PSU First Look: Mirror's Edge
- Posted February 29th, 2008 at 09:37 EDT by
- 31 Comments
At last weeks Game Developers Conference, EA DICE gave a special presentation for a new PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 title called, Mirror's Edge. Simply put, Mirror's Edge is a first person platformer where players assume the role of a renegade woman named Faith. While the government tightly controls the city, underground radicals use Faith and others like her to deliver secret messages by hand, leaping rooftop-to-rooftop and dodging government officials. Click here to see the latest Mirror's Edge screenshots!
The lead character Faith is a rigid youth, raised by the streets. After losing her parents in a government take over, Faith becomes a "runner", a secret messenger who transports packages and notes from one group to another. Sadly though, DICE went into very little depth about the game's storyline and the background behind Faith, but my impressions were that the game has taken a few pages from Fahrenheit 451 (for those of you into movies, think Equilibrium)
Now even though Mirror's Edge may steal tidbits for its overall storyline, I have to say it's refreshing to see gameplay that's new and different. As a "runner", players will use a total of two buttons to make their way through the city maze, jump and crouch. Similar to Assassins Creed, multiple acrobatic moves and stunts can be performed with the use of only two buttons. To leap fences or climb, players simply run to the object and click jump. Then to slide or roll, players need only to hit crouch. Depending on the momentum or the objects that are near, Faith will perform different animations to pass obstacles.
During the presentation, the developers played some of a mission for us, showing how combining moves and keeping speed will allow for Faith to perform stunts quicker or in certain cases leap further. Also during the gameplay session DICE stated how Faith will not use weapons very often, that players need to be more dependent on surviving and using the environment to get away, than fighting.
In one particular scene, a news helicopter spots Faith, alerting security officials to her position. Soon after she is seen, men with guns appear on the rooftops, chasing and shooting at the young renegade as she tries to escape. When combat is necessary, players can use the two action buttons to perform pre-determined disarmament animations, either knocking the official out, or killing them.
Lastly, as part of the controls, players will be able to utilize a slow motion mechanic to time longer jumps or perform multiple stunts better. When being chased, things can get intense and if players are not careful they can mistime a jump and fall to their deaths. This feature allows for gamers to slow time, look around before taking the leap, and time their landings to keep the momentum going.
When it comes to gameplay, imagine Mirror's Edge as a title very much inspired by Parkour. Watch the video below to get a better idea of what players will be doing across sky-scraper rooftops.
Now, one thing I would also like to point out is how the first person camera looks and feels. Mirror's Edge feels very different from other titles in the genre. Unlike F.E.A.R. or Resistance where the player has a gun in view, and vision remains static, Mirror's Edge gives the player the feel of actually looking through Faith's eyes. Players will see her hands and arms flailing through the air, and her feet clambering up air vents or crashing down when landing from a high drop. The camera shifts too, giving sense of motion and realism.
Positives:
- Refreshing gameplay that’s both familiar and unique in it's own way
- Draw distances are amazing and nice hi-res textures
- Players can use both interior and exterior parts of buildings
- Great storyline so far
Negatives:
- Currently the developers have paths set out that glow red so players know exactly where to go. I feel like this makes things too easy, and players should be able to explore and find their own paths to objective points.
- No weapons? Using ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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akiraburn |
akiraburn- 9:09am GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 2
No, instead our half decent community of gamers degrades to an immaturity seen most commonly in pre-schoolers who feel the need to shout "ME ME ME" at the top of their lungs. Seriously, if you're going to bother with the first post BS, how about you actually include an opinion, instead of just trying to look important. It's degrading to the community when you make useless posts. Because you're not just making yourself look rediculous, you're attributing to the decline of the site's reputation and overall reliability.
That aside, it looks as if the game COULD be solid and worthwhile if they work on some of the negatives PSU has already pointed out. The question I have, is there any multiplayer support they have looked into? I am going to assume no, though the prospect of an online version of this I'd think has the potential to be awesome.
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Zippie151 |
Sanguineous- 9:39am GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 3
im not so sure about this title especially with the apparent restrictions on exploring. but at least someone seems to have moved away from the static 1st person camera. however i think lack of any weapons will hurt this title a little simply because you need some variety but if put a ton different take downs in then it may be ok.
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Undying_Darkness
- 10:17am GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 6
the game looks amazing. i cant wait to see more about it. im pretty much sold on it already.
@ the first three posts: GROW UP! are you fricken 3 year olds with nothing better to do than ruin this sites reputation?
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Deusthousand |
Deusthousand- 11:28am GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 10
Reminds me of Breakdown. Looks good. You guys that only post 1st and 2nd make ps3 users look very immature. I would expect this from wii users cuz they really are young but I dont know about you guys. I would say you are as bad as the 3fixme guys but people on there are fake racists, cant get worse than that.
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Marcelis |
Marcelis- 12:09pm GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 11
Well..while this game seems refreshing, but one of my quirks about it..isnwhy is the entire city so bleached white? It looks like the entire city is supremely clean and white and.....unnatural. While I'm glad the game isnt all brown like most games around are, it just has an unnatural feel to me. Thats just my two cents
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bluesuedeshoes
- 12:12pm GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 12
@JD-82
I was about the make the same comment as you with regard to Edge magazine right here in blighty. But our American cousins don't get Edge. It was a cover story as well wasn't it? Quite a cool cover as I remember with lots of red swooshy lines some of which were metallic. The Edge article explored the game in more detail as well. I'll be interested to see how the finished product looks. Because clearly the FPS genre needs some shaking up.
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Dragon969atpsu |
Dragon969atpn- 2:09pm GMT - February 29th, 2008
- 17
i'm so tired of first person view games. So you can see your arms and legs and the camera shakes, big deal, all games should give you the option to chose between 1st and 3rd person viewpoints.
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Artanoma |
Phenonemera- 12:28am GMT - March 1st, 2008
- 23
Perhaps there will be an option to switch cameras? Being a next-genner, you'd expect a feature like that. But hey, if it really is going to be based on Parkour, then I hope to God that it will do the sport of urban free running some justice. Being a part-time exponent myself, I doubt the game can re-create the experience fully, but we all live in hope.
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 1:31pm GMT - March 1st, 2008
- 24
Well,it looks like this might turn into a mustbuy for me,and really like the art style.Looks kinda refreshing.
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FlyinGShoosteR43252
- 11:31pm GMT - March 1st, 2008
- 26
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FlyinGShoosteR43252
- 3:20pm GMT - March 2nd, 2008
- 29
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minusman26 |
minusman26- 3:21pm GMT - March 2nd, 2008
- 30
This could be a better version of breakdown(XBOX). Lets see how this down.
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jumpmanandbeyon
- 10:22pm GMT - March 1st, 2009
- 31
beat it in two dayz great game apart2 is a must to make
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