Topic: Mirror's Edge gameplay footage

[MysterD]

I got through that jump. It took a while, but I got through it.

Now...
[spoiler]I'm at this really huge construction site.
Mission name is "Kate."[/spoiler]

EDIT, 11:51pm Eastern:
I've made my way...
[spoiler]To The Shard.[/spoiler]

[MysterD]

So, I finished Mirror's Edge.

So, I must say, the gameplay itself was great. Other than a few irritating instances in trying to get jumps correct and doing some trial-and-error -- which always seems to go with the gameplay factor in platformers -- I really enjoyed the gameplay immensely,

Though, the story and the characters feel like they need more depth and meat to them. As in longer cut-scenes, meatier dialogues, and whatnot -- to get you to know and care about these characters; especially when things get crazy.

STORY and ENDING SPOILER TALK
[spoiler]
The predictability of all the so-called "double-crosses" -- i.e. Cel and Jacknife -- didn't help, either -- especially since you don't really get invested in the characters too much b/c there isn't much depth with any of these characters at all.

It's great that Faith saves Kate and all -- and that they're on the run and all, which is revealed during the credits in audio -- but leaving so many other important storyline threads hanging is like....ugh. It's as if they just decided to cut the story off at this point to just release the game...

So, yeah..ME2, Faith's obviously gonna be trying to take down Callaghan...[/spoiler]

[idolminds]

I guess its my turn to chime in on the game. Note: I still hate the idea of the limited activations EA put on this game. Lucky for me I don't have to deal with it. Thank you, game cracks!

So I'm really enjoying it so far. Really has a good sense of speed when you get moving, and its exhilarating  making a run for it as cops are shooting at you with glass exploding and fabric getting ripped up. I've got PhysX turned on and the cloth stuff is cool looking.

Obviously it looks great. I *LOVE* the use of strong colors, a nice change from the various shades of gray and brown most new games love. They could have just as easily gone with a realism/gritty look and I'm thankful they didn't. The problem I have is some areas you're under fire and are running for your life when it would be nice to look around a little.

So I enjoy the game. I love climbing around in games and this scratches that its nicely. I can mirror some of the complaints others have had. I'm ok with having to replay sections when I mess up but sometimes it seems like there is no way to get through without previous knowledge of the area. That seems like bad design. Some areas are more freeform where you can find your own way through, and the game should have been ALL like that. Let people experiment and forge their own path, thats what make parkour interesting.

To go along with that, I don't like when the way through is..."hidden". Not really hidden but...let me give an example. At one point you're chasing some guy through a mall and eventually you sort of dead end when the cops show up. There was no real indication of where to go. Run towards the cops was suicide. There was a cove to the left and right. The right side was a dead end into some locked bathrooms. The left side was the same, but it had a glass elevator. I noticed the other elevator was missing so...maybe theres a shaft down! No. Maybe if I climb the other elevator I can reach the second level! Nope.I know it sounds completely stupid but it didn't occur to me to hit the button and use the elevator. Its glass, they were shooting, it seemed like a bad idea. Plus it was kind of dark in the elevator so I didn't notice the button. You don't really have to hit a lot of buttons so I'm always trying to climb my way through problems instead of looking for them. Maybe thats just my problem.

The cutscenes are rather meh. It feels like they wanted to do some anime-style cutscenes but ran out of time/budget so they did them in Flash. I just get that feeling from the style they were shooting for. You put some Ghost in the Shell SAC level animation on those cutscenes and it would have so much better. I don't think in-engine would have helped many of them since they were covering for loading, so they had to be video.

So yeah, thumbs up in general from me. The problems don't really take away from the fun I'm having. I like the time trials and will probably play them for a while because it lets me climb around without being shot at.

[MysterD]

Note: I still hate the idea of the limited activations EA put on this game.

Amen to this.

The cutscenes are rather meh. It feels like they wanted to do some anime-style cutscenes but ran out of time/budget so they did them in Flash. I just get that feeling from the style they were shooting for. You put some Ghost in the Shell SAC level animation on those cutscenes and it would have so much better. I don't think in-engine would have helped many of them since they were covering for loading, so they had to be video.

I think the cut-scenes were okay, but I rather DICE have used the in-game engine to do all of the cut-scenes.

So yeah, thumbs up in general from me. The problems don't really take away from the fun I'm having.

Despite some of my complaints with the game -- cut-scenes broke the game's atmosphere; the few hanging thread once the game ends; characters and story really don't have a lot of depth and meat to them -- the game was still fun and very good.

I really am looking forward to the inevitable Mirror's Edge 2.

[idolminds]

I dont know about in-engine cutscenes. I like that they played to cover load times so you weren't sitting there watching a progress bar (even though loads are pretty damn quick). They could have used the in-engine stuff to render out the cutscenes and then playback a video of them but then you'll get that odd switch from video to the actual game. I think if it was simply better animation in general that the cutscenes wouldn't have been so bad. Kind of like that anime section in Kill Bill. Didn't match anything else in the movie but it had some style.

[iPPi]

I wasn't a big fan of the trial and error to get through most of the game... but one thing that is fun once you have finished the game is the time trial... especially once you get the know the level completely, you can try and race against the clock.  When you know where you want to go, you can keep moving and the pace of the game is great.  It's too bad though that this doesn't work when you play through the campaign so you're left trying to figure out what to do and where to go. 

[idolminds]

Yeah, time trials are totally making this game for me. I'm beating the SP so I can unlock the maps for TT. I imagine after playing the maps in TT that it would then be fun to play SP. Its kind of painful on the first run because you can't really build a lot of flow since you don't know where you're going.

Case in point: the Atrium. Really awesome and really yellow. I liked the map in SP but it took be like 5 minutes just to figure out where to start the climb. Then it was a slow process of finding my way up. But I just ran some time trials and I can climb the entire thing from floor to top in less than 2 minutes. And even with that I screwed up a couple times and I know I can do it faster.

I think SP could have used some direction indicators and hints. They have "runner vision" for more immediate things like ramps, but not much that says "You should be heading in this general direction." Be able to turn that off (just like runner vision) but just something to help you keep a rhythm going.

I have high hopes for Mirrors Edge 2. If they can build off this and improve it, it'll be great.

[idolminds]

Well I beat the game. Story was pretty meh and I didnt really care for the ending
[spoiler]You're surrounded by cops and all you have to do it jump to the helicopter...so you do. Chopper goes crazy, you jump off with your sis and the chopper crashes. You both stand there and look at the city. Wait...where are those cops that were just trying to kill you? "Oh the chopper blew up I guess they are innocent?"[/spoiler]

But I just ran through the first few levels again and they are 10x better when I know where to go and what to do, it all becomes trying to do it all as smoothly as possible. It was funny, the 2nd map or so when the shit really hits the fan and you have tons of cops chasing you, about midway through the level you get onto an elevator and close the doors just in time as a hail of bullets dent it in. I, in real life, went "Whew" and had a breather...2 seconds before the character did the same. Thats what its supposed to be like, and its great.

[MysterD]

Eurogamer -> A Retrospective on Mirror's Edge.