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Mirror's Edge -- First Look
Techtree News Staff, Sep 19, 2008 1100 hrs ISTOur hands-on impressions of Mirror's Edge
Parkour or l'art du d placement (the art of movement) is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and as quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. EA's Mirror's Edge is a First Person Action Adventure game that finds its roots in this sport or activity.
You start of as Faith, a 'Runner', who couriers sensitive data around. These runners are the only means of delivering information in a city where freedom of speech no longer exists. The setup: Faith's sister has been framed and captured for a crime she hasn't committed and it is your duty to rescue her. Thankfully, the gameplay is much more original than the plot.
There are various stages and levels in which you have to perform different missions like delivering packages to other runners; the challenge is two fold -- the platforming itself, and evading the police which are trying to capture you at the same time.
Mirror's Edge is not an ordinary FPS game. You do not have a health bar displayed anywhere on your screen, nor is there a mini-map. This game is set in a concrete jungle, and the entire look and feel is grey or silver. So how does one navigate through this place you might wonder? The path to be taken strategically marked in either bright orange or bright red -- these markings are found on mundane game objects, camouflaged in form, if not visually (the bright red does little to visually hide them) -- so you would have a rope or a pipe to climb on, marked so. A red path is a more dangerous route to take but can lead to better rewards
Note all the red-marked objects. These mark your path through the city
Combat is left to the user to decide. The choice that the user has is between melee or a ranged weapon, like a gun. The latter choice of combat is what most FPS gamers would prefer, but the game is quite realistic, and hinders your movement based to what you choose. In other words, if you pick up your opponents rifle you cannot move as fluently as you would with no weapon.
You could disarm the guard, and use his weapon if you wish. But it's more fun to take them down without firing a shot
Being a traditional PC gamer, it took me a while to adapt to the FPS controls on a console gamepad but once I got the hang of this game, it was quite addictive to play. A little bit disorienting, at least initially is the camera in the game. The camera is attached to Faith's body, as it were and moves and bobs in a very realistic way. It changes angle and orientation according to Faith's movement. If Faith rolls, the camera turns, mimicking the rolling motion of a person in real-lfe -- you will be able to see the legs as your head goes down for the roll; similarly, if you are hanging to a ledge you will be looking up to your own hand as it holds on. It is quite brilliant in its execution and goes a long way to offering immersion.
It's a concrete jungle out there
Although there is no Co-op mode in this game, it does have a time attack feature: there are about 20 maps which throw challenges at you and you need to complete those challenges as fast as possible. This time is then created as a ghost and will be uploaded for other users to challenge and try and beat.
Mirror's Edge is a multi-platform game for the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the PC.
You start of as Faith, a 'Runner', who couriers sensitive data around. These runners are the only means of delivering information in a city where freedom of speech no longer exists. The setup: Faith's sister has been framed and captured for a crime she hasn't committed and it is your duty to rescue her. Thankfully, the gameplay is much more original than the plot.
There are various stages and levels in which you have to perform different missions like delivering packages to other runners; the challenge is two fold -- the platforming itself, and evading the police which are trying to capture you at the same time.
Mirror's Edge is not an ordinary FPS game. You do not have a health bar displayed anywhere on your screen, nor is there a mini-map. This game is set in a concrete jungle, and the entire look and feel is grey or silver. So how does one navigate through this place you might wonder? The path to be taken strategically marked in either bright orange or bright red -- these markings are found on mundane game objects, camouflaged in form, if not visually (the bright red does little to visually hide them) -- so you would have a rope or a pipe to climb on, marked so. A red path is a more dangerous route to take but can lead to better rewards
Note all the red-marked objects. These mark your path through the city
Combat is left to the user to decide. The choice that the user has is between melee or a ranged weapon, like a gun. The latter choice of combat is what most FPS gamers would prefer, but the game is quite realistic, and hinders your movement based to what you choose. In other words, if you pick up your opponents rifle you cannot move as fluently as you would with no weapon.
You could disarm the guard, and use his weapon if you wish. But it's more fun to take them down without firing a shot
Being a traditional PC gamer, it took me a while to adapt to the FPS controls on a console gamepad but once I got the hang of this game, it was quite addictive to play. A little bit disorienting, at least initially is the camera in the game. The camera is attached to Faith's body, as it were and moves and bobs in a very realistic way. It changes angle and orientation according to Faith's movement. If Faith rolls, the camera turns, mimicking the rolling motion of a person in real-lfe -- you will be able to see the legs as your head goes down for the roll; similarly, if you are hanging to a ledge you will be looking up to your own hand as it holds on. It is quite brilliant in its execution and goes a long way to offering immersion.
It's a concrete jungle out there
Although there is no Co-op mode in this game, it does have a time attack feature: there are about 20 maps which throw challenges at you and you need to complete those challenges as fast as possible. This time is then created as a ghost and will be uploaded for other users to challenge and try and beat.
Mirror's Edge is a multi-platform game for the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the PC.
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