PS3/360 Review: Mirror’s Edge
by Chelsea Thompson on November 24, 2008 at 11:26 am
Mirror’s Edge has been one of the most highly anticipated games this season. It takes the tried and true elements of the first-person perspective, mixed with an artistic style and frantic gameplay to make a unique type of game. But is this game worth shelling out the $60?
[Note: The version I'm referencing for this review is the Xbox 360]
Anyone who has played the demo knows that the controls are pretty simple on this one: left button to jump, left trigger to duck or slide, right button to turn 180 degrees, right trigger to attack. The face buttons are Y to disarm, A to activate, B to direct you to where you’re supposed to be going, and X for slow-motion mode.
The game begins with the training and Prologue chapter that were included in the game demo. Having played the demo myself, I got through these levels fairly easily and quickly. I was pretty excited to start the real game and get running.
My excitement, however, was quickly extinguished after trying to plow through the first level. The game’s “runner vision,” which turns key objects red as you approach them, was not quite as helpful as it should be. Often times objects wouldn’t turn red unless you were right next to them, or sometimes the objects that were red were well out of your reach and it was a matter of trial and error trying to reach them.
In fact, that’s a pretty good term for my entire first playthrough of the game. Trial and error.
Oftentimes, the game would direct you (through the use of the B button) into a room where there seemed to be no immediate way out. If the game gave you time to explore the level and find your way, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, most of the times when the route was unclear, there were five or six hostiles shooting at you. This caused me to run around frantically, jumping and trying to grab walls for a minute or so, before Faith became riddled with bullets and fell down dead. Frustrating at the first occurrence, it became almost unbearable the third or fourth time. I frequently found myself being shot dead or jumping aimlessly off of buildings while trying to find the correct direction to go.
Most of the level design is pretty good. My one pet peeve with this game was the number of levels that had the mechanic of “press a button on this side of the room, then quickly run to the other side to get through a door.” It wasn’t fun in the Legend of Zelda dungeons, and it’s not fun in this game either.
Another poor level design choice has to do with the range of places Faith can access. Sometimes a place that looks close enough to reach will be completely inaccessible, and you’ll end up falling to your death several times before realizing that it’s not the way you’re supposed to go. Other times, the most obvious route seems like an impossible length to jump, but you still make it across somehow. Hooray physics!
The plot of the game is almost good. It’s relayed to the player in a series of cutscenes between each level, and sometimes in small bits during the gameplay. There is not enough depth in the somewhat predictable plot for you to really care too much about the characters — when I faced some of the enemies in the game, I wasn’t quite sure I was fighting them. This game frustrated me so much that I didn’t even blame one of the evil characters for repeatedly throwing me off a building.
Part of this frustration also comes from the controls. They’re not terribly broken, but they sometimes felt inconsistent. For many of the moves in the game, you need extremely precise timing, making the whole “falling to your death” scenario all the more frequent. Many times when attempting to do a wall run, I ended up simply jumping next to the wall. Some of the bad guys were next to impossible to disarm, even with the use of the slow motion function. One of the “boss battles” requires you to disarm an enemy, and after dying about six or seven times after failed disarming attempts, I simply mashed Y repeatedly. This method worked on the first try.
All in all, my first playthrough of the game was slow and almost torturous. I had to put down the game several times out of sheer frustration. I actually went to YouTube and searched for videos of people going through some of the levels because I was so completely lost.
After everything I’ve said, you might be thinking that this game is a big pile of crap and not worth buying. Yet this isn’t entirely true. The game becomes enjoyable after the first playthrough, since this unlocks the speed run mode of the game.
Once you’ve played a level thoroughly, speed running through it is a lot of fun. Getting the familiarity of the level in order to successfully speed run a level is tough but ultimately rewarding. Knowing exactly where to go enables you to keep up the flow of movement that was originally intended. Pulling off some of the moves in the game feels satisfying instead of frustrating and reminds you of the reason you bought the game in the first place. And in this case, it really saves the game from being bad.
Another element that adds to the replay value of the game is the three runner bags scattered around each level. I know I died several times in pursuit of these bags, but I didn’t mind as much because once I get them, I keep them (even if I died immediately afterward).
The bottom line here is that if you can suffer through six to ten hours of fumbling your way through story mode, you’ll end up with a decent game on your hands. However, my personal advice would be to either rent this one or wait until the price drops a little.
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7 Comments » |
on November 25, 2008 9:40 pm
This is my Game of the Year.
For serious.
on November 26, 2008 8:09 am
Cookigaki does not like this review. Reviewer basically says “Chelsea don’t get it. Chelsea have to figure things out and it wasn’t immediately obvious so the game is not good. Then after it is beaten it Chelsea knows more what to do in time trial so it was more fun.” There is proof in this when Chelsea says that the demo levels went fast and were fun but then the first levels were not fun because Chelsea didn’t already play them and know what to do. Then the speed run was fun because Chelsea already knew what to do. It is still trial and error, but the trial part was already done during story mode. Replaying story mode would also probably be fun, but Chelsea doesn’t seem to realize what this review says.
Cookigaki does not want to read poor reviews from this person. No more, please.
on November 26, 2008 10:24 am
This review is embarrassing.
on November 26, 2008 12:46 pm
Cookigaki, I definitely understand why you got this impression from the review. However, from the sound of your comment it seems you have yet to play the game yourself, so maybe you’re a little confused about some of the things I said. Let me clarify a bit on this:
My point is, no game should be that painful on the first run though. The replayability is what makes this game shine, however I don’t feel as if that is what should sell a game. A well-designed game is fun whether it is your first playthrough or you 37th. The whole game is based on the flow of parkouring, and for the flow of the game to be constantly broken up puts a dent both the playability and the artistic value of the game.
As for me not understanding things that weren’t immediately obvious, of course I admit to that: it’s part of what made the game so frustrating. My point here is simply that because of this, you spend more of your first playthrough getting shot or falling off buildings than actually playing the game properly. Not terribly enjoyable.
Before writing this review, I contacted several friends who had also played through the game (to make sure I wasn’t just horrible, haha). If you look at Destructoid’s review, they find similar problems. Everyone I know who has played this game had a lot of difficulty on their first play through.
Thanks for the feedback though. If you guys have any other questions, I’d love to answer them for you :)
on November 28, 2008 9:12 am
Interesting review. I dont agree w/ the score, but you really nailed some of the problems w/ the game.
on November 28, 2008 9:25 am
Cookigaki is not confused. Cookigaki has played the game, but this is really not Cookigaki’s style of game. Cookigaki did not think game was as hard as Chelsea makes it sound, but Cookigaki did not play the whole way through because again this is not Cookigaki’s kind of game. Cookigaki looked at Destructoid review and it was an 8, so Cookigaki does not see your point. Cookigaki did not mean to sound too harsh, but Cookigaki just believes Chelsea gave undeserved lower score because Chelsea was not good at the game.
on November 28, 2008 9:44 am
Hmm well, Dan’s Armoured Core 4 review said that the game would only be fun for harcore fans, and it still got 7.5. Chelse seems to think this game isnt fun on the first play, still got a 7. I really like the game, but if it isnt fun the first time i pick it up does it deserve a good score?
i mean i liked the game so, the score seems a little low. at least there was a clear explenation of why she gave the score.