After playing Mirror's Edge time trials and thinking how nice it was not to be herded by security and police gunfire, it occurred to me that the panic and frustration would actually be suitable for a survival horror game.
Mirror's Edge was never really about the plot, and the whole idea of runners was probably due to the fact that there isn't a recognisable free runner for EA to publish EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour and have the whole game just be about running around doing tricks. It just doesn't make that much sense, and you put up with the idea because at least it's something new and the gameplay is different.
But let's look at a Zombie apocalypse situation. Survivors are holed up in refugee camps, with zombies all around them, so they're in a siege situation where they can't win. They need supplies, but the routes out are entirely blocked. Enter some free runners, they're able to take routes the zombies can't follow and are fast enough to dodge them. Their job? To go to zombie infested areas that have supplies, and bring them back. While they're at it, they can kill some zombies.
You're also not working alone. You can't do tricks while carrying anything heavy, so you'd have teams working together, a couple scouts who go ahead to make sure areas are clear, some carriers who are packing supplies - who can still run and climb but are slowed down - and some guards - runners who are a bit better at fighting and can protect the carriers. Naturally they sometimes need to just dump the supplies somewhere and run, so if that happens you go back and pick it up later.
Obviously the engine needs some tweaking, I don't think I'd leave it to Valve to do either, but Brink might be a pretty good example. Having versus multiplayer L4D style where you've got infected runners who are just as capable and agile would also get interesting. Having to do supply runs with hunters would get a lot harder.
Mirror's Edge was never really about the plot, and the whole idea of runners was probably due to the fact that there isn't a recognisable free runner for EA to publish EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour and have the whole game just be about running around doing tricks. It just doesn't make that much sense, and you put up with the idea because at least it's something new and the gameplay is different.
But let's look at a Zombie apocalypse situation. Survivors are holed up in refugee camps, with zombies all around them, so they're in a siege situation where they can't win. They need supplies, but the routes out are entirely blocked. Enter some free runners, they're able to take routes the zombies can't follow and are fast enough to dodge them. Their job? To go to zombie infested areas that have supplies, and bring them back. While they're at it, they can kill some zombies.
You're also not working alone. You can't do tricks while carrying anything heavy, so you'd have teams working together, a couple scouts who go ahead to make sure areas are clear, some carriers who are packing supplies - who can still run and climb but are slowed down - and some guards - runners who are a bit better at fighting and can protect the carriers. Naturally they sometimes need to just dump the supplies somewhere and run, so if that happens you go back and pick it up later.
Obviously the engine needs some tweaking, I don't think I'd leave it to Valve to do either, but Brink might be a pretty good example. Having versus multiplayer L4D style where you've got infected runners who are just as capable and agile would also get interesting. Having to do supply runs with hunters would get a lot harder.
