Mirror's edge, looks promising. - by Fragony
Scots Taffer on 4/3/2008 at 08:57
Looks pretty neat. I'll reserve further commentary for a trailer.
Koki on 4/3/2008 at 09:06
Quote Posted by Shakey-Lo
I just hope it has a jump button.
Oh
zing ;)
Well it sure as hell looks great, but how will the game work? Just running and jumping is not really fun for more than thirty minutes.
[Edit]
Ok so I watched the interview on GT and now I can see it's not GTA-like free roam, there is a bit of guns and big brother. That's good.
Of course my
broken half-empty glass factor quickly made me notice that all the bright, pastel colors actually (
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/492/snapshot20080304111318bqb2.jpg) mark the spots where you're supposed to go effectively holding your hand all the time no less than quest compass. That's fucking shit.
Firefreak on 4/3/2008 at 10:24
Quote Posted by Koki
effectively holding your hand all the time no less than quest compass.
Perhaps this is in the first levels, and after a while you are on your own to figure out what the best way ist (ie, these bright colors blended down, not spotable at first). Portal like.
We will see.
SubJeff on 4/3/2008 at 12:43
Edge had a big article on this some months ago. Looks very interesting. Context sensitive controls and all that. This has the possibility to be awesome. Being the cynic I am I reckon it will be short and not make full or highly experimental use of the game system. Just like Portal. But unlike Portal these things will make it less of a game than it could be. I'm just impressed that it's coming to PC.
Scots Taffer on 6/3/2008 at 03:59
(
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=792) Based on this "impressions" article I'll be reserving judgement for a demo.
I mean, the contextual jump-slide buttons sound okay, but why put it on a rail to that extent - isn't it going to necessitate a certain game length that they'll probably then feel the need to pad out with shit? Also, what if I'm perched on the edge of a building ready to swan dive and just look around me for a moment, taking in the vista? How about if I fuck up by making the wrong choice (not having it colour coded for me) and actually end up dying through my mistake?
Hrm. Sounds interesting but depends how ridiculously on a rail it is.
Muzman on 6/3/2008 at 04:30
I think it really hinges on the controls and interactivity. If it's too much like Assassin's Creed or even Prince Of Persia it won't be anything remarkable. But if it actually manages to make you feel truly in control of your character, rather than executing game mechanics, it'll be something. That would be no mean feat though, as highly detailed controls are as bad is simplified context sensitive ones (at least as far as these control/movement goals are concerned).
I remember when we were first playing Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga and the horrible vertigo it'd give you just thanks to being 3d, after that I think it was 'being there' in Doom with yer face just about touching the screen, and then Really Being There in Thief (characters in those Dark Engine games still give me a 'personal space' reaction when I'm too close to them. No other games have managed this). I'm hoping this one can go the next step. It sounds like they're trying to is all.
These guys are impressed anyway
(
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1225)
Scots Taffer on 6/3/2008 at 04:33
Well, if you think about it, in a game where all you're doing is getting from A to B, I don't why there can't be complex key+mouse combos to understand without falling into muscle-memory twitch-gaming territory.
WASD for movement. Space for jump and Ctrl for slide. Mouse 1 for pushing away adverseries and Mouse 2 (+ hold down functionality) for grabbing hold of environment for interactivity.
Not even that complex, is it? You can toss in a kick under F and roll under R or whatever the fuck.
ALLOW ME TO DESIGN VIDEO GAMES
Jesus
Muzman on 6/3/2008 at 04:59
Oh yeah, but I guess the real test is what happens in between button pushing and interacting with complex space; will you really have fluid options for movement or will it just be a selection (albeit large) of potted animations and responses? And if they do give you a lot of dynamic options will you be able to control them or will the computer do most of it for you so it looks cool?
Can you really run up that wall and back flip over the baddie behind you? Any wall? (what happens if you can't? Do you get a little 'beep' sound? Does your character say 'uh uh') What if there's a girder up near head height? Can you screw it up and bang your head? Can you flip around and grab it? If you can, do the controls actually make you shift your weight and stance in order to turn in the air, or do you just push the right button and it happens.
You can do this stuff with a minimum of controls and combos depending on how interactive you want it to be, I'm guessing anyway. They sound like they're shooting for the sweet spot (who doesn't sound like that though) between the automatic and the truly interactive. They could make it combo tastic or super context sensitive and have largely the same game in essence. It's this desire for fluidity and control that's the real trick and I like that they're thinking about it out loud anyway.
Scots Taffer on 6/3/2008 at 05:04
You can go down the whole console generation of button mashing games, sure, but I'm thinking that much of what you're talking about is game dynamics and not controls. An effective game can give you the illusion of control of that many parameters without - as you say - the only climbable areas being in primary colours and being more that you string together simple key commands to perform complex routines of movement. That's the other level of design that's most crucial, for sure.
