exercise in investigation and exploration quickly devaluates into a time wasting fumbling for clues.
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If you’re the sort who considers time to be a precious commodity, you should simply stay clear of The Black Mirror. The pacing of the storyline and the dialogue is deliberately glacial and it will undoubtedly drive some people insane. Engaging in conversation has a lot in common with a festering stab wound – so slow and painful that you just pray for death to take you. Not only are the characters bereft of personality and completely forgettable, they insist on speaking in an absurdly stilted and formal manner. It’s the English stereotype taken to the extreme, thanks to some truly atrocious voice acting. Samuel Gordon himself is guilty of this and will constantly annoy you with his prissy pontification, obvious statements (“It’s empty…there’s nothing in it!”) and hilarious pronunciation of “plastic”. Or is it “plaaahstic”? For a main character, he’s barely fleshed out in terms of backstory, leaving us with nothing but a brief glimpse into the past and his actions throughout the game to judge him on. The only things we know for certain are that he seems to have a bizarre obsession with fountains, can walk in and out of police crime scenes as he pleases and enjoys bribing children with candy. Excellent.
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The actual storyline is a solid one, filled with enough scary portraits and escaped lunatics to justify the whole gothic billing. Unmasking the murderer turns out to be a rather predictable affair, but the journey through the soggy cemeteries and dilapidated castles to that point is still relatively enjoyable. The CG backdrops are very sharp and nicely detailed, with glum rainfall and thundering sound adding plenty of atmospheric chills when you find yourself exploring a grimy English town or an ominous asylum. The character animation is not as effective, however, suffering from maddeningly slow, wooden movements and an inability to blend in well with the backgrounds. Overall, it’s your average graphic adventure faire.
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Remember that scene in Poltergeist where the guy watches his face dissolve in the mirror? Well, this game ends up in a similar situation. On the outside, it looks like a typical adventure game with a gothic twist. Unfortunately, it gets some of the most basic things wrong and starts degrading rapidly from within, leaving nothing but a bloody, screaming face. Or something like that. The point is: only the most ardent adventurer would be willing to tolerate The Black Mirror’s plodding pace, boring characters and annoying interface. If you want to be a pro, you’ve got to get the basics right first.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Decent (albeit predictable) storyline + A good variety of puzzles |
6.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Bland and forgettable characters - Frustrating interface and inventory issues - Dialogue may induce suicide |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Only hardcore adventure gamers need apply, though it doesn’t take a diehard to notice the many basic rules The Black Mirror disregards. | |
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Tags: Black Mirror
Posted by Ludwig on Apr 5th, 2004 and is filed under PC Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
