Official Mirror's Edge thread: Show your love

[OuroborosChoked]

Or hate, I guess.

Anyway, something I wanted to share right off the bat: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3843/the_philosophy_of_faith_a_.php

Mirror's Edge was written by Terry Pratchett's daughter, Rhianna??

And something came to me while I was playing yesterday: Is Mirror's Edge a copy of Portal? There are just too many similarities for it to be coincidental:
- Both games feature vaguely asian main characters in vaguely futuristic settings
- Both are first person games with a focus on getting from place to place in a unique way
- Both games use brightly colored environments
- Both have a limited cast of speaking characters
- Both games are shorter than they could (or probably should) be
- Both games have time trials
- Both games encourage finding the fastest routes through the levels
- Both games have hidden, hand-scrawled graffiti of semi-insane rants

Whaddya think? Weird, eh? It's like they took the style of Portal and applied it to a different way of moving and hoped it would work. It did, but I don't think it had anything to do with being like Portal. Just something interesting to consider.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

Really? I did look before posting. I didn't see one. Maybe the search is broken?

And read the article. I'm not the only one who saw similarities between Portal and Mirror's Edge.

 

[Uncompetative]

Main difference:

Mirror's Edge is good.

 

[TylerC]

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.75231>First search result.


There is no way that Mirror's edge is a copy of portal, have you even played portal?

Main difference:

Mirror's Edge is good.

Portal is fantastic, damn near perfect.

 

[WickedSkin]

Mirror's Edge is flippin' awesome.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.75231>First search result.


There is no way that Mirror's edge is a copy of portal, have you even played portal?

Well, I gave reasons why I think the games are very similar. Why don't you provide some reasons why you think they're NOT similar?

 

[TylerC]

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.75231>First search result.


There is no way that Mirror's edge is a copy of portal, have you even played portal?

Well, I gave reasons why I think the games are very similar. Why don't you provide some reasons why you think they're NOT similar?

Reasons why it's not Portal

- You're not a test subject.
- You're not in a Lab facility.
- You don't have a gun that shoots portals.
- It's free running and not a parkour style game.
- You can use guns.
- You can use hand to hand combat.
The list goes on and on.

You're reason were things a LOT of games had, and there for not good enough to support your reasons. I mean vaguely futuristic? Portal to my knowledge isn't futuristic. Time trials, and limited speaking characters MUST be a joke.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.75231>First search result.


There is no way that Mirror's edge is a copy of portal, have you even played portal?

Well, I gave reasons why I think the games are very similar. Why don't you provide some reasons why you think they're NOT similar?

Reasons why it's not Portal

- You're not a test subject.
- You're not in a Lab facility.
- You don't have a gun that shoots portals.
- It's free running and not a parkour style game.
- You can use guns.
- You can use hand to hand combat.
The list goes on and on.

You're reason were things a LOT of games had, and there for not good enough to support your reasons. I mean vaguely futuristic? Portal to my knowledge isn't futuristic. Time trials, and limited speaking characters MUST be a joke.

You should have that myopia looked at...

 

[TylerC]

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.75231>First search result.


There is no way that Mirror's edge is a copy of portal, have you even played portal?

Well, I gave reasons why I think the games are very similar. Why don't you provide some reasons why you think they're NOT similar?

Reasons why it's not Portal

- You're not a test subject.
- You're not in a Lab facility.
- You don't have a gun that shoots portals.
- It's free running and not a parkour style game.
- You can use guns.
- You can use hand to hand combat.
The list goes on and on.

You're reason were things a LOT of games had, and there for not good enough to support your reasons. I mean vaguely futuristic? Portal to my knowledge isn't futuristic. Time trials, and limited speaking characters MUST be a joke.

You should have that myopia looked at...

How does the fact that I disagree with you mean that I have nearsightedness?

 

[KaZZaP]

you also play it on some type of screen with some type of controller the similarities are uncanny.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

Reasons why it's not Portal

- You're not a test subject.
- You're not in a Lab facility.
- You don't have a gun that shoots portals.
- It's free running and not a parkour style game.
- You can use guns.
- You can use hand to hand combat.
The list goes on and on.

You're reason were things a LOT of games had, and there for not good enough to support your reasons. I mean vaguely futuristic? Portal to my knowledge isn't futuristic. Time trials, and limited speaking characters MUST be a joke.

You should have that myopia looked at...

How does the fact that I disagree with you mean that I have nearsightedness?

The fact that you're looking at it so completely narrowly is why you're myopic. You're looking at details and disregarding the style choices. I'm talking about the style choices NOT the details.

So nobody actually wants to DISCUSS anything? That's what I'm getting here. Silly for me to try to discuss something on the internet, I guess. If A does not exactly equal A, then they are in no way similar, right? Doesn't anyone know how to compare and contrast anymore?

All I'm getting here is "NO IT'S NOT! LALALA SARCASM SARCASM"

Seriously guys, this kind of bullshit is getting tedious.

I doubt if anyone even bothered reading that article, either...

 

[TylerC]

To stop the quoting pyramid...

