Mirror's Edge (360, pc, ps3)

[Warbie]

"No more restrictions, no more being blocked by simple barriers such as walls and fences. We want to enable the player to move like a real person, with the ability to run, jump, vault and slide in a way that has never been seen before in a first-person game."


Some bits copied from an Edge preview:

'... running is something the most games implement simply as a doubling of camera speed - the character's legs don't actually hammer the ground with greater force, arms swinging in rhythm with each powerful bound. But they do in Mirror's Edge. And this is exactly how DICE hopes to surpass the problems of movement in the past: by creating an actual physical sense of the player's body within the environment.

It's something of a strange paradox that firstperson games, while placing you more directly in the gameworld, mostly offer fewer options for interaction with your environment than thirdperson games. The reason for this, however, is not terribly obscure - there is simply less visual feedback in firstperson to tell the player what his or her digital body is doing. It's no surprise then that most first person games, lacking the ability to convey your physical presence in the environment, tend to reduce the avater to a floating gun ...

...

Games like Unreal Tournament have movement - double jumps, rocket jumps - but it's very abstracted. We wanted to place you in the world and convey the strain and physical contact with the environment'

...

'DICE is aware that its promises of convincing digital embodiment are likely to induce scepticism, but with the 360 gamepad in hand, doubts about the extent of its achievement are rather abruptly demolished. Even just walking feels vividly realised in a way that first person games commonly don't. All too often, looking down, you will see your feet glide over the floor - if you have them at all; here footfalls feel weighty, as though they are actually engendering movement. And when you speed up, the sense of acceleration is well matched by the sway of the camera, your arms pumping visibly, the sound of your trainers impacting concrete with a fluid increase in pace and power.

...

'The result is fluid acrobatic movement - a continuing string of elegant wall-runs, vaults and the likes that turns the uban environment of vertiginous walkways and roofs into an elaborate assault course.

...

"Doing the moves is relatively easy", explains Farrer, "but you have to maintain flow - that's where the skill element is introduced. Coming to the bottom of the zip-line you want to time your landing properly so you can continue to maintain that speed and carry on moving, whereas if you fail you may stumble, slow dow or even fall over"

...

Similarly, when approaching a metre-high wall - which in other firstperson games might be an impassable structure - the velocity in which you hit it will enable you to vault straight over or, failing that, leave you hanging. Maintaining speed via fluid combinations of moves is the central tenet of the gameplay. Your average speed also determines the amount of Reaction Time you have, a slow-motion feature implemented to aid you in the more complex and rapidly chained moves. Although perhaps more obviously a gimmick than the game's other integrated notions concerning movement, it certainly is of some considerable benefit during the more hectic moments; when you launch yourself from the edge of a building and spin mid-air to shoot back over your flying body at your pursuers, Reaction Time gives you a few critical moments to get a bead on your foes before you slam into the ground.'




So, a parkour influenced firtperson shooter/adventure set in a city and focusing on bringing a 'through the person experience' rather than 'through the gun'.

The screenshots in the preview look very solid - detail in the hands, clothing hanging on the legs - it looks weighty and convincing. I'd love to see it in motion. There's also concept art showing leaping over fences, running up slopes, sliding down the other side, wall runs, vaulting over walls etc. Apparently the sense of acceleration and decelerartion has been captured - you can build up speed, slide along the floor under a slowly closing garage door, 'skidding to a gravelly sounding halt, the viewpoint skews with plausible imitation of naturalistic movement. It's all suggestive of a friction with the surrounding world that is simply absent from other firstperson games'.

Obviously i'm quite impressed, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered typing all this out for you toerags :) FPS is my main gaming love and I really hope DICE can pull this off. If they don't, I still think this is a sign of things to come. Most fps avoid anything that involves complicated movement and i've yet to play one that doesn't make me feel like a floating gun. Make us feel like the character and the sense of immersion - of being shot at, shooting people, with all the excitement, fear, guilt and culpability that is missing from current fps - can only increase. I want to mistime a landing, hear my leg crack horribly on impact and collapse on the floor, to roll onto my back just in time to see my pursuer pulling himself over the wall and to pop him in the face with a horribly squishy sounding headshot.

