Errant Signal - Mirror's Edge
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- It looks like Christmas came early from RUclips this year, and my account's arbitrary Content ID smack has been lifted. In celebration, here's a video I posted a few weeks ago to my blip.tv account. It's about Mirror's Edge, creative risks, and a fat gaptoothed guy with a bad haircut talking about video games. Unless, of course, a cold, soulless algorithm running on a dusty server in a dark room recognizes "Still Alive" and, with no proper understanding of the nature of fair use or the complex legal and corporate mechanizations that wrought it into being, promptly designates this video as infringement. What's that? No, I'm not bitter at all.
And, because apparently IP trolls, are apparently claiming his music as their own and he suggests attribution to help alleviate that, I do use a snippet of "Long Road Ahead" from Kevin McLeod in this video. His website ( www.incompetech.com ) has some great royalty free songs and I've been a fan of his music and approach to his art for a long time now.
There, now I won't have to talk about IP laws until SOPA/PIPA passes and I can go apeshit for a whole separate set of reasons. Sheesh.
Back when we were sweet and naive about publishers it is almost cute.
2006: Gotta have shooty bits to keep them gamers interested
2016: Gotta have an open world and shitty upgrade trees to give people the illusion of progression
So weird to watch this so many years in the future. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a thing! They tried to make the combat better, and make a better story. It's alright, but the good thing is they didn't screw up the running
Wayan Ayama Making it open world was a great idea. It fits so well thematically and unlike most other open world games you don't just fast travel everywhere because the very act of traveling on its own is the gameplay. It added so much content to the game. If there was ever a game screaming for an open world it was Mirror's Edge.
Very true. I quite enjoyed running around the city of glass in Catalyst and getting to explore, it reminded me of the days as a child when I played racing games to just drive around and not bother racing. It was a great idea, and probably the only major parts that bothered me was how annoying certain combat missions were since the levels didn't provide much room to run around and get leverage on the opponents. Hopefully, they can improve this in the next game, mainly by not designing levels where you have to stay and fight, as these were the levels that plagued both the original and new game in my opinion. Another thing I would also ask for is more paths to run around on in the city. At times it feels like you're always going the same way, and it does get a little old. But that is more of a minor problem. In short, I agree with what you said, Mirror's edge definitely fits best with the open world format. Hopefully they can perfect it when they make the next game ^^
I feel like a better and more recent example of how Mirror's Edge helped push the medium forward is Titanfall 2 (which was, coincidentally, also published by EA). From what I've seen, the game's emphasis on momentum and fluidity of movement outside a Titan matches ME's design goals to the letter - not to mention some of the moves you use to accomplish this goal are ripped straight from ME, such as first-person wall-running or sliding.
I really don't think TF and ME share much in terms of mechanics. In ME, the focus is on realism, the game wants to give you the sense of weight and momentum, the feel of doing all of this crazy parcour with an actual believable human body (I mean, the concept of wall-running is not realistic in the slightest, but still, it *feels* believable). The environment in Mirror's Edge is considered a challenge, and you are given a set of mechanics to overcome this challenge.
Whereas in Titanfall, the focus is on player empowerment. Realism really goes out of a window, your character runs and jumps faster and higher than any human being can, and wall-running is much more ridiculous. The environment is not a challenge -- it's another tool at your disposal to best your opponents in a firefight.
@@opticalmoose8091 Regarding Wall Running: ruclips.net/video/gsuvx-T2M5k/видео.html no actually this one is better ruclips.net/video/Nd7I0TEWcg0/видео.html
The shooting in mirrors edge was the first time I felt that my actions in a game actively go against the story the game is telling. I want to save my sister / clear her name, because she has been framed for murder, yet i'm killing a lot of people I come across.
Also, on higher difficulties, I had to constantly switch to the mouse to shoot, making the break of flow even worse.
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst actually addresses a lot of the concerns raised in this video from what I've heard. Climbing up pipes is sped up, a lot of movements which hindered your momentum are tweaked, and it seems to be a mixture of a Reboot and a Prequel. It's Faith's 'origin' story but the entire setting seems to be changed.
