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“Once this city used to pulse with energy; dirty and dangerous, but
alive and wonderful. Now it is something else. The changes came
slowly at first. Most did not
 realize or did not care, and accepted
them. They chose a comfortable life. Some didn’t…They became our
clients.”
A typical Science-Fiction story set in a clinical futuristic city.
On its way to Xbox360, PLAYSTATION3 and PC, Mirror’s Edge
doesn’t exactly set a new standard for originality in videogame
storytelling. However, from the creators of
Battlefield: Bad Company – DICE Studios – did anyone ever
expect it to?
In a city where information is heavily monitored, agile couriers
called Runners transport sensitive data away from prying eyes. In
this seemingly utopian paradise, a crime has been committed, your
sister has been framed and now you are being hunted. You are a
Runner called Faith - and this is your story.
The playable demo available at E3 2008 was exactly that which has
been shown in video format to the media countless times previously.
However, now it was the time for the journalists to actually play
the game.
The premise of the title is more in-line with the likes of
Metroid Prime and
BioShock than
Halo 3 and Call of Duty: World at War – but even
these are very distant relations. While utilising a first-person
perspective, Mirror’s Edge is far more concerned about
 the
getting from A-to-B than what will be find once arriving at your
destination. An extensive list of complicated manoeuvres can be
pulled-off with the Left Analogue Stick and the use of just three
buttons. Jumping is executed by pressing the L1 Button and ducking
by L2. A 180-degree spin is available on the R1 Button. All three
commands can be combined to create some fantastic runs. The design
of the Levels and the precise nature of their coding allows for
dramatic flair to unfold unhampered by poor Collision Detection or
rigid animations. Running across a wall, bounding across an alley
towards a ladder on opposite wall and ascending can be executed by
approaching at speed, pressing L1, then R1, and finally L1 again.
While the game establishes a sense of momentum and skill akin to
that of
Assassin’s Creed's free-running element, it does
it without the requirement to use three buttons simply to run.
It takes some adapting to the title to play it at the breakneck
speeds it’s designed for. Quick observations and twitch-response
gameplay mean that, despite its intuitive Control System,
Mirror’s Edge is not a game for the casual audience. Runner
Sight is a concession to that difficulty; granting the player with
bright red colour coding on the objects that should be interacted
with. The ability to turn the feature off will most likely appease
most gamers, but its inclusion is evident of Mirror’s Edge
currently unsettlingly linear nature; player’s hoping for the
ability to find their own way through Levels may find the almost
on-rails environment in the title somewhat disturbing.
Mirror’s Edge also features Reaction Time – basically
a classic BulletTime effect were the gameplay slows – allowing
players to regain a grip on their progression, or simply make that
leap-of-faith look all the more stunning. SIXAXIS control comes into
play with guiding jumps mid-air, and balancing along narrow elevated
pathways.
The combat currently feels considerably outdated. Concentrating on
hand-to-hand or small weaponry, the title’s combat holds less of a
sense of
 impact than the likes of
Condemned, or even The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and
The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. The
Collision Detection, undoubtedly, needs work.
With the online networks playing major roles in both SONY and
Microsoft’s market plans for the Current-Generation, the question
had to be asked: “Will Mirror’s Edge feature a Multi-Player
component?” With the official line coming as little more than
“Yes.”, it took a great deal of pressure for
Electronic Theatre
to learn that DICE are currently playing around with both
competitive and Co-Operative online modes, but with very little in
the way of final decisions having been made. With only five months
to go til its suggested release date, those decisions better be
finalised pretty damn quick. |
