I want to say that I'm a big fan, the first Black Mirror am, and have it umpteen times already played out first. Normally Adventures've got a rather limited replayability because you already know all the puzzles just after the first round. But in the world of BM1 I still like to dive often times again, because the big plus of the game is simply the neat gooseflesh atmosphere, as no other adventure brings about. It is a fairly quiet BM1 real game, just a classic point & click adventure. The atmosphere arises largely from the localities, the story and the professional setting excellently staged.
Unfortunately Cranberry has now changed very much in the concept ...
Story:
Is unfortunately quite far-fetched, and constantly there are any melodramatic twists, as in an emotional roller coaster. You can tell quite clearly that cranberry wanted to trim the whole story more on action. An obligatory love story there are, of course, also, is no longer so today without ...;)
The first two chapters to play fully in a small American town. Creepy atmosphere: zero. One feels as if one is in the wrong movie or game, I had to fight through downright since. OK, later in the game, the relationships are clarified, but still could have been the significantly shorter make, and can be investing more playing time in Old England.
In England arrived the game is then much better, but I think it comes from the atmosphere still falling far short of BM1 zoom.
Setting:
Both BM1 and BM2 are set to music professionally, but completely different. In BM1 people speak simply "normal", adapted to the character and the situation. Just as it should be IMO. In contrast BM2 everything is way too over-emphasized, emotive, overdone for my taste. Kick-ass example is of course Fuller, which acts just ridiculous with his constant, unfounded aggressiveness. But the main character Darren is unfortunately anything but sympathetic. Each syllable is emphasized by the speaker, hard to describe how, but I think he comes across as an affectation, arrogant snob full. In short, I was unsympathetic from the first second to the type. Later in the game it was somewhat better, or I had got used to it easily, but I could not identify with the character until the end.
In addition, is constantly thrown with expletives around. It's not that I would find offensive, but also by going for me atmosphere lost because it just affects adolescent. I think it's certainly not "cool".
Graphics:
The graph of BM2 is really beautiful, and of course contemporary high resolution. But IMO is creepy yet the graphic of BM1. This is partly due to the style, seems to me the graphics of BM2 ago total brighter, softer, friendlier than that of BM1. Even the rain effects were threatening in IMO BM1, BM2 in which looks more like a light summer rain. On the other hand, many of the atmospheric locations of BM1 no longer exists, or at least been replaced by equal-chilling. The Church of Wormhill missing, Hermanns morgue well and the whole complex is now a welcoming hotel. Equivalents? None. The chapters in America are scary-atmospheric already clinically dead.
Puzzles:
There are two levels of difficulty. The light I have not tried, because you can probably skip the mini puzzles, and still get additional assistance. Who needs it but me is a mystery, since even "normal" is quite easy. Besides, many combination puzzles are actually quite successful, which has only annoyed me was that Darren many puzzle-solving virtually autonomously, you just often enough click on the hotspot. Small example: You need a red light to a film to develop. Rather than by allowing the player to get this lamp reveals Darren a directly where this lamp is to be found. Why? Cranberry keeps the player in order to cope? I do not understand ...
Conclusion:
Summarizing one can say that cranberry probably wanted to make a kind of Hollywood thriller of a neat, classic spine-tingling adventure. BM1 was where probably just too old-fashioned, no longer fast, hip, cool enough, so you have it undergo a complete facelift. Now there are probably people who like surely the new style, as fans of BM1 I would have liked but fervently wished for a continuation in the tradition. And that's not BM2 unfortunately. It only carries the same name, recycled some character and story elements, but stylistically it's completely different. BM1 I'll play it safe yet often times, but I do not think that I will have the desire even at BM2.
I put my hope now prefer to "alter ego" the new project of Future Games, the original developers of BM1. Alter Ego will have true story moderately nothing to do with Black Mirror, but it could in style to exactly Adventure are the BM2 is not become, as it were, the unofficial BM2. The first information read anyway schonmal very promising.