The 'open world' mechanics could be hit or miss and is probably the biggest issue. It either could work beautifully: The fact the game seems to be emphasizing player choice in how they want to move about and where they go which was the best part of the original, or it could turn into one of the horrible Ubisoft open world games. We'll wait and see.
The combat has been completely changed too. Faith can no longer use guns, only fisticuffs, and there's two sort of attacks. A 'Flow' attack where you attack the enemy, but keep moving, and a 'Transference' which is where you push the enemy with your momentum in the hit. Already the combat seems leagues ahead of the original and may better fit with the free running gameplay.
+Fad Le Too bad that the sequel is still clinging to the idea that it has to have traditional elements to be any good. The idea that Faith can beat up a bunch of armed guards is nonsense. She can be super strong and beat up a trained spec-ops, why not, but a bunch of them? Armed soldiers? That's insane.
Of course realism in the strength of the protagonist is not something we see often in video games or media in general so why would it be a problem here?
The answer is that in Mirror's Edge, it's thematically dissonant. The runners are runners because they are weak. Running is their way to find freedom, but it's also the way they fight specifically because they can't fight any other way. They're a little group of rebels opposed to the power of an oppressive institution. They're supposed to hit and run, and the "hit" part has certainly nothing to do with shooting people or beating the shit out of dozens of soldier. The only war they can fight is a war of information. They should not even think of fighting back against an armed force, they should only run, just run. Having the possibility to neutralise one guy because you're completely
trapped and as a last resort is fine, especially if it is difficult. Any other situation and fighting should be complete suicide.
+Aesahethr in my opinion, some stealth elements might really work for this game. i was a little disappointed that avoiding confrontations with the police wasn't an option that was explored much.
twiinapocalyp2e2
I'm not completely sure about stealth either, in a game all about fast parkour and momentum it seems particularly counter-intuitive to use super slow and careful movements to avoid them rather than simply running the hell away would not be my choice either. Overall it's a hard problem to fix because there isn't many solutions in finding some variety in the gameplay without betraying the core values of the game itself.
+Aesahethr I didn't mean stealth like traditional slow and careful moving but i guess it'd be nice when confronted with cops to throw them off your trail by taking a few weird turns so they lose track of you when chasing you or simply being able to dash past them while they looked in a different direction? or maybe even being able to avoid them altogether by finding an alternate route?
I love Catalyst yet people scorn it for... fixing a lot of the issues of the original and adding things people wanted in a sequel? People are strange.
I LOL'd at the comparison of "using the 1984 universe as a backdrop to a Spaghetti Western about a new sheriff in town."
The thing is that this could work. Why not? An authoritarian 1984 style universe could provide a weird and interesting twist on a spaghetti western style story/character. The character isn't there to overthrow the government or provide any commentary on that universe, they're just a character within that universe, and living within said universe should have some intriguing effects on how their character design and story plays out.
The issue is when you *do* provide commentary on it, or have main characters that infer that they're going to affect that universe in some major and meaningful way, as Mirror's Edge does. At that point you've established a very different relationship with that universe: From the perspective of the main character, you've shown actual links with an antagonist, and potentially any supporting protagonists, and the story needs to have some effect on at least one of these in order to make narrative sense.
Hey! LOTR Return of the King and Two Towers were awesome games! Repetitive and mindless as all hell but you felt like you were really there in the actual film as one of the many characters and participating in all those epic set piece moments.
ROTK especially was such fun co-op game.
@@gufu21 the way that game's camera worked, it led to co-op moments where one player moves faster than you and messes the view for you.
Fun times.
And those James Bond games were really good too! Especially when you compare them to the ones that, ironically, Activision made afterwards
This feels hilariously relevant again.
I love how you engage with video games!
Critiquing games in a sophisticated way will reverberate in audiences that video games are sophisticated art objects.
Thank you!
I remember first discovering the game when the store I was managing received a shipment of it. I was immediately intrigued mostly because I couldn't tell what the hell it was from all of the packaging. I knew it had to be something different.
