for months, I've been eagerly searching a refreshing title that would bring a change to my game collection. Then I met Mirror's Edge. A mixture of fast paced action, exploration and has this special feeling that creates an adrenaline rush. this game is one hell of a ride.
to begin with, the story is about a totalitarian government that has absolute control of its city (it actually reminds me of the novel 1984 by George Orwell) and almost any way of communication (TV, internet, newspapers). So here comes the use of runners such as the main character "Faith" who are hired to deliver messages and other jobs in a stealthy. To do so they use rooftops, poles etc. In the beginnig, one man who saw clear in this repressed world is in race for mayorship but meets an unlucky fate. Then after this event the story begins to unfold more and more.
technically speaking, Dice has made an impressive job developing the game equally on both platforms. I say this because it is surely the first, if not the only game that will play well, even very well on the ps3 system since they used the UE3 engine (the PS3 is renown to have difficulties reading UE3's source code, thus making bad ports and leading devs to use the ps3 as lead dev. platform for easier ports on the Xbox360).
graphics wise, this is also an impressive job mainly due to its art direction. The devs have chosen a limited palette that is made of primary and secondary colors that blend together to create a colorful setting and living landscape. However, character models cannot be said the same thing, although they have a good resolution texture, they do not seem to breathe life in in-game cutscenes (there are not many because nearly all videos are rendered in 2D animations). Also the use of color red is important to find the routes that will help you climbing the rooftops of the city.
Soundtrack is well composed, it adds to that adrenaline you get when you have cops chasing you. it's ambient, techno, rock-electro, all clashed together. Of course the game is not perfect as there were some parts where I did not hear anything coming from the character's mouth! (but this could be a PS3/UE3 issue). But overall, sounds are great, music is good but I cannot confirm voice overs as I played the game in french.
In Mirror’s edge, you’ll encounter a lot of cops, even enemy runners that, of course are here to block your path. I don’t know if it’s me but the game is insanely hard, sometimes it gets on your nerves (there was a moment that I even threw my controller on the sofa and turned off the PS3 to change my mind doing something else). I’ve beaten the game on easy mode and only three melee attacks is enough to knock you out. So be ready for weary battles. In ME, there is no hud, this is done on purpose to accentuate the immersion of the character’s body through the controller, however there is one small reticle that will turn blue when you run fast enough, allowing you to enter grace mode (a feature that puts the game in slow motion for easier disarment). This serves as a double feature to prevent players from feeling motion sickness since otherwise there would be no fixed objects to keep a stable focus on the screen. Anyway, I found it annoying, so I turned it off. When you take a hit, the colors of the screen will desaturate.
Controls were thought like an FPS, meaning that primary actions are done on the shoulder buttons and passive actions on the face buttons. The D-pad is not used. I’ve got a big gripe against the level design. For example, in Prince of Persia, the level design is made in a way that you only have to hold the wall button and the game will sync the movement automatically. This is not the case in ME, you have to manually sync yourself correctly when getting near a gap or you’ll fall. The problem is that since you don’t see your feet when approaching an edge, it’s a try and miss case and it has got me retrying a part of chapter 5 like 20 times. Personnally, I found the game a bit stressfull (Faith will only stand 5 or 6 bullets and I played on easy mode!), due to the chasers, an FP camera and if you sttrugle to figure the way out, your enemies will not. Actually I felt that the entire game was a entire Dahaka poursuit (From PoP : Warrior Within) from the intro to the credits.
In a closing statement, I found Mirror’s Edge quite entertaining. Plus it has great replay value after finish story mode, you unlock time attack which consists of (obviously) playing each chapter under specific times to attain stars (either 3, 2 or 1) this mode will get you up to three trophies/achievements the highest being 50 stars. Refreshing artwork, good soundtrack that you can listen anytime in the main menu, a succesful Ps3/UE3 game that is not glitchy make this game worth its penny. Biggest letdown is the combat feature that is made out of the low button (used for crouching) the high button (jump, climb over edge) and attack button. So if you’re not a born killer and also not aware of your environment, you’ll have a hard time getting past battles. Sure it is not the game you'll keep playing for months to come but it's unique, and an experience that stands out of the lot. I really support this game, Dice took big risks with this concept but I believe it will pay off.
I almost forgot that one:
This is for PS3 users, the game has an HDD install of 486MB. However this is not enough because if you happen to retry a specific part of the level but you run at full speed there will be an in-gameplay loading causing Faith to lose her sprint. Really annoying.
Suggestion: The white color is so present that it can be a bit daunting, I suggest you turn off the Super White option when connected through HDMI.
It seems that in Season 4, DICE has snuck in a Battlefield 2042 Mirror's Edge Easter egg in the new Flashpoint map.
Ubisoft Massive lead gameplay designer Fredrik Thylander, previously of DICE where he worked on Battlefield and Mirror's Edge, has spoken out about achievements and trophies, arguing that they "have been bad for gaming."
