Mirror's Edge

[JRD]

I remember playing the Crash Bandicoot serie on the PS1 long ago and many other plattforming games. All, except maybe Tomb Raider, had this childish feel... made for kids, obviously.
Mirror's Edge is another plattforming game, but with a more mature plot and feel. It's a linear game, with a lot of trial and error, I mean A LOT! But its an old genre in an new coat! A beautyful coat! Its extremely funny to run through rooftops, dodging bullets and blues (cops) and engaging into some mild combat, which also brings a lot of adrenalyn to the gameplay.
You cannot actually fight your way through as Faith (your character) cannot deal with bullets like in FC2 or any other FPS but you can disarm enemies and kick, literally, the living crap out of them!
Faith can perform breathtaking leaps, wallruns and stunts... she's great! The city is just beautyfull, colors are excellent, sound is great and the first person perspective adds a lot to immersion!
I read some bad reviews of this game and maybe that's why I posponed purchasing it for a while. I'm glad I got it now and I'm having a great time playing it!

Pics soon...

[Fiach]

i tried it mate , it is beautiful, but oi didn't care for it much, as you said, lack of combat and trial and error made it unappealing.

You should check out The Club, it may float yer boat :)

[spaceboy]

JRD - glad your enjoying it mate.  Looking forward to the pics.  This is one that's been on the fringe for me as well.  I can't wait to hear more about it and see some pics.  I had tried the demo awhile back but never picked it up as I was deep into other games at the time.  I remember thinking Faith was a cool new character and the first person platforming was pretty cool looking.

Cheers.

[JRD]

The flow... momentum... that's what the game is about, and it feels great.

You start in one end of a rather linear level and have to deliver a package at the other end... in your way you'll find unbelievable rooftop leaps in a parkour-ish style and the police after you (your sister have been framed for a murderer and you have to clean her name). Whatever you do in ME, do it non stop. You see the flow with your runner vision, which is how runers like you find their way through the city. Some ways are highlighted in red as you approach them and you see where to go like that. If you stop, you loose momentum and a jump from one building to another may be impossible or much harder, if you want to disarm a blue, try to do it using your momentum... run dodging bullets and kick him or, by clicking RMB when their weapons turn red, disarm them in a very smooth move. You can keep the gun and even use it against other blues, but you better drop it and run as it will hold you back as you build more momentum. You can do great disarm moves wallrunning, jumping and kicking and the way blues take the hit feels like a great accomplishment. And to play it in a wide 29' flat monitor in high settings gives me vertigo hahahahahahahahahahaha awesome!!!
A lot of trial and error mean some frustration, of course, but when you complete one sequence flawlessly you feel like heaven... its really thrilling to do so  8) and after all there are checkpoints not far from one another, so eventually you'll progress into the level

The game has its downside, of course... Its a pretty linear game and has only 8 levels. I heard some of the last levels can be huge though... wait and see! Also, even though you play a lot on rooftops you are not in a true open world game. There's not multiple paths to choose. Everything is around you very close, no room for changes and you have to miss a lot before get it wright.

But it used to be like that since Pitfall  ;)

@Fiach... will check The Club for sure mate, thanks for the headsup  :-X

[spaceboy]

JRD - I finally got around to picking this up with a free rental coupon!  And I'm really liking it.  The trial and error is there but that's kind of the challenge and it feels great when you can really string together jumps, rolls, slides, hurdles etc.  What I like about the combat is since Faith can't take those bullets as you say if there are multiple blues around you need to play a little cat and mouse game, drawing them towards you using the big rooftop A/C units or whatever for cover.  Take one out, double back run and jump kick another to the head. 

I throw those guns down right away, here's a game you can get by with just your disarming moves, no need to kill.  It's pretty refreshing.  I'm on Chapter 3 right now.

[JRD]

I`m glad you are enjoying it, space.  :-X

ME is a great game, very satisfying when you complete a level smoothly. It`s quite short though. They could`ve added a couple more levels but that`s ok. I like the colors they created with the reds showing you the way. It gives a pretty good idea of a sterile society. The first person perspective is also refreshing... some people complained about the head bob but I think it adds to immersion. A thrid person perspective would have ruined the experience for me.

