Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A leap of faith, 14 May 2009
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
With mixed reviews, and an underwhelming demo, Mirrors Edge almost passed me by. DICEs parkour game is actually rather good, and feels like the fledgling steps of an emerging genre. Its certainly a unique experience.
The game could have been disastrous, as platform sections in FPS games are monumentally awful. The controls do much to remedy this, feeling intuitive with a steady learning curve. The shoulder buttons control most of Faiths abilities. She jumps by pressing L1, and ducks with L2. In motion, these moves are chained together to increase her running speed. For example, Faith can coils her body in mid jump to travel greater distances. The animation for busting through doors is suitably dramatic, and maintains the sense of urgency. Other feature include slow motion, especially useful during balance beam sections, and for disarming enemies. Holding circle prompts her to look in the direction of the intended destination, which also proves invaluable.
Sprinting over rooftops is truly exhilarating, being persued by trigger happy cops equally so. The linear stages are disguised well, as multiple routes lead to the same objective. Due to the games sudden death nature, restarts will occur regularly. But logically spaced checkpoints help ensure frustration is kept to a minimum.
Single player is fairly short lived. To extend play, 3 runner packages are located on every level, and a speed run option becomes available upon completion. A large selection of time attack stages are also unlocked once the relevant criteria is met. Time attack is arguably Mirrors Edge at its finest, boiled down to its purest and most enjoyable aspect - free running. In addition, a comprehensive library unlocks concept art, music and videos. Loading screen animations are impressive too, with a silhouette of Faith taking down enemies. The combat sections have received much criticism, and are entirely justified. The trick is to avoid confrontation unless absolutely necessary. Yet later levels ramp up the number of 'blues' to the point where combat is mandatory. Mirrors Edge suffers when forced to fight, as the controls are slow and the gameplay feels choppy. Gunplay is equally weak, lacking an ammo display or reload facility.
Presentation is impressive, but graphics range from minimalist beauty to bland and glitchy. The visual style is unlike anything else, but feels very basic in places. Corridor sections and street levels suffer most. Texture and objects are recycled endlessly, but with different colours. Presumably this is done to keep design aspects similar. However it feels lazy. The paper thin plot does nothing to flesh out the world or its characters either. Yet the premise is fantastic; a big brother city where everything is controlled and monitored has led to the emergence of runners - delivering information and items under the radar.
A unique but hardly essential title - the innovation in Mirrors Edge should be applauded, but the overall experience is flawed with frustrating inconsistencies.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
68 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Broken Mirror, 18 Nov 2008
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
I first saw the trailers for this game after downloading them from the PSN. I was awe struck at the beautiful arty look of the game, it was intriguing and the music was outstanding, it instantly hit a chord with me and the game seemed like it was going to be something wonderfully different. As more and more trailers came I got more and more exited...until finally it was release day. For the first time in years I went out and bought the game without first waiting and reading the reviews. I was terribly exited and rushed home with the game. At first I was amazed at the beautifully built and lit city landscapes. It really did feel like I was standing on the rooftops while looking at the lovely blue sky. It was a breath of fresh air and the ambiance was stunning. After the first few levels I started to get use to the simple controls and it felt very natural and the game was flowing along nicely. I was also very suppressed how varied the environments were. Jumping from roof to roof and trying to find ways of escaping the police was fun....then things started to go a bit wrong.
Firstly I noticed that some of the textures were not very good....a minor fault than can be easily overlooked except they seem to use mostly the same ones throughout the entire game but just slapped with a different color. Speaking of color there is a very distinctive lack of it. While I understand this is the design intention and there are many instances where there are beautifully colored sections of the game I wonder why the trees and plants are also white? I have noticed a lot of gaps around joined objects, especially doors and walls. This can be very noticeable when running down a dark corridor towards a door only to have lots of little jagged white lines everywhere.
Now I know graphics aren't everything but this is just the beginning. After the first few levels you soon realize that the game is very linear...not really a problem but the story just doesn't seem to go anywhere. There is no sense of urgency and half the time I didn't even realize or know what I was suppose to be doing or the reason behind it apart from get to point A to B. From the early trailers I was expecting a really involving story including the history of the city but it just feels really flat...and you don't care about the non existing plot one bit...its just really boring! The characters are just as uninspiring, and you don't care about them either. Things go from bad to worse when it comes to combat. It just doesn't feel right; it's very disjointed with the rest of the game and its ideologies. Disarming the cops is fun but if there is more than one your in trouble! And this is where it goes horrible wrong. At times you are forced to fight...usually in a large room with multiple enemies. This is made even harder by the fact that they don't miss a shot no matter what the distance; you're lucky if you can outrun them without getting hit and it only takes 2 or 3 shots and you're dead. It's made harder yet again as when indoors the path to your escape rout is impossibly difficult to see and you're never given anytime to survey your surroundings and work things out before they start to open fire. You will continually die time and time and time and time and time again x200 until you eventually nail it perfectly.
