Black Mirror is an interactive movie. Compared to its gameplay, I think it is more cinematic. The film’s theme is somewhat of a nod to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. This is reflected not only in the fact that the story takes place in 1984, but also the repeated references to Program and Control (PAC) in the game.
This way of presenting choices, in the film, reminds me of the German film "Lola rennt" released in 1998. It's also a movie that has different endings due to different plots. But "Lola Run" is presented to us, and "Black Mirror" is to let us make our own choices.
From the game point of view, the most similar to "Black Mirror" should be Late Shift, which is also a game presented to players with live-action shooting and simple selection. "Black Mirror" has quite a lot of plot branches for a movie. Compared with the game, these appear to be too few.
Black Mirror made me feel like there were always unavoidable storylines, like whether Stephen revealed his mother's story to a psychiatrist. After I chose "No," the psychiatrist asked me again, and in later episodes, the game took me back three times to revealing my mother's story to the psychiatrist. That makes me feel like the mother's story is a big part of the game that drives the story, and that's what makes me feel like the game is the least game-like because I just can't get past it.
Compared with "Black Mirror", the games with a stronger sense of game are "Detroit" and "Quantum Break". These two games require players to make choices with a far greater density of options and times than the previous two games.
Netflix imposes certain requirements on viewers, not to fast forward or rewind, and not to download offline.
If you think of Black Mirror as a movie, there are pros and cons to this approach. One of the downsides is the high cost of shooting. A 90-minute film took more than 300 minutes to shoot because it gave the audience options. The second is that Black Mirror cannot be released in theaters due to the need for the audience to choose the plot to drive the story. At the same time, it also brings some benefits. First of all, the audience is more able to concentrate on the storyline, rather than watching while doing other things, such as playing with the phone. Second, because different choices lead to different endings, Black Mirror is hard to be pirated like a normal movie.
If you think of Black Mirror as a game, it can be said to be relatively successful. Moreover, I think the game form of interactive movie will occupy a large proportion in the future game market. Different from traditional computer-side competitive games, this type of game is simple to operate, rich in plot, does not require FPS (First Person Shooter); or MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game foundation, any player without game experience can get started, so It is more able to attract non-gamers and expand the number of gamers.
ps. I like some of the little details. For example, if Stephen chooses different cereals, the commercials on the video tapes he later watch are also different. Then there is the fact that the audio that everyone almost knows is converted into a QR code.
View more about Black Mirror: Bandersnatch reviews