Check out the last 50 seconds of this Spider Man movie trailer... does it look familiar to you?  ;)

Amazing Spider-man trailer (Official)

[spaceboy]

oh wow, other than the sticky hands lol it's Faith!  the sliding under the pipes and the feet when jumping is spot on.  Makes me think if they ever make a first person Spidey game it may be something I consider!

The head bob, the way her steps sound (especially when strafing) is extremely well done - it so much more realistic strafing than the normal sideways glide you get in most games. For some reason that really sticks out to me.

[JRD]

Makes me think if they ever make a first person Spidey game it may be something I consider!

Me too... that would be a nice twist to super hero games!  >:D

[mmosu]

The head bob, the way her steps sound (especially when strafing) is extremely well done - it so much more realistic strafing than the normal sideways glide you get in most games. For some reason that really sticks out to me.

The fact that you can look down and see your body doesn't hurt either, which is much more than most first-person games bother to give you (Killzone 2 & 3 are another couple that got this right).  I haven't played the full game but I've given the demo many spins through when I felt the mood - maybe I should look into it, probably can be found pretty cheap by now.

[spaceboy]

definitely can be found cheap, I think used copies on Amazon go for under $10.

I'm enjoying the full game much more than the demo.  You get some different environments (inside buildings) that change it up.  And the changes help me get better and seeing the path and stringing together some sweet runs.  The whole game is just really quite refreshing.

For PS3 though I turned off the motion control (sixaxis) for the controller.  I found it hard to get across the pipes with that and instead just "balance" with the left stick.

Seeing your legs and body like you say is cool, the tuck rolls on landings can be a bit disorienting, but not that bad.  I love seeing my legs during slides and kicks (well, Faith's legs...mine don't look as nice as hers lol)

[JRD]

You just gave me something to do tonight, space!  8)

I finished B:AA and all that is left is to go on with the challenges but sometimes it is a bit too intense (or frustrating) and I`m also stuck playing Wings of Prey... a damned timed mission getting on my nerves... so I`ll just drop by The City and deliver some packages.  :-X

[Binnatics]

Wonder what Faith's bottom would look like ;) Looking forward to the screen pics  >:D

[Art Blade]

 ^+-+ The title suggests that there's at least one mirror you could check out your buttocks  :-()

[Binnatics]

In other words, we are running wild on those promised screen caps  :-()

[PZ]

Screencaps??? did someone say screencaps???

[spaceboy]

lol the character design of Faith is quite attractive, I haven't had too many mirrors to check myself out in, though falling to my grisly death I have caught a blurry glimpse in some building windows hahaha.

The sound of Faith's bones breaking is reminscent of Lara Croft's many falls.  Thankfully you don't see it happen, it just goes black.

it'll have to be JRD with the screenies from his PC version.

[JRD]

I'll have to finish downloading and installing it again as my gaming PC where I had it before went belly up.  :-\\

But that's fine... I feel like playing it again anyways  ;)

[Binnatics]

Playing as a woman and having mirrors at hand is something inevitable I guess  :-()
I remember the portals in Portal 2 would w@&k out fine as a mirror  :-D

[JRD]

Yes, I remember checking myself out and thinking hhhhmmmmmm  :-\




No, wait... it just sounded wrong!  ????  :-[ ::)  :-D

[PZ]

 ^+-+ :-X

[spaceboy]

actually during gameplay Chell and Faith are quite similar and don't speak lol.  The cutscene's in ME are comic book style fyi.  Come to think of it though, I'm on chapter 5 or 6 now and there really aren't any mirrors to check myself out too much.  But I do cast a sexy shadow!  (you're right JRD - that does sound quite wrong)

[Binnatics]

Well at least spawn that sexy shadow then  :-D :-D :-D

[spaceboy]

standing on a crane way up high above the city I looked down and saw my cool split toe (parkour) shoes, which reminded me of my dear to heart inFamous antagonist Cole McGrath - I nearly jumped off the crane ready to land a Thunder Drop on the unsuspecting civies below!

[Art Blade]

I looked down and saw my cool split toe

Phew.

For a moment I thought you were going to refer to camel t..  8-X  :-[ 8-X :-()

[spaceboy]

you dirty old man you.

I may be crass sometimes, but not that bad!