toblix

‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮Mirror's Edge

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The creators seemed very on the ball when I saw them on the IGDA stand at GDC. They're also very well connected and involved with the San Francisco games community, so I can't see them just fading away.

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Ok, so I feel like I can join this thread properly now I was very reluctant to buy it, as I've been so disappointed with games recently, but a friend lent it to me. I put it in the xbox...around half three yesterday...and didn't put it down until 1.30 when I finished it. I wanted to do the game without shooting any guards, which at times was a very, very frustrating experience. Ultimately very rewarding though (the game :tup: not the combat :tdown:), and have embarked on time trials and speed runs.

The meat of the game, the parkours, is fabulous. Really slick and well implemented, with a few small foibles. The combat is garbage. The combination of the two is unfortunately a bit rubbish too as a result of that, and I had to basically resort to a slide punch in the goolies, followed by a quick 1-2 while they were sighing in pain. I tried the wall run-kick movement a few times but had a few problems getting it to work. Maybe I need to work on my 'enemy seperation' skills to give myself time.

All in all a very enjoyable sunday afternoon, and (I imagine) a good few hours more with the time trials etc.

Also...EA...what the fuck? you need me to enter an email to see online results? Dickheads. I can see why, as it's easy marketing info gathering, but still. Dickheads.

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I just beat chapter 7 and I have to comment on the plot.. It was decent enough up through chapter 4, but now it's just silly and pointless. Chapter 5 had absolutely no point and the "reveal" of what the icarus project is was stupidly lame. Really? That was worth killing a mayoral candidate?

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I just beat chapter 7 and I have to comment on the plot.. It was decent enough up through chapter 4, but now it's just silly and pointless. Chapter 5 had absolutely no point and the "reveal" of what the icarus project is was stupidly lame. Really? That was worth killing a mayoral candidate?

Yeah. I just beat Chapter 7 myself. The plot is pretty stupid and forgettable. What I hate is that the game even sabotages itself

It makes such a big deal about not having to use guns and being able to never shoot once and rewards you with an achievement and what happens? It FORCES you to use a rifle. And, when you can't control anything, in a cinematic, Faith uses a gun to blow up exploding barrels :( to fry a bunch of cops. WTF.

UGH! I hate this game so much but like some creepy obsessive I can't stop loving it either and I keep coming back to it even though I know it's going to frustrate the shit out of me.

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When was that bit?

admittedly my heart sank when I had to stop the convoy with the sniper, but you just had to shoot the engine. I can't think of any other bit where it forces you to use a gun.

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Ok, I've been playing this over the last couple of nights. Oh my god it's hard. So bloody frustrating. Like, I'm looking back at the Meat Circus with fondness. It may be that I'm going for the "No shooting dudes" trophy, but shit. There were 3 separate segments tonight I had to retry upwards of 20 times before I could get through. One of them took me 40 fucking minutes. For a minute and a half gameplay segment. What the shit? I usually disarm and then toss the gun immediately, but I died so often that I just gave up and ran past the fuckers. Died the first three times I attempted that as well, but got away almost clean the fourth. Only had to kick one dude in the balls to make it through the gauntlet.

Finished chapter 6 now. Maybe 7. Not really keeping track. I just figured out what Icarus was, so whatever mission that happens in. Also thinking it was kinda lame, but whatever. The game is so frustrating on so many levels. There's the "hey, here's something to do. FUCKING DIE!!!" level. That one is obvious. The most frustrating thing is the identity crisis and resulting waste of potential though. The incredible rush that you get when you find a good line and pull off a run is phenomenal. Every other part of the game is occasionally (hell, frequently) torture, but that feeling alone is keeping me going. A few more chapters to go, I'll get that damned trophy, then time trials ahoy. Very much looking forward to that. The new levels that are hitting Live and the PSN as well. Just give me the engine and some room to run, dammit. I'll make my own fun from there.

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There must be a magical way of playing that makes things easier/harder. I played without shooting anyone, and had no problems except the last one you're referring to, and that was before I found out you only have to break one in each cluster.

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I gave up on the "no shooting" achievement right after you

enter the back of a truck to ride it onboard a ship

I tried maybe 40 times, couldn't get past all those guys without shooting.

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You just run through the room, avoiding all the dudes, jump on the truck and climb the thing.

