Mirrors edge: Evolution or Gimmick?

[KamikazeSailor]

What 'paths turning red'? I'm sure the orange was the texture, and part of the whole white, red, blue colour theme they have going.

According to the developers, the colors are the most important part of the game. Without a HUD, the rest of the world literally desaturates in color as the main character loses health... the red paths show a good way to travel along the city roofs... there are no greens or greys in the game, even plantlife is white, to seperate the game from other games and add to the atmosphere of the utopian society...

And I do like some of those ideas, except of course for the "noob factor," which can be turned off altogether according to Wikipedia... which makes that not such a big deal...

Someone explain to me what's so "unique" about this game? I really didn't see it...

The momentum based gameplay? Unless I've missed another game with that?

I read up a bit on what you were talking about with the momentum stuff, and it does sound "interesting" but it doesn't sound wholly unique... the first-person perspective isn't new, the whole "seeing arms and limbs" thing sounds, and more importantly, LOOKS cheesy and fake... hopefully they improve on that, cause watching your character run is more annoying than anything else, looks like she's holding her arms straight out like a robot...

The whole momentum thing could be cool, but I don't see how anyone could form an opinion on something like that unless they've seen it in action... how difficult does the gameplay become, does the momentum add to frustration and take away from fun... does it allow for really cool, super-awesome heroic leaps and turns... or does it make it look like a female-version of Crackdown... (although, Crackdown wasn't a bad game)...


I don't know that it can be called a gimmick, after all... what the hell does EA need gimmicks for? They dominate the gaming industry and destroy any competition... they don't need gimmicks... if anything, this game could certainly raise the potential for Sandbox games in the future, their momentum engine could certainly be built on if its even slightly successful... but, EA would have to stop bullying their independent developers around if they want these things fully produced... so, we'll see what happens...

 

[J'aen]

You can't use a first person perspective as evidence that a game doesn't have new ideas. That's like saying "Lord of The Rings is part of the fantasy genre. That means we can hold the fantasy against it, and say it's unoriginal."

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I'm looking forward to it personally, looks like an interesting way of making a first person action game minus the guns.

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

I'v heard people (my friends) say that it's some sort of cutting edge graphics, but I mean it's just Unreal 3 engine...

 

[J'aen]

I'v heard people (my friends) say that it's some sort of cutting edge graphics, but I mean it's just Unreal 3 engine...

You can do very good things with Unreal 3.

 

[UnterHund]

The thing with the better first person, i.e. visible hands, body and feet is someting I would not necessarily call revolutionary but overdue. Ego-shooter exist more than ten years now but how often have I seen a proper done body? You can count those on the fingers of one hand.

For the rest there is not enough information to say if and how exactly it works.
Fighting as example is not the main aspect, but if they make the fights to easy the whole aspect of "running" goes fubar, because you jsut bash through hordes of mindless enemys like in any other game. So except for the ego perspective I will withhold my opninion on the other game elements

So long
Unterhund

 

[Asehujiko]

So what i gather is that it's a racing game that looks like an fps and a story ripped from pretty much every dystopian government game/movie/book. Added on the list of games i won't bothr checking out untill my friends reccomend it to me, which i don't expect to happen soon.

 

[J'aen]

So what i gather is that it's a racing game that looks like an fps and a story ripped from pretty much every dystopian government game/movie/book. Added on the list of games i won't bothr checking out untill my friends reccomend it to me, which i don't expect to happen soon.

You could at least watch the trailer.

Also, the dystopia is a lot more subtle than, say, 1984.

 

[Miracleknight]

This hands on at E3 got raised my level of excitement for this game even more:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/blog/e3-mirrors-edge-hands-on-impressions/

Jumping and ducking have a lot of context-sensitive applications, and it takes timing to land your jumps, and technique to maintain the needed momentum.

I loved the ability to just freely run around in Assassin's Creed, but the lack of skill required to do that kind of sucked some of the majesty out of running along several rooftops, leaping to a wooden pole and then falling to the ground (Ok so that was a lackluster example). And it did look overly simple when you'd watch the videos of it, so I was concerned that the level of ease would make this just a gimmicky game of hidden QTEs.

In fact, there seems to be some real depth beyond the style and I was suddenly brought back to the early days of Sonic the Hedgehog. The levels are packed with alternate routes that have been balanced with risk/reward in mind.

It may be the fact I've enjoyed a great deal of Sonic the Hedgehog but running quickly through a level and deciding on a path to increase the speed in which you beat the level, making for a seamless run through of the level (And hopefully we'll get some awesome videos like the 10 minute Quake 2 run) it sounds like there is a competitive offering for those who enjoy that sort of thing.

Combat blends well with the speed-oriented style and it?s clear that this won?t devolve into a first-person shooter.

And yeah, not devolving into another poorly executed FPS would be greatly appreciated.

To answer the initial question though, in terms of Evolution it's a small step towards immersion, not some giant leap that will revolutionize gaming for all, but also not just a simple gimmick.

