Comments on Pixel Poppers: Mirror's Edge: What Went Wrong and Why

Ok, I do admit the game was frustrating at points,...

2011-07-07T20:17:37.825-07:00

Ok, I do admit the game was frustrating at points, such as like you mentioned, level Heat. However the game makes you think on your feet and try things over several times. You can do the same thing maybe a hundred times over, but once you finnaly get it, once you finnaly do the right combo to get to one place, or manage to defeat a group of heavily armored cops. Oh man does it feel good. I tried getting out of that mall with that darned machine gun shooting me maybe a hundred times my first attempt. But when I got through, I felt so good about it, that I started hooting and hollering. Now if you find the game to hard for you, or you just can't think on your feet and play a hard game on easy right, well that's you. But I know that me and my fellow gamers will keep trying till we get the right combination that has you loving the game and its amazing graphics, ideas, and the challange it presents the player. True enough it is hard, and the punishment for failure is rather... annoying. That sweet victory plenty reward for the shear beauty the game stands for and the freedom.

Hi, You have written one of the most interesting...

2011-05-07T15:55:37.785-07:00

Hi,

You have written one of the most interesting bits of analysis I have read in sometime on any subject.

The fact that it is about a game I have long been interested as a hard core gamer and just today bought and sadly been disappointed with for the reasons you so very well articulate is amazing.

You sir are an A1 game reviewer - top notch analysis.

I'm highly impressed as what you say is just so well thought through and true!

Incredible review.

I so agree that M Edge is a bad good game - it could be amazing - the idea is great but the execution in the areas you mention is so true.

I've stopped playing it - one reason for this is the constant deaths of Faith and your comment about players having their noses rubbed in it with is so true - the training area flashes: "Failed" all the bloody time yet I am doing EXACTLY as told by the tutorial - now that is VERY annoying.

And like I said I am a hard core gamer - been playing since I was 10 or 12 and I am now 36 and I still play for 10 plus hours a week - it's not like I dont know how to game but the tutorial was not fair - and thats at the start of the game and is a tutorial for Gods sake what is the rest like!

This review is now a year old so my addition will ...

2011-01-12T17:18:46.014-08:00

This review is now a year old so my addition will be entirely useless but having just come out of a frustrating play in ME I need to vent.

- Sloppy or non-existent triggering or trigger placement -
When you create a 'real world' equivalent and a game that is entirely dependent on it reacting in the expected manner, you're doing your player a disservice and hurting their experience when only half of it does. Why should you plummet to your death when the edge you just barely missed is in the same reach as some other surface you'd normally connect with? Or fail a running jump that could have been made standing still? It makes no sense. I understand the implementation challenges and the limited resources and time to fit every situation, but much of ME's faults in this regard were a black and white no-brainer. Some basic middle ground animation and reaction work would have made a world of difference.

And no, as someone who's job is surviving in a dangerous environment that will guarantee death at most times, you aren't just going to fall off a building. There is a real difference between making a conscious decision to leap and then fall versus slipping and catching yourself. This is not hand-holding, but a natural reaction to the situation. To add to that, the cut-scene fade and your in-game placement are not defined. You can move during the change and since most of your level origins start at an edge its very easy to die uselessly.

And for a game that is almost entirely based on a few hundred static environment pieces that the character interacts with, why the sloppy trigger reaction? The Ropeburn atrium portion that you described is a prime example. There is nothing special about that wall run (even if it isn't marked), it just doesn't react right most of the time. I've thrown myself from pipe to pipe in the expected manner but then fall away with no response from the character (and repeatedly at one point through the geometry). Or the ubiquitous stack of boxes or bricks you use to vault with but will stop you dead. People who associate this with poor skill, bitching, or whatever, don't understand immersion, how it effects them, or that it is a subjective experience that effects many in a legitimate manner.

