‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮Mirror's Edge

[Nick]

How the hell do you do that?

He accidentally the whole text!

[DanJW]

I got to play the first level - the demo I guess - at the EG Expo. It's good. The first time you play it feels horribly awkward and clumsy. Then after a few deaths it clicks and you get into the rhythm and it all flows really nicely. Basically there is no 'jump'; you have 'upward movement' and 'downward movement' which are context sensitive. So on the ege of a roof upward movement will be a jump, but in other situations it will be a mantle or a wall-run. Your momentum also playes a part - the faster you are going the more smoothly the mantle or whatever will be pulled off.

Then there's the way you learnto interpret the colour-coded environment too. At first you only see the obvious routes, but after a while you can see alternatives, most of which you will need added momentum to achieve well.

Combat is very tricky, and looks like it will take longer to master the various judo moves. But that's good, it encourages you to run away if you can.

The emphasis on continous flowing movement made me think of something - after playing I said to Bob, "this is what the 3D Sonic games should have been like". And I was right.

[Erkki]

Downloading the demo now, can't wait to give it a shot...

[Erkki]

From the demo the game seems pretty close to what I expected, which is awesome. It was actually a little more difficult that I thought it would be.

[LOPcagney]

This is one of those times I wish I had a 360. I'm so anxious to play this game, but I guess I have to wait until "late winter". Gah.

Good to hear it's as fun as it looks, though.

[Nachimir]

The high action/low action is a realy nice way of making parkour controllable. I enjoyed this on a single run through of the demo at the expo, but died a lot. Especially on a section where you have to jump and grab a pipe.

Every time I walked by the line of Mirror's Edge demo machines, there were a couple of people dying from long falls ¬¬

[Cigol]

The only time that really annoyed me was when it had to replay the animation routine of the person you were supposed to be following.

[toblix]

Yeah, that was a tad annoying. I was amazed at how smooth everything was, though. I was expecting the same "slightly detached" feeling I got from their Battlefield game, but this felt really precise. Also, it was as beautiful as the trailers led me to believe. My worry is that I'm running past everything so quickly. I'm really into fully exploring game environments, looking for interesting shit. In this game, however, I have to run as fast as I can all the time, which in a way feels like I'm running past a lot of content. I'm definitely getting this.

...for the Xbox 360, because I'm a prostitute for achievements.

[Thrik]

Very impressed after playing the PS3 demo. I think this is the most comfortable first-person game I've played on a console yet, and it really does seem like they've managed to conquer the concept of translating the intricate player control of a third-person game into a first-person experience.

This kind of feels like an FPS milestone to be honest. While the sheer flexibility of the player wouldn't fit into a lot of FPS games (I can't imagine a hulking great space marine moving around the world in such an gymnastic fashion), I can see a lot of the approaches in Mirror's Edge finding their ways into FPS games at large — even if it's just the basic stuff like sliding along the ground and vaulting over things.

Also it'll be fucking amazing if DICE themselves do some of this in the inevitable Battlefield 3.

[DanJW]

My worry is that I'm running past everything so quickly. I'm really into fully exploring game environments, looking for interesting shit. In this game, however, I have to run as fast as I can all the time, which in a way feels like I'm running past a lot of content.

I think that's the nice thing about the art style - it is clean, minimalist and minty-fresh. Anything of interest will be colour-coded. But really there is very little to notice except the possible routes. The environment is the game, as befits a free-running simulator.

[miffy495]

Just blasted through the demo twice. I actually thought the tutorial was harder than the level, as I kept on missing jumps in it. The level itself was awesome, and I was surprised by how good the running felt. This may be one to add to my "I gotta buy these after Christmas when I have money again" list.

[Cigol]

So whilst it's supremely frustrating in regular intervals, and the trial and error format teeters on the edge of 'game breaking' - I found the experience more than satisfying. Very good in fact. The sense of scope and believability of the game world is amazing, especially when combined with its naturalistic movement and controls. It's not all perfect, the combat is frustrating to the point of madness, and sometimes it's not clear at all what you're supposed to do, but it does eventually click and things start picking up pace.

