Inflexibly infuriating
26/11/08 11:59 Filed in: Gaming Gripes
I’m rather sick today. For most that would mean chucking a sick day, and kicking back to play games. But I work from home, so unless I’m bedridden, I’ve got to work. Thankfully my editing often times requires me to encode hours of video(which can take hours to do). So I figured I would try out that shiny new Mirror’s Edge demo that I downloaded over a week ago.
First impression is that this game is gorgeous. Beautiful lighting, and the motion blur is amazing. After you add in the first person perspective, you come away feeling that this game looks and feels fairly realistic. Bravo to the people at Dice for the visuals. Just check out those screenshots at the bottom of the article. Very perdy.
But my kudos pretty much end there.
The demo consists of 2 levels. The training level, and what I would assume is one of the first levels of the game. Once you get past the training you quickly realize just how linear this game is. I understand that this is a demo, and that the future levels may in fact give the player more flexibility. But my overall impression with this game so far is that it wants you to play it one way and only one way.
Let me draw a comparison to a game that I’m going to review on friday, Jurassic Park Trespasser. Both games share a bunch of similarities. Both try hard to immerse the player in the game world. They do this not only by putting the player in the first person perspective, but also by being very minimalistic with the HUD. Both do this by taking things that would normally be little metres or arrows on screen, and instead integrating them into the gameworld geometry. For example, in Mirror’s Edge, objects will change colour to notify the player when you should interact with them. And in Trespasser, the health metre is in the form of a tattoo on the player’s chest. The end result in both games is that the player really feels immersed in the experience.
Both games have guns and fighting, but they are rather secondary to the gameplay. In fact, both try to discourage the player from getting into firefights. But the similarities end when you get to the level design.
Trespasser’s levels are setup in a way that the player is encouraged to be adventurous and use their imagination. There are many ways to solve each problem you face. So many that the player often times can be left with the feeling that the solution that they came up with is unique to their own experience, and that no-one else has come to the same solution ever before.
However, Mirror’s Edge’s levels are laid out in a way that the players are shoehorned into solving every problem in exactly the same way every time. You need to get into that air vent. If you don’t get in there, the story won’t progress. And there’s only one way to get in there. If you need to get away from the guards chasing you, there’s only one place you can go. If you spot some armored guards in front of you, there’s no point in fighting, as it’s impossible to hurt them. You have to run away in the only direction available to you.
Mirror’s Edge’s gameplay isn’t even as flexible as most of your run of the mill 2D side-scrollers. At least in those games, you’re able to choose between different horizontal paths. My impression with this sampling of gameplay is that everyone who ever plays it after me will have the exact same experience. Conversely, after playing Trespasser, you come away with the conclusion that no-one will ever play through it the same way twice.
Overall, I got bored before I even finished the demo. That’s not good. Demo’s are supposed to grab you and interest you into buying the full game. As it stands, I am not going to be buying the full game. As I said earlier, the full game may give the player more flexibility. But why would I want to get the full game after such a lame demo.
First impression is that this game is gorgeous. Beautiful lighting, and the motion blur is amazing. After you add in the first person perspective, you come away feeling that this game looks and feels fairly realistic. Bravo to the people at Dice for the visuals. Just check out those screenshots at the bottom of the article. Very perdy.
But my kudos pretty much end there.
The demo consists of 2 levels. The training level, and what I would assume is one of the first levels of the game. Once you get past the training you quickly realize just how linear this game is. I understand that this is a demo, and that the future levels may in fact give the player more flexibility. But my overall impression with this game so far is that it wants you to play it one way and only one way.
Let me draw a comparison to a game that I’m going to review on friday, Jurassic Park Trespasser. Both games share a bunch of similarities. Both try hard to immerse the player in the game world. They do this not only by putting the player in the first person perspective, but also by being very minimalistic with the HUD. Both do this by taking things that would normally be little metres or arrows on screen, and instead integrating them into the gameworld geometry. For example, in Mirror’s Edge, objects will change colour to notify the player when you should interact with them. And in Trespasser, the health metre is in the form of a tattoo on the player’s chest. The end result in both games is that the player really feels immersed in the experience.
Both games have guns and fighting, but they are rather secondary to the gameplay. In fact, both try to discourage the player from getting into firefights. But the similarities end when you get to the level design.
Trespasser’s levels are setup in a way that the player is encouraged to be adventurous and use their imagination. There are many ways to solve each problem you face. So many that the player often times can be left with the feeling that the solution that they came up with is unique to their own experience, and that no-one else has come to the same solution ever before.
However, Mirror’s Edge’s levels are laid out in a way that the players are shoehorned into solving every problem in exactly the same way every time. You need to get into that air vent. If you don’t get in there, the story won’t progress. And there’s only one way to get in there. If you need to get away from the guards chasing you, there’s only one place you can go. If you spot some armored guards in front of you, there’s no point in fighting, as it’s impossible to hurt them. You have to run away in the only direction available to you.
Mirror’s Edge’s gameplay isn’t even as flexible as most of your run of the mill 2D side-scrollers. At least in those games, you’re able to choose between different horizontal paths. My impression with this sampling of gameplay is that everyone who ever plays it after me will have the exact same experience. Conversely, after playing Trespasser, you come away with the conclusion that no-one will ever play through it the same way twice.
Overall, I got bored before I even finished the demo. That’s not good. Demo’s are supposed to grab you and interest you into buying the full game. As it stands, I am not going to be buying the full game. As I said earlier, the full game may give the player more flexibility. But why would I want to get the full game after such a lame demo.