 

[Aries_Split]

I really like DICE, so i've high hopes

 

[Break]

I read in the Edge article a while back that some enemies will be heavily-armed shocktroopers with body armour and assault rifles. You're an agile chick with a handgun and all the protection that a tank top can offer. This is nowhere near Crackdown. If anything, it's Assassin's Creed when Altair has no swords and everyone else has guns. If it's straightforward enough to take on a single enemy, you've got no chance against a group.

hopefully they improve on that, cause watching your character run is more annoying than anything else, looks like she's holding her arms straight out like a robot...

Wait, what? I watched a couple of the videos, and you see her hands bobbing into view as she pumps her arms. Which is what happens in real life. Have you tried actually running, lately?

Marking safe routes with red is a decent idea, especially when you're first playing the game. I reckon they need to tone it down a little, tho'. In the videos I've seen, there's far too much handholding. There better be a huge number of alternate routes on offer.

If they can pull it off, then I reckon it should be a good game. I do like how Faith isn't so much of a "freedom fighter", more a messenger. I'm also interested in how they'll handle the time in-between missions. Will it be a Spiderman 2/Assassin's Creed-esque overworld, where you're free to explore, and can start your assignments whenever you like, or will it just be a succession of levels?

 

[The_White_Crane]

I wish everyone would shut the hell up about how unoriginal and awful the story is.

Okay, it has a totalitarian government and her sister being framed.
Maybe her sister really did commit the crime. Maybe her sister is working for the government and it?s all a trap for Faith. Maybe the government is actually good, and you're working for the bad guys without knowing it. Maybe umpteen other things.
If you judged a lot of modern games based on a brief outline of their story, you?d be equally unimpressed. Try describing the story of Half-Life 2 briefly, without spoiling it.
?Gordon Freeman has returned? And it?s up to him to find a way to overthrow the aliens who rule the world with a totalitarian regime!?
Yeah. Original. The thing is, there was MORE to Half-Life 2 than that, and for all we know at the moment, there?s more to Mirror?s Edge as well.
Maybe the skeptics are right, maybe it WILL just be one rubbish cliche after another, but we can't know that for sure yet.

I do agree about the Runner Vision thing though; if there's no option to turn it off, it could be a bit too much handholding. And if there's only one decent route through each level, it really WILL be less of a game than it could be.

 

[Miracleknight]

Marking safe routes with red is a decent idea, especially when you're first playing the game. I reckon they need to tone it down a little, tho'. In the videos I've seen, there's far too much handholding. There better be a huge number of alternate routes on offer.

You can turn them off, at least most reports put out has stated you can. But it would be cool if there was in fact just a slider you could use to tune down the red, Max being so vibrant you can't miss red, and min being back to pearly white with rose petal pink falling somewhere in between.

And as for the story, it's a tool to fuel the environment of the game, while a good story is certainly appreciated, there's nothing wrong with a cliche'd one that gets you from point A to B while enjoying it as much as possible.

 

[laikenf]

I'm just wondering how the first person view will work out on a game where you have to pull out all those stunts and acrobatics on rooftops and the likes.

 

[Miracleknight]

Here's a video of the presentation of the first level that was demoed at E3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_o4i4kOvk&eurl=http://www.the-nextlevel.com/

 

[Miracleknight]

The only possible problem with it I see it 'Simulation Sickness' - its like car sickness backwards - you're eyes tell you you're moving, but your body knows its not. Up to 50% of people can suffer from it, according to wiki.

Just read this, and truth be told, it's significantly more common in women, as in, I don't know a single male who is affected by this, but I know personally about 10 women who are. In a bit of an extreme comparison, it's like color blindness, where 9/10 people you see with color blindness in some form will be men, and it is very rare for a woman to have it.

 

[SilentHunter7]

Personally, I'm just impressed at some of the screenshots and how great the environment looks. And they did it with out the excessive bloom and brown like UE3 games, which tend to land the visuals right in the middle of the uncanny valley.

 

[pha kin su pah]

Parkour = sexy on a stick

First Person View = dissappointing

conclusion = QQ

 

[That_Stevens_Guy]

Like some others have said here, I wouldn't call it an Evolution, or a Gimmick. The game in general just seems like a good idea. I wasn't interested in it at first cause EA had something to do with it. But then I looked into it more and now I cant wait to give it a try. The environment and gameplay seem very cool and the lack of HUD will be really interesting. I just hope they give the option to turn off the dot they are putting in the center of screen to prevent motion sickness.

It is a game that has so many areas that can go horribly wrong, I just hope DICE can pull it together properly and make something that is really awesome and different.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

But then they rented Ultra Violet and thought a supressive government of the future was a cool idea. slip slap BAM!!! we get Mirrors Edge

Guess you've never heard of 1984?

you're guess would be wrong. but i could either name every single little observed point of reference or just name the most current rediculous reference point that shares the smilarity of having an overly stylized female protagonist and a supressive government of the future.

2 birds 1 stone.

and referencing 1984 would just be a tad pretentious