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Good, Bad, Indifferent

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 161 / 163
Date: December 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In _Black Mirror_ you play Samuel Gordon, the last scion of the aristocratic Gordon family of Somewhere-in-Britain. He has returned to the family castle after an absence of twelve years to attend the funeral of his grandfather, William, dead under mysterious circumstances. As Samuel investigates William's death he begins to uncover hidden family history. It's up to him to find the truth and break the curse that has burdened his family for generations.

_Black Mirror_ is a mix of the good, bad, and indifferent of Adventure games. First the good: The graphics and sound are lovely, particularly the atmospheric effects. The storm sequences were so realistic that I at one point refused to let my cat out because of the weather, eventhough it was dry outside. The leaves on the trees are articulate, moths flutter around lanterns at night, water moves realistically. This was a lovely game to look at, which added to the experience.

And that's a good thing, because the gameplay itself was part of the indifferent. There was nothing really special, no puzzle that was realy challenging or event that was a stunning twist. The story progressed about as one would expect. There were a lot of questions left unanswered and a lot of places where I hoped for more, or for something unusual, that I never got.

The puzzles were mainly a mixture of inventory, conversation and mechanical. None was particularly hard, especially since there was a great deal of repetition. I lost count of the number of keys you had to find, and at least 3 separate puzzles had the exact same solution. Sometimes there was a bit of pixel hunting involved. Also, _Black MIrror_ was fairly linear, meaning that you had to keep revisting places to see what had changed after you'd had certain conversations. Sometimes this was taken to extremes: you'd know what to do but if there was one person you hadn't talked to about it you still couldn't do it. There was also a lot of random waiting: people would tell you "yes, I can help you but come back later." And I swear there was nothing you actually had to do before "later" arrived but wander around and keep asking over and over.

Which brings us to the bad. The ending of this game was truly awful, I think about the worst ending in game history. It didn't make any sense and there were so many loose ends that didn't get tied up that I felt like I'd missed about half the game. It was as if the game developers just got tired and quit. Or maybe they took a break meaning to come back to it later and just forgot. It put an incredibly bad taste in my mouth.

I also did not find the game as advertised as far as the psychological exloration and thrill factor. It was quite plodding at times and many things were neither as frightening nor as challenging as they could have been. Aside from some gore, this title does not merit a horror rating.

_Back Mirror_ was quite long, about 35 hours. There were a few stumpers, mostly due to pixel hunting--nothing that needed a walkthrough or hint, if you were willing to be patient. If the ending had been better, I would have considered this a great game and a good value. However, I was left very disappointed. Get this one used.

An entertaining diversion

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 54 / 54
Date: March 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'd have to say that I really enjoyed playing this game despite some flaws. The graphics are really well done even though it is raining through the entire second half of the game. It took me about four days to play this game (maybe four to six hours at a time) so you don't feel let down that the game is too short. It's pretty morbid with lots of dead bodies, a decapitation and a suicide. I'd have to say it's the first time I've seen a character vomit (well you don't actually SEE it) in a computer game. There are numerous locales, characters to interrogate and secret passageways to explore. Your character spends a lot of time in cemeteries and a morgue. There are also (unfortunately) plenty of situations where the main character can be killed off - SAVE OFTEN.

Here's what I didn't like - the dialogue is somewhat stilted. It seems to take a lot of time for the characters to say their spiel and there is quite a bit of dialogue (but nothing on the scale of the Longest Journey). Even though the graphics are really well done, the actual characters are always seen from a distance so you never see their faces. This makes them seem a little wooden. Another problem is that you sometimes have to wait around to get a character to give you information that you asked for. Your character has to wander around and return at least two or three times before the other character has the info available. This seems quite a waste of time. The other problem is that some items need to be left-clicked on and others need to be right-clicked on. There's no rhyme or reason to this.

There are probably a dozen or so puzzles and some of them really had me going for a while. Hate to say it but there's a slider puzzle and a maze but neither are too bad. All the puzzles are part of the storyline and not just tacked on as an afterthought. I would definitely recommend this game (after you get done playing Syberia II!)

take your antidepressant

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: November 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked this game because it gives you many hours of play, has pretty good graphics and terrific thunderstorms. However, it could use some comic relief.
Everybody in the main character's family has been cursed for centuries and it is up to him to stop the curse. Insanity runs rampant in the family which leads to some gruesome events. The mood gets darker as the game progresses and the ending is, to say the least, depressing. I do recommend it, although you may want to wait for a lower price.

