Tag Archives: Mirror’s Edge

Mirror’s Edge Review

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It’s been a long time since I had a stab at reviewing a game, and with a lack of content for posts here I thought it was about time I gave it a go again. I haven’t actually finished the game yet, but I’m not far off. Maybe I’ll write an addendum at a later date.

Apologies if it reads a little strangely, I’ve not written anything in the first person for a long time.

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Mirror’s Edge
Publisher: EA
Developer: DICE
Format: Xbox 360

I’ll confess that I knew nothing about this game up until about a month ago. I’d seen some artwork, seen the name in various articles, but had no idea what sort of game it was. EA and DICE have taken a brave step in creating something out of the ordinary, and when you consider that EA are undisputed kings of the ordinary, that’s quite a statement. EA churn out movie tie-ins and sports franchise sequels with robot-like efficiency and predictability, and unfortunately a lot of the time they can feel like they were actually developed by robots too, devoid of atmosphere, charm and originality. But this latest partnership with DICE is proof positive that anything can happen. In a world where ‘safe’ games dominate the charts, it took some real balls on the part of the people who make decisions and sign contracts high up in EA’s Ivory towers to get Mirror’s Edge into production, and I for one am immensely pleased that they grew a pair.

The game’s set in a supposed Utopian future where crime is essentially eradicated, thanks to ’1984′-esque tracking and monitoring of information. Of course, as with any future paradise there will be those who want freedom and to stand and fight ‘The Man’, and Mirror’s Edge is no different. Due to the stringent monitoring of information, the only way to communicate in secret is with the use of ‘Runners’. The runners are hi-rise couriers, staying away from the streets of the city and preferring the vertigo-inducing rooftops of the buildings to carry their messages. I guess you’d call them glorified carrier pigeons. Quite why pigeons aren’t used in the future I don’t know; maybe there was a mass pigeon cull to stop them crapping everywhere and messing up the pristine metropolis. You might not think the rooftops would be the ideal way of getting around the city, and for me and you this might be true, but for the Runners it’s a different matter. They get around using the urban sports of Parkour and Free Running, where using a variety of wall-running, climbing, vaulting and sliding, nothing is out of reach and no obstacle is too insurmountable. You won’t be surprised to learn that something far from the norm is starting to happen, and you’ve landed smack-bang in the middle of it.

Before when I referred to the city as pristine, I really meant it. Despite using a very capable graphics engine in the Unreal 3 one, the whole game is given a very clean, slightly over-saturated look. It’s obviously a combination of a design decision – a very welcome one after seeing so many games trying to make the most realistic browns and greys for so many years now – and a necessity. If the game-world were too cluttered, too gritty and too realistic it simply wouldn’t work as well. The game revolves around moving through the world as quickly and smoothly as possible, and when you get it right, it’s an absolute joy. Clutter and mess would make finding a path confusing and frustrating. Control of the running itself is beautifully simple; LB controls upward movement, LT is for downwards. The game does a brilliant job of realising what it is you’re trying to achieve, and making sure it happens. I think I’ve only fallen once when it mistook my wall-run intention for a normal jump. Once you get the hang of bouncing over and through buildings, it soon becomes enormously rewarding. ‘Runner Vision’ helps you find your way by colouring things bright red when they may be of importance, in order to progress. Sometimes it might be necessary, for example in the case of the only door which will open when bashed, but other times it’s highly likely you can find another route if you’re creative enough, and it’s this freedom of movement which really makes the game.

There’s a pretty decent story tying the game together, and the cartoons between each chapter help to draw you in and keep you guessing. ‘Merc’, who acts as the voice in your ear and your guardian angel from afar, does a great job of building tension and pointing you in the right direction without being too blatant. One particularly good moment saw me running through streets, malls and subways with my guide in my ear shouting things like ‘Run, just run, don’t turn around, you don’t want to see what’s behind you’, and I remember thinking ‘my heart is pounding!’. It’s been a long time since a game has done that to me. The music must be pretty good, because other than the main title theme (which is excellent), I can’t really remember any of it and generally the only time I really notice in-game music is when it’s terrible or repetitive. Most of the audible treats are the sounds of Faith (your character) panting, grunting and running. The first-person perspective really deserves a mention as it’s so well implemented. Using the right thumbstick it’s easy to view your own body, and the focus changes based on what you’re looking at. Although there’s a lot of head-bob, whatever’s central in your field of vision remains steady, which goes a long way toward simulating a ‘real’ experience and immersing you further.

