244: Stumbling Through Mirror's Edge

Eruanno

Captain Hammer
Aug 14, 2008
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My biggest issues with Mirror's Edge all boil down to two things:

1. Sometimes I have to fight, why do I have to fight? This is a speed game, focusing on RUNNING! Why can't I simply outpace my enemies and make a daring escape? One particular place comes to mind in the end, when you need to destroy some servers to gain rooftop access. There is pretty much one gazillion guards in this room, and one of them stands smack in the middle of where you need to go and will NOT under any circumstances move. You HAVE to finish him off to proceed, which involves dealing with all the other guards first, or they will rape you as you take care of this rooted-in-place guard.
2. Why the hell is the "jump" button the same as the "wallrun" button? (Xbox 360, don't know if it is the same on PS3 or PC versions) I died literally HUNDREDS of times when I ran next to a wall, pushed down the wallrun/jump button and expected so slide along the wall to my escape, but instead took a fine hop into the abyss below and DIED TERRIBLY.

The worst part is probably the combination of these two, in a mall where you need to jump up to the roof through a duct, forcing you to jump over a glass... thing... waaaay above the rest of the mall, and there are six or seven guards below you shooting at you. And that glass is really bad at protecting you from bullets... And to get to this, you must wallrun and swing over a really tricky part. While under heavy fire. Unprotected.
My first fifty attempts: Run fast as possible, try to jump and dodge the bullets. Complete failure, I could make it about 90% of the way before constantly getting gunned down.
My 50th->100th attempt (eventually worked): Run around and lure up the guards one and one, beat them up and THEN do the tricky jump (which I still failed at like twenty times, despite no guards being around)

Sure, the story is pretty "meh", but this really doesn't make you want to fling your controller through the TV, like jumping over the same FUCKING chasm for the hundredth FUCKING time when the FUCKING game thought that wallrunning was for pussies and you should totally jump here instead of wallrunning.
 

Michael Cook

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Mar 24, 2008
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Eruanno said:
2. Why the hell is the "jump" button the same as the "wallrun" button? (Xbox 360, don't know if it is the same on PS3 or PC versions) I died literally HUNDREDS of times when I ran next to a wall, pushed down the wallrun/jump button and expected so slide along the wall to my escape, but instead took a fine hop into the abyss below and DIED TERRIBLY.
That's an interesting one. I kind of came to like it - you get a 'feel' for jumping into the wall. But then again, I was using a mouse so there was a bit more fidelity in the directions you could take Faith in.
 

Shrewsbury

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Jul 16, 2008
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I played the PC version for about 5 minutes with a controller before I got pissed off, gave up and played with the mouse and keyboard. It really did feel like a game designed for that control scheme, and I do recommend anyone who got annoyed with the controls to try them on PC.
 

Bagaloo

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Sep 17, 2008
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I really enjoyed Mirror's Edge, much like some of the other posters here I wasn't bothered too much by its shortcomings; it was just fun to figure out the fastest routes, and try to be as stylish as possible while doing it.

Also, it had a kick-ass soundtrack, I love the Mirror's Edge theme.
 

dochmbi

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Sep 15, 2008
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I never noticed any of the flaws, in my mind Mirrors Edge is and will always be a perfect game, I don't know why I love it so much, I didn't even know of it until shortly before release.
 

ben---neb

No duckies...only drowning
Apr 22, 2009
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I both loved and hated Mirror's Edge. I loved the running and jumping part, I loved some of the running away from bad guys part. Several levels were fantastic in their design.

But I hated the combat, I was rubbish at disarming, the brain washed runners just annoyed me and it always interrupted the flow of the gameplay.

I just wanted a game where I could run.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Mirrors Edge was amazing. And despite all its flaws, its still more immersive to me than any other first person game. And for 1 reason: I can see my feet when I look down.

It may seem like a small detail, but nothing, nothing kills immersion faster than looking down and realising your just a floating camera with arms.
 

oldmanwynter

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Mar 1, 2010
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Digikid said:
Mirrors Edge was an awesome game. It had NO FLAWS. All the flaws were just players whinging about indoor levels and stuff that they did not understand. Crybabies indeed.

Personally I hope that they do not change a single thing for Mirrors Edge 2.
I don't know, I for one could have done without a few of the gunfights. I think ME was an awesome game, a great pioneer for a different game style. But, like any game it had it's ups and downs. Here's to looking forward to an even awesome-er sequel!
 

Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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Nice article - captures the essence of what held the game back well. So often I would run into a room, start looking for the next platform to leap to then get filled with lead because apparently this room was where you went all masterchief on their asses.

