Mirror’s Edge
Mirror’s Edge is the kind of game I hate because of how much I love it. (Portal is another great example.) These are games that thrill me with their style or uniqueness while making me want to break the record for how fast you can throw a controlleragainst a wall. I’m about halfway through and stuck in Mirror’s Edge, stuck in a way that makes me want to NEVER start the game again … but I know that’s not true. I’ll break eventually. Mirror’s Edge is too interesting and cool for me to be able to ignore it completely.
Mirror’s Edge features acrobatics, combat, and what could be called puzzle solving. In a highly stylistic future world where cel-shading meets anime, Runners use Parkour (look it up, preferably on YouTube) to leap from building to building. They scale fences, scramble through openings, rush down hallways, and, frequently, fall to their death. The cutscenes and story are fairly trite and simple, so I really can’t tell you why these couriers risk their necks, why the city is so empty, and why police are always shooting at me, but I can tell you this. Running along rooftops is exhilerating in a way I didn’t expect. It’s kinda like in the Spider-Man games when you get the hang of web swinging. Maybe it’s because I played several grim and horror themed games right before this one (Dead Space, Left4Dead, Brothers in Arms), so the white on blue (with red accents) and style of the game are so intriguing – while the story isn’t.
Combat is problematic and there’s too much of it. It reminds me a bit of an experimental game Bungie put out before they became “The Halo Company” called Oni. Oni had a female asian protagonist – like this one – who could fight like a fighting game. The parkour in Mirror’s Edge is terrific but also frustrating. Red shows you where to go, and the B button shows where the goal is, but it’s easy to get stuck and have no idea how to move onward. Add cops and helicopters shooting at you, and this problem is compounded. It’s the kind of game everyone should rent but only a select few will be wild about the purchase. It’s far cooler in concept than execution, but in a cookie cutter world, that can be welcome and even refreshing.
KID FACTOR:
It’s not a bloody game and T-Teen feels exactly right. Falling can be disconcerting, you fall in first person, but falling equals failure, not death. The acrobatics are thrilling and Kids? Don’t try this at home.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Played the demo and I don’t think this one is for me. I was ready to throw the controller across the room after attempting to walk across a narrow pipe for the 5th time
November 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I finished it. I liked it. The difficulty does piss you off, but also makes the game exciting. I guess if the game wasn’t new and fresh in more than a few ways then I might have given up early on. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for shorter games that demand a lot from the player.
Combat Tips? Well by no means am I good at the combat even after finishing the game. I think the game could use a combat room to practice combat moves ad nauseam.
But the rent a cops are easy to take out or disarm. You probably need little help here. Press Y when their weapon turns red to disarm or just punch them a few times.
The black armored guards are much tougher, but if you do a ground kick (duck and attack) and then jump kick and last 2 punches, you’ll take those guys out. You can also slow down time on these guys to disarm them. Disarming them without slowing down time is dam tough. I could never do it consistently.
There’s also a tougher black armored soldier who usually sits back next to your exit. The only way I took him out was to shoot him. I tried not to shoot guys, but resorted to it a few times towards the end when I saw these guys.
One level 5 or 6 I ended up figuring out how to run past all the guards and jumping up a red pole and then making my way out. But it took 10 tries at least. 🙂
I often tried to avoid guards when possible and just ran. A few times though it looks like you have to take guards out to advance especially in a few of the last chapters.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Oni! I had great fun with that game on PS2, as a PS3 owner though i’ll proabbly give up hope of ever seeing that again knowing it was made by the Halo company.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I play games to have fun and the demo wasn’t fun, just frustrating. I’ll give this one a miss.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I got the game on release day and beat it in 6 hours. I really enjoy replaying the levels, without the runner vision, trying to execute the runs perfectly (like in the speed runs). It definitely takes some getting used to, but the exhilaration is great. As for combat, get the guards separated, then take them out one at a time. Do a slide kick, then pull RT a few times. Or just slide kick and run on before they recover.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Stringing together moves is sublime and the combat is fine on EASY (difficulty only affects combat) but I just don’t like the “find the obscure next route” dynamic. That has MUCH more to do with me than it does with the game. When you know your route or in Time Trials it’s a blast! In fact, they need a mode for playing co-op rooftop races!
March 22nd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I love this game. I have 920 gamerscore in it, but the last eight speedruns are impossible, I swear to god.
There’s one thing I noticed, though. Mostly it’s you and Merc, but you hear the word s*** just about every level. I have no problem with this, but be warned, a few parents might.