When an industry becomes more commercial, less secure, and less innovative, finding a shiny gem in the rubble can be rare. When staring at the wall of video game corporate executives and lead developers, sometimes you will find a mirror implanted in the wall, forcing you to look behind at the innovation the industry used to price so dearly.
Mirror?s Edge is a first-person action platformer, for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and made by DICE from EA. You take on the role as Faith, a member of an underground organization to transport information illegally to clients in a city where information is heavily monitored. These people are called the Runners, whose primary means of transport is running on rooftops, and other deserted places. As such, the core gameplay is 3D platforming, but in a more realistic fashion then, say, a Mario game. You will also have to encounter law enforcement, private security, and terrain traversing puzzles, so don?t expect your travels to be as easy as desired.
The soundtrack is a mixture of pulse-pounding for combat, and serene for puzzles. The soundtrack for the basic platforming varies based on the tone of the plot. The background music suits the gameplay of the area and the story quite nicely, and swaps on a dime when it changes. Sometimes, you start a level and platform as normal, only for the soundtrack to instantly go intense and pitting you into combat after only a few seconds. These quick changes do a great job at putting you in the right mindset quickly, which is a must in a game based on speed.
The visuals are pretty mixed in satisfaction. The cutsceans are done in anime style artwork. As much as I like anime, the change in art style changes the feel of the game too much. The actual textures are great, the physics and animations are truly lifelike, but the level design is disappointing. Most of the areas are a single color. The rooftops are mostly white, the sewers are mostly green, etc. This is used to highlight specified things you need to see, or gives hints. Some areas feel as lifelike as the animations, but most of the areas are pretty bland and repetitive. Granted, in a speed game, you don?t have much time to admire the environments, but that feels more like an excuse then a proper justification. One could also argue that it makes the game easier to highlights specific things, but that also does not explain why the developers could not make two different textures for different difficulties. Easy would be mostly white with red highlights, and hard would be lifelike.
This talk about difficulty brings me right to the gameplay department. The game features a normal campaign mode, campaign speed runs after beating the game, and time trials that are small cuts from campaign levels. No multiplayer exists unless you count beating each others records.
As already stated, it is divided into three parts. Speed platforming, puzzle platforming, and combat. Speed platforming is the peak of the game. You mostly run linear paths, but this is forgotten once you are actually playing. The split second maneuvers and stunts you need to perform at top speed, while at the same time running from the cops, is blood pumping. The puzzle platforming slows things down a little after a good run, but allow you to focus more on thought provoking, complex stunts, in contrast to the simple split second ones during speed platforming. Generally, the two are separated at proper times, and don?t really interfere unless you really love to run from the cops and don?t like slowing down at all.
The combat is a hybrid of hand-to-hand and gun combat systems. The game recommends running away whenever possible, but sometimes you are forced to fight. If you do fight, separating them and going one-on-one is the best tactic. In melee combat, you can maneuver on walls and such like normal running in order to perform more acrobatic, martial art movie attacks. If you are like me and melee combat is not your thing, you also have the option to disarm hostiles if you have good timing. Fail to disarm? Simply pick one off a fallen enemy like any other shooter. You don?t pick up additional ammunition. All you got is the ammo left in the magazine. This forces you to put more focus on accuracy and target priorities, making the shooting more tactical then simply hiding, reloading, and going back out to fight. Both combat systems work well, but you can still easily prefer one over the other.
In all three gameplay aspects, the difficulty is trial-and-error. Your first attempts on anything will mostly likely end in failure. If you get easily frustrated, you will throw your controller into your TV. You will fall. You will get shoot. You will be punched to the floor. You will fail time trials. This game is only for the patient. The true reward and excitement is replaying levels on speed runs. This is one of those rare games that make you feel like you are improving overtime. During each replay though a level, you can feel ?the flow? a little more. You are more aware of the layout. Your reactions are faster, and more accurate. This flow is the true reward.
Lastly, the story. The story is not exactly exhilarating. It does hold the gameplay together, but does not go any further. The twists are pretty emotionless, and sometimes predictable. The backstory does not contain enough information for a deep story, and the characters are generic. The story is so shallow that I can?t say anymore without spoiling a good percentage of it.
Overall, Mirror?s Edge is a great game. Unfortunately, it is held back by a very short campaign mode, little replayability unless you are a real lover of racing for new records or achievements. The gameplay takes awhile to get used too, and the story could have used some work. If you can get though that, the core gameplay is new, refreshing, and as close to an adrenaline rush you can get from a game. Even if you do love the gameplay, it may not hook you long enough to justify the price. I highly recommend renting this if you want to try a new experience. Out of all the mainstream titles coming out this year, Mirror?s Edge is the choice for game of the year.