There was already a thread made, and so this should have been posted in the original thread. and the style choices are different. FREE RUNNING/PARKOUR/FPS vs. a FP ACTION/PUZZLE game.

On page 4 the author said it ALMOST reminds him of Portal, and in the beginning the author also stated that this is a very unique game. So what are you getting at exactly?

 

[lumenadducere]

The mechanics for gameplay are completely unrelated. Portal is about using the physics engine and portals to solve puzzles. Mirror's Edge is about running and doing acrobatics to get away from enemies and deliver parcels. Beyond being first-person and having female characters, I have no idea how they're that similar.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

What am I getting at? I'm wondering if it was a conscious decision on the part of the developers to make a game with a strong female lead that echoes another game with a strong female lead so heavily. Is this becoming the only way to make strong female characters in video games? Is this the start of a new trend of actually portraying realistic females? Are all the games that feature strong female leads going to be brightly colored first person games involving something other than pure combat as the main gameplay mechanism? I mean, think about it. What other games are out there featuring strong female leads who aren't dressed like the cover of a men's magazine? So why do THESE two games have many style choices in common?

No, they're not the same game. I know that and I never said they were. I did use the word copy, but I suppose I should've said emulate instead.

 

[TylerC]

What am I getting at? I'm wondering if it was a conscious decision on the part of the developers to make a game with a strong female lead that echoes another game with a strong female lead so heavily. Is this becoming the only way to make strong female characters in video games? Is this the start of a new trend of actually portraying realistic females? Are all the games that feature strong female leads going to be brightly colored first person games involving something other than pure combat as the main gameplay mechanism? I mean, think about it. What other games are out there featuring strong female leads who aren't dressed like the cover of a men's magazine? So why do THESE two games have many style choices in common?

No, they're not the same game. I know that and I never said they were. I did use the word copy, but I suppose I should've said emulate instead.

So you'd be happier if Mirror's Edge had a female character with an over-sized bust? Or a male character instead? I mean they are away from the norm, and original so what's the point? It's like saying portal copied Halo in 343 Guilty Spark being a computer based enemy.

 

[Skalman]

Just wanted to point out: Mirror's Edge is Parkour, not Free Running.
Free Running is more spins, flips and "stylish" moves, rather than just getting from point A to Point B fast and efficiently.
Flips are not efficient, hence: not parkour.

That is all.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

No, I'm not bothered by it. I'm just wondering why they did it. They could've put her in any kind of environment. Why put her in that environment with that type of gameplay? The setting is a dystopian 1984-esque world. Why make THAT brightly colored? Bright colors aren't the first thing that I think of when I think dystopia. Why risk making the player think, "Hey, this kinda reminds me of Portal"? Does it have something to do with their choice to make the lead female? Would the game have looked differently if the lead had been male?

Anyway, this is all getting away from the original point of the thread: showing love (or hate) for Mirror's Edge. Have you played it TylerC? Did you like it? Loathe it? Any experiences you wish to share?

 

[TylerC]

No, I'm not bothered by it. I'm just wondering why they did it. They could've put her in any kind of environment. Why put her in that environment with that type of gameplay? The setting is a dystopian 1984-esque world. Why make THAT brightly colored? Bright colors aren't the first thing that I think of when I think dystopia. Why risk making the player think, "Hey, this kinda reminds me of Portal"? Does it have something to do with their choice to make the lead female? Would the game have looked differently if the lead had been male?

Anyway, this is all getting away from the original point of the thread: showing love (or hate) for Mirror's Edge. Have you played it TylerC? Did you like it? Loathe it? Any experiences you wish to share?

Okay, now I seem to know what you're getting at, and sorry if I was rude or anything, I think the story is based around a very controlling government - hence why it's so clean and bright, and the story was written by a girl (not being sexist or anything) but that could be why the lead is a woman, but on the other hand maybe not. I agree on the fact that the characters are similar, and I'd like to see this trend of more realistic women grow. - I'm looking at you DoA and Soul Calibur - I'm scrap for money now, but I did play the demo and I absolutely love it, it does feel linear in a way, but I always feel like there's different ways off accessing my goal, but it's not a puzzle really. I'm looking to play the game in the near future, and I've obviously played portal, so I'll share my thoughts once I've TRULY played the game.

 

[RhinoTuna]

I played a chapter at a friends house the other day. I was pretty impressed. It's too bad it's so short. The learning curve was super short, i picked it up almost instantly, it's almost a shame you have to find the fastest route to somewhere when i just felt like running around testing my limits, hehe.

I don't see how it's anything like Portal, even with the style choices. I can see where you're coming from though, but i think it's a little far-fetched, but that's not to say they didn't get a few ideas from Portal (I think everyone learned a lot from Portal).

Solid game, just could've been longer, doesn't seem like you're getting your moneys worth.

EDIT: With the bright colours thing, i thought it looked spectacular. Everything was clean and i hadn't seen that in a game in a while. It was a nice change and who knows, maybe they decided to do that because it hasn't been done before?