There are a few people out there who aren’t that excited about Mirror’s Edge. They’ve eyed it up, had a little think about it and seen it in action, and simply decided that everybody else, like them, wont be interested in the game at all. Pfff, I say. Pfff! If you give it a chance, and take the demo for a spin (out on both the PSN and on Xbox LIVE now) then you’ll probably see what all the fuss is about.
My impressions of the demo await, after the break!
If you didn’t catch my Mirror’s Edge media blowout a month ago, or Sarcastic Gamer’s Demo Video from PAX, here’s the deal: Mirror’s Edge is a first-person action game where you have the option of using guns. It’s not a first-person shooter by nature but rather a first-person game where the guns are there, should you wish to use them. Think of it as a ‘true’ first-person game of sorts, where your hands act like real hands and don’t simply mould around the nearest weapon.
To reiterate the plot, you play a ‘Runner’ named Faith in a sterile, misleadingly-utopian society not far into the future where all information is monitored; think the People’s Republic of China with a whitewash paintjob and you’ll get the idea. Because information can no longer be passed electronically, Runners like Faith are used to physically deliver information across the rooftops of the cities, out of sight from the police.
Mirror’s Edge takes this idea of information delivery, slaps a bit of parkour on and [ahem] runs with it, throwing in a bit more plot (Faith’s sister is kidnapped, Faith gets framed for a crime or two here and there) and topping it all off with some super-sleek art direction and minimalist, yet stunning looks.
Those minimalist looks in (static) action; orange objects show possible routes and red ones are highlighted by your Runner Vision, which shows the quickest route. Anything else can be pretty much ignored.
Take in those looks up there, and the caption below it. In Mirror’s Edge the level design always follows this sort of color scheme: orange objects show a way a Runner can go, and Red objects show the quickest way of all, using ‘Runner Vision’. That’s the basics of where to go in Mirror’s Edge, but how do you get there? That’s waiting on page two.
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I think dictionary.com might have been paying you to use the word clambering.
Aside from that, this game looks amazing. I started downloading the demo last night, I’ll definitely be taking it for a trial run.
Best innovative game since Portal. Nuff’ said.
Can you picture a game like that being multiplayer…in a giant city with multiple levels. Kind of like GTA4 with Mirrors edge art and physics.
By rights its should be a contender for GOTY because its original and appears to have a great “Big Brother” esque storyline. If fallout 3 wins GOTY i’ll be miffed because it looks pretty average.
GOTY will go to LPB, GoW2, or Fallout3….I dont think gears should be on the list..but it will be…R2 might make it…dunno. MGS4…is that still in the running?…I know g4already gave it GoTY.
@NoneOfYourBusiness
They’ve already confirmed that there won’t be any multiplayer (unless you count leaderboards), but a race to the finish (especially if there was a custom level creator) would work very nicely for the game.
Oh, well. I guess it’s something to include in future games in the trilogy.
I liked the demo a lot it was a real change to the games I usually play, probably because there is nothing really like this game. GOTY???
Probably not in my opinion although it was only a demo. What I didn’t like though is when I tries to go into race mode it wanted me to pre-order the game, (some selling ploy) and I found it quite hard to roll with the six axis.
That is all.