244: Stumbling Through Mirror's Edge

[Preacher zer0]

Mirrors Edge did NOT fail.

It's flaws are real for sure yo, but these are inevitable when exploring new concepts in gaming, it's a pretty damn rare moment when an experiment such as ME results in an utterly perfect result, I mean c'mon, name ONE game that broke the mould, got outside the box, was fresh and original AND utterly flawless... even Ico had it's flaws and I deeply loved that game.

Ico was the experiment, Shadow was the main event, taking the core aesthetic, feel and "soul" if you will, listening to the deep emotional resonance the style evoked in players and tuning it to even greater levels.

ME was the experiment and hopefully the promised sequel will be the main event for the franchise.

It wasn't a fail is all I'm saying, it was a test, a brave experiment.

A leap of faith...

...and it paid off, because now we're getting that sequel.

 

[spectrenihlus]

Loved Mirror's Edge, still hoping for an even awesomer(yes I know that's not a word) sequel.

 

[random_bars]

Personally I think the biggest flaw with Mirror's Edge was its level design, in that a game like it really needs much more freedom in its levels than it gave. By making it so that there was only one specific path that you -HAD- to take to progress, they essentially made it only fun when you know where you're going.

And before people reply and start telling me about the time trials - yeah, I know, there are lots of little shortcuts and things you can do, but I mean freedom on a broader scale than that. Freedom that would theoretically allow you to get from the beginning of the level to the end via completely conventional, boring routes - which would actually give the concept of parkour, i.e. finding the quickest and most efficient route through the environment, more of a meaning, than having it just be the only way you can get to the end anyway.

 

[surg3n]

I liked Mirrors Edge, but the combat ruined it for me - no good being a bad ass parkour chick when your surrounded by dudes with guns, the game just didn't let you deal with situations in the way that made sense to the gameplay. I'd rather have a more casual game like that, less being chased and dealing with dudes with guns, and more about finding the fastest route across buildings, maybe a race. I mean, the courier thing was there from the start, then gradually the plot turns away from that. What generated the buzz with Mirrors Edge, was that demo, people played the shit out of that, trying to get a perfect run... the game descends from that point IMO, your not doing anything more interesting than in that demo.

If it was up to me, I'd make a multiplayer version, make it more like a race (get to the case, get the case to a drop point, while opponents try and stop you. We don't get too many games that are multiplayer, where the primary focus isn't just killing. Even Kane and Lynch, with it's bank robbery multiplayer games was good fun. Maybe I'm just sick of constant FPS games, but dammit I'd play Mirrors Edge to death if I could do away with the constant enemy funneling.