November 13, 2008

Mirror's Edge quick impressions

Only played for about an hour or so.
 
Pros:
 
- I love the visual style of this game.  The city is gorgeous.
 
- This game really makes you feel like you are playing a character from the first-person perspective.  Everything from the audio (Faith's breathing) to the quick glimpses you get of her arms and legs, to the motion blur, it does a really great job of putting you in her shoes.
 
- The controls are tight and feel great.
 
- I love the music.
 
- The chase sequences (when you are being chased . . . and shot at) are insanely tense and you really feel like you have to get away in a hurry.  Your adrenaline starts flowing and you feel just like Faith must feel, running for your life, scanning the environment for any escape.
 
- Stringing together a series of complex moves is extremely satisfying.
 
Cons:
 
- While the graphics are beautiful, the game does suffer from aliasing issues.
 
- There is unfortunately a lot of trial and error in the gameplay.  Since most of the time speed is a factor, it is not always clear where you need to go and this can lead to your death.
 
- While the controls themselves are great and react exactly how you would want them too, some of the sections require pin point accuracy.  If you are off by just a bit, you will fall to your death.  This has happened to me many times already.
 
That is about all I can say at this time.  I spent very little time with it yesterday.  It really is a fresh, unique experience.  The difficulty curve is pretty high and expect to die plenty of times until you know what you have to do.  I get the impression that this is the type of game that is even more enjoyable the second time around, once you know what you have to do.
 

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