- Poor momentum indication -
The lack of a HUD or any other measure of the situation is completely understandable and part of ME's minimalistic appeal. On the other hand your ability to traverse the terrain is entirely dependent on your pace measured in some unknown number. Until you reach the very high level where the blur and breath intake kick in, you never really know if it is fast enough for the game to react in the fluid manner you expect. Practice will tell you of course but the overall scheme needed more fleshing out.

- Combat -
As it's been said, the weakest portion. Ineffective and about as developed as the original Doom. Super-human guards who respond near instantaneously from running full body chest kicks and testicle shots. Even when you do disarm a guard, the weapons only work part time. I shotgunned a guard three times in the face from a few feet away to no effect. Why force a fight at all with so many ways to literally avoid it? Or why not include some minor personal effects to create diversions and hindrance. Smoke or flash bangs would have solved most confrontations.

I guess in the end what tears the most is that the shadows of what ME could have been are nearly in reach while playing but you end up stuck with the reality of its failures. This is a simple game with simple rules (basically one long quick-time event) and it makes the problems that could have been solved with better planning and clearer intent that much more frustrating. I give credit where it is due though and both Dice and EA (who rarely sticks its neck out) deserve some for what was tried here. As you said hopefully they learn a great deal from this experiment and Mirror's Edge 2 achieves everything the first could not.

I have issues with several comments that people ar...

2010-12-10T00:56:45.751-08:00

I have issues with several comments that people are posting.
Some people are saying the equivalence of "Let's line up all the bad guys in iraq and blow their brains out with one bullet" You can't expect a games ease to come like that. Realistically, objects in real life aren't laid out for you, and meant for you, to parkour on. Don't expect everything to be a straight line. The point is not to BE FAST when you parkour but to be EFFICIENT in your choice of movement to your destination, lets keep that in mind.

Another thing, the death animation/sound is of no relevance for ANY discussion. I play a lot of military FPS games but does that mean I have a sadistic desire? When you see me in the news for murder THEN come bash me. All games have psychological effects; the music, the ambience, the storyline, but why do we consider this a flaw? Let it be for effect/realism/attention to detail, whatever you want to call it. In no way is the death animation a "put down". If you fall off a 50 story building, your bones WILL break, lets be honest. The way a developer chooses to animate death is what best suits the storyline and circumstance. You expect to hear a cartoony "BOING!" sound when you fall off that building? I expect to hear what's most realistic.

As far as the difficulty goes I have sympathy for the people that NEED an easy difficulty, I use to be this way too. I hardly play games on the easiest difficulty anymore because the difficulty level makes me enjoy it better, because I'm spending more time on that game. If it takes me a month to beat a game(it has happened before) that i could have beaten in 2 days on the easiest setting, then I feel really good after beating it(despite broken controllers and repeated cussing =D ). I do believe in challenges and if you keep playing on a harder difficulty(for you) you will get better, just look passed the frustration.

ME is, at some degree, meant to be a puzzle/strategy game where you, yourself, actually need to figure out what to do. Eliminating the need to think will eliminate one of the games design choices. But if you simply cannot get passed certain issues with the game then just move on, there isn't a need to devalue the rep of a developer. Most of your arguments I don't find valid because they frustrate you on a personal level in which ALOT of people here disagree with; it wasn't an actual game mechanic flaw.

I have to agree with Grim Eden with most of the po...

2010-11-19T07:25:23.273-08:00

I have to agree with Grim Eden with most of the points he made. I played this game on PC and it never felt hard to me at all. And I definitely wouldn't consider myself a hardcore gamer anymore; I play games maybe 5 to 10 hours a week now and that's even stretching it.

I do agree that their whole combat system should be scrapped though. Combat was easily the most awkward part in this whole game. Every time I had to fight guards I just felt this sinking feeling like I wasn't really having fun anymore. It just felt very clunky.

I really hope that Mirror's Edge 2 ends up refining the original and coming out as an even better product. I had more fun with this game than I did with Far Cry 2 or Crysis. I wouldn't say that it beat out Left 4 Dead 2 or Dragon Age though.

Best Le Pakour game I have ever played. Anyone can...