The achievements in Mirror's Edge opened my eyes to a whole other way of approaching the game. Since some of the toughest and most rewarding ones are basically whole levels turned into time trials with very strict time requirements, they force you to become much better at the game - in a way that difficulty levels just don't - and made me appreciate the mechanics that much more (especially the momentum-based running and platforming).
They actually made the game better for those like me who really enjoyed the game but wanted more of it, basically adding a new level of difficulty that took a long time to master/overcome. It added some extra longevity to a very short game.
He says "it eats resources that could have made the game better". I'm curious what he thinks the time he spent designing the achievements for the game would've been better spent on, because I expect bang for buck-wise achievements are a pretty efficient way of adding value to a game for the people who end up loving it.
I kinda see his point but I also see your point.
I've been trying to remember what games over the years have had their own trophies inside the game before trophies and such were a thing and all I can think of is the star ocean series
I think his point, though not elucidated upon because of Twitter limitations, is not that they can be bad but that they are used improperly to extend gameplay rather than reward actions.
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody on the GCN did.
In fact it actually built the game around it.
I am very OCD about playing games that I can platinum, in that sense I probably avoided playing games that I knew I would be unable to 100% complete.
I do think there are other people like me and also feel there should be an option for you to individually deactivate getting trophies on specific games, just so you play them and they do not go to your account.
I don't know. I used to think Achievements / Trophies were ruining games at first but then I saw the positive, if you totally love a game then they would offer you replay value by going after the last achievements to 100% the game. It made you explore every last bit of the game to achieve this and sometimes pushed you into areas or scenarios you probably might have missed.
It was a blast to get them on Oblivion / Skyrim, Fallout, Witcher, God of War, Elden Ring etc
Don't get me wrong, I do think there's achievements which are annoying, the ones where you need to find all collectibles which end up being missable AND are like trying to find a needle in a haystack are a kick to the balls, you know the majority of us are just going to use a guide to find them so what's the point.
Kind of a shame Nintendo haven't gotten a full system in place, they are so behind.
Nintendo seem to either be ahead of their time by years
or behind by 10 years
no in between
I enjoy having something to go for and feeling accomplished when doing something hard. I just hate it when achievements are based on things you can't really control. Like when something is for MP and the MP is just dead.
I used to be a hardcore achievement hunter back in the day, but I couldn't care less nowadays. I just want to play games the way I actually want to play them, and don't care to waste my time just to get a little pop-up.
I envy you sir. I just gotta have every single achievement whenever I play a game. On my Steam profile I have an 83% completion rate out of 35 games, and my OCD is telling me to keep upping that percentage higher.
Yeah. Back then, though I'm not sure what my actual completion rate was, I was mainly an Xbox player. I had close to 80k gamer score during the 360 days.
It just doesn't excite me anymore. I have less than 20% completion on my Steam account, though I have a pretty asinine amount of games there at the same time.
But I don't really bother with any of this anymore. If there's an interesting achievement I might aim for it just because I find it fun, but usually I just get that pop-up, say "cool" and continue with the game.
Never been a fan of achievements. I just want to play the game however it may present itself to me, there's an overflow of achievements to seek in real life lol
Great for those that enjoy them though, much respect to the platinum hunters, it ain't easy lol
The 2000s was a great decade for a lot of brilliant video games. Here are the ten best games of the 2000s that you may not have played.
You know usually when someone says "you may have missed" it's games that were lesser known, hidden gems, underrated games. These are all super high profile games that sold extremely well.
You know the 2000s is 20 years ago too? Maybe, just maybe this wasn’t an article targeted to 30+ gamers? Still says at the very beginning of the title “THE BEST GAMES you may have missed”. Regardless of how well they sold there’s tons of gamers who haven’t touched these older well known games lol.
It's games you "may have missed", insinuating you were around and gaming in the 2000's and were there to miss them. If it was aimed at everyone else then they missed literally everything, not just the top games.
The original commenter is right, this is a badly written article at best pointless at worst.
Besides only being able to miss it if you were around during that time..if your point stands then this is a horrible list. Tons of better games people may have missed
Oh yeah thanks for reminding me I totally forgot they were doing it. Also what the hell happened to Kingpin: Reloaded? On Steam coming soon and nohting from the dev.
Yeah, I was just going to say. It's interesting seeing them back behind the series. Max Payne 3 was amazing, but then Rockstar just sat on the IP.
Well, they sit on virtually anything that isn't GTA and Red Dead now.
What is this list? These are all hugely popular games. I was expecting games like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, Advent Rising, Arx Fatalis, etc.
the title didn’t say lesser known titles from the 2000s. This is 20 years ago now lol. Big assumption this list was made for older gamers.
I've only played 3 on that list. Part of me feels bad about how little I used all the consoles I've owned as a kid. One bright side is, there's over 30 years of games to experience for the first time.