One to watch :)

[Gray Fox]

One one hand this sounds great, on the other hand this could turn out to be very annoying since most of those thing are done without any thought in real live, and constantly needing to concentrate on it to not make a wrong move to break your flow could be very annoying.

[StardogChampion]

This should be fun as DICE are pretty talented.

[Icarusintel]

Sounds like a good direction for FPS. If this is well-implemented we could see a major shift.

[dekstar]

Sounds like fun, but I agree with Gray Fox, just not as severely. I couldn't do this in real life, so accomplishing it on a screen sounds just up my street.

[JNightshade]

Sounds like just what I've been wanting for :D

[smwScott]

It sounds cool, but I'd rather see this applied to a gritty war game than some kind of free running adventure.

[Warbie]

There was mention of a more traditional war setting in the preview, but the developers decided against it early on. They mention that the game they're creating is very veritcal - jumping from roof to roof, flipping off walls - and not suited to the more open enviroments usually found. I suppose they could have set it in occupied France or something (there's another game coming out called Sabouter that's doing this - it looks the nuts, GTA in occupied France), but for whatever reason decided on a more modern, adventure setting. Personally i'm all for this - the movie District 13's early escape run springs to mind - and would like something a little different. Quite a few times the guy from DICE mentioned that the emphasis was on adventure rather than shooting. If much of the game was spent running away, leapng over stuff in an effort not get caught, i'd be happy.

Despite all this, it was when Edge mentioned that simply walking and running felt that much more real that got my attention. Parkour is all fun, and i'm sure Mirror's Edge will be interesting at the very least, but it's the affect of giving the player more of a physical sense of being in a fps that has me interested. This can be applied to anything - HL, Halo etc.

[Stigmata]

the movie District 13's early escape runThat was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the preview.

This is going to be like Assassin's Creed in first-person with guns, which can only be awesome.

[Warbie]

It'd be awesome if you could do that jump through the small window above the door the main guy does at the start - see your feet flying through and glass breaking all around :)

[VictimOfScience]

I can't wait to see how this turns out because I am of the mindset that this can't be done effectively at all in FPS games. I would love to pleasantly surprised if it actually adds something worthwhile to the gameplay experience.

[VirusType2]

Obviously i'm quite impressed, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered typing all this out for you toerags :) FPS is my main gaming love and I really hope DICE can pull this off. If they don't, I still think this is a sign of things to come. Most fps avoid anything that involves complicated movement and i've yet to play one that doesn't make me feel like a floating gun. Make us feel like the character and the sense of immersion - of being shot at, shooting people, with all the excitement, fear, guilt and culpability that is missing from current fps - can only increase. I want to mistime a landing, hear my leg crack horribly on impact and collapse on the floor, to roll onto my back just in time to see my pursuer pulling himself over the wall and to pop him in the face with a horribly squishy sounding headshot.

One to watch :)
Breakdown for the Xbox (from NAMCO) tried this, but it didn't turn out that well in the end. I was really really hyped for something like this, and they pulled it off pretty well with the hand to hand combat, running and sliding under closing doors, climbing and jumping, and you could always see your body if you look down. When you slide, you could see your body and feet and the camera view changed according to where your head would be at all times. In the end though, it left a lot to be desired in the game department though. I thought Breakdown was a sign of what all games would be doing by now.

Look:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=breakdown+namco&btnG=Search+Images


Lets hope Mirror's Edge turns out as great as the developers think it will.

[Warbie]

I remember Breakdown - the impression I got from reviews and player accounts was that of a good idea poorly implemented. Adding a body won't work if, when you peer down, it doesn't look, sound and feel as if you have legs and feet that are actually walking while also being joined to the rest of your body in a convincing way. All in all, Mirror's Edge sounds like an entirely more ambitious project and far more than just being able to see few limbs - it's going to have to feel as though you have a body, a presence in the 3d game, even when you can't see it.

Some of the impressions given were from Edge staff who got to play btw (read the 'but with the 360 gamepad in hand ..' part), so it's not all developer promises.

[VirusType2]

I remember Breakdown - the impression I got from reviews and player accounts was that of a good idea poorly implemented. Adding a body won't work if when you peer down it doesn't look, sound and feel as if you have legs and feet that are actually walking while also being joined to the rest of your body in a convincing way. All in all, Mirror's Edge sounds like an entirely more ambitious project and far more than just being able to see few limbs - it's going to have to feel as though you have a body, a presence in the 3d game, even when you can't see it.