2010-11-07T13:52:30.829-08:00

Best Le Pakour game I have ever played.
Anyone can say what they want, but it won´t change the fact that i love this game.

I, personally, enjoy playing Mirror's Edge. I ...

2010-09-28T04:04:26.040-07:00

I, personally, enjoy playing Mirror's Edge. I disagree with it being hard at all, actually... except for the final level. Granted, you are right with the flaws, but really it just takes patience. I actually was amazed at how well I was doing, since it was the first game I never bothered to look up cheats for.
Great games appeal to everyone, but I suppose Mirror's Edge wouldn't fall into that category.
There was one spot where I almost destroyed my computer, though. I think it was where you said were you need to grab onto a ledge after wall-running. I always was able to grab it, I just kept hitting the down-movement key, so Faith would just grab it for a millisecond and then drop.
Nonetheless, it's still a good game, in my opinion. The controls were great on the computer, especially with so many moves and so little keys. The combat is a little too much for this game, though, since it's supposed to be more about moving through tight-spots (giggity), but it's still great blasting away enemies with a highly-detailed M249 Machine Gun, which is probably my favorite part of the game, but it's not the reason why I got it.
The parkour was amazing, and I am looking forward to Mirror's Edge 2 almost as much as HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE THREE!

My beef with this game is it doesn't feel Flue...

2010-08-03T20:13:42.216-07:00

My beef with this game is it doesn't feel Fluent at all . You run Grab slip , yeah I guess you can get use to any game but i don't want to Get the feel fore a Flawed game . Time Trials are impossible since I don't have time to devote my Life to a Developers interpretation of a "Challenge" to me its hard because the game feels flimsy

Maybe I was more successful at the game or the PC ...

2010-06-23T08:01:14.250-07:00

Maybe I was more successful at the game or the PC version is easier to play, but having just bought it off Steam and completed it on normal in three hours, I can’t say it was that hard or frustrating. I can see some of the flaws you mention; however, it didn’t appear that flawed of a game, just an average game.

The complaint against the disappearing clues doesn’t register with me. The challenge of the game is in finding the correct path to take, and then figuring out how to get where you need to go utilizing your abilities. With that figured out, you need to find the right timing and execute the moves. Scaling back the clues makes the challenges more difficult as the player progresses through the game. Yes, there are times when you are circling an area looking for the right path, but you are stuck for minutes, not hours, and it’s designed in a similar vein to solving a puzzle. While the last two levels were distinctly harder, I had less trouble navigating than executing.

The death complaint resonates—especially when compared to Prince of Persia. I was never immersed in this game. I was merely playing through it. But just because I didn’t have a deeper connection doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. I wouldn’t recommend the game because it was short with a mediocre narrative and limited game play, but it wasn’t frustrating for me. I had fun eluding capture, hurdling 8 foot obstacles, defying gravity, and I found the checkpoints were close enough that dying multiple times in one area never bothered me.

I agree that combat was awkward, but it wasn’t atrocious. It was clearly a game not designed around shooting, and whose premise felt like the character wouldn’t wield a gun; but you could be effective with a gun. It’s not Counter-Strike, but it’s not Duck Hunt.

The main vexation I had with combat was that it was easier for me to disarm the first guard I saw (which usually took a few deaths to get right as I never used the slow-motion ability), then kill the next guard I spot, switch guns and repeat, than it was for me to avoid all the guards. That was a grievance for me because I would start by trying to avoid engaging, but would end up circling, looking for the right path, and would get caught in crossfire. After a few deaths, I decided I wanted to find the path in peace. But running around after killing the guards was less exhilarating compared to the gunfire, shattered glass, and the sound of runner guards on your tail. I would have liked to never have used a gun, but the guns made the game easier.

I remember the office level in the wrestler's building vividly. I kept looking at a string of glass windows and jumping into them hoping they would break or Faith would grab something. After two deaths from the guards, I decided a gun and dead guards would make things a lot easier. Next thing you know, the path is safe and the glass windows are destroyed. That level was no more frustrating than any other time I died miss-jumping.

