Comments on: My Favourite Games Of 09

By: Jason L

Jason L — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:39:40 +0000

Correction, that's Patrick Reading's quote. Grabbed from Idle Thumbs 16, from which I've learned anew that Chris Remo was actually applying it to Mirror's Edge. Apparently I am just one of the Intertubes.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:56:01 +0000

Werl, though this was entirely unintentional, I think I'll seize on the fact that I used the word 'plot' rather than 'story'. ME seems like an ideal candidate for a halfhearted implementation of Clint Hocking's concept of 'story as texture'. Have the missions dip in and out of various other people's stories in progress, have those sotries connect to each other a little bit - not a lot - and you get to texture the city to arbitrary depth and discover new things over the course of the game without having to write a character epic.

By: Plumberduck

Plumberduck — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:17:51 +0000

I have to wonder, what didn't you like about the Joker in Arkham's Asylum? Maybe I'm just conditioned to love him after years of the animated series to love Mark Hamill in the role, but I thought he was perfect. His mixture of laughing madness and deadly threat felt like "classic" Joker to me. I was especially glad they didn't try to use any of the notes Heath Ledger used in The Dark Knight; Ledger's performance was amazing, but at least part of the joy of it was that he made the Joker seem like he belonged -horrible and aberrant though he was - in the real world. But Arkham Asylum is a much more "cartoonish" environment, and I thought Hamill was the perfect way to go. Which isn't to say that the final boss fight shouldn't have kept the game off your list entirely. Christ, that was awful.

By: DoctorDisaster

DoctorDisaster — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:54:38 +0000

Well, if a dozen police officers were murdered in a rooftop shootout with an illegal courier, I wouldn't be suprised at a crackdown, isolated incident or not. And if it's unusual behavior, shouldn't earpiece guy have more of a reaction than "OK, that's the last one"? In fact, making shooting vs disarming a consequential decision would have improved the game a lot. If you shoot the police, you face more as the game goes on. Not necessarily a different number of shootouts, but squads of different sizes. People who like the shooting get more challenging battles, and people who prefer to escape have a better chance at that drainpipe when they're only being targeted by one or two cops.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:19:46 +0000

I was okay with that - shooting people is pretty easy, and your decision to do it doesn't mean all runners did it. As an innocent, if someone's shooting at you and you get hold of their gun, it makes story sense to have the option to use it. For me Mirror's fight or flight problem wasn't when fighting was easier, it was when flight was impossible - thanks to some slow valve, unclear directions, tricky jumping puzzle or tall drainpipe.

By: DoctorDisaster

DoctorDisaster — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:51:36 +0000

I think a ranking is in order. (By definition?)

1. A good story (per Tom)
2. An unelaborated premise (per Jason)
3. Having my kneecaps broken with a crowbar
4. The Mirror's Edge story

The thing is, a good story may be the best option, but it's a lot tougher to pull off than the second-place finisher. Since the focus of the development was so obviously elsewhere, I wouldn't have minded saving any storytelling attempts for the sequel.

And certainly the city is what they call in my graphic design textbooks "FUCKING GORGEOUS." I guess that's why I wouldn't mind the lack of an explicit story if I could just immerse myself in the world. You could see it as a throwback to the days before cutscenes, where a game's whole narrative was communicated implicitly through game mechanics and visual design.

Of course, if that were the case, you'd have to get rid of the "and then I picked up a machine gun and mowed down half a dozen police officers" moments. Not only do they more than justify the city government trying to crack down on runners, they shatter the relationship that the rest of the game builds between the player and the world. It should never have been easier to go all Gordon Freeman on the metrocops than to escape without a fight, and you definitely should never have seen your little 100-pound teenage girl avatar running around blasting dudes with a TRIPOD-MOUNTED MACHINE GUN.

I actually didn't mind the mechanics of the cop fights, but from a story perspective they really screwed everything up.

By: Pepelusky

Pepelusky — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:49:36 +0000

Mirror's edge is the kind of game wich leaves you waiting for a sequel or something that will fill the emptyness of playing something that innovative. Kinda sad actually.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:10:22 +0000

I don't know, I find that immaculate but disused city, and the heroine's practical but hip get-up, make me interested in what the story of that place could be. Not what they went with, obviously, but I don't think no story has as universal an appeal as good story, in a 7-hour linear game. The music, too, makes me wanna feel ways about stuff. I think I have the beginnings of a rewrite in my drafts folder somewhere, in fact. Repeat playthroughs are definitely where it shines, not just so you can skip stuff, but because the levels really transform once you're fluent in the game's movement. And also because turning Runner Vision off makes the game look a lot better.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:17:24 +0000

It's been said before, but it seems Mirror's Edge would have been so much better with no plot whatsoever. You are a courier in a totalitarian city. Go. Go fast.

By: Octaeder

Octaeder — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:30:52 +0000

I agree with DoctorDisaster in that I found the game more enjoyable after the first playthrough. I didn't help myself by trying to confirm the developers claim that you could finish the game without ever firing a bullet (you can, but it probably isn't worth trying given how frustrating it became.)

Throughout the first playthrough it was a game I wanted to love but just couldn't. On subsequently playing the time trial and speedrun modes it became a game I genuinely did love.