Mirror?s Edge is a first-person action platformer, for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and made by DICE from EA. You take on the role as Faith, a member of an underground organization to transport information illegally to clients in a city where information is heavily monitored. These people are called the Runners, whose primary means of transport is running on rooftops, and other deserted places. As such, the core gameplay is 3D platforming, but in a more realistic fashion then, say, a Mario game. You will also have to encounter law enforcement, private security, and terrain traversing puzzles, so don?t expect your travels to be as easy as desired.
The soundtrack is a mixture of pulse-pounding for combat, and serene for puzzles. The soundtrack for the basic platforming varies based on the tone of the plot. The background music suits the gameplay of the area and the story quite nicely, and swaps on a dime when it changes. Sometimes, you start a level and platform as normal, only for the soundtrack to instantly go intense and pitting you into combat after only a few seconds. These quick changes do a great job at putting you in the right mindset quickly, which is a must in a game based on speed.
The visuals are pretty mixed in satisfaction. The cutsceans are done in anime style artwork. As much as I like anime, the change in art style changes the feel of the game too much. The actual textures are great, the physics and animations are truly lifelike, but the level design is disappointing. Most of the areas are a single color. The rooftops are mostly white, the sewers are mostly green, etc. This is used to highlight specified things you need to see, or gives hints. Some areas feel as lifelike as the animations, but most of the areas are pretty bland and repetitive. Granted, in a speed game, you don?t have much time to admire the environments, but that feels more like an excuse then a proper justification. One could also argue that it makes the game easier to highlights specific things, but that also does not explain why the developers could not make two different textures for different difficulties. Easy would be mostly white with red highlights, and hard would be lifelike.
This talk about difficulty brings me right to the gameplay department. The game features a normal campaign mode, campaign speed runs after beating the game, and time trials that are small cuts from campaign levels. No multiplayer exists unless you count beating each others records.
As already stated, it is divided into three parts. Speed platforming, puzzle platforming, and combat. Speed platforming is the peak of the game. You mostly run linear paths, but this is forgotten once you are actually playing. The split second maneuvers and stunts you need to perform at top speed, while at the same time running from the cops, is blood pumping. The puzzle platforming slows things down a little after a good run, but allow you to focus more on thought provoking, complex stunts, in contrast to the simple split second ones during speed platforming. Generally, the two are separated at proper times, and don?t really interfere unless you really love to run from the cops and don?t like slowing down at all.
The combat is a hybrid of hand-to-hand and gun combat systems. The game recommends running away whenever possible, but sometimes you are forced to fight. If you do fight, separating them and going one-on-one is the best tactic. In melee combat, you can maneuver on walls and such like normal running in order to perform more acrobatic, martial art movie attacks. If you are like me and melee combat is not your thing, you also have the option to disarm hostiles if you have good timing. Fail to disarm? Simply pick one off a fallen enemy like any other shooter. You don?t pick up additional ammunition. All you got is the ammo left in the magazine. This forces you to put more focus on accuracy and target priorities, making the shooting more tactical then simply hiding, reloading, and going back out to fight. Both combat systems work well, but you can still easily prefer one over the other.
In all three gameplay aspects, the difficulty is trial-and-error. Your first attempts on anything will mostly likely end in failure. If you get easily frustrated, you will throw your controller into your TV. You will fall. You will get shoot. You will be punched to the floor. You will fail time trials. This game is only for the patient. The true reward and excitement is replaying levels on speed runs. This is one of those rare games that make you feel like you are improving overtime. During each replay though a level, you can feel ?the flow? a little more. You are more aware of the layout. Your reactions are faster, and more accurate. This flow is the true reward.
Lastly, the story. The story is not exactly exhilarating. It does hold the gameplay together, but does not go any further. The twists are pretty emotionless, and sometimes predictable. The backstory does not contain enough information for a deep story, and the characters are generic. The story is so shallow that I can?t say anymore without spoiling a good percentage of it.
Overall, Mirror?s Edge is a great game. Unfortunately, it is held back by a very short campaign mode, little replayability unless you are a real lover of racing for new records or achievements. The gameplay takes awhile to get used too, and the story could have used some work. If you can get though that, the core gameplay is new, refreshing, and as close to an adrenaline rush you can get from a game. Even if you do love the gameplay, it may not hook you long enough to justify the price. I highly recommend renting this if you want to try a new experience. Out of all the mainstream titles coming out this year, Mirror?s Edge is the choice for game of the year.
