Sinister dark atmosphere. Stroryline keeps you guessing until the end. Varied puzzles. Questionable voice acting.
Generally my perception of the Adventure gaming archives that I have played is that they consist of many great classics from the late 80's to early 90's when they were in their prime (Secret of Monkey Island, Kings Quest Series, Simon the Sorceror, Lure of the Temptress etc), followed by a few great games in the mid to late 90's such as Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, Myst and hybrids like Dark Earth. Since then I have rarely come across a good adventure game. The only ones of note in recent years are The Longest Journey, the last two Monkey Island games, Broken Sword Sleeping Dragon, Grim Fandango and lastly Indigo Prophecy.
The reason for the drought of good adventure games (except those just mentioned) is largely due to the sheer number of cheap Myst spinoffs, poorly acted FMV interactive movies and boring lackluster stories inundated by uncohesive puzzles. Sure an adventure game should have decent puzzles but they surely must have some significance to the story or development thereof and not act as a constant barrier every step of the way. Likewise voice acting (an ever present condition of most modern adventure games) should be at the very least passable.
There we already have two of my five key requirements for an adventure.
the others being Story, Atmosphere and Graphics.
So how does Black Mirror fare when compared to the recent top of the pack I listed. Well I have mixed feelings. In some ways it is an excellent piece of work from an relatively small newcomer developer from Poland and they should be commended for a stout effort, in other ways the game fails on the key requirements.
Lets cover the criteria:
1. Voice Acting - I shall mention this first as the Gamespot review complained about this most. I personally thought that the acting was passable if a little slow paced. For the most part the characters had acceptable voices. The main exception to this was the protaganist who for some reason seems as though he has taken too many of those pills he carries around with him and talks as if in slow motion. You do get used to this however and it does not detract from the general enjoyment of the game.
2. Puzzles - This game throws a good variety of puzzles, such as your typical item combinations, picture jigsaws (e.g. assembling a torn letter), sliding tiles and colour assortment (e.g. positioning coloured marbles on a grid). None of them are too taxing nor are they easy. For the most part you will only be given visual clues as what to do. Most importantly the puzzles do not feel out of place with the game. One slight qualm I had initially was with the game designers decision to make inactive & selectable items on screen only obtainable after specific motions have been carried out (that is to say once you have spoken to a specific person or done a specific task).
This does involve going back and forth a few times checking every screen. Believe me you do get used to this after which it becomes second nature. Thankfully the areas are not too big and so careful examination will reveal all, additionally you can double click on the screen edges to get to areas faster. THIS GAME IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO PREFER EASILY DETECTABLE HOTSPOTS (like in Grim Fandango etc).
3. Atmosphere - This games crowning achievement. It merges together an interesting blend of medieval, victorian, rural and modern settings and concepts. Much of the story delves in ancestry and the past as well as current events. The feel of the game can be quite ominous at times, death literally does lurk in some areas and some scenes depicted are not for the squeamish (impaled via ones eyeball and decapitated heads sound nice? ... well I thought so!!). Appropriate music plays accordingly in specific areas and at other times falls deathly silent. Attention to detail on the sound effects is excellent, you can even hear the different effect of the rainfall depending in which room you are in. Weather varies throughout the game and gets progressively darker the further you progress. Overall very little to fault here.
4. Story - The story is another strongpoint for this game for the most part. It develops nicely both through written documents (read out initially for you by the protagonist and thereafter overlapped by the authors voice) and through conversation. Sometimes you will even get to select a negative or positive behavioural response - I am not sure how much this influences the overall outcome but it does help differ the mood of some conversations. The main negative aspect of the story, sadly, is it's final outcome, not so much the ingame end but the cutscene itself. Without spoiling it I shall simply say it does follow suit with the mood of the game, it just leaves you expecting and hoping for so much more - oh well, the important thing is the game was an enjoyable ride.
5. Graphics - This games visuals are quite stunning at times. The nice blend of moving animations within static 2D scenes is done remarkably well. The light reflections, water effects and weather all contribute commendably to the atmosphere. As for the character animations, they are quite fluid if a little grainy and lacking detail. The only real criticism is their near zombielike pace moving around. In someways it does suit the mood of the game and generally take up very little game time, so no real worries there. Finally the game animations are limited but are of an acceptable quality and the dream sequences certainly add to the story.
Overall I can say this game is certainly worth playing for Adventure gamers and novices alike, some aspects of the game are somewhat lacking and can put off the casual gamer. If you persevere and accustom yourself to the game style and mechanics you can rest assured this is a diamond in the rough. I would not rate it as good as my favourite recent games I listed at the beginning of my review but it is a worthy contender.