A COMPLETE LET DOWN

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 28 / 35
Date: November 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After all the hype about how great the game was, the reality was such a disappointment. The graphics were fine, but the colors were very drab and not crisp enough to convey anything unique. The hardest thing was that I actually found myself bored halfway through the game....you have to waste your time going back and forth to places with no reason to be there just to get information to get further in the game. The characters were boring, there were tons of unuseable items that were a distraction. And after all the time you waste, the ending is the biggest let down. They should have just wrote on the final screen "thanks for your money sucker". Just like with movies that have really bad endings, I have even less appreciation and respect for games like this that stink due to the fact that you have to work harder to get to the end.

Unless you have the time to waste on this sleeper, I would save your money.

The Black Mirror....Good but lacked a little something

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 20
Date: November 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Fans of the Gabriel Knight computer games will enjoy this game. I enjoyed it very much. Couldn't wait to get home to play this game on most days. Atmosphere was great. Loved the rain and thunder. Wished we could have seen more closely at the faces of people when talking to them. This is an awesome game! At a certain point in the game I did have an idea what was going on. Hence the 4 stars. Wished I could have gave it 5 stars. If there were a 4 1/2 stars, that's what I would have given this game. I wished the game could have went on a little bit longer. I also wished things could have been explained better at the end. That is all I will say. I don't want to spoil things for people. But the people who have finished the game will know what I'm talking about. But to sum it up... Great game, great characters, great graphics. A must play!

Worst Ending Ever

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game will shock you at first when the rough looking main character speaks, because he sounds like Mr. Rogers, and is just as afraid of getting his hands dirty. Quite literally at times he'll say, "I can't do that. I'd get dirty." What is this, the Teletubbies? Also, the characters pause for huge periods of time when speaking to each other and move in a weirdly robotic slow way during cutscenes.

Finally, while much of the puzzle solving might be fun during the middle of the game, as it moves to its conclusion it rushes, stops making sense, and finally ends with the absolute worst conclusion of any game I've ever seen.

If I were you, I'd buy Runaway instead, or Conspiracies, or The Longest Journey, or Syberia, or that downloadable adventure which is excellent called Agon (go to Agongame.com).

But if you value your free time DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

Black Mirror - mixed feelings

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: July 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have just finished Black Mirror, and have mixed feelings about the game. Please be sure to read the review by Valrose. It is a wonderful review, and "mirrors" many of my thoughts as well. I see I am not the only one who saw Samuel as a "British Johnny Depp."

This is not a game for the impatient. There is a lot of walking around, and revisiting places, and sometimes just waiting for time to pass before you can move on. You need to remember to "left-click" and "right-click" in some instances to advance or get a hint what to do next. The scenery graphics are fantastic, many times dark and gloomy, but very detailed. I was captivated by it's entire gothic nature, but I especially like that style. The characters were not as finely done, but they were fine. The sound was wonderful. Lots and lots of rain, thunder and lightning - very realistic. The game was not especially scary, but there are some gory scenes. The puzzles were just about right, and interesting as well. If you like castles, and caverns, and hidden passageways, and tunnels - you will LOVE walking around in this game, as I did.

Unfortunately, there were several big holes in the plot, and many questions unanswered. This could all be overlooked, but the ending was a real disappointment. I am not a sap for happy endings, but after investing many hours (yes, you will get your money's worth in game-play hours) I felt as if the last scene had been just slapped on the end the game. I would have rather read an epilogue tying up some of the loose ends after the final puzzle was solved, instead of watching the last movie sequence. I see that some reviews rate this as "worst ending ever" - well, I don't know about that, but it would have gotten 5+ stars if the ending had been better.

I guess what it comes down to is that this game is pure pleasure to play if you are a gothic fan. The scenes and sounds are fantastic, the story line okay, the characters interesting, but the end is disappointing. Although I didn't like the end, it did get many hours of game play in beautiful settings. I got very drawn into the story.

Intriguing; a Milder Terror than Dark Fall

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In the eternal wait for Syberia II to emerge from its deep hibernation in Dreamcatcher land, I researched and indulged in the new games Dark Fall and Black Mirror. I liked Necronomicon (although I cheated my way through the alchemy bit), so I thought either of these two would work for me. Dark Fall is great, but my nerves are too bad to be scared out of my chair every 2 seconds. Black Mirror provided a a slightly less nervewracking ambience, and thus something I felt a little more comfortable sinking into and getting lost in.

