Mirror's Edge

[Mr. Analog]

So, I got a copy of Mirror's Edge as part of the Steam sale and played a bit of it on Sunday while I was baking (peanut butter chocolate chip if you want to know).

First off this game concept is brilliant, running around rooftops, avoiding conflict, pulling off amazing but not over-the-top impossible moves (well, okay maybe a bit). Basically you get to do Jackie Chan / Parkour type stunts all in a beautifully rendered environment while trying to solve a murder plot AND avoid being gunned down by the dystopian authority that rules the place (they have guns, you have sneakers).

The sense of movement is incredible, especially when you get a flow on.

It's almost a perfect game, but there are several things that kind of break it. First off like I mentioned the fun is in the flow, when you're running from rooftop to rooftop dodging enemies and obstacles and coming up with solutions on the run really gives you an adrenaline boost, unfortunately the game puts a stop to this several times because you'll end up in spots that just have no obvious routes and you have to stop and futz around. Now this isn't bad in a game like Half-Life 2 where stopping to solve puzzles is planned, but in Mirror's Edge you are very often put in situations where you need to do things fast and accurately but you have to stop and figure out what to do. This leads to a lot of trial and error gameplay, sort of like those annoying disappearing blocks in games like Mega Man you'll just keep dying until you figure out exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

The other thing that's kind of annoying is that the game generally helps you figure out what you can use to your advantage as it is painted bright red, but there are some areas where it's not obvious or just not highlighted, this is extremely frustrating because you'll find yourself in situations where you need to do some complex moves to get places but they aren't marked so you wander around looking for ways out but they aren't obvious, again this puts the brakes on the otherwise high speed flow. It's frustrating I guess because a lot of the more obvious routes have these friendly markers which are sort of redundant but the trickier bits don't give you many hints (run up a wall, do a 180?, push off with your feet and grab a ledge you can't see and not a hint of "red so you can go here" paint... arrgh).

The other criticism I have is one many people find a deal breaker, the plot is very um "fuzzy". The character's motivation isn't all that clear, the cutscenes don't help all that much either, you just have to take it on faith that you are doing the right thing. That slides into combat quite nicely, most of the time it's better to just avoid it and leave the police/SWAT guys in the dust, but every now and then you have no choice and you have to disarm one of them and use the gun. Again, due to the fuzzy motivation this never feels right and consequently I try to avoid it where possible (I don't know, maybe this was an conscious design choice), that said, foes will swarm you sometimes and you have no choice but to defend yourself.

EA almost had a winner here, it looks great and when you are really flying and your moves are linking together the game gives you a real rush, but the repeated trial and error deaths, points where you get stuck (even if just for a minute or two) and the muddled narrative breaks it.

In conclusion! For a game that's under $10 it's worth looking at, a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon if you are looking for something different, just expect a few frustrations, really pretty scenery and some wild rooftop acrobatics.

[Mr. Analog]

So, I've been under the weather the last few days and wanted to play something and decided to pull out this baby again and finish it, man it was frustrating at first, it was getting all choppy and the disarm button wasn't working... so I did some reading and apparently Steam games that use PhysX usually download with the required libraries however they may not be the right ones (and certainly not the most up to date ones) that your graphics card can use) so I downloaded the latest PhysX drivers and deleted the older libraries from the game binary folder and wow! It was like playing a whole new game. I also reset all my controls, turns out in my wisdom many ages ago I decided that the right-click mouse button should be for the weapon sights instead of disarm, well you need to disarm CONSTANTLY in that game (as opposed to the couple of times where you need to aim a sniper rifle).

Here's how to fix the PhysX problem: http://www.gamespot.com/mirrors-edge/forum/how-to-increase-physx-performance-51531048/

Holy cow the game is a breeze now, and so much more fun to play.

I really wish EA hadn't canned the sequel...

I'm actually wondering about other games that I've bought through Steam and had PhysX problems (Mafia II dammit) and whether or not I can fix them the same way...

[Thorin]

Fun game, hey?

[Mr. Analog]

Fun game, hey?

It could have been another Portal with a few changes here and there, yeah. But it can be EXTREMELY frustrating at points and the story the first time through is pretty weak.

[Stewie521]

Most of the jumping and animations were made by Dice, if you watch carefully the vault animation in BF3 and Mirror's Edge are identical!

But man I love that game, I completed it about 4 times, now I think I'm gonna play it again this weekend

[Mr. Analog]

Wacky, I never noticed that before but you're right...