On top of the main story there’s a very polished time trial mode which should keep people busy for a long time after the game’s complete. Racing against your ghost in time-honoured Mario Kart fashion is addictive, as is seeing just how good your friends and the world’s best are. There’s an option in the main menus for Downloadable Content so I’m hoping to see something added at a later date to keep my interest fresh. As a package, there’s very little to find fault with. Mirror’s Edge plays wonderfully, looks great, sounds good and has a decent story to tie it all together. The whole game feels like a real labour of love and it’s absolutely oozing polish and finesse.

To me, the hallmark of a great game is that it stays with you when you aren’t playing it, and that’s exactly what Mirror’s Edge does right. It’s very easy to find yourself looking for ways on to rooftops while you’re out shopping, or eyeing up a wallrun past the Big Issue seller. Don’t do it though, save yourself the pain and humiliation and pick up a copy of the game instead.

Perserverance In Stories

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I have a terrible attention span when it comes to story-based games these days. There are so many great games that have gone by the wayside thanks to my lack of willing to get engrossed in drawn-out storylines, I feel like I’m doing myself a disservice. Actually that last sentence isn’t true at all, I have all the want in the world to get caught up in a story, I just tend not to for some reason. For someone who lists games such as The Secret Of Monkey Island and others of that ilk in his “favourite ever” list, it’s quite an odd thing.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve found myself looking for a new game to get lost in and decided “right, that’s it, I’m getting into a decent RPG/Adventure”. I’ll find something, buy it and initially plough some serious time into it, but ultimately I tend to get bored and lose interest farily quickly. It’s not just a ambivolence toward a specific genre or series either, even the likes of Zelda and Final Fantasy have fallen foul of my fickle brain. I thought Oblivion might be the game to change things with its first-person viewpoint and combat, and more open-ended nature, but sure enough it’s yet another game I’ve not really scratched the surface of.

I recently dug The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess out with steely determination to actually finish it. I checked my save game file only to find I hadn’t played it in over a year! For a game of that quality it’s appalling really. I have since invested some more hours into it and really enjoyed it, no game does a dungeon like a Zelda game, but even so I still couldn’t really tell you what’s going on in the game. Maybe it’s just a result of the dis-jointed way I play it, after all, a year is a long time to take a break in a story. I’m not sure that’s it though, I think the problem is that I try to ‘play’ the game more than to take time out to absorb the story and world. I guess I’m inherently very impatient. Then again maybe I’m just sick of Fantasy or Post-Apocolyptic Future styled games? The last game to make me really take notice of the setting and appreciate it was Bioshock with its Steampunkish, Art Deco, submarine settings. That’s another game I’ve not finished by the way. I really ought to, it’s fantastic.

I picked up Fable II a short while ago as I liked the look of the original, it seemed much more action-oriented. I’ve been playing it and enjoying it, but I’ve still started forcing myself to play it, rather than finding myself desperate to get back into it. I played for a couple of hours last night and absolutely loved it, but I still only have a very slender grip on what the hell’s going on (in the game, smart arses!). I know roughly though, which is good for me, and I’ve seen a few videos of what high-end characters can progress to which is driving me on a little. Maybe seeing it through to completion will spur me on to do the same again in the future. Before that though, Mirror’s Edge next week! If only I could post videos here – do yourself a favour and head to youtube and do a quick search for the game, I’m sure that there are some of you who would enjoy it as much as me. Not that I’ll really know what’s going on in the game of course…. ;) .

Aha, success! Mirror’s Edge people….