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I couldn't run throught the room, so ended up taking them out one by one. There's loads of little bits where you can 'trick' them into coming round a corner and out of covering fire to beat them up.

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It's totally easy to run through the room. You just jump out of the thing, then run past the guy and into the corridor on the left. Then you jump over the thing and the other thing, then it's straight to the car and up. Fighting isn't necessary. The only place I had to fight was in the server room, because I had to get past that last dude. But I fought in slow motion.

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And done. Y'know, despite the crazy frustration I had on levels 5 and 6, I found the endgame to be surprisingly easy. I died several times because of miscalculated jumps, and maybe 3 because of combat (except for the snipers on the final level. They got me about 5 times before I figured out how to get 'em.) but I never got frustrated with 7, 8, or 9. The theory is that level 6 was the hump. This total rape-in-a-hole segment of the game that once I'd become skilled enough to get through, the rest of the game hit a difficulty plateau. That, or I completely sacked out. Either way, after all is said and done I feel really good about that game. I think I actually liked it a lot, despite how much it had me cursing a two nights ago...

Oh, and has anyone else playing on a PS3 had it crash their system? Mine died twice during the last level, and at the exact same place both times. Third time I went through, no problems, but it was kinda frustrating. It was

after escaping the elevator shaft, going through the vents. There's a package up there that's marked by some graffiti that says "Where is November?" The first two times I tried getting the package it crashed. The third the package was no longer there and the game had it marked collected so I just continued on.

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So where do you all think Mirror's Edge belongs next to DOW:2, Sf:4 and Burnout Paradise for my February purchase? Obviously having played none of those except burnout. Everyone seems frustrated by the combat yet seem to have a glow about the game at the end. Is that glow enough to warrant ME's purchase over one of these other games, if they turn out to be a high and consistent quality. Is it's uniqueness one of those things that 'has to be experienced'?

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So where do you all think Mirror's Edge belongs next to DOW:2, Sf:4 and Burnout Paradise for my February purchase? Obviously having played none of those except burnout. Everyone seems frustrated by the combat yet seem to have a glow about the game at the end. Is that glow enough to warrant ME's purchase over one of these other games, if they turn out to be a high and consistent quality. Is it's uniqueness one of those things that 'has to be experienced'?

Well, it's hard to say. It's a very love it/hate it type of game and your enjoyment is entirely dependent on what you expect to get out of it. BUT, I can say one thing. I assume you are considering it for PC, if so then you must know that Burnout Paradise is coming with a complete pack next month and if you haven't played it: go for that. It's less frustrating.

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There are several of us on another forum that absolutely adore Mirror's Edge, and none of us can see where people are getting the "frustration" from. I found it challenging, but hardly insurmountable, on Hard. I actually enjoyed the combat, liked the fact that the guns were awkward and thought DICE almost perfectly framed every aspect of gameplay. The story was clichéd and the cutscenes were dire, but they weren't important to the central experience whatsoever. People don't nitpick stuff like that in games like the inherently inferior Gears of War, they just see big explosions and guts and think "YEAH AWESOME!", then see something new and fresh like Mirror's Edge and run in terror.

I hate the way gamers (and the press) moan about the lack of originality, but there's plenty on display right now, it just get buried under the same old run of the mill shooting games. I have nothing against shooters, some of my favourite games are all about the explosions and guts, however there's no way Mirror's Edge deserved to get eaten up by the tidal wave of the Christmas release window Call of Duty et al.

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So where do you all think Mirror's Edge belongs next to DOW:2, Sf:4 and Burnout Paradise for my February purchase? Obviously having played none of those except burnout. Everyone seems frustrated by the combat yet seem to have a glow about the game at the end. Is that glow enough to warrant ME's purchase over one of these other games, if they turn out to be a high and consistent quality. Is it's uniqueness one of those things that 'has to be experienced'?

ME is a great game, but DoW:2 and Sf:4 are going to be must buys IMO, so get them first and keep ME as something to get when you have some money spare or nothing else to play.

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inherently inferior Gears of War, they just see big explosions and guts and think "YEAH AWESOME!", then see something new and fresh like Mirror's Edge and run in terror.

