Electronic Arts & DICE’s Mirror’s Edge isn’t an easy game to grasp by watching trailers or gameplay footage. I know it is a first person parkour game, however how does it control? How easy it for the player to control Faith and pull off all those acrobatic moves? You certainly can’t get all that info from a piece of game footage. Thank goodness for demos. If there was any game which needed a demo this holiday season, Mirror’s Edge takes the cake. Now the question is: Did the demo help or hinder Mirror’s Edge?
The first thing I tend to do when I start any game is to visit the options screen and familiarize myself with the controls. Mirror’s Edge control scheme, at a glance, appeared unwieldy; I was skeptical. It didn’t matter, though. It’s all about how the game will work in practice. The 900+ MB demo came with an easy to follow tutorial and by the end of it, I was able to vault over fences, climb rails and slide under vents with incredible ease. Judging distance and when to make a giant leap seemed natural and second nature to me. I didn’t miss a single jump. Was it just because the demo was easy? Perhaps. I guess I would have to try the final version to find out.
I’m a fan of the sparse and clean look of Mirror’s Edge — it’s different and easy on the eyes. The highlighting of key obstacles (also known as Runner Vision) may seem like “easy mode” to some, but for first time players, I can’t envision the game without it. Combining the clean look and the Runner Vision enabled me to go full tilt and not worry about wondering where to go. It felt like a giant obstacle course and I was acing it.
There was very little combat in this demo; especially since it encouraged fleeing over fighting. The tutorial allowed me to try out a few punches and sliding kicks, but I didn’t get many opportunities pull off many flying kicks or fancy disarms.
After playing through the Mirror’s Edge demo, I was sold on DICE’s vision. After the brief tutorial, I felt in control of Faith and embarked on quite the exhilarating ride. It’s been a long time since I felt such a rush and excitement for a game due to its demo. If you haven’t done so yet, go on the PlayStation Network Store and download this demo. It’s most definitely worth trying!
Mirror’s Edge debuts on November 11th, 2008 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. For more information, visit the official website.
PsnSuicidalJedi
The reviewer neglected to mention how the graphics in the demo (which is the same level you see being played in the trailer) are far worse then the trailer.
Remember the end of the trailer when the music kicks in and the camera pans around Faiths face as she stands on the crane? Well that scene in the demo, her face was pixelated and blotchy, also the demo itself has massive aliasing issues, almost every straight line and surface (which comprises of about 80% of your vision) is alisiaed to all hell.
Either Dice has lowered the graphical quality for the demo, to make it faster to download, or they have doctored and enhanced all their screen shots and trailers to make the game look much better then it actually is.
The game play was intense, and very fun, but if you are used to seeing that trailer, these graphics are a bit of a let down.
No_Style
After taking a look around the “webz”, it looks like the Xbox 360 version is less aliased and slightly improved in certain areas compared to the PS3 build. I had my doubts with how sharp everything looked in the videos, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit of polishing done.
As for not mentioning it? I wasn’t sure if it was my 20″ Dell monitor or the demo itself and since my usual 50″ screen was being used, I couldn’t verify. It also didn’t bother too much since I was always in motion throughout the demo.
diggii
Yeah, not to mention the lack of shadowing in the demo. It just made things look weird and out of place. Hopefully the final version don’t look that way……