Mirror's edge, looks promising. - by Fragony
Hesche on 28/11/2008 at 12:23
And if you don´t find the time to play this game: Play (
http://www.bornegames.com/?page_id=369) Mirrors Edge 2D (Flash game). Some cool moves in there even though it´s just a side scroller...
urg, page 13
Shakey-Lo on 29/11/2008 at 19:29
I picked up mirror's edge from the rental shop about 10 hours ago and just completed the game then. (that includes time for things like cooking dinner, surfing the web a bit, etc.) So yes, a very short game, but a good one. I played with the 'runner vision' turned off and enjoyed it a lot, I did get stuck a couple of times but the "A-ha!" moments made me appreciate the lack of runner vision and I recommend others do the same. I found the 'hold B to look at goal' device to be all I needed, because it lets you know where you need to end up, but not how to get there.
The plot was a little underwhelming given that I loved the setting, I thought there needed to be a little more exposition at the start in establishing the sort of totalitarian lifestyle people were living under, that felt a little underdeveloped to me.
The controls worked fine (360 version) and I loved the first person body awareness, but I thought it could do with a higher FOV setting so you can take in more of your surroundings as you're running about looking for a route.
There's definitely slight variations in routes, but it's about on the level of Half-Life 2, so still very linear. It often suffers from HL2's condition where you always know where to go because it's the only place you
can go, and indeed sometimes I'll leap off a tall building not because I can see the other building and know I want to get there, but just because I see a ramp and know I'm supposed to jump off it.
Faith is very vulnerable, you're certainly not invincible, running or no. I died many times to the enemy's bullets, even when running full speed. You do feel quite vulnerable when playing, and the game discourages you from firefights, as you are much less manoeuvrable when holding a gun, and the recoil is quite powerful, making it hard to aim. Faith is a runner, not a shooter.
The graphics and art design are really great, but I wasn't a fan of the cartoon-style cutscenes. To me they just looked like flash animations, sometimes very bad ones.
All in all, a very solid effort, I don't hold its short length against it (though I only rented it, not bought it), partly because any longer and it might have started to get very repetitive. Replayablity is extended a bit through speedruns, which I look forward to taking a shot at, as well as playthroughs to get the collectables, and there's an achievement for completing the game without shooting anyone, which I thought might appeal to people here.
If there is a sequel I'd like to see a more developed narrative and slightly more open gameplay. Other than that, it's ace. :thumb:
Quote Posted by EZ-52
One thing that was kind of strange is that the yellow runner bags weren't really all that important throughout the game. At the start you need to get one and pass it on, but other than as far as I can tell you don't need to worry about them again, unless you want to unlock extra Achievments.
That's because the runner bags are for when the runners are doing jobs for clients, which you begin by doing but then Faith is caught up in her personal storyline, so isn't running for clients any more.
Edit: I got in a couple of time trials before taking it back, and it really shows you how many different shortcuts there are, in the level I tried at least. My first go was around 3:00 but I got it down to 1:01. It reminded me a lot of Trackmania actually, competing on online scoreboards, looking for shortcuts, downloading the world record holder's ghost, and so on.
Edit 2.0: some additional thoughts from another forum where I expanded upon this post:
Quote:
I think criticising the combat is missing the point a little, it'd be like criticising the combat in Thief. The whole point is you're not supposed to fight them, you're supposed to run away from them. If the gunplay was slick and easy, you'd just play it like a normal run-and-gun shooter, instead of the run-and-run-some-more shooter that it is.
There was one part, it may have been the boat part that [person X] is talking about, where there were about five guys and I was constantly retrying because I kept dying and couldn't work out how I was supposed to kill these guys, it just seemed an impossible task. Then after many, many deaths I discovered all I had to do was wall run and jump up onto a balcony, and I was right there at my goal with barely any interaction with the guards at all. So in that sense it is very much like Thief. It's just about running away instead of hiding.
In fact, a Mirror's Edge with the non-linear levels of Thief 1&2 would be quite cool indeed.
mothra on 1/12/2008 at 17:22
this convinced me a little more to get the pc version next year. hope they don't overdo it in the copyprotection departement. gta4 sounds more reasonable than dead space/far cry2 but still nowhere near fallout3 or drm free games.
EZ-52 on 1/12/2008 at 20:32
Quote Posted by Shakey-Lo
That's because the runner bags are for when the runners are doing jobs for clients, which you begin by doing but then Faith is caught up in her personal storyline, so isn't running for clients any more.
Yeah, I got the story, It's just with pretty much every bit of promotional art showing Faith carrying one I got the impression that they would be more a major gameplay mechanic.
David on 1/12/2008 at 20:47
According to the concept art in the Extras menu of the game, the runner bags used to play a much bigger role.
Also for much of the initial development Faith carried her own pistol. Glad to see that was cut and that she's not great at using the ones in the game - a nice feature/touch.
I'm finding the Time Trial mode to be utterly addictive and fantastic and I can see room for a lot of DLC being released for this game, even if it is just various levels for the time trial mode.
Aja on 1/12/2008 at 20:51
My xbox melted so I won't be able to finish this game until they send me a new one :(
Figures; I don't play the damn thing for six months and now that some good games are finally coming out... :mad:
EZ-52 on 1/12/2008 at 21:14
Quote Posted by David
According to the concept art in the Extras menu of the game, the runner bags used to play a much bigger role.
Also for much of the initial development Faith carried her own pistol. Glad to see that was cut and that she's not great at using the ones in the game - a nice feature/touch.
Speaking of that concept art, the one with Faith with light, short and spikey hair was kinda scary.
And I completly agree with the thoughts on the guns.
Aja on 3/12/2008 at 20:11
God I hate Yahtzee so much. His opinion aside, that was probably his worst and most embarrassing review yet ("diamond-farting"? "child-saving fuck"? ugh)
Thirith on 3/12/2008 at 21:02
You hate him and yet you watch him? Apart from anything else, that does make you... rather dumb. Sorry.