In designing the combat areas, I would have simply ensured that you could ALWAYS run through. It should be possible to play a pacifist in a game that's all about running. Then again, maybe that's a commentary that no matter how hard we try, we cannot always escape violence, the inevitability of conflict catching up no matter how hard you run... or perhaps I'm reading too much into this and Dice just couldn't abandon shooting completely.
 

nonW00t

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Aug 6, 2009
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Every critic has to be a critic, it's why they're paid to be critics. lol And to each their own, I guess. I found this game simply incredible, but then I also guess I'm a more easy to please gamer than most. I marvel in the feel of Mirror's Edge, from the visuals, story, and characters (especially when a female lead). But that's just me, too appreciative maybe, having coming into the modern gaming world later than most. But I found the game great fun and hope for more like it! Now for it's length it was quite overpriced, which IMO was what held the game back most. (But then again I never buy a game right out of the gate anyway unless it's a MAJOR desire. heh)

As for the combat, my god, wtf with that already? Flight over fight, sort of, but come on, the whole point of the game was the character was not a fighter! The combat was what it was, not as refined as actual shooters -- ON PURPOSE! Geez.
 

AntiAntagonist

Neither good or bad
Apr 17, 2008
652
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Funny thing was taking the pacifist route (never using the guns, just disarming) made the game pretty fun and challenging. I'd get many of the same feelings from 90's platformers where I'd have to understand everything on a game logic level. The room wasn't a simple equation to be overturned with a few swift kicks or a frenzy of button mashing. Each room was a series of hurdles with specific timing for victory.

Play the game more like the original MegaMan and less like a modern shooter/action game. I'd definitely agree that the designers didn't present their case this way though.
 

WestMountain

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Dec 8, 2009
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I hope they are going to do what Ubisoft did to Assassins Creed 2 with Mirrors Edge 2, take away most of the flaws and make it super enjoyable :]
 

achilleas.k

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Apr 11, 2009
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AntiAntagonist said:
I'd get many of the same feelings from 90's platformers where I'd have to understand everything on a game logic level.
That's exactly how I felt only I couldn't put it into words. You have to feel the way the game lets you play. It's like the original Super Mario Bros., where you had to understand the timing of pressing the jump key when stomping on a baddie, or how far a jump can take you if you chain it with a jump from a higher location.

Games these days are too "standardised" in that regard. There's no flow. Whether you jump forward from a standstill, jump while you're sprinting or jump after running up a ramp, it just feels the same.
 

beemoh

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Dec 8, 2007
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WestMountain said:
I hope they are going to do what Ubisoft did to Assassins Creed 2 with Mirrors Edge 2, take away most of the flaws and make it super enjoyable :]
But hopefully not tie it down with The World's Most Arse Backwards DRM.

Also: parklife!
 

silvain

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Mar 9, 2010
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Wicky_42 said:
In designing the combat areas, I would have simply ensured that you could ALWAYS run through. It should be possible to play a pacifist in a game that's all about running. Then again, maybe that's a commentary that no matter how hard we try, we cannot always escape violence, the inevitability of conflict catching up no matter how hard you run... or perhaps I'm reading too much into this and Dice just couldn't abandon shooting completely.
This is the winning answer. The fact that shooting was in the game at all was a bit of betrayal to the flow of the game. The inevitability of violence thing is silly thing to put in a game; conflict will catch up, but you still can get out of it a different way. Just look at Ghandi.

Anyway, I liked the game, but not enough to experiment for hours with the time trials, once I figured out how hard they were to get good at. I would have preferred first person, honestly. The tunnel vision of first person is not something I've ever done well with, and parkour's all about using different things in your environment anyway, but I can understand others feel differently than I do.
 

reg42

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Mar 18, 2009
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I actually stopped playing this game, because the stop/start gameplay annoyed the shit out of me. If it was all free-running it would have been much, much better.
 

talkstogod

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Nov 24, 2009
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I love this game, one of my favorite on the 360, but I agree that the plot is nonsensical. Skippable cutscenes minimize that, though.

My main problem is with the slow combat. Yes, the learning curve is a little steep compared to some other games, but with practice you can combo parry/one-hit-kill virtually anyone. This is great. The problem is whenever you are forced to hide, wait, or fight from cover the momentum for the game breaks... it's not particularly hard (compared to, say COD) but it stops the game cold. It's the equivalent of putting mandatory GH boss stages in a FPS. ("You may have infiltrated my base, but can you survive Through the Fire and Flames on expert???")
 

True Nero

Dahaka Trainer
May 26, 2009
284
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Digikid said:
Mirrors Edge was an awesome game. It had NO FLAWS. All the flaws were just players whinging about indoor levels and stuff that they did not understand. Crybabies indeed.

Personally I hope that they do not change a single thing for Mirrors Edge 2.
ok, i wouldn't say the game is broken, but i DEFINATLY would not go as far as to say that it had no flaws.

personally, i liked the indoor sections of the game, it gave a whole sense of realism to the world that we were pretty much plunked into, and seeing construction equipment, cars, unopened stalls in the mall, and the elevator articles all gave a sense of "this is a believable place" that gamers like me are looking for, what i DIDN'T like was one of the first things that came up in the original article. the combat.

oh dear god this was awful, every fight for me consisted of running at an enemy, slide kick to the nuts, the punch till he falls down. if he doesn't fall down fast enough or has a really big gun, i slow motion and disarm. there really wasn't much as far as variety with practicality goes.

also, the game felt too short, the hint button was no use at all during the first play through, and the games intentions felt very schizophrenic, i.e. wanting to fit 12 hours of ideas into a 8 hour game. but now i'm just nit-picking. if anything, this article made me want to play it again... and i think i shall.