Samuel Gordon is a late 20th century descendant of the landed British aristocracy. To that end, he is a little bit of a jerk, but not annoyingly so. I kind of like his aristocratic, mysterious way. Not that I'm an imperialist--under ordinary circumstances this kind of story might irk the flip out of me. But I think this game is at least partially aware of the problematic notion of the landed aristocracy. The wealth that is represented in the game is decaying; the castles are in disrepair and the Gordon family seems almost anachronistic. That Samuel left Black Manor 12 years before attests to his at least marginal disregard for the privilege. But he still acts like an aristocratic jerk sometimes. Because the game doesn't make him a flawless hero, I like it.

Samuel comes from, not surprisingly, a long line of Anglo Gordons. His grandfather has just died, under less than auspicious circumstances. Samuel's departure from Black Mirror Manor 12 years before is as well under less than auspicious circumstances. Upon returning to the Manor for his grandfather's funeral, Samuel discovers that his grandfather, William Gordon, had been on the verge of uncovering a deep, longstanding curse on the Gordon line. Samuel will pick up the trail of his grandfather's research; you will spend the majority of your time tracking down this curse.

The game is 3rd person, which is personally my favorite. While I believe it important to identify with the main character, I think the storyline is preserved more successfully if the player can see the character with which she is identifying. Samuel is a British Johnny-Depp looking 30-something man, which doubtless lends something to his appeal.

Some reviews have commented negatively on the voice acting in Black Mirror. There is some room for improvement, I would agree. But I have heard much worse--Watchmaker, for instance takes the award for the all time worst voice acting. Black Mirror's voice acting is credible and engaging enough. Samuel sometimes sounds like a bit of a dweeb, but this is mainly, I think, because he has to think out loud for the player's benefit. The sound ambience is delightful, and the graphics are crisp, clean, and rich.

The pace of the game is somewhat slow, but this is what I was looking for, after the flatlining I did playing Dark Fall. If you prefer a bit more pace and bit more adrenaline, Black Mirror may not be the game for you. The puzzles are durable--they're not especially hard, but they are not especially easy, either. I got stuck in pixel hunting some, and did find a nice walkthrough for a few spots. There is a good deal of inventory work, but it makes sense on the whole.

If you're looking for a game that permits of the "I haven't moved my arms and legs in several hours so now I can't feel them" experience, Black Mirror may satisfy. It's got several chapters, and it is easy to get lost in it without getting terribly frustrated. Be warned, though, that there are a few spots with timed puzzles; if you don't figure it out in time you'll get a cut scene panning across Samuel's grave marker. These aren't terribly frequent, and they aren't usually a terrible surprise if you've saved your game fairly often.

I recommend Black Mirror for its storyline, pace, graphics, and sound. It kept me happily occupied while I wait for Syberia 2.

wonderful escapism -- but nor for must people

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: April 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you hated Myst, you'll hate this game even more.

If you wish to escape into a land of ancient castles, full of decayed splendour, where everyone speaks with a brittish accent, then this game is wonderful -- despite it's flaws. I just look stood there and looked at the sceenery at first, and didn't mind when characters told me to "come back later" and i had nothing to do -- i just looked at the rooms and wished i could live in them.
In most games it gets annoying walking around the same places over and over, saying the same things to the same people. not here, for two reasons: one, you can't click on something twice or pick the same non-essential converstaion topic twice. Only the needed things remain click-able. and two, it is a pleasure to walk around here.
But other than that, it's not really a *game* as such. more of an interactive movie, or something. I wasn't able to hurry things up at all when i figured out something Samuel didn't. Puzzles that could have been hard wern't, because they included hints next to them, and the puzzles that *were* hard were stupid -- like to get a guy's keys you have to distract him and he just happnes to leave the keys in the door. Like that would ever work!
And the ending, gloomy and fitting as it was, didn't explain *anything*. Most of the "mystery" you go around trying to solve does not get solved, which is a bit annoying. But what really gets me is that I don't know why my character performed the black mass and what he had hoped to accomplish with it or anything!

I did notice that there was an eerie green light associated with the evil brother -- that fact never actually got used in the game past a certian point. Also this big thing full of symbols in the castle flanked by 2 green lights never got used iether -- save for the character to remark on that the symbols are familiar. I was certian that thing was going to turn and open to reveal something visually stunning! But no.
It's as if the head writer of this game quit (or met some dreadful end?) in the middle of making this game so they never made it like it was supposed to be made! Either that, or it is a deliberate cliff-hanger -- in which case i really hope the sequel explains all that really cool but rather pointless occult stuff my character had to go through.

Suspenseful and Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: July 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Very enjoyable game. So many neat places to explore. Some puzzles weren't very difficult, but there were enough challenging ones to keep it fun. The rain and thunder were so realistic! At first I didn't realize you could left and right click on objects, even in your inventory. There were no technical problems. The game ran great on XP.

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