Some of the impressions given were from Edge staff who got to play btw (read the 'but with the 360 gamepad in hand ..' part), so it's not all developer promises.

yeah, I read the entire thing. Wouldn't miss any of Warbie's posts ;)

Sounds promising for real. I'm also glad to see that it's coming for the PC.

[Warbie]

See, now i've bigged it up we're going to end up with Max Payne slidey feet and puppet legs that looks like a Michael Flatley doing lord of the dance :)


I'm also glad it's coming out for the pc, but if there's ever been a game that has to be controlled with analogue sticks then this is it? Get your pads out for the lads!

[VirusType2]

See, now i've bigged it up we're going to end up with Max Payne slidey feet and puppet legs that looks like a Michael Flatley doing lord of the dance :)


I'm also glad it's coming out for the pc, but if there's ever been a game that has to be controlled with analogue sticks then this is it? Get your pads out for the lads!

I'm still disappointed they haven't marketed gaming keyboards with pressure sensitive analogue WASD keys. That would rule. Of course the PC version of the game has to support anolog character movement as well. Most just have walk and run. [EDIT]Actually really, you just need the W button to be analog.

Even the PC version of Oblivion still only had Walk and run using an analog gamepad. The Xbox version of Morrowind had anolog character movement with the gamepad, so I'm assuming the console versions of Oblivion did as well.

[Warbie]

I can't remember that clearly - it certainly wasn't done well on the 360 version. Infact it felt like digital movement with an analogue stick (dumbed down for the pc ;))

Pressure sesitive wasd keys for the pc sounds quite neat, although I imagine diagonal movement being quite tricky. Actually, think how often you're pushing these keys while playing a game - it'd pretty damn hard I reckon. How about something like the Wii nunchuck? Perhaps attached to the table like you do with a steering wheel.

[VirusType2]

Pressure sesitive wasd keys for the pc sounds quite neat, although I imagine diagonal movement being quite tricky. Actually, think how often you're pushing these keys while playing a game - it'd pretty damn hard I reckon. How about something like the Wii nunchuck? Perhaps attached to the table like you do with a steering wheel.

Actually, think about it now. [First person games are controlled on the PC.]


You really only need the W (walk) button to be analog. If you really must have it all, you could have the S button (walk backwards).

The other two buttons - A and D, are for strafing... so I guess might as well make them analog too. But anyway, the mouse is used to steer while walking, not the WASD buttons.

For example, it's not like you press W and A to move diagonal.

Generally:
W to move in the direction you are facing. Caps lock to toggle run or walk. A and D to sidestep. Mouse controls facing.


So if WASD are pressure sensitive, then you can walk and run at different speeds. Then we could get rid of 'Always Run'. If you want to run - just press the W button all the way down, or press it lightly to walk - like a gas peddle on a car. You can't drive very good if you are constantly flooring the gas and brake pedals. Lol.

In real life, we don't walk as fast as possible every time we move. Very clumsy. Lol. That's why in Max Payne 2, we are knocking chairs, medical equipment, and tables over and stuff is flying through the air - from barging into everything. It's awesome in that game though. :)




I've mentioned using something like the nunchuck before, but there is the problem of switching weapons. (usually 1-9 +0 keys) It could be dealt with of course with a up or down type of weapon select, or multiple button mice. (or just use the mouse wheel)

Most FPS need an activate button, and many use a jump button, others like Oblivion have a few other buttons as well. if you have one hand on the mouse and the other on the Nunchuck, you can't really use the keyboard effectively.

[Asus]

"No more restrictions, no more being blocked by simple barriers such as walls and fences. We want to enable the player to move like a real person, with the ability to run, jump, vault and slide in a way that has never been seen before in a first-person game."It would be really interesting to try that game out. See how different it is compared to other FPS games and if it is better or adds too much.
For example, it's not like you press W and A to move diagonal.
Left and right are for when you want to move different than your aim. Just strafing or combine it with forward/back. Why don't you press W+A to go diagonal?

