By Pentadact

Jonas: Wow those are some really really nice shots. I've just started playing it today, and I'm pretty sure it's the most beautiful game I've ever played. I'm always annoyed that I forget to grab screenshots, I should look around for a program that just takes a shot every 5 minutes or something, but of course that would make them pretty random.

Out of curiosity, did you enable the crosshairs because of queasiness?

Jonas: Alright. Yeah I haven't had any trouble with that either. I turned it off because Far Cry 2 has kinda shown me the pleasantness of crosshairs-less gaming : )

peterd102: Well i can agree with the review on one point at least. It really is a nice place, even the scaffolding looks chromed and polished.

Punjab: Those pictures make me want to buy the game. Is it more than just eye candy?

Dan: @ Jonas

It would be unwise to turn them off in this, as the guns don't have the ironsights option and its fucking hard to hit anything even WITH crosshairs.

Jonas: Can't say I'm an authority on it since I've only played it 2 levels in so far, but if you're interested in game design it seems like a must-play just for the attention to detail in the movement - they've really done everything they could to make you feel like you were right there in the game world.

Dan: @ Jonas again

Ah I forgot, that's only when you're using a weapon. Otherwise they're pretty unnecessary.

MartinJ: I hate this game. So frustrating (and a repetetive, too.)

Any tips on how to enjoy it more? lol

Velvet Fist, Iron Glove: Very nice! Much better looking than on my mate's 360. This one's the best: http://www.flickr.co... ...208015810/

I was going to get this on the weekend, but it wasn't released on Steam in the UK, despite already being on Steam in the US.

Jazmeister: MartinJ: Listen to power metal!

I really appreciate the solidity of the world in Mirror's Edge, speaking purely as a watcher at this point. Too many games have that rubbishy collision; you know the programmer said "no fucking collisions" in the code and yet there they are, ever since Goldeneye. You could shoot someone's Uzi as it clipped through a bathroom cubicle door and it would kill them.

It made me despair and think that there was no way to do it. I'm wiser now, but it is still frustrating. It's like every director being content to let mic booms hang all over the place.

Cpt.Muffin: You'd listen to power metal whilst playing Mirror's Edge?

Only since GTAIII have I properly experimented with different music whilst playing games, to the degree where the radio became my favourite feature about battlefield vietnam.

Shame you can never get music to match the pacing just right, but it's fun to play with something incorgorus in the background. Like F.E.A.R with "Daydream" by The Lovin Spoonfuls playing. A while ago I even made a playlist for each TF2 class.

Can music to game to be the theme of your blog's next themed music week Tom?

Sorry for the tangent there people, get back to talking about how fuckable Mirror's Edge is image wise.

Will: Absolutely visually gorgeous game. The gameplay is designed to give you that "Oh man, I'm so awesome feeling" from time to time. Which is good, because that spike of happy brain chemicals makes up for the monotony of the indoor sections and the lame, boring combat.

Oh, and the plot, if you care about that sort of thing in a game like this, is incoherent and stupid.

Shadrach: That did it, I'm buying it cause of those shots. Dont care what some say about the plot or gameplay, purely because of innovative visuals, which is a value in itself.

Smurfy: I'd look at them, but I think Mirror's Edge is going to be something really special to me, and I don't want to spoil it. I've been avoiding most of the media. I'll buy it as soon as it shows up on UK Steam.

Am i first?: Pretty!

LaZodiac: How convienent, I was going to mention Mirror's Edge.

I rented it, and beat it. Its pretty good, didn't get sick at all. And your right, that "Best Move In Game" is the best move in the game. Period.

Also, @Will. I don't know what your talking about. The indoor sections were pretty cool, and the combat was actually pretty exciting. But then, as a women kicking and punching men in the balls is fun.

And I found the plot coherent, actually. You just need to take it alittle less seriously. Roll with the games flow, I guess.

On another, less important note, I don't know what that Yatzhee is talking about. The cutscenes were cool.

Roadrunner: Mirror's edge. A game i will never buy or play.
To be honest the graphics don't appear to be as impressive as everyone says, it's just cell-shading :\

A James Reader: "it's just cell-shading"

Begging your pardon, but I don't think that's even remotely accurate.

J-Man: Looks pretty, but from the reads I've read I'm certainly not buying. Plus, they've committed the heinous crime of not releasing a demo.

