lathany

Today I finished The Black Mirror.

It was a pretty decent adventure game in general. Up until the last chapter I would have rated it extremely highly. However, having finished it, I only rate it highly as there were a few too many plot holes/inconsistencies that just did not get explained.

Good Points
- A nice range of puzzles and quests. The designers appeared to have taken some trouble to avoid most of the puzzle clichés.
- The plot was decent with a good twist in it.
- The locations were nicely realised with good graphics.
- Plot advancing came at a good pace (after the first chapter).
- Puzzles came at a passable rate.
- The puzzles didn't require too much moving around and often would limit the character to one place or room.
- Parts were genuinely scary (it's a horror adventure game).

Bad Points
- The voice acting.
- The in-game information implied that the Bad Guy TM had the equivalent of an alibi for at least two of the crimes.
- It takes a little while to get going.
- Some pieces of information were required from NPCs wanting the main character to "come back later" and actually meaning this. In several places (I counted three) this was very annoying, because the main character had nothing else to do, so was just wandering for ten minutes.
- The main character could die. Every last one of those possible deaths was unnecessary (and one was irreversible with a bad save).

But overall, worth playing. Particularly given that Amazon are selling it for less than a tenner (and I'm happy to lend to people!).

Today I also took the duo to Alf King's Play Centre for the Under Fives. I was hoping it could fill some of the gap left by the end of playgroup and the summer pause of the Parent and Toddler groups. It did. It was great and both Ryan and Bea loved it. About the only downside is that I have to stay with them, but it's definitely going to help getting the three of us through the next couple of months.

And, finally, my job interview has been moved. It's now just under two weeks on Monday. I would have preferred to get it out of the way this week, but never mind.