Game Review: The Black Mirror

[Veteran]

I've been playing a game called The Black Mirror recently (hereafter referred to as TBM) and it's been really fun. It's a very slow-paced adventure game in the Infocom tradition (which you may well respect if you're a text-adventure fan from way back). You might say it's the diametric opposite of PlanetSide in all except one aspect: they are both intensely fun games. Where PlanetSide is fast and furious, TBM is slow and creepy. Where PlanetSide encourages teamwork, TBM is you vs. the story with nobody to watch your back against a really clever set of NPCs. I'm not saying they have an AI, but even though it's a storytelling experience, you get the impression that you are amidst this group of varied individuals, each with their own dark agenda. Your choices have a real effect on whether you live or die.

TBM places you in the role of Samuel Gordon, an aristocrat who returns to his family castle to investigate the death of William Gordon, a shady scientist. Samuel must sift through the eldritch mystery surrounding his family estate, relatives and the dark secrets that he is only now learning of. It's set in 1980s Europe and features some breath-takingly beautiful images of castles, estates, villages, countryside and creepy locations that come together wonderfully to create a darkly brilliant world.

This game will appeal to people who like puzzles and mysteries. It's not nearly as puzzle-based as Myst, and yet there are enough infuriatingly hard, yet logical, puzzles for any enthusiast. It's not a game for people with Attention Deficit Disorder, unless they're riding a Ritalin high I suppose, in which case they could probably really enjoy it. The story will likely keep you busy for over a hundred hours, and possibly well over that because I've been playing for probably 50 hours so far and I'm only in the middle of chapter 4. My game experience ranges from infuriated as I can't find a piece of a puzzle to elated when I finally figure it out, which inevitably happens (so far, fortunately). Some of the puzzles were so tough I caught myself thinking "what if I've hit a bug and there's no way to advance the plot?" to which I have always later said "Doh!" as I realized I had failed to look hard enough. It can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, as the game leads you through some pretty vivid imagery and very adult situations (the creepy type, not the boobies type, although there's a cute Irish nurse in it so one can hope). If you liked Zork, Myst or other puzzle games, this game is for you.

The graphics are great. They're not rendered, but rather panoramic and full of tiny details that must be found and used to further the plot. Whoever did the art for this game is pretty talented. The beauty is because it's not rendered, the game has amazingly low system requirements, allowing anyone to see it exactly the way the developers wanted it to be seen. It's a really good-looking game.

The sound is also outstanding in TBM. From creepy background noises to excellent voice-talent, it's a very immersive environment. Some players may need to adjust to the slow-paced nature of the voice-overs. Many games make the mistake of having the voice talent speak quickly to save file space, but TBM takes the opposite approach, letting the conversations evolve naturally. If you like the theater, you may be able to appreciate some of the conversations as drama (which are interactive enough to keep it interesting).

I can't comment on the game's replayability, because I haven't beaten it yet. I can speculate that replayability is low because the game is essentially linear, and believe me you'll be familiar with the game's details when you beat it, so playing it again to see what you missed might not be an appealing concept. Then again, you'll get many, many hours of play out of it if you get into it at all, reducing the premium of replayability.

At $30, this game is also joining the cool trend of having software cost less than $50 when it launches. It's clear we already pay extra money for software because they tack on extra to counter piracy, but do we need to be punished? As people who pay for software and subscription fees, I think we've been punished for being honest while the industry gets soft. Just like in the music industry, it's time to get leaner and meaner. I would have paid $50 for TBM, but I'm glad I didn't have to.

Now for the fun part...

Reviewer Bias (3). I didn't know about this game until I tried it, haven't played puzzle games since I played Infocom games (A Mind Forever Voyaging = win). A 10 in this category would have meant I was especially biased in my review. I wasn't biased in my opinion.

Graphics: 10. It's easy to be hard on a game that doesn't use 3d rendering, calling the game 'primitive' or 'old' but TBM uses modern graphics effects (anti-aliasing and some nice filtering) to create a more panoramic effect, complete with birds flying around, swaying trees, etc. To a spastic gamer, the graphics (and most likely the whole game) would seem to be too slow-paced to keep their attention, but to someone who is relaxed, they can be engaging.

Sound: 9. Excellent sound and voice-talent. No painful sounds, (like the Chainblade -- ow that hurts my ears) just mellow sounds.

Gameplay: 10. One of the best mysteries I've ever played, and very rewarding like putting the last piece in a 10,000 piece puzzle (which I've never actually done, but I imagine it so). I think women would actually like this game too. Not to say they don't enjoy PlanetSide, but women who have looked over my shoulder say 'that's pretty' when they look at TBM, and just shrug at PS.

Replay factor: 5. I will probably beat this game in a week or two, but years from now I can certainly imagine revisiting this very interesting tale.

Price: 10. You can easily get this game for $30 or less, which means a lot if you buy a lot of games.

Overall: 10. The Black Mirror filled a void in my gaming experience that I had almost forgotten about. I think back to the 80s when there were only simple games and I remember that I didn't just play them because they were the only thing available, I played them cause they were cool as hell. TBM is a part of that legacy.

So, in closing, check out The Black Mirror if you want a very classy, slow-paced supernatural mystery game that is reminiscent of a text-adventure with very nice graphics and sound. It's fun.