[VirusType2]

Left and right are for when you want to move different than your aim. Just strafing or combine it with forward/back. Why don't you press W+A to go diagonal?

Ah thats true, I was mistaken. So be it. All movement keys; WAS & D should be analog then. Just saying I don't think it would be hard to control what-so-ever. No more difficult or different than controlling with an analog gamepad, except with the benefit of precise mouse aim. :)

[dekstar]

One problem with the 'no boundaries' thing is there's always somewhere the devs don't want you to go, and so some places will simply be 'too high'. Unfortunately, what we've all learned from places that are 'too high' is that there's always a way to get to them, and then we'll be disappointed when it's a barrier leading to unfinished locations.

[Warbie]

Old thread, new screenshots :)

http://www.gameslave.co.uk/picstore/Mirrors-Edge/mirror_s_edge_01_tif_jpgcopy.jpg

http://www.gameslave.co.uk/picstore/Mirrors-Edge/mirror_s_edge_02_tif_jpgcopy.jpg

I still have high hopes for this.

[StardogChampion]

Is it a large open city, or little mission areas?

I hope it isn't like PoP where places you can climb/grab are all predefined.

[<RJMC>]

dnt tell is another thing related to "that sport in france where people jump trough buildings and stuff"?

[Gargantou]

It's related to Parkour, which is a quite popular 'sport', and originated from French military training during the 50s iirc.

[B_MAN]

really need to see this one in motion to be convinced
sounds promising though

[VictimOfScience]

Agreed. I really don't know how I like the idea, esp for an FPS. A nice vid would go a long way toward convincing many of us skeptics.

Does the main character have a hairless fetish? It looks like he shaves real clean....

[Druckles]

I'm still disappointed they haven't marketed gaming keyboards with pressure sensitive analogue WASD keys.

This. I actually mentioned it the other day.

[Warbie]

It just wouldn't work. The pc needs it'sown version of the Wii Nunchuck. Keyboard movement ftl!

[Pi Mu Rho]

The colour coding for the routes is a beatifully simple and superb idea.

Also, simon who did the maps for the awesome Off Limits mod (http://www.off-limits.be/) is working on this, so I expect great things.

[Loke]

Does the main character have a hairless fetish? It looks like he shaves real clean....

It's a chick! :laugh:

The lighting looks superb btw.

[CptStern]

It just wouldn't work. The pc needs it'sown version of the Wii Nunchuck. Keyboard movement ftl!

GASP!!!




rtcw on a nunchuck is outright heresy!!! ..heathen! report to the centre courtyard for your trial by fire

[VictimOfScience]

It just wouldn't work. The pc needs it'sown version of the Wii Nunchuck. Keyboard movement ftl!
Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ytdW6Ys2A

[VictimOfScience]

It's a chick! :laugh:

The lighting looks superb btw.

Hahaha! Does she go to a lot of raves? Is she prepubescent?

[CptStern]

seems like trying to toss a salad with a knife ...it can be done but why bother?

[Stigmata]

Hahaha! Does she go to a lot of raves? Is she prepubescent?

She has manly hands.

[Warbie]

Like this?

Naw. Keep the mouse for aiming, use nunchuck for movement.

rtcw on a nunchuck is outright heresy!!! ..heathen! report to the centre courtyard for your trial by fire

/o\

[Loke]

MOAAR! (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6066_en.html)

No gameplay vids yet though. :(

[Warbie]

That kick to the face looks awesome :)

[Druckles]

I'm looking forward to the Gameplay video, when it comes out. It'll really show us what it's like.

[Warbie]

Eurogamer preview (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93740)

[Loke]

Even more (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6111_en.html), including concept art.

[Gorgon]

http://kotaku.com/5023717/mirrors-edge-impressions-new-screens-and-trailer

another awsome clip

[Shakermaker]

http://kotaku.com/5023717/mirrors-edge-impressions-new-screens-and-trailer

another awsome clip

I don't get it. Since when did this game go cell-shaded?

[StardogChampion]

Seems like just the FMV's are cel-shaded.

I'm still worried about how linear this will be, especially with the coloured coding.

[Asuka]

Man this looks kickass! One of my #1 watched games right now.

[AmishSlayer]

I'm still worried about how linear this will be, especially with the coloured coding.