Man am I ever glad I took that chance. So much
1:33 Man, early Harry Potter games were awesome
3rd one for me was a blast, 4th one felt 1. unfinished & 2. forced co-op.
RIP Bullfrog. Theme Hospital will not be forgotten.
Dungeon Keeper! =*(
The Two Towers and The Return of The King were really good beat-em-ups in themselves, and one of the best movie based videogames released.
I'd so love to see an update of your market insight concerning ea now in 2016 an with the mirrors edge sequel. not that I enjoyed the game, mostly due to the flimsy story, a concern you also mentioned, but because what it says about the current state of the industry. As it seems they pretty much are trying to fix the mishaps and shortcomings you pointed out. I would certainly be looking forward to your intel.
Can't wait for Mirror's Edge 2. As long as they don't make it into some stupid Kinect game or something.
That would be almost hilarious enough to be worth it.
Its not a sequel its a reboot. Hence why its just called Mirrors Edge.
I highly doubt that. I think like Halo they just haven't released the full name yet. There is literally no reason to reboot it.
You see on the trailer that faith is getting a tattoo on her eye. The one she already has on the original game. Why would she get it again on the same eye? Also EA themselves have stated that it is a reboot. It wouldn't make sense that they are waiting for the name, since it can pretty much only be called Mirrors Edge 2.
PKDeviluke25 It could be a prequel.
I don't mind shooting and fighting in Mirror's Edge (and think it would be silly if it gets removed completely), but it should be done in a way that it discourages player from doing so (something like a last resort).
For starters, combat should be way more difficult (in other words; running would pretty much always be a better option thant staying and fighting, unless you are forced into a corner and don't have any other options, but even then it should be player's fault if he finds himself in the corner instead of it being a bad design where you didn't have an option to run to begin with).
And it would make sense when you think about it; a small asian girl that runs for living shouldn't be able to defeat bunch of armed, armored, and trained men who eat danger and shit bullets for living.
That would be way more organic way of doing it instead of simply saying 'no, you can't fight'.
+Lucitaur the part where he's in the shard and goes to shoot the window and it's just an invisible wall - that's such a sore point for me. Everything the game stands for is about being able to find your own route through these things and avoid confrontations, and the here game prevents you from dooooiiinng ittttttt
they're making Mirror's Edge 2! Hallelujah!
Hey. The LotR Two Towers game was pretty awesome.
Word UP
Daniel King Yeah, I am hoping for a HD-remake.
Not that I think it will ever come.
Hey every major Lord of the Rings Game by EA was awesome. Battle of Middleearth, Conquest and the original Movie Games. Dont talk about stuff you didnt play. Only because its a license game doesnt mean its "trash". I know its an old Video but still.
I actually kinda feel like calling Mirror's Edge purely a parkour game was always a misnomer. It's clearly a love song to urban martial arts movies like those of Jackie Chan, which contain a whole bunch of jumping through windows, climbing on walls, sliding down rooftops e.t.c... So yeah, removing the combat altogether would be gutting the concept, really.
What really needed to be removed was the finality in which you are forced to deal with fights; You should be able to really easily disable enemies by shooting them in the leg or whatever, before immediately slipping away. You can totally communicate the concept of Faith not wanting to kill people, simply by making it difficult and pointless to effectively do it and still proceed in the game. That, and it would obviously require added sadism that the game clearly isn't demanding you perform.
+Ungantor I mostly agree. The combat stops you dead in your tracks in a game that's all about momentum. It should have been fast paced and more fluid.
Oi, James Bond: Everything or Nothing was a good game.
The best bondgame imho,but maybe i am bias towards it cause the bike chase with jaws.
This is the first video I've watched by this gentleman. I really enjoyed the insightful explanation of the companies and their focus. The understanding he seems to have of not only the games industry but the consumer drive for novelty and intrigue that is always overlooked by the money men in favor of more of the same, is very appreciated.
I definitely think games like COD and Battlefield have a place in the market. I enjoy playing online versus other people in war shooters. It is exciting and really competitive. That doesn't mean I don't have as much if not more fun playing a game like Mirror's Edge where the primary competition is myself or just seeing what cool stuff I can get the little lady on the screen to do.
