When Innovation Compromises Gameplay

At some point in any game developers lives, the urge to get innovative arises. I, for one, am all for innovation. Tried and true gameplay mechanics will always work, but the question will innevitably arise "When does 'by the book' gameplay lose its "tried and true" title and become 'boring and tedious'?" Without innovation we would not have had the RE4 controls we did, without innovation and creativity we wouldn't have Psychonauts (a moment of silence please.

The question is, did Mirrors Edge cross that line, between great innovation and breaking a game with new ideas? The answer? I'd say, they got to the line and stepped on it a bit. But before I go into what I dislike, let me say what I did enjoy.

The game is by no means horrendous, in fact it's half decent. The first person perspective, is immersive. It does a great job of putting you into the shoes of Faith and becoming her is great fun. The graphics are top notch, the white washed city, the bright glaring sun, everything sets the mood for a "way to clean to be good" city.

Story

The story, falls flat on its face. To many questions remain, some never even get touched. What exactly am I delivering in these packages? What makes this government so horrendous that we must work outside the law to deliver anything? Needless to say the important questions are avoided for a more personal one of Faith and her sister. Again, not a horrible thing, if done correctly. But the problem here is that I felt it near impossible to get connected emotionally to any of them. They were all kind of just "there", and I didn't care much for them. The cut-scenes, which I would just call e-surance commercials don't help. If they had kept each cutscene in first person perspective, it would have helped a bunch. But they don't, and it hinders the game. You can see the two "twists" from a mile away, and it's unfortunate because they had such a great basis in which to tell a story.

AI

The AI is uneven at best. Running along the rooftops to avoid a man who can hit your eyeball from 10 miles away is a bit tough. But the moment you hit slo-motion they all suddenly catch "storm trooper" syndrome and miss every shot. Again, not a terrible problem because 9 times out of ten, even though they are hitting you, they aren't firing often enough to kill you. The problem arises when you're forced to fight them, or a room full of them. It's great tension when you are forced to run away and have a clear path to escape, it has that "Neo running from Agents in the Matrix" feel. It's when they tell you that you need to fight them that you realize you're not Neo and that you're Kung-Fu isn't top notch. Well, try taking a guy down when three others are filling you with lead. It feels as though that the combat was tacked on last minute, and again, I feel this is a missed opportunity for the game. Either take out combat or minimalize it.

Gameplay

Well I've already ranted about the combat, the other nagging issue was the fluidity of the running. This game has some FANTASTIC moments. The first level in particular. Running from the blues until you come to the edge of a building having no choice but to leap to it and cling for dear life? That my friends induces some of the greates tension moments I've felt in a long time. The problem arises when you're stuck looking around for five to ten minutes wondering where the hell to go. Then, when you are completely lost, you take a guess, and miss, and die (dying happens often). It's a frustrating halt in the gameplay. You feel as though you've lost your momentum and you've fallen out of the immersion and are now playing a game thats testing your will to turn off the system and try again later.

OVERALL

If they just tweak up some of the nagging issues and tell a more interesting story they'd have a winner on their hands. I'll say that this game is a foundation for something great, and I hope they do something with it.

-Mathas