When the Germans take up some genre of media products, they do it seriously and quickly conquer their worthy place under the producer-longing sun. No, we are not talking about the specific area of the film industry that you have now thought about. It’s about quests.
The amount of adventure created at home Bach And Goethe (And you probably immediately remembered about Hitler), can only compete with the number of detective television series produced in this country. Moreover, German developers were harassed to take away bread from others. For example, a Czech studio Future Games suffered from truly Aryan competitors from Cranberry Productions, The sequel made at first, and now the tricus of one of the best representatives of the genre is Black Mirror.
By the way, the last time the Germans got a rather ambiguous project. Black Mirror 2 only vaguely resembled the original, but generally corresponded to the spirit of a high -quality mystical quest. Will we be able to surprise us Black Mirror 3 After two full -fledged incarnations of the topic touched?
The sky is in a strip
Anyone who got acquainted with Black Mirror 2 remembers that in the first half we engaged mainly things that have little to do with secrets, mysticism, horrors and other interesting fun. The plot required a long “swing” to introduce the player into the right channel of murders, tragedies and frost on the skin. Apparently, the developers realized that such an approach could slightly scare away various haste. And this time they decided to throw us right from the place to the quarry, or rather, in the prison camera.
The hero of the previous novel Darren Michaels (aka Edrien Gordon) enters the clutches of the police as a suspect in the murder and arson. The limited and embittered unmarried inspector intends to plant a guy in jail and close the case quickly. It would seem that here you can end the saga about the descendant of the Gordon clan, but loyal English laws come to the rescue. Darren is released on the bail. Maniac, not a maniac – what’s the difference, everyone has the right to walk for free for money.
And then everything is as usual: the young man begins his, an alternative investigation with Blackjack and psychotherapists. In parallel, Michaels will have to deal with nightmares and visions on the topic of uncontrolled aggression, to be subjected to hypnosis sessions and survive universal condemnation – oddly enough, no one loves the killers and arsonists in Willow’s scream. In addition, perhaps, the owner
of the Murray Hotel, for whom the “horrors of our town” form the basis of the tourist business.
For a person who started immediately from the third part, there will be a lot of incomprehensible in what is happening. They did not tell us a summary of the previous episodes, which in the case of Black Mirror seems wrong, because the events of the tricel are directly related to plot turns from the first and second games.
Style without comfort is nothing?
The first impression of the project is always largely determined by the degree of convenience for the player. Black Mirror 3 As convenient as Black Mirror 2. Classic, intuitive Point-And-Click control, highlighting active zones, affordable inventory, the possibility of instant transition between locations, a clear setting of tasks in the diary-all this makes the gameplay pleasant. Comfortable.
The developers keep up with adventure fashion: puzzles can be missed. The rest of the hero’s actions are logical, simple and not overloaded with a set of conventions. For example, you can wet a sponge in the river and in a bucket with mop – there would be water at hand, and which – it does not matter. The ease of passage in combination with the abundance of dialogs and rollers brings the quest closer to the gaining momentum of the genre of an interactive film. All this, of course, is beneficial for dynamics and makes a third part of the epic legend about Gordons more exciting from the very first minutes than could be assumed by acquaintance with the second part. On the other hand, the bright contrast between Darren’s calm, measured life until a clash with an angry rock of the Gordon clan and a series of horrors that fell on him after, looked as a whole more unexpectedly and fresh than the “ominous town – an ominous castle – investigation – an ominous town – an ominous town.nightmare”.
And the originality of gameplay would like more. We are again forced to fulfill a bunch of tasks for “distracting and steal”: force the waiter to turn away to get to the donuts prepared for the inspector;Put the donuts in the freezer to detain the minister of the law in the cafe and almost steal a package of documents from the office. Will have to rummage into the wires – where without it! – And tinker with films, and think over the password. In general, the entire “gentleman’s set” of adventure puzzles without any claim to the novelty.
If the uniqueness of the gameplay can be considered as a desirable, but optional bonus, then without an atmosphere of a mystical thriller with elements of horror, a quest from the Black Mirror series cannot exist. And here the biggest problem just lay down: everything seems to be correct, verified, the script Borzeno runs forward like that, the tasks are solved at a time, musical decoration at a height, landscapes in a moderately gloomy. But not scary at the same time not a bit. We do not shy away in sweet horror, when Edrien’s face is turning into a terrible monstrous mask, we are not scared by hellish dogs, attacking the protagonist in the forest, we are only flickering with disgust when we are demonstrated by a charred corpse.
Perhaps the fact is that our character is very difficult to really sympathize with. He … no. Michaels’s statements come down to two types: stupid and unnecessary naming of useless objects in the style of “this chair, eat it” and whining on the topic “Ah I am poor, unhappy”. It is almost impossible to identify yourself with this, so to say, a man. Therefore, the fate of the hero turns out to be more or less indifferent to the player.
Other actors look even more frostbitten than Edrien. A stroke inspector, pathos beyond the measure of Lady Victoria, a sickeningly polite and correct aunt-psychoanalyst … I somehow did not work out with personalities. Therefore, dialogs are mostly fresh, ordinary, boring. In the context of the plot, they may be nothing, but they themselves cause only a desire to quickly squeeze forward. But it is in the dialogs that eighty percent of the whole history is concentrated.
Edian-Darren’s strange habits. Either in abandoned huts climbs, then all sorts of ruins are hanging around. Smacks of a tendency to looting, you do not find?
Beauty will not save
And after all, surprisingly, the feeling of the overall contract and emasculation of gameplay arises contrary to a very worthy graphics and a completely suitable sound design. Forest, castle, town of Willow Scream and other locations are created with love for composition and atmosphere. Almost every “screen” can be perceived as an independent “art on the theme” of the original Black Mirror. A huge number of details examined are scattered everywhere. And just a longing takes at the thought of how the “textual” from the “textiles” disposed of this visual wealth Cranberry Productions.
We will not hear a single original commentary on the subject from the lips of the hero – solid stamps and statements in the spirit of the captain of evidence. As a result, by the middle of the first chapter, any desire to explore each bush disappears and there is a serious motive to find passage. Despite the fact that playing the game is not difficult.
It is not entirely clear, however, why, with such a beauty of graphic statics, the developers did not make an attractive animation. After all, technologies have long been mastered: the problem of facial expressions and movements in quests today can be considered solved. But not for Cranberry Productions. To cover up the absence of changes on the faces of the characters during the conversation, gentlemen, the authors try to launch all negotiations on the distant plans. No face – no problem.
In general, it cannot be said that Black Mirror 3 became a disappointment compared to the previous part of the series. He acquired the plot in dynamics and lost in originality, all other elements remained in their places. The thing is that for the success of Triklu it is clearly not enough to repeat everything that we have already seen in the sequel. And with freshwoman, the developers have problems.
Pros: dynamic plot;logical tasks;Beautiful graphics.
Cons: The frail atmosphere;a spineless protagonist;stilt characters;stamped riddles;boring texts;Animation curve.