Customer Reviews

Black Mirror 2 (PC) (UK)

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Review under Windows 7 x64


===Preface===


Well I am not exactly sure. Am I expecting too much from today's Adventure games? Was this game enough long for most gamers but awfully short for me?

Black Mirror 2 isn't a bad game, considering how many really bad adventure games have been released in the past few years. But it is certainly no match for its ancestor, Black Mirror 1.


===Scenario===


It's now 1993, twelve years after the disaster in Black Mirror 1. The game starts with a cut scene showing how Catherine (Samuel's wife from BM1) died 24 years earlier. I never understood why is that related to the rest of the game, but anyway. Now you are Darren, a young man working in a photo shop in Biddeford, New England. You meet Angelina, a beautiful but mysterious woman which somehow seems to be connected with the old Black Mirror story and the murders that took place there. After you manage to take some shots of her, strange things begin to happen. Who is the man chasing Angelina? Why does your boss behave so strange? What's wrong with your mother?

You will meet again Bates, Victoria, Murray and a few other from BM1, and also you will learn the real truth about your mother, her connection with Willow Creek and your connection with the Gordon curse.

Nothing very much appealing, but also nothing extreme or weird.



Scenario grade: 85%

Important note: The game reveals the Black Mirror 1 murderer, so if you have not finished BM 1, do not try this yet. It will spoil the fun for you.


===Graphics===


The strong element in Black Mirror 1 continues to be a good reason to purchase BM 2. Beautiful graphics, nice designs, mysterious backgrounds and more, ultimately compose a nice environment. The graphics are very clear and no pixel hunting (which isn't anyway an issue here because of the control system described below). Note that BM1 had more animation in its screens, where BM2 seems a bit more static (even the rain doesn't affect you much, it was more "annoying" in BM1).


The game will run at various screen resolutions in full screen. At the top of the page there are the control icons, and at the bottom there are your inventory items. Overall, the graphics system is nice and quite stable.

The graphics aren't as horrifying as in BM1, which, render BM2 a mystery game rather than a "full" horror game. I was expecting more evil graphics when I found the servant's body at the bathroom, for example. Oh, and your death (yes, you can die in this game, although only in a few times) is a bit violent.



Graphics grade: 92%


===Sound===


This time the sounds seem a bit detached from the plot. Not that sounds are not good; They simply give you the impression that they are not part of the plot, but they were made just because some sound had to be added. And because the sounds are not very horrifying, there is no true element of horror in this game. You want to think that something bad will happen, but when it happens you are left with the impression of "was that all?".

I was expecting more from the voices as well. They are clear but many people comment on Darren's strange accent and I don't hear any strange accent in his voice. The voices are relatively "calm", despite the fact that this game and its atmosphere should be evil.

In short, sound is good, but don't expect it to make you jump out of your chair. Not a chance.



Sound grade: 82%


===Control===



The control system is one of the best found in modern games and if it wasn't another reason to make the game too short, it would be worth a full 100%. This is a point-n-click game which completely installs to the hard drive but still wants the DVD to be inserted. When the game starts you are asked to choose between the "Normal" mode and the "Easy" mode, which basically gives you more hints on the control and also allows you to bypasses the puzzles. On the top of the screen there are icons for save/load/etc (Also viewed with the ESC key), and your diary (which essentially tells you what to do next) . At the bottom there is your inventory, which can be scrolled left or right.

Saves are unlimited and (thanks God) after saving you return immediately to action, not needing to press "back to game" button as in other games.
Pressing spacebar allows you to view all exits and clickable items in your screen, and like BM 1, once you click something when it keeps being hot it means that there are further actions in it (when you are there or at a later time). This has a few bugs (for example the window in the museum often turns red even if you are done with it) but generally works well.

Double clicking an item tells Darren to immediately go and manipulate it, and this would be really useful in BM1 which has a bigger plot, but in this game it simply makes it even shorter. Additionally you can use the M key (or the map in your inventory) to jump between places after you have visited them once or you have heard about them.

You can combine items in your inventory by clicking one on the other. One annoying thing is that you will have to scroll left or right, but fortunately this won't happen a lot.

If you have activated the "additional game help" from the menu, then a "solve it" button appears in each riddle, after you spend some time trying to solve it. How many riddles are there with that? Not more than 3-4, from which 2 of them are ugly jigsaw puzzles and the rest are easily completed within a few minutes.

My final opinion is that this control system is well designed and effective, but it should have been applied in a different game. Here it simply renders the game even shorter and even easier. Oh, and no crashes or Alt-Tab issues as well.




Control grade: 95%



===Atmosphere===


Black Mirror 2 should be atmospheric, but it isn't. You want something as evil as in BM1 to happen and when it happens you are not impressed. You want the 'black museum' to lock you in its gates and it doesn't. You want to enter the morgue and reveal another murder (like in BM1 chapter 5) and you simply weight a body there and exit. You want a better ending than BM1 and actually you get a worse. You want a horror game and it's more an "investigation" one. You want to be scared and you won't. You want a lot; and you will eventually get only a few.