By the way, you knew there was a slow motion feature, right? I used it once with the first guard to figure out disarming and realized it was too easy, but it is there if you need it. Of course, forgetting about it is no surprise since the tutorial level is useless. You finish the level with barely any confidence and are unaware of some of the more advanced moves like leaping backwards while hanging on a ledge, jumping after a wallrun, breaking through glass, or combo moves to disarm. The tutorial was poorly done, and the comprehension you have of your skills at the end is little more than knowing what button performs what action.

All in all, it's just your average game: not great, not bad. And certainly not worth blasting.

Video games today are made like McDonalds makes a ...

2010-06-17T03:37:29.127-07:00

Video games today are made like McDonalds makes a Big Mac and Fries combo. Not necessarily an intelligent thing to digest, but who cares, as long as it's cheap, easy, convenient, and appeals to the largest consumer base. I long for the days when gamers where the geeks of the world and everyone else stuck to HBO. Now "kewl graphics" rules the gameing world... phhhhh.

Again I say .. any other viewpoint than 1st person...

2010-06-17T03:23:52.346-07:00

Again I say .. any other viewpoint than 1st person and the game wouldn't be the game it is. period. Maybe the devs could've done a bit more polishing.. no .. no maybe.. definately they could've done more polishing. But making it any other viewpoint than 1st person wouldn't have been polish but a complete failure of the excitement they were trying to achieve. It is amazing to me now how people are still considering first person games as old hat when every single game in existence now is.. top down or third person. For example.... name one first person mmo... ooooh thats right.. you cant. Everyone wants games to be movies where they can control the hero, first person games are games where YOU are the hero. One of the most ridiculous examples of this logic is the Avatar game. The whole thing that was kewl about the fiction in Avatar the movie was that the hero WAS the alien in avatar and had to learn how to be a part of that culture... did he do this in third person...NO NO NO. Yet in Avatar the game.. guess what.. thats right... same old third person viewpoint... GAG! Sigh, I give up.

I had to go back and read my review of the game (y...

2010-06-14T07:39:45.771-07:00

I had to go back and read my review of the game (you can read it here: http://stinger503.blogspot.com/2009/01/game-review-mirrors-edge.html). Surprisingly I agreed and pointed out everything you did. Although I gave it more credit because I consider it more of a concept game and enjoyed its matrix-like style.

I think a major problem was the fact that it seemed to changed what genre it wanted to be, early on it was a fun fast paced game where you jumping and running, but later on in levels like the atrium, it became a tedious platformer.

I've had particular problems judging distance ...

2010-05-31T07:43:13.197-07:00

I've had particular problems judging distance in the game, not being able to see your feet while making a heroic leap to a flag or pole that's clearly marked only to have faiths hand pass through the object in question is very anoying, for a free running game one expects tobe able to chain events quickly and effiently to keep the games fast pace, but this is impossible when it bugs and you become a pavement pancake, you can try and call it a learning curve but it's really not, first person view doesn't suit a platform game and was really a bad decesion on the developers side to narrow your field of vision to this alone. i agree with the OP, while clearly the design is well intented it's falws are glaring and only afew who repeatly die over and over to learn the levels are going to get the most out of this game. least that's my 2 cents.

The game was very easy. I don't get it why peo...

2010-05-03T21:40:54.355-07:00

The game was very easy. I don't get it why people are finding it difficult. It is different from any other game. Whats the fun if all games are like prince of persia.

Also to crystal, You are not the only person who ...

2010-04-26T11:00:51.727-07:00

Also to crystal,

You are not the only person who has reported motion sickness from this video game, many people are driven to retch from it. It actually is caused because the game is designed so well as to make your brain feel it is actually in Faith's body. Fortunately, it doesn't make me sick but I enjoy the fact that it feels this real.

One mistake in this review is comparing Mirror'...

