I finished Fallout 3 a few days ago and thought it was a pretty solid ending. I will have to go back and play through things a bit differently, or realistically I will move onto another game and never look back, because I don't often return to games that I've actually gone to the trouble to beat. I am curious about the evil path (I always take the good path) so perhaps Fallout 3 will finally be the game to bring me round to a second playthrough.
Scratch that, there is another game I've played multiple times, possibly my favorite: Max Payne. Both the first and its sequel were immense pleasures to play and I reluctantly await round three. I've written previously about the location of MP3 and the attitude of the game, but I wait to see what they end up doing with it.
In other news the awesome Flixel Bros, Adam Atomic and Danny B, have released another awesome little time-waster. Canabalt is a simple procedural, six-tone game in which you're playing a one button, sidescrolling Mirror's Edge. All you do is jump obstacles and leap from building to building, crashing through windows as you gain speed, allowing you to leap the greater distances as the buildings grow farther apart. Fun for a short time or a bit more than that, I highly recommend the minute it takes to click on the link and get hooked.
Speaking of Mirror's Edge, I finally was tipped off by my girlfriend to a coupon that saved me half the cost of the ME map pack, so I grabbed the new time-trial maps the pack has to offer. They are slick levels, ditching the cities for giant floating boxes that feel like they should be designed by VW and Apple's lovechild. The levels are fun and challenging, just what I like, though I need to give them some more time to truly appreciate the $5 I added to EA's pockets. DICE did well, and I think that you should give Mirror's Edge a chance if you've never done so. [Factoid: I applied to intern at DICE, but this was when I had absolutely nothing on my resume that would make an international developer such as DICE recognize me as anything but ordinary. I still might feel that way, but my resume grows steadily, nonetheless.]
next week on []Musings: I discuss singleplayer vs. multiplayer tutorials.
Showing posts with label Mirror's Edge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mirror's Edge. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Le Tranchant du Miroir
Everyone is making a mistake with Mirror's Edge. Players, critics, and even DICE themselves are trying to believe that ME is a first person shooter. It is impossible to escape genre cliches in a game that so heavily relies on them, with constant firefights erupting around you, helicopters above shooting at you and the ability to use not only melee skills but guns as well to retaliate at your aggressors. It's even more impossible when the game's loading screens seem intent on showing you how to fight enemies with karate-like "flow".
But play the game and you're shown a different focus; holding a weapon eliminates most of your dexterity. Melee is only beneficial to disarm one man and then use his gun to take out others. You keep wanting to fight, you want to refine your melee skills, but in the end you are outnumbered and underpowered. Why? Because you aren't meant to fight. The game was made for you to run.
Mirror's Edge is a racing game. You want to run, and you should. Each level is a course with a few different ways to move through the level and one of those ways is the fastest. It seems harsh when the game is criticized for requiring just the right touch because that is exactly what a racing game is about. Play Trackmania for more than ten minutes and you know that just the right angle around a corner will lose you that Gold medal time. So it is the same for Mirror's Edge. You are trying to make the most efficient use of space and time to manuever your way to the exit. In Story mode it gives you helpful red markers, but finish the story mode or turn away to the Race mode and you see that it really is all about getting that exact right line. Learning the movements, finding the route to propel you the most quickly to your destination.
I am really enjoying the game. I acknowledge random small issues that annoy me, such as sometimes unclear goals or the somewhat common lock-up. But I love the challenge the game has presented. I'm still working through the story, but I've got to give DICE props for making what I think is an incredibly solid Parkour game.
Oh, and it's gorgeous as well.
But play the game and you're shown a different focus; holding a weapon eliminates most of your dexterity. Melee is only beneficial to disarm one man and then use his gun to take out others. You keep wanting to fight, you want to refine your melee skills, but in the end you are outnumbered and underpowered. Why? Because you aren't meant to fight. The game was made for you to run.
Mirror's Edge is a racing game. You want to run, and you should. Each level is a course with a few different ways to move through the level and one of those ways is the fastest. It seems harsh when the game is criticized for requiring just the right touch because that is exactly what a racing game is about. Play Trackmania for more than ten minutes and you know that just the right angle around a corner will lose you that Gold medal time. So it is the same for Mirror's Edge. You are trying to make the most efficient use of space and time to manuever your way to the exit. In Story mode it gives you helpful red markers, but finish the story mode or turn away to the Race mode and you see that it really is all about getting that exact right line. Learning the movements, finding the route to propel you the most quickly to your destination.
I am really enjoying the game. I acknowledge random small issues that annoy me, such as sometimes unclear goals or the somewhat common lock-up. But I love the challenge the game has presented. I'm still working through the story, but I've got to give DICE props for making what I think is an incredibly solid Parkour game.
Oh, and it's gorgeous as well.
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