I don't know much about the Gordon curse and the Black Mirror creepy stories, but I am pretty sure that Black Mirror 2 suffers from the "sequel's curse"; It is condemned to be compared with its ancestor - and, trust me, the comparison, as far as the atmosphere is considered, fails.




Atmosphere grade: 70%


===Action===



Here the game screws it up. Yes, it completely lets you down. The game is so awfully short and easy that clearly targets only new players in the genre (and I doubt there are many). It took me less than 2 days to finish it without walkthrough. Moreover it seems that all the riddles were made because something had to be put to the game - they don't enhance the atmosphere as they should.

There are six chapters like BM1. In the first one you learn about the people in your town and their connection with a blackmail case. In chapter 2 you are trying to investigate a strange murder and to set your innocent (?) girlfriend free. In chapter 3 you get to Willow Creek, trying to search an ugly underground set under the hotel (which was once the Asylum Robert was working in) - yes there is a mine cave which you have to escape from and there is plenty of object-combining there. In Chap 4 you are locked in the Elenor's mansion in Wales (remember it from BM 1's Chapter 3 ?) and you are trying to get released. In Chap 5 you finally enter the Black Mirror castle and investigate the truth about Gordon's curse (although the castle isn't exactly the same as in BM1) .

In the last chapter 6 you get to enter the cursed room when Mondred was locked until the evil began raising in BM1, trying ... what? That I have not yet understood. At least in BM1 you knew who the murderer was. What's happening here? Who is Angelina and who is your actual mother? Who started the fire and why? Who killed the servant and why? Were the developers really so urgent to finish the game that its ending is even more disappointing than BM1's ?

There are a few riddles which are under time pressure (completely easy I assure you) and you can die a few times. Fortunately the game allows you to restore immediately before your death.

There are less than 10 puzzle-style riddles (that is, riddles not requiring some combination of the inventory items) and of these, only one or two will require more than a few minutes - basically because the game actually tells you what to do in your diary. For example, in the finale when you need to open Bate's box, there are some symbols on it, and when you find their relative items the game immediately tells you what is the symbol of each item and how to put them. If you have played games like Darkness Within and got through the riddles there, then be prepared to finish BM 2 in a few hours.

In short, the game is so short and so easy that it ruins any pleasure you might had earned from the nice graphics sound and control. Perhaps they wanted to target the new gamers in the Adventure genre; Not me, and I do believe, not any other else that will read this review.



Action grade: 50%


===Riddles===



When the game is so short at least you expect some innovative riddles. And YES the first one you will encounter is a JIGSAW. Oh no, not again. I 've promised to myself that I will buy any future game that doesn't have a jigsaw puzzle, no matter if I like it or not. And later on, YES a safe opening with the stethoscope method. And later on another safe. And later on when you find something more interesting, (like the developing of the photos), it is so easy and the game drives you so well that there is not a chance to spend more than 5 minutes to solve it.

There is also an interesting lock-picking puzzle. This is easy as well. But because the developers thought it was fun, they put it again later on. Not funny. I don't like to solve the same riddles all over again. The fact that some riddles in the game are repeating clearly tells you that the developers just ran out of ideas.

As I said above, the riddles make you think that are completely unrelated to the atmosphere and they were only put there just because something had to be put.

Remember 7th Guest, 11th Hour, Black Dahlia, Ripper, Darkness Within, Myst, SPQR, Shadow of the Comet, Shivers and Zork? If you do remember them, now forget them. Black Mirror 2 is the easiest game you will have ever tried.

Riddles grade: 70%


===Finale===

Even worse than BM1. PLEASE ADVENTURE GAME DEVELOPERS. CREATE A DECENT FINISH FOR YOUR DECENT GAMES. DO NOT CREATE A DISAPPOINTING FINISH JUST BECAUSE THE GAME HAS TO END.

Finale grade: 60%




===Overall===

What can I say more? If you are a new gamer, try this one. If you are not, still try it. You will be disappointed, but at least you will have tried.

Final grade: 79%

Oh, how I've missed the Black Mirror castle! Seriously, how long did it take to make Black Mirror II?

However, this particular sequel did not top the original, but then again, sequels never do. On the other hand, this game definitely has better graphics and good storyline. I did not really understand why the main character, Darren, had to have a love interest though. I expected him to be lonely and isolated, much like Samuel, not to be chasing after a girl.

I also agree with the previous review - the game is way too short! Hopefully, Black Mirror III will be longer.

In addition, for all those users that were not happy with the way this game works here are some useful tips:

1. This game WORKS perfectly on a mac that has VMware and Windows. I was lucky enough to keep my XP (for my games) but I also tested it on 7 and it works as well.

2. You will need 4 GB of RAM for it not to freeze. Lesson learned and now I have more RAM.

3. Make sure to save the game frequently. You know how it is.

Other than that, enjoy. Black Mirror III already came out in Germany. Why do we have to wait until April 2011?