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| The Black Mirror PC review | |
| developer | Future Games |
| publisher | The Adventure Company |
| author | Mike |
| date | Nov. 17, 2003 |
| graphics |   |
| sound | |
| gameplay | |
| value | |
| reviewer's toast | |
| overall | |
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Chromehounds
NA Review by Marcin
Oblivion-The First 3 Hours
PC Quicktake by walTer
Comic Quick Takes January 25, 2006
Feature by Mike
This game was provided at no cost to wickedtoast.com by the publishers.
Adventure 101
Adventure games can usually be divided into two categories. The first being the ‘Myst’ type, which is presented in a first person view. You usually don’t see your character much, except for cutscenes and perhaps conversations. These types of games became hugely popular after Myst managed to sell approximately one zillion copies. Examples of these games are Black Dahlia and more recently, Post Mortem. The second type, and also a genre that managed to kickstart the PC gaming industry, are what we call ‘point-and-click.’ P&C games consist of always seeing your onscreen persona, and moving him or her around the screen via clicking an object or location. Examples of this type of game are Kings Quest, Gabriel Knight, The Longest Journey and Syberia. Both types of game had basically the same premise – explore, collect, and solve. Both use a bevy of ways to do this – through conversation, puzzle solving, item manipulation, and careful scrutinizing of your present location. While adventure games may not get the attention they did in the past, we should not forget what they did for the industry. Thankfully, there are still developers who believe in the genre, and continue to make adventure game for those that enjoy them.
The Black Mirror
The Black Mirror falls into the second category – Point and Click. It uses all the typical conventions – inventory collection, puzzle solving, interviewing characters, and exploring beautifully rendered environments. You’ll fill in the shoes of Samuel Gordon, who has come back to his family’s estate, The Black Mirror, after his grandfather William has perished. As Samuel begins to learn more about Williams death, he begins to feel something is wrong, and in a manner that would appease Gabriel Knight, sets out to learn the truth. As Samuel learns more about the recent happenings in the Manor and with his estranged family, we begin to learn about Samuels past ourselves. So begins a rather extensive journey that will take Samuel through the estate, and to some other colorful locations.
The key to any adventure game is a good story, and the one presented in the Black Mirror is above average. The narrative unfolds thru exploration and many conversations with the various inhabitants in and around The Black Mirror. Most adventure games are quite linear, with certain events needing to happen before you can continue on, and rarely multiple ways to solve a problem. The Black Mirror is no exception. I did find the sheer amount of locations you are able to visit in the Mansion before hitting any walls refreshing. It took me quite some time of exploring and chatting up the folks before I found my first puzzle, or roadblock. And here was where the game stumbled a bit.
It’s not uncommon to find, say, a locked door that needs a certain key before it can be opened, or a nail that needs to be pulled with a hammer, for example. In most games of this sort, the rule ‘pick it up if it’s not nailed down’ is followed religiously. However, in The Black Mirror, there are times you will find an object, but can’t pick it up until you know what it may be used for. While this may extend the playtime, it’s really pretty annoying. An example of this was entering the Attic. It was locked, and I knew I needed to find a key. When I found a key in the kitchen, I was unable to pick it up until after I spoke to someone, and asked about the attic. He then told me the key was hanging in the kitchen, at which time I could pick it up. Why couldn’t I simply pick the damn key up when I found it? This situation crops up more than once, and requires you to remember where that hammer was. While it’s certainly not a gamestopper by any means, it’s slightly annoying.
Other than the above niggle, the gameplay mechanics in The Black Mirror are done very well. The interface is almost invisible, appearing when you run the cursor along the bottom of the screen. Doing this highlights your inventory, which is displayed with a picture of whatever you have picked up. Conversations topics are also done in this format, with the picture of what you can inquire about. Pressing the tab key displays all available exits, and hovering the mouse over the icon tells you where it leads. There are quite a few things to examine, each with full voice over descriptions. The cursor turns red when over an item you can examine, and if you can’t pick up or actively use the item, will no longer highlight the next time you hover over it. This is a fantastic idea, and one I’d like to see other devs put into their adventure games. It allows for more interaction, and cuts down on the confusion when there are lots of items on the screen.
The Black Mirror has some striking visuals. Each room and location is beautifully rendered, with grand architecture, meticulous paintings and wonderful lighting. Even at the fixed resolution of 800x600, this is one fine looking game. Many of the screens are not static, with blowing leaves, flickering torches, rain and other environmental effects. The various people you meet are all rarely standing around simply waiting for you to speak to them, and go about their business raking, chopping wood, or reading in the library. This makes for a living, breathing gameworld, rather than the motionless screens of many adventure games.
The sound in the game is a mixed bag. The music is wonderfully eerie and melancholy, and always seems to compliment the appropriate atmosphere at any given time. I also very much enjoyed the environmental sound effects. Birds chirp, rain falls, leaves rustle. There is always something happening in the sound field wherever you are. What does not fare as well however, is the voice acting. Everything in the game is spoken – and it’s not always pleasing. The main problem lies with the lead character. His is the voice you hear the most, and he sounds rather lifeless, and well…annoying. The supporting characters do ok, but after hearing the wonderful voice work in games such as The Longest Journey or Primal for the PS2, the faults stand out rather loudly.
If you enjoy adventure games, treat yourself to The Black Mirror. While the voice acting is a bit weak, it’s certainly nothing that ruins the game. There are dozens of interesting locations to visit, the puzzles are the right difficulty, and the length of the game is a bit longer than the standard adventure game. The Black Mirror is a worthy addition to any adventure gamers collection.