[comments] Mirror's Edge review

[fuse]

I can't say I read any reviews of the game prior to this one but I did get the impression many of them were quite negative. As such I'm glad Charles posted this one as it's echoed a lot of my thoughts on the game.

Whilst I'm a big fan of nearly all of the design decisions made, I can't help but think having the game viewed from a first person perspective threw a lot of people off course in their expectations, and left them disappointed when the combat didn't work as they expected.

Personally, I loved it. I will admit that my first playthrough had a couple of minorly frustrating moments as I had set my sights on the no-gun achievement, but there was always a clear goal in sight, just a learning curve of working out how best to do things. Needless to say, trying to run into a room and deck everyone in sight is not the best approach.

What really got me was when I then started on speed runs and time trials. I still remember putting in what I believed to be a solid run on the first time trial, and my jaw almost hitting the floor when I saw the 'best' times online. The weeks that followed on from this, studying each course, trying to find new routes and tricks to keep momentum up and cut little bits of distance were great, great fun. Speedruns especially I found particularly heart-pounding - even after working out a route there's then the adrenaline rush of trying to do ridiculous stunts knowing that one slip-up and it's game over. There's a lot of depth that I didn't even realise until this part of the game, and I'm glad that I tried it as it gave me a whole new appreciation for something I'd already enjoyed a lot more than a lot of other experiences this year. Now I am at 1000/1000 points and I can't wait for the DLC.

This is before I even go into how much I adore the visual design and the music...

[PeteJ]

Nice review C, I wouldn't have scored it quite so highly but that's because I'm more of an adventure gamer than a score-attack gamer. You are bang on about it being a game focused on Time Trials and I believe this is the only review to make sense out of that.

Dice didn't do the game any favours by hiding the Time Trials away, unlocking them as you progress. Also EA didn't help by forcing you to register to get the most out of it.

When the game comes together I can't think of any other game this year...or perhaps generation, that feels as exciting and intense as Mirror's Edge. Getting a perfect line is immensly satisfying because it does require a fair amount of skill.

Unfortunately I bought the game for the adventure and that was a letdown, the combat was flat-out awful, particularly towards the end when the odds get stacked even more against you. If it wasn't for the combat I would probably call this my GOTY though because I loved the free running.

I'll try and get into the time trials, I have to admit I only gave them a small go after finishing the game.

[MrMarbles]

I think that the main problem with the combat was that there were occasions when the game refused to give the player an alternative approach other than confronting the assailants directly. If we are lucky enough to be graced with a sequel, I'd much prefer the offering of alternative methods to get around ambushes rather than dumbing down the game as a whole.

I personally had no issue with the difficulty of this game which surprised me; I'm usually the first to give up if I find a game too difficult. I think that, in this case, I always felt that if something went wrong it was because I reacted incorrectly to an event rather than failing because of the game itself - it was the perfect provocation to incite one more go as I always knew what I had to do to get past a tough situation and it was just up to my thumbs to keep up; I was never fighting with the controls or game itself, only with my reactions.

I felt much the same when playing N+ which, in my mind, is the closest game that can be compared to this.

EDIT: in my rush I forgot to even comment on the review which has really sold the Time Trials to me - I only ever gave them a fleeting look before but feel that this Christmas might prove to be the ideal time to revisit the game and delve into the depths of this mode.

[Champloo]

Gah. Completely forgot to mention the soundtrack. It's divine. It perfectly matches the game, much like World of Goo.

Completely off-topic, but I've been quite surprised with how good some of the soundtracks to games I've played recently have been actually. World of Goo as you say, and the music from the Mirror's Edge demo has stood out. LittleBigPlanet as well - really impressive stuff there.

Anyway, on-topic. I played the demo a week back when I got my PS3, and I loved it, but the bad reviews put me off. Either way, I've now ordered a copy. I expected it'd be £30-£40 odd, but it only cost £15. Can it really be selling that badly?

[PeteJ]

The link posted at the top (interview with the developer) suggests it hasn't sold well at all.