By: DoctorDisaster

DoctorDisaster — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:46:43 +0000

Mirror's Edge got so frustrating that for the first time in my life, I actually rage-deleted a game. (I think I actually yelled something cathartic as I did so; "You will now CEASE TO EXIST ON MY COMPUTER" or some such.) After cooling off for a weekend, then spending another evening re-downloading the game, I did finally finish it off, but I won't pretend to have enjoyed the experience for more than thirty seconds at a stretch. HOWEVER, after that first playthrough, I found that replaying disjointed segments could be a real treat, even in game modes that still had enemies. I can see why Rei describes it as a tech demo more than a game. I think there are two reasons why Mirror's Edge works better as a toy than a game: 1) The story is laughable and shoddy in every way possible. The presentation is crap, the plot is cliched, the evil empire is about as threatening as a golden retriever puppy, and the characters are flimsy little smoke-blossoms of empty stylization. Unlike, say, Deus Ex, where the story was so idiosyncratically bonkers that you liked it in spite of yourself, this thing feels focus-tested within an inch of its soulless, hollow little life. 2) The game has two or three incredibly stupid bottlenecks where there is ONE EXACT THING that will allow you to continue. I don't mean "get the red key" or "kill this person" -- I mean "use this exact move on this target to initiate this specific enemy animation which will allow you to initiate a particular counter-attack which FOR NO APPARENT REASON is the one and only way to drop yourself into a cutscene that concludes the confrontation." So in an actual playthrough, the awful plot forces you into the frustrating bottlenecks which are only justified by the awful plot and it just feeds on itself. When you're replaying, however, you can skip the bottlenecks, and the combat sequences aren't as onerous because you aren't actually trying to get anywhere. The farther I get from the first playthrough, the more I like the game, and I think the sequel could be an all-time great. But the flaws really overshadowed the inventiveness here, at least for me. And, sadly, the only other game on this entire list that I've actually played is Braid. Which is awesome! But, wow.

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By: 1stGear

1stGear — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:01:53 +0000

A bold choice for GotY. I don't necessarily agree, but I'm glad you didn't go for Baldur's Gate 17: Dragon Age like some of your colleagues did.

By: Lack_26

Lack_26 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:56:13 +0000

I'm a fan of Mirror's edge, I played on easy and loved almost every minute of it (I didn't like the forced fighting bit in the underground car-park, but I quickly found my rhythm. Run left, slide + disarm, right through door, slide + disarm, run up stairs, jump cop car, jump + disarm, down the ramp, turn left, slide + disarm machine gunner, and then run around and loop to the elevator. It's so ingrained into my memory that I can remember every second of it). But I generally found it easy enough to run past most of the battles. I forgive it it's foibles simply for it's use of colour and movement. If any game is art, it's ME, it's looks fantastic, it has stylistic direction, a vague political statement and you could argue that it's broken game mechanics (with the combat) renders it close enough to not having a proper use for it to be considered art.

By: James

James — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:51:36 +0000

This Steam sale is amazing and killing me. So far I've picked up Braid, Osmos, Mirror's Edge, the Oddworld bundle, and the Max Payne Bundle, ALL for $5 or less. And today the Multiwinia bundle looks really tempting and the Crysis bundle is a steal. My student budget generally just can't afford new games - when I break down and buy them I end up feeling guilty which takes away from the enjoyment. Fortunately, it looks like I'll be more than satisfied for 2010!

By: Joe!

Joe! — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:19:46 +0000

I honestly didn't think the combat of Mirror's Edge was too bad. You have some slow-mo you can utilise, and once you get a vague idea of the animations, you can pretty much disarm anyone.

But I do wish the guns were stronger, so you could finish a fight quickly. In fact, the original concept art for ME had Faith carrying a pistol with her. If you could have pulled this out to kill a guy or two, the combat would have been fine. Most levels actually give you the option to run past the baddies.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:15:19 +0000

Sean - yeah, I think we're disagreeing about definitions more than anything. I certainly appreciate the elegance and momentum of stuff like that, but it doesn't relate much to what I imagine it would be like to really be in that place, running around as a normal human being. That's what I mean by a sense of embodiment.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:09:36 +0000

That's a line of argument I get a lot during our Top 100 debates each year at PC Gamer, because most of my favourites are indeed rough diamonds: Deus Ex, Hitman: Blood Money, Oblivion, Gal Civ 2. I think instead of actually getting better at a game, I get better at avoiding, ignoring or bypassing its flaws. Consequently, I'm always more excited by ambition than polish.

By: Sean D. Sandsky

Sean D. Sandsky — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:05:59 +0000

And yes, here is the example of "running" in Q3 DeFRaG: http://www.youtube.c... ...5ZGpPZX6dU

While getting through this map is not seem as "running" by observer, it *feels* almost exactly as Mirror's Edge flow. Note that o3j-velocity is very tough for non-hardcore player.

By: Devenger

Devenger — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:57:57 +0000

I have to disagree with putting Mirror's Edge up there in 1st, even though it's the game I'm personally most yearning for a sequel to. The issues were just too great. The combat was clunky and frustrating, in contrast with the simplicity and fluidity of Faith's movement. The moment I started getting immersed in the game, dying horribly would snap me back into cold, hard reality, especially when it was because of 4 riflemen in one room for whom I did not understand the hidden ruleset. Mirror's Edge is a rough diamond. Rough diamonds can't be #1 when there's cut gems that can be socketed in your weapon for much better bonuses. (Torchlight isn't my #1 either, but I love it.) I'd happily bump up your #2 though - Braid was spectacular.