2010-04-26T10:51:35.623-07:00

One mistake in this review is comparing Mirror's edge to Prince of Persia or Assasin's Creed or any other 3rd person game in existence. You are missing the major point of the game. The goal of Mirror's Edge is to make you FEEL like you ARE standing at the edge of a parapice and about to leap off. The game is and should be unforgiving and the results of failure in the game should be a gruesome death. To be honest they could've made it much more gruesome but all you hear is a crunch and see darkness.. they were merciful in this regard. Knowing that the game is unforgivable made my assent in the atrium level much more exciting and standing on slim ledges much more terrifying. The game makes you feel alive more than any other video game I have played. I am a disabled person and could never do the things that faith does in the game, but thanks to the realistic feel the designers put into this game, it exhilirates me and makes me feel alive. Knowing that slipping off a ledge = death makes the ledge scarier which makes the game better. The combat should be improved or removed, eithor way works for me.. although I had no problems with the combat, it felt misplaced. Also as realistic feeling as the rest of the game is, it felt silly for faith to be able to accurately shoot baddies without having to aim down a sight. If you are going to have gun combat in a game that concentrates so much on feeling real, said gun combat should feel just as real as the rest of the game. Hopefully the next Mirror's edge fixes this or just removes it completely.

The game takes practice to get good at and I see absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. I thoroughly enjoy trying to get a good time in the time trials and if you think playing the single player game is frustrating try shaving a second off your best time in a time trial. Mirror's edge is for those with patience, the impatient need not apply. My best time in Chase is 1 minute 10 seconds and in playground one, 54 seconds.

There's my two-cents.

PS: Rude people suck

@Co...

2010-04-17T17:01:22.546-07:00

@Cody Miller:
I think they took more of a cue from Canabalt than from me, but it's interesting to see nonetheless. :)

Kotaku wrote about the connection as well.

Hey Dice must have listened to you. They made Mirr...

2010-04-12T15:07:11.433-07:00

Hey Dice must have listened to you. They made Mirror's Edge easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WH7h6jCB90

All you gotta do is swipe!

After briefly reading through some of the comments...

2010-02-06T17:15:01.469-08:00

After briefly reading through some of the comments on here for this post, I really agree with one thing.

I have never played Mirror's Edge, but I am sick and tired of nutjob hardcore gamers that seem to get off of by being rude to others because they happen to play better than some.

Games...are about having fun, and learning, they are not some weird sado-masochistic ritual where the strong torture the weak. Please, Jocks should stick to being Jerks in football.

Mirror's Edge sounds like an interesting game, but it certainly does not seem like the type of game I would play with a shallow psychologically inept, unware "hardcore" moron sitting around.

I particular enjoyed the comment about the psychological punishment of the player during the death. Death is not something regulated to the 5-year-old, as some have said, there are plenty of humane people who abhor it. The decision to include that gory detail upon player failure in un-necessary, and only serves to numb the mind the significance of the phenomenom. Those who truly have no issue with death need to be evaluated psychologically, in my opinion.

@An...

2010-01-26T19:09:35.786-08:00

@Anonymous:
Interestingly enough, this is something addressed in the Afterthoughts interview:

1UP: Speaking of which, how come you didn't give players the option to customize their controls? This seems odd, especially in a game that depends so much on mastering the controls.

[Producer Tom Farrer]: We made the decision to limit the control customization options for the very reason that it was important to master them. We found that many players instinctively wanted to move the "up" button to A [on 360, or] X on PS3, since that is where they are used to having "jump" in first-person games. We had removed all movement controls from the face buttons because having them there actually lessens the degree of control available to the player. If you have to take your thumb off the right analog to jump, you immediately lose a lot of control and make the game more difficult for yourself.

So for this reason we wanted the movement controls to stay on the shoulder buttons. We actually used a similar control scheme for Battlefield 2: Modern Combat on the PS2. After some initial complaints, players started to realize the benefits there.

I appreciate your detailed breakdown of Mirror'...