[youtube 2N1TJP1cxmo]

Roll On Next Weekend

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It’s been a while, but I’m actually very excited by the prospect of a new game being released. I was browsing the new demo releases on Xbox Live one evening last week and noticed a name on there that I’ve seen around, but have no idea about: Mirror’s Edge. It was only a 1GB download so I set it going, just to see what it was. When I say I had no idea what it was, I’m not joking either, I literally didn’t even know what style of game it was, let alone if it was likely to be a good example of the genre. It turns out that even if I did know I couldn’t really have had any preconceptions, as it’s effectively a new genre – 1st Person Free Running / Parkour. I know there was a Free Running game released on the PS2, but given the poor reviews I’m not really including that.

I have to come clean and say that the snob in me reared its ugly head at first when I loaded it and saw that it was an EA game. I’m guilty of a little prejudice when it comes to games, but in my defence it’s usually with good cause. EA have, in the past, been guilty of churning out some mass-market pap, the sort of stuff to get consistent 70% reviews across the board. Ok, it’s not always bad software, but they’re not usually the sort of thing I’d be spending forty quid on either. These days however you can’t really afford to judge a game on a publisher any more. Gone are the days of loads of small publishers with a few different dev teams producing games for them, this generation sees the Super Publishers, with the likes of Ubisoft and EA “borging” all and sundry. The developers of Mirror’s Edge are long-time EA stalwarts Digital Illusions (DICE), a name that fans of the Battlefield series of games should be instantly familiar with, and reassuringly a name with a good First-Person pedigree.

Anyway, back to the game. As soon as the demo loaded I was really impressed with the clean, artistic style. Too many games these days go for gritty realism, it’s so refreshing to see a big name release with stylised visuals. Everything’s very “blue and white” which gives a really nice clean look. Judging by the video at the end of the demo, the whole game isn’t bright and airy, but it does keep the nice clean lines, not something I expected from an Unreal 3 Engine powered game. The first thing it reminded me of was a cross between Jet Grind/Set Radio and the more recent Suda 51 titles like Killer 7 and No More Heroes. The game breaks you in easily with a nice tutorial teaching you the basics, and I was very quickly in love with it. Running across the city rooftops actually feels really good, and the first-person viewpoint does a great job of connecting you with the character because the head bob is perfect and you can see ‘your’ limbs as you jump, vault and slide around. The camera even rolls 360 when you roll out of a big drop. I’m amazed mostly how well it flows and works though, there was a danger of it feeling really clunky.

The controls are very instinctive and don’t take long to learn. LB is for upwards movement, so jumping, clambering up, vaulting etc. The left trigger takes care of downwards actions which include crouching, sliding and rolling, while the right trigger handles combat. Combat ranges from simple punches to jump and slide kicks, and thankfully seems to make up a minority of the action. Your first goal should be getting the hell out of there if there are enemies. If that’s not an option though, there are loads of really well worked disarm and self-defence type scenarios handled with the Y button. Add in the RB button for doing instant turns and you’ve got all the tools you need to get going. DICE have included something they dub “Runner Vision” which daubs important things red for you. These red things might be certain places to launch from or land on, or indicate an enemy in your way who’ll need dealing with. The sense of freedom is what makes the game though. If you have to get somewhere, it’s entirely up to you how you handle it. Ok, so you could hit that running jump, roll out of it, slide under the pipe and scoot past the enemy, but what about a wall-run, kicking out into a vault, swing under a pipe into another wall-run into jump-kick? If the demo is anything to go by, it could really be a great playground.

I’m so enamoured by the demo that I’ve gone ahead and pre-ordered the full game, and I can’t remember the last time I did that. There’s a bonus time trial mode in the demo which needs unlocking with a pre-order code, so I’m eagerly waiting for that to turn up. I implore anyone with a 360 or a PS3 to download the demo and try out the most refreshing first-person game in years. I love having a winter game to play on the run-up to Christmas, and some recent years have been really memorable. Last year was Mario Galaxy (awesome!), other years have been Call Of Duty 4, Project Gotham 3; there’s always something each year. This year I’ve still got Fable II which I’m plugging through steadily, but I reckon Mirror’s Edge is going to eat into my time like nothing else.