The color coding looks like it was just left in back from the level design stages. I really hope you can turn it off.

[Malfunction]

I really really really hope the actual game is not cell-shaded. Certain games use it wonderfully (Wind Waker), but I loved how this looked in the first trailer that hit.

[MultiVaC]

It's not cell shaded. They've said a long time ago that they would have 2D animated cutscenes, the game still looks the same.

[Kadayi]

I do like this 2D storyline trailer thing that seems to have caught on recently. The people behind Dead space have been releasing something similar. It's certainly a different approach from the usual FMV or ingame footage approach.

[Mikael Grizzly]

Pretty much the entire interview can be summed with this:

HYPEHYPEPROMISEPROMISEHYPEPROMISEHYPENOPROOF

[Sedako]

New official trailer from E3:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36249.html

This game looks even more brilliant than before!

[staticprimer]

Looks really good! Let's just hope it plays as well as it looks.

[Sedako]

If anything I'll give it props for being innovative. It's gems like these that move the video game industry forward.

[TheAntipop]

The first trailer didn't really do much for me - interesting concept but it didn't catch my eye. The new trailer, though... wow, I'm seriously interested now. It reminds me of Crackdown with the flexibilty of where you go no matter how absurd it may be (though Crackdown was way more cartoony/superhero like) and the only part of Crackdown I really liked was running across rooftops and jump crazy distances.

The music in the new trailer was cool, too. In a way, both the art style/design of the game and the music reminded me quite a lot of Portal, and those two elements where what I liked best in Portal.

[Hectic Glenn]

Moar - http://www.shackvideo.com/?id=12507

[Sedako]

Moar - http://www.shackvideo.com/?id=12507

Yeah, now that I've seen more of it, I really hope runner's vision can be disabled.

EDIT: According to this IGN UK preview (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/887/887736p1.html) from a few days ago, it is indeed optional. Perfect!

[Malfunction]

Yeah, now that I've seen more of it, I really hope runner's vision can be disabled.

EDIT: According to this IGN UK preview (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/887/887736p1.html) from a few days ago, it is indeed optional. Perfect!

Very nice. Yeah, this should be a fun game to play when released. I hope there are indeed many paths to take to get to each area though, otherwise the game could lose some of its replay or cool value.

[ailevation]

We've seen a lot of footage where she's jumping along building rooftops, over stuff and doing transfers and some indoors stuff. All looks beautiful, but now get to thinking, I hope we'll be able to do free-world stuff and be able to actually get on the street and sidewalks if we wanted to, i'm kinda scared they'll make it a boundary, with an excuse of the player doesn't need to stray to the streets, it's way too astray from the main objective. Also, the city looks great but, will we actually be able to go from one point to the outer buildings that we see in the far background?

[Asuka]

Man this game is going to be 100% kickass. Cant ****ing wait for this.

[Warbie]

More:

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/20934

[staticprimer]

Looking good! Some really slick moves in there.

[AHA-Lambda]

Oh my god I can't wait for that game :D

[Fishlore]

I don't understand the hype to be honest. Seeing the character's legs/arms move, yawn. Jumping over meter high fences, yawn. Rooftop parkour jumping, double yawn. Hopefully it's got a magnificent story, because I could see this getting old after five minutes.

Also, this game will have barriers since no video game is infinite. I don't see how the boundaries in this game will be any different than boundaries in other "go anywhere" games. They have to limit you somehow.

The fluidity, animation and graphics all look great. I'm not crazy about the sterile, bland, generic looking city but all in all it looks nice. I've simply never played an FPS and thought, "you know I really wish I could see my legs move. that would be so much better." I've never said, "I wish I could jump this gap, slide, and go into another jump" when playing an FPS. I don't see what any of this brings to the table.

Everyone seems so hyped for it, I feel like I'm missing something, but the screenshots, vids and gameplay descriptions just don't do it for me. I'll try a demo if one comes along, hoping to prove myself wrong, but I'm not holding out much hope.

[PaoloM]

Motion sickness anyone?

[ailevation]

man this game looks better and better

it's gonna be a an insane experience on my living room TV

[Barnz]

Motion sickness anyone?

See the article on Gamasutra, they have a solution or it.