I am so glad that things like Steam and XBox Marketplace have allowed for game makers, who can't spend fortunes on advertising, to create and distribute their passion built games. It shows the market watchers and corporate shills that they are falling behind the curve with their lack of innovation. By not allowing the game directors and producers to do what they see as interesting and what the game needs, they are failing to gain the business that they want.
The young guns who are building games from scratch in their bedrooms, just because they have an idea and want to make something they want to play, are the future. Meaning that when it comes time to pick where your money goes as a games consumer, you are going to go with the guy you relate to and who is a gamer just like you. Not just for the personal reasons but because they said, "Oh, this would be amazing! If I could make a game where this happens or you can do that! Wow, this is fun, let me add this and that." Which in turn made you think, "Oh this is cool, I wanna try this, I've never seen that before, that looks awesome!"
It's sad too, because most of the people that these companies hire to work on their games are amazing at what they do. They are usually there because making games is a lifelong goal. The creativity and artistry of those people is apparent in the games that are just updates of older titles. But the middle managers are so scared of doing something that 1% of the people playing the game might not like, that they back down when it comes to creativity in favor of regurgitating the same old. They don't even need to clean house and bring in new people to fix the problem. They just need to stay the hell out of everyone's way. Hire someone you know can bring a game to the shelves, give him a budget, give him a release date, then leave. You're not going to have a 40+ man team make a turd in a box, if they are the ones whose names are on the line. I would imagine if they knew the ultimate judgement of quality fell on them. They would make some of the most amazing games the world has seen. If they had the time and budget of the next CoD or Battlefield, with the same size team.
I read or heard somewhere that the hated "Reality" TV shows allow for more original programs because they generate so much money for the network, that it allows them to take risks on more obscure program ideas. If that's true, then it should be true in games as well. If they are making billions off of their AAA titles. It should free up some capital to place on the next "Binding of Isaac" or hell even "Portal". (Which was originally a FPS where you didn't shoot people. An expensive puzzle game with platform elements. It wasn't expected to be as big as it was. Yet the risk paid off.) Games that sound interesting on paper but don't scream 'huge market share". They said "Star Wars" was going to be a niche market movie. That only a few Sci-Fi geeks would go see it. That it would be lucky to make its budget back. So, there is always a chance that you're producing the next big thing, even though it's not obvious at the time. Wouldn't it be nice to be selling a game that cost you 40 million to create but is now making you billions every year?
Anyway, this really was a great video. Thanks, it sparked a lot of thoughts in my head. I doubt anyone of any import will read this message. I just really wanted to get this all off my chest and hopefully someone read it.
Good news from the future...they went back to Mirrors Edge xD
We've yet to see how it plays, though. The news we've heard so far sounds great, but...it may turn out terrible.
Triality More good news from the future. It was a really good game that stayed true to the mechanics of the original and generally just expanded on it with an open world and much more content.
I always really liked the parts where you weren't getting shot at in Mirror's Edge and you had a good moment to explore and figure out how to navigate through the level -- but this was only ever at the beginning of the level. After that, the game was quite frankly unenjoyable. Thanks for making this video. You pretty much summed up my thoughts on the game.
the mirrors edge music is some of the best music ive ever heard in a videogame simply because the amount of emotion it makes me feel when i hear it
Well I guess it's a good thing we finally get a sequel. XD
at the very least Battlefield is served well by DICE's design pedigree and is a really fun team based tactical sandbox / balistics puzzle (at best. . .and only in multiplayer). would have been nice if DICE had the time / support to iron out the shortcomings of Mirror's Edge in sequels.
I didn't mind the guard parts at all. I liked the extra danger that game with it, even if it broke up the flow. Part of what's enjoyable to me is the problem solving it takes to figure out an optimal route, so stopping to reassess it perfectly normal to me. Faith's take-downs of the guards made me feel totally bad-ass. I loved running between cover and over things to just avoid the guards, or to figure out how to get close enough to take them down without getting myself killed in the process.
I never used the guns I acquired from the guards to pass other guards.
Even