Black Mirror 1

Black Mirror is a prime example of a game having terrible voice acting, and not one but several clueless puzzles, but neither of those normally game-breaking problems mattering a jot! This game oozes atmosphere. The attention to detail in the sound is really pleasing - such as raindrops on the roof heard in indoor locations, and the footsteps changing as the surface Samuel walks on changes. A great deal of adventure games don't bother with these details. The animation of your main character is also quite fluid and pleasing. The backgrounds are very impressive, and the music and atmosphere really draw you in. This is definitely the game to pull out on those Wintery nights. It's a good long story too. The voice acting in some parts is bad but as I said, because the other elements are so strong, it fails to bring the game down at all. And to the puzzles without clues - I had to look those up in a walkthrough but again, this did not detract at all from the overall experience. This game will always have a special place in my heart. The sequels are so-so in comparison, because sadly Future Games weren't given the sequel, and the gaming adventure game world is a lot poorer without them.

One of my favorite point 'n click adventures. The script is convincing and well executed, the riddles are quite challenging and the ambience is dreary and gloomy enough to immerse the player in this supernatural, full of twists thriller. Oh, and it's one of those games that you are able to collect items only when you really need them (pretty realistic imo), so you can't make progress just by "being lucky". The retail version seems pretty rare nowadays so grab it here, duration + lots of extras make it worthwhile.

The pros - Good atmosphere and story - Beautiful background graphics - Good voice acting (in the German version) - Quite large for a point-and-click adventure - Fast travel (double-click on exits, map) The cons - Some questionable design decisions (see below) - Some annoying puzzles (I look at you, 15-puzzle) - You can be killed without warning - Ugly character models and animations While there are a few exciting moments in the game, some annoying design decisions somehow ruin the good impression for me. Many hot spots only appear when you really need the item, triggered by dialogue or other actions. That leads to a lot of back-and-forth and scanning the same screens with the mouse cursor over and over to check whether a new item can be picked up. In addition there is exactly one situation where you have to use an inventory item on yourself (i.e. on the character model), a not documented action which somehow reminded me of the goat in Broken Sword 1. All in all it is a not-so-enjoyable experience and finally I was happy when the game was over.

I personally quite enjoyed this game, although I played it some years ago. Most of the game is puzzle/story based, and most (but not all)of the solutions are reasonably logical. You can also choose different responses at times from Samuel either positive or negative which will affect the dialogue and how other characters respond to Samuel. There are a few ways to die, and a few timed sequences as well , but it's not a game where your character is constantly being killed off . On the whole while I agree the game does have room for improvement I found it to be very atmospheric and was drawn in by the story line. While it's not for everyone, if you like adventure games and dark/grim storylines with mystery and suspense (and don't mind a lot of dialogue) then this game is worth checking out. The graphics are also fairly good taking into account the games age.