When I was playing through Mirror's Edge, I appreciated that in principle you could do anything, and make things up as you go, rather than just certain canned actions, as in, for example, Stranglehold. It was also a bit frustrating as actions were context sensitive, so I'd have a situation where I'd want to run, wall run, jump and turn, wall run again before hitting the ground, jump grab a pole, swing across and land on a walkway. It was frustrating getting it to work though, because not only did you need to get the timing right, but depending on how close to the wall you were the game would have you either wallrun or jump, and in some situations there would be a door that prevents you from staying close to the wall as you'd bump, slow down and lose momentum for the run.
All in all, it got a bit tedious. I still enjoyed it as there really isn't anything else out there, but I was thinking it would be nice to look at where I want to go, and trace a path, say by holding down a button, looking at something and then moving where I want to go, so the game would highlight the first and second walls and would understand I want to wall run. I'd still have to get the timing right, but the correct context would be pre-determined so that half an inch doesn't have me failing to wall run.
Brink seems to have taken a similar idea, and I really like it.
Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT0vOEjF-ig
Now, the thing with brink is it's all done with a single button, and you look where you want to go. To a degree this is a bit less free form than Mirror's Edge, but some of the stuff it makes you do you think you should do automatically, like tucking while doing a jump, or automatically rolling when you land. It certainly makes the gameplay more challenging, and given how short it is, that probably is a good thing, but it's a bit annoying. Brink seems to do it for you, so that as long as you know what you want to do and get the timing and momentum right, your character will do it. Since the emphasis in Brink is on shooting, it also makes sense to have it based around a single button, rather than several for Mirror's Edge, but I'd like to see Mirror's Edge 2 expand on this even more.
All in all, it got a bit tedious. I still enjoyed it as there really isn't anything else out there, but I was thinking it would be nice to look at where I want to go, and trace a path, say by holding down a button, looking at something and then moving where I want to go, so the game would highlight the first and second walls and would understand I want to wall run. I'd still have to get the timing right, but the correct context would be pre-determined so that half an inch doesn't have me failing to wall run.
Brink seems to have taken a similar idea, and I really like it.
Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT0vOEjF-ig
Now, the thing with brink is it's all done with a single button, and you look where you want to go. To a degree this is a bit less free form than Mirror's Edge, but some of the stuff it makes you do you think you should do automatically, like tucking while doing a jump, or automatically rolling when you land. It certainly makes the gameplay more challenging, and given how short it is, that probably is a good thing, but it's a bit annoying. Brink seems to do it for you, so that as long as you know what you want to do and get the timing and momentum right, your character will do it. Since the emphasis in Brink is on shooting, it also makes sense to have it based around a single button, rather than several for Mirror's Edge, but I'd like to see Mirror's Edge 2 expand on this even more.