I stormed through most of the single player campaign but I feel compelled to play through again simply because it never feels like an 'on the rails' experience. For that reason the (somewhat) sandbox time trial feature (with online leaderboards) looks to be a worthwhile addition as well.

[toblix]

I've just finished chapter two, and so far:

The feeling of this game is fantastic. The colors and the music and the sounds... it's like nothing I've ever played, or nothing like anything I've ever played. Or never played.

I think the try and fail structure must be almost inevitable in a game like this. With the checkpoints so generously placed and the quick reload time, I prefer that to, say, always ending up in holes and having to climb back up or something.

Again, the colors. White and bright red and green and yellow, and the blue sky and aaaaaaahhhh, I'll just head back.

[n0wak]

Ran through the demo twice. Loved it.

Got the game. Ran through Chapter One like a pro. Still loved it.

Ran through Chapter Two. Things got a little more hectic, little more diverse, loved it even more.

Ran through part of Chapter Three and the game threw cops at me that I could not run past. Had to stop running and start fighting. Didn't like it.

It was going oh so well until that point.

[toblix]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the forced fighting (which I only assume is forced because I don't see any alternatives, and when I've kicked all their asses the guy on the radio says some thing to keep me moving), but at least I'll probably get some sweet achievements from going all Matrix on they ass, with wall running, flying slow-motion kicks, etc.

[DanJW]

Well there is an achievement for completing the game without using any kind of attack, so it must be possible. Just very very hard.

[toblix]

No, there's an achievement for completing without firing a gun. You'll have to rely on hand to hand combat, but that's the most developed type of combat anyway.

[n0wak]

Well there is an achievement for completing the game without using any kind of attack, so it must be possible. Just very very hard.

As toblix said, it's only for not using a gun. You are expected to fight in some of these situations. I think using the gun would probably make the situation that I'm stuck in easier, no doubt, but that isn't the game that I purchased.

[mancide]

As toblix said, it's only for not using a gun. You are expected to fight in some of these situations. I think using the gun would probably make the situation that I'm stuck in easier, no doubt, but that isn't the game that I purchased.

Yea, I restarted my game last night after I noticed that 80G point gem.

[miffy495]

Damn I want to play this. Waiting til after Christmas, but so psyched. Loved the demo so much.

[Erkki]

Damn, for some reason ME isn't available in Estonia yet. Haven't even seen it in the "coming soon" sections. Strange, as for the last few years we've finally been getting most titles at the same time everyone else in Europe. May have to order from game.co.uk

[toblix]

I'm getting towards the end now (I have two chapters left I think), and I haven't yet experienced being forced into these super hard fights. There have been a couple of rooms that needed clearing, and one "special" fight, but nothing like what I've heard around the webs. Thus far, picking up a gun has never even entered my mind. We'll see what the final chapters bring, though. As we all know, when a game gets towards the end it usually gets stupid in some manner, like suddenly becoming impossible, or forcing you to repeat huge amounts of shit because checkpoints all of a suddenly become a rarity. Of course, Uncharted is exempt from all these accusations.

[Wrestlevania]

I tried the Xbox 360 demo last night and it's like a rhythm action game for me; it requires better timing than I'm seemingly capable of.

It looks wonderful, I like the characters (in the demo anyway) and the premise is inspired. But it's not a game I'd enjoy, ultimately getting frustrated with myself for not being able to play it as intended (i.e. smoothly).

[ThunderPeel2001]

I also checked out the demo the other day. Incredibly impressed with the astonishingly beautiful visuals and I loved the concept -- it has the potential to say some quite deep things about control and freedom.

Problems: Far too trial and error. To people who own this: Do you ever masters the controls and run through a level without having to do the same bit over and over? Or is it always like this? It seems too Dragon's Lair in this respect.

Also; great idea, brilliant design, unique world, clever concept, incredibly different So what's with the lame voice on the radio who tells you what to do? It sounds like he just walked out of Gears of War/Duke Nukem/X2. Totally out of place and cliched and just ruined the atmosphere for me

[vimes]

Apparently, they got the universe and its History right (because it was kinda original for a game) and yet, they just completely screw the actual story of the game as well as the characters backstory... too bad :/