This can become very frustrating, and has taken all the enjoyment out of the game for me. It feels almost as if these sections were purposely put in to make the game harder and to extend its game playing time (which I heard isn't much).
I have become so frustrated by it that I can't even be bothered to pick up the control pad and finish it. I am extremely disappointed. The game is such a mishmash, at times it is great fun running around beautiful buildings and then you have to fight and it all goes horribly wrong. I have to say I have been really disheartened by this game, I had such high hopes and I can't wait to get rid of it now. It had great potential and at times pulls it off nicely but then falls flat on its face with the change of pace.
Rent it and have some fun, but don't buy it...its not worth it, and it makes me really sad to say that.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
ARGH!, 18 Jan 2009
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Firstly, if you are the kind of person to get agitated when a game doesn't seem to do what you want it to do, and if having to repeat a move 20 times just to get it right doesn't appeal, then you should probably avoid this game - it's definately in the territory of making you swear over and over when something goes wrong (which it often does!)
Essentially, as most reviewers have already said, Mirror's Edge is a game viewed from the first person where you have to run, jump and flip to make your way through the city. The basic premise is that you are investigating a murder for which your own sister has been framed.
The main problems with Mirror's Edge are simple, it's waaay to frustrating! In fact, I'd say it's the most frustrating game I've ever played, and I've played Pro Evo online...! For me, there are two main reasons why the game brings so much frustration:
1) The same button is used for jumping and wall-running, as well as grabbing ledges. The majority of the time, this isn't so bad, but there are times where you will see a red fence to wall run so you can reach another building, you'll think you have the perfect angle, you'll hold down L1 aaand...you'll vault the fence and fall to your impending doom. You will get used to the sound of falling through ther air before you smack into the pavement in this game.
2) Unfortunately, the game also makes you panic at times, and an accidental press of L1 can make you do silly things which you haven't intended. The reason why there's so much panic lies in the basis of the game - you are a runner, and often cops (or as they're called here, blues) shoot at you while you run. Sometimes, there's a helicopter after you too. And while you may think that the inclusion of 'runner vision' (where certain objects are red in colour, to help guide you) would be helpful, a lot of the time you just get confused, run about, lose your way and get shot. When this has happened for the 20th time and you still have no idea where you're going, you start to get a little narked at the whole thing. The major problem is that too often you have no time to think - a checkpoint will start and you'll be shot at immediately, and you'll just have to hope wherever you decide to run to will be the right way. Sometimes there's a bit of red to push you in a direction, other times (like in one chapter where you're in a mall), the whole blinking thing is in an orange hue so you have no idea where to go. And when there are 5 SWAT team members who can kill you with a couple of shots bearing down on you, in can really make you a tiny bit angry.
The storyline is also rather weak, I was expecting far more from it - I won't mention too much but it certainly doesn't make you want to delve more into the game - for the most part, you're not really sure why you're where you are, or what the point is.
Another stumbling block that others have touched upon is the linear nature of the game - it's not really a case of using your smarts to get out of situations, there are no alternate routes - you have to find that one little vent with a red outline somewhere that will take you where you need to go. In the era of vast sandbox games this can be very irritating, as sometimes you'll run up some stairs but the level will not take you anywhere - as opposed to a game like GTA4 for example where some routes are dead ends but you can also seek out shortcuts or just your own preference of rout.
There are positives to the game though, undoubtedly, and these positives are very promising. The overall look of the game is wonderful (though I for one doesn't understand why the cut scenes are in a cut-out style of animation where the game itself is realistically rendered, but that's my own minor niggle). Bright whites look great in HD and the city looks impressive. The essential concept of free-running is exciting in itself and when you do string together a few good moves to vault, slide and jump, it can feel wonderful - the pace is exhilarating and the crisp feel of the graphics and the sound of the wind rushing past you adds to this. However, I would have liked the option of having a 3rd person view - I know, I know, this would take away the point of 'feeling' how a runner feels as they make their jumps, but also for me I'd like to see from athird person view what it looks like when you run up a wall, do a backflip and grap onto a ledge - in 1st person view it's just a blur.
Overall, the game itself is an excellent first-attempt at reinvigorating the FPS genre, in that shooting takes a back seat and it's more about using your wits and speed to make your way through. The main frustrations are in the controls and the fact you all-too-often have little or no time to decide where you can go before it's too late. The linear nature of the game also means that if you go slightly off track, you'll completely lose what you're doing, and for me I felt for the first time playing a game that I needed my laptop on with a walkthrough on the screen to help me whenever I was being shot at too much to have any idea where I was going. In conclusion, nice attempt, hope for more in the future, but at the moment the whole thing is just too annoying to be classed as enjoayble.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
|
|
|
|
2115|R2TFNFHYR67529;2115|RCB5GRT8FWIWN;2115|R4I0EEBY59HTZ;
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