2010-01-26T16:54:46.409-08:00

I appreciate your detailed breakdown of Mirror's Edge. I wanted to add one other flaw in the game, one that is very very common: the lack of fully customizable controls.

ME offered (if I recall) three control schemes, all of which had the primary buttons mapped to the trigger. I felt the game had promise as I played the demo, but I just couldn't get used to 'jumping' with the trigger button. Therefore I stopped evaluating the demo and did not purchase the game.

I'll begin with your first assertion: namely t...

2010-01-20T13:50:57.788-08:00

I'll begin with your first assertion: namely that the game doesn't hold your hand at all. The situation you describe - Faith falling over the edge of the building if you misstep, is nothing more than the game designers trusting the player and leaving the responsibility with them. When you perform and action, Mirror's Edge executes that regardless of what will happen, mostly because YOU the player are in total control, and must therefore accept all the consequences of your actions. This is a GOOD thing.

The tutorial is internalized in the first level 'Prologue'. This is an easy level designed to have you do everything you'll need to do in the game: wallrun, cross poles, engage in combat etc. Again, the game presents you with these in order for you to learn in an organic way. The tutorial simply tells you the moves exist - the prologue actually has you apply them. It doesn't explicitly say how though, and that's up to you to determine. Again, the game promotes free thought and leaves responsibility with the player.

A player who plays a videogame doing only what they are told, not engaging in any free thought or discovery or experimentation on their own, is akin to that of a child. These are the qualities of a fully mature human being: someone who is responsible for himself, and makes decisions for himself while thinking freely.

Are we getting to the point where gamers are stuck in perpetual childhood? Your atrium example is a perfect one. You knew you needed to reach the air duct. Instead of examining the area and using the techniques you already learned in order to figure out how to get to the top, figuring out a route for yourself, you complain that the way isn't highlighted for you. Heaven forbid you have to think for yourself.

I suggest you search the internet for some of the Speedrun videos. These are people take full advantage of what the game provides, devising their OWN shortcuts, many of which certainly weren't intended by the designers.

MIrror's Edge was extremely refreshing, since instead of treating the player like a child as most games do, it instead lets you be an adult. If you're not ready for that, you'll find it overwhelming and frustrating, but if you are, then you are given the greatest gift of freedom and responsibility.

Also, I completely agree about hard vs easy. Every...

2010-01-15T12:15:42.887-08:00

Also, I completely agree about hard vs easy. Every game should have a super easy setting that is just about making it through the game. Some people just want to make it through the story of the game and experience it and are less interested in the a challenging game experience. I think this is a really hard concept for normal gamers.

I for the most part agree with your review. I will...

2010-01-15T12:13:23.047-08:00

I for the most part agree with your review. I will state that when the game works, meaning when everything on a level allows you to run full speed without much thought and find your path, the game is an incredible experience. I felt real vertigo and exhilieration rushing across the roof tops. If they come out with DLC I will be first in line for it.

Like, most others I agree and disagree with you to...

2010-01-15T01:55:38.463-08:00

Like, most others I agree and disagree with you to certain extents. I played and beat the game but only after restarting a few of the mission climbs, several .. SEVERAL times! I also had a bad problem with feeling motion sick (strangely enough I've never had motion sickness in my life! until playing this) ;P I was determined though, after having to retry and retry some of the areas of the game, I finally finished it. All in all, I didn't think it was as difficult as it seemed to be for you, maybe I was just able to catch the walls, polls, rails and .. boxes the right way ;P

@Anonymous:
I feel it's almost sad to know developers "NEED" to make an easy mode, as well. However, I have friends that cant hit a zombie standing in front of them with a baseball bat, hell I even have friends that have claimed Assassin's Creed is too "hard" because they cant grasp the concept of walk, pull right trigger .. climb, lol! ...

Everyone can't have amazing gaming skills, but with easy mode atleast it's possible for everyone to have a good time! (AND! if you're not "special" like other's playing with you, you'll seem like a total badass, as well!?)

Very detailed and informative review, sir!