Now hold on. I've completed both GoW games and ME. I happen to think that ME is superior to Gears, but not to Gears 2. And none of that is because of anything "inherent" to either. Mirror's Edge is a brilliant experiment, and pulls off enough that it is definitely worth experiencing. It is however, fatally flawed in many respects. Much as I was certainly left with that glow that Aon mentioned, as far as tests of my patience go, no game has ever risked destruction more times. I loved Mirror's Edge, liked Gears of War, and thought Gears 2 was one of the best gaming experiences I had this year, up there with GTA4, Metal Gear, and Uncharted (Yeah, I was late to the party on that one).

Aon, like I said, and as I tell people at work (run the games section at a media store. Lots of people asking for advice) Mirror's Edge is a standout game. Exactly why it will stand out is up to your level of patience. The game will frustrate the hell out of you. It's all worth it in the end, and when you start hitting perfect lines in time trials, you feel amazing. Whether or not you make it to that level however, is all about your level of perseverance and tolerance for the games flaws. If you think you're patient enough for it, get it and enjoy.

On your list of purchases, I would buy it over Burnout for sure. I've played both, and like both, but Burnout is more of a diversion than a necessity. DOW2 I'm quite interested in, but RTSs are far from my forte. SF4 I'm cautiously excited for. I'm waiting for some reviews on that one first. Regardless of your decision in February, you should at least play ME sometime this year before it gets overshadowed by newer releases.

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I was not once frustrated though. I didn't die continually through the campaign, I found all the routes pretty easily and never struggled much with encounters, even on the first Hard playtrough when I didn't use guns. Obviously in the Speed Runs I had a little trouble, but not when taking it at my own pace.

Gears of War 2 was like the first one, but the campaign was broken for me and any multiplayer other than Horde was impossible to get into for a long time. You can't release a game with that level of hype and charge £40 for it then tell people to sit it out while you fix it so it can at least be enjoyed. It's overrated anyway, but I don't think Epic took enough flak for that abortive mess of a launch.

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I actually don't mind the combat anymore. After beating the game twice (the second time on Easy), I'd gotten pretty good at the combat my third time through the game (on Normal).

Don't get me wrong, I hated those big arena rooms my first time through the game, but I didn't have much trouble with them on the other play-throughs.

But yeah, the story is awful.

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Gears of War 2 was like the first one, but the campaign was broken for me and any multiplayer other than Horde was impossible to get into for a long time. You can't release a game with that level of hype and charge £40 for it then tell people to sit it out while you fix it so it can at least be enjoyed. It's overrated anyway, but I don't think Epic took enough flak for that abortive mess of a launch.

In what way did you find it broken? My main frustration was about half way through when you split into two teams of two and all of a sudden your team mates, who were able to revive you when all four were together, can't help you any more. Mind you that was in the first one too.

Apart from that I have to disagree with you. Gears 2 was solid, I played through it twice to completion and found the set pieces gratifying. It was like they took the one good arena section from the first (I think it was chapter four when you landed in the chopper) and expanded that over most of the game so that all the weapons became valid choices in any given fire fight. The levels were varied enough to never become repetitive even though you were really doing the same thing over and over.

It even managed to strech the limited cover mechanic into doing other things like some very rudimentary puzzle sections that were totally out of place but very much appreciated.

I actually felt that Epic delivered on the promise to make the battle less personal and give more perspective on the grand scale that these encounters were suppose to be happening. This was shown through several sections when riding on giant machines or running down catacombs with units off in the distance engaging in combat.

Nothing to do with Mirror's edge, but I hated the thing, and am quite sad to see Gears 2 being dragged into a thread about a game that has no relation to it.

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I mean I was one of the lucky ones whose campaign save didn't load, it literally was broken. Their workaround failed too, and it was a month before it was fixed. Far too long if you ask me.

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wow.... this game improves 1,000,000,000% (non US billion) when you play it on a PC, with usual PC FPS Controls. I'm only near the start though, so I don;t know how long it will hold me.

Also, seeing as easy mode only tunes down the *combat* to be easier, i decided to play on easy andavoid the apparently god awful fighting stuff people keep going on about :)

man whoever decided to add snipers to this game needs to be taken into a small room and :pan::pan::pan:

oh and i almost pissed myself when i came across a steam valve that I needed to turn off.

edit:

having said that, playing it with these pc controls really takes away from the arcade action feel of the game, it no longer feels as unique as maybe it was intended, and sometimes just feels I'm playing around in a quake map or something.... almost.

also, wow.

I heard the story was terrible but wow.

Edited by Spaff

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