J-Man: *reads = reviews. Where did that come from?

Jason L: Try again, that's not cel-shading.

Music to games association already done: http://www.pentadact... ...ian-sunset

Fishbro: I watched the slideshow while listening to Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky (the music in all the trailers).
Felt good.

Aftershock: WTB: AA on cracks in glass.
Seriously, up close, that looks horrendous.

Also, motion blur is so pretty. Can't imagine ME without it.

J-Man: @Everybody regarding Roadrunner;

That's his appeal; and endless stream of hilarious cynicism (well, its better in real life).

Jason L: Wow. That cracks texture is indeed pretty hideous, though. I wonder if it only exists for a fraction of a second. I'll see this week, I hope.

TooNu: Great shots and after hearing you talk about it somewhat on the podcast I was quite suprised you liked it.

For those that can't afford Mirros Edge just yet here is a suggestion. Hells Kitchen. Speed enchancement tech 4.

MaybeNextTime: So would you recommend against buying Mirror's Edge if you don't have a widescreen monitor? From what you said in the PCG podcast, it sounds pretty awful, but I do really want to play it, I feel like it deserves a chance.

Fullbleed: Nice, one thing I noticed in one of the screen shots though. At the bottom of the O & X game do I spy a certian hillarious popchart detailing what Meatloaf would do for love?

http://www.octopusbo... ...MepvbM.jpg
http://flickr.com/ph... ...728669660/

Roadrunner: I get the feeling you want me dead.
If my posts are so bad, why don't you just delete/edit them like you did before?!?!
(It may have been one time, but I'm a vengeful bastard.)

Sibilantjoe: Agreed that the game is absolutely beautiful. Too bad ti was so short.

Dave_C: Chalk another up for 'Intrigued - and now wants very much to play'. Funny how I never really noticed this game before. These photos are just gorgeous.
I can forgo the shoddy combat and gameplay for shiny things. I like shiny things. I could stare at shiny things all day.

Also, were these shots taken with PhysX acceleration? I did notice some flags and shit. I love how pointless the improved cloth physics are. Looks cool - Doesn't change the gameplay at all. Fine with me!

Archagon: Unfortunately, I hear PhysX works pretty badly with generation 8 Nvidia cards. It's certainly the case that it drops my FPS substantially.

James 2.7, by Pentadact, who is secretly Tom Francis: [...] to work out what the hell is different. I’ve just added the Mirror’s Edge song to my Mirror’s Edge screenshots post. Could these facts be combined question [...]

Mirrors Edge: [...] are the best thing in PC gaming right now.      Or, you can simply look at Tom’s screenshots, which are far prettier than my own.      Anyway, this post mostly serves [...]

Oak: Tom Wolfe?

Redhawk: I think game designers are slowly easing into this parkour/free-running thing and still don't fully grasp it. While I'm waiting for the price on Mirror's Edge to drop before I buy, I am reminded of Assassin's Creed where the most fun I had in that game was [i]running[/i] from the guards. Sprint down the street, run up the wall, grab the ledge, pull up on to the roof, jump between rooftops, I'M GONE BITCHES. Once you get good at the system, you start quickly recognizing the alternate routes you can take through a city and it becomes a swift, fluid, semi-authentic parkour experience. I quickly abandoned all pretense of stealth or blending in for vaulting around Jerusalem at top speed, to hell with the peasants and their commentary.

In contrast, the points where I have to fight guards or am not zipping along rooftops drag and are totally un-fun. AC can be forgiven for this, I suppose, considering you are an assassin and all, but it still grates on my nerves when I have to go defend a civilian from a bunch of uncoordinated guards. You'd think that a game like Mirror's Edge, where the hook is the immersive free-running experience, would recognize this and avoid combat all together, but there you are.

Proposal: Mirror's Edge 2 or any other game that involves an extensive amount of leaping around rooftops shall not just opt to avoid combat, but encourage and reward the player for doing so. Make enemies obstacles that aren't killed and removed, but solved as you have to adjust your route to compensate for them and their shooty-gunny routine.

Jazmeister: Just did the screen/song with my new widescreen, and it was lovely. I must show the missus, so that she can froth about it some more.
Also notice this can be found around the twenty quid mark. A plan is forming...