Mirror’s Edge
Monday, November 17, 2008
Once every two years or so, a game will be developed that is not only incredibly good but also forever alters its genre, a game that makes the world of gamers amazed at its innovation and brilliance, the question comes down to this, is the Mirror’s Edge one of them?
Among runners and the police
Mirror’s Edge is about people who call themselves “runners”, these runners are acting as couriers to get information from one place to another in a city that has a constant control over the flow of information.
You play as the super-agile woman Faith, who quite early into the game becomes embroiled into problems when her sister is accused of murder and Faith becomes wanted after having been seen at the crime scene. Faith will have to run for her life while the veil of this crime slowly becomes clearer.
Not an entirely bad introduction to the story in a game that is about to running. However, it is not personally engaging or motivating to know why she runs all over the city just to meet a person. This may be due to the lack of key characters, which in itself is a pretty big problem. You never get to know the other characters even though they seem to have a headquarters in which the runners gather. It may be because almost every cutscene in the game is in 2d.
I do not know why they made the choice to have almost all the cutscenes in 2d, it isolates the player from all the personal contact you get with other characters in the game. It feels more like laziness than an active choice they made during the development of the game. It is a pity, because first-person view is a powerful tool for creating emotion and affection between the player and his character. So commitment to the story and characters isn’t what it could be, it’s fortunate for DICE that the experience is not all about the story.
A sterile world which is beautiful
The graphics are very impressive in Mirror’s Edge, the gameworld is like having the Japanese building a city that is IKEA-inspired.
It looks incredible, and it is a free-runners dream. The world is not the only thing that looks good but Faith herself is looking really good, or rather the way we “see” Faith. In this game you have full body awareness while playing meaning that you always see Faiths arms and legs when performing all her movements. It gives an incredibly good sense of presence when playing. I’m a very impressed at how well they have succeeded in this and I hope that it will leave its mark on future First Person Shooters.
Among high rooftops and incredible jumps
It is in the gameplay that Mirror’s Edge really shines, basically the game is inspired by free-running and parkour, which is about jumping over obstacles in a smooth and efficient manner. As the acrobatic Faith you’ll get access to a variety of parkour-inspired movements that you can use when you run. These acrobatic movements performed quite easily with only 3 buttons. Duck, jump and 180/90 degrees turns, all mapped to a button each.
This mapping of the controls may take some time to get used to but you will notice quickly that it’s a very efficient controlscheme. The controls are responsive and always available. It will only take a few minutes and it will feel like you full control over the controls.
Since the game is mainly about running , DICE have captured the feeling of momentum perfectly. In order to run as fast as you can you have to keep the flow or momentum in your moves, this is performed by executing a series of acrobatic movements to overcome obstacles without stopping. The feeling of actually nail that superhard series of moves is incredibly satisfying and the sense of being chased is amplified when you see bullets flying past you or when you like Neo burts through doors standing in your way. Amazing.
Another thing that I’m very impressed with is how well they managed to get the player calculate the distance of jumps. Normally in first-person shooters it’s incredibly difficult to platforming.
In addition to her acrobatic talents Faith is also well trained in martial arts, these movements are carried out with the right trigger button and the Y button. These movements are very useful when you must wade through a variety of enemies using the disarm maneuver or simply beat them up with a series of punches and kicks. You can also get access to weapons in the game but they usually slow Faith down and acts only as a temporary power-up, so Mirror’s Edge actually implemented a button for throwing away your gun.
The enemies in the game consists mostly of policemen, and they certainly will not be hitting you if you keep up your momentum which feels a bit strange sometimes, that you can run right past them without any major problems at times. However, it does not disrupt the gameplay or anything but the fear of dying and actually being chased gets lost a bit when no enemies chase you constantly. A game that DICE should have checked out a little extra for the fear of dying and fleeing is the multiplayer portion of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – Double Agent.
The leveldesign is actually very good, with a press of the b button Faith will look in the direction of her next goal, and this is a fairly simple way to help the player keep the tempo and constantly know where to run next. However, there are some places where you do not have a path to follow or a goal, which will leave the player a bit confused.
This makes the game slow down quite a bit, mostly because the player is constantly accustomed to being chased and keep pace throughout the game, so feelings of frustration present themselves rather quickly when you are forced to think and look where to go to move forward. Usually in other games, it’s not a problem for the player to slow down a bit and think about where to go, but in Mirror’s Edge you don’t expect such situations and the flow of the game gets disrupted. It makes players more frustrated than usual.
Speed Run Time Trial
In the game there is also the modes: Speedrun and Time Trial where the player has to take the fastest route to the end of the level. Quite simple but very well implemented. For people who love the Time Trial and Speed Run, this is absolutely wonderful. The times you get can be uploaded to the leaderboards, where you can compare times with friends and the world’s best ranked player. Very satisfying to be on top 10 list of the best players. Speed Run is simply to play through the game’s chapters with limited time, which can be incredibly difficult and stressful but oh so wonderful once you succeed. It increases the intensity of being chased a lot and of course this will leave players more frustrated when the run to the best of their ability for 15 minutes only to clear the level seconds too late.
Conclusion
If you really take a good look at the game, Mirror’s Edge has got a non-engaging story with 2d cutscenes but a wonderful and awesome gameplay. I agree that this is a game that changes its genre in a positive direction, to be constantly aware of your body and how easily one can move through obstacles by using the momentum is clearly something that future FPS developers should look into.
Mirror’s Edge is an incredible game, a wonderful experience, however, it has relatively large gaps, so if you are looking for something new and incredibly fun for the moment, then this is for you. Do you want an engaging storyline and deep character relationships, you’ll have to find somewhere else, because it is not the story in Mirror’s Edge you will talk about the next day in front of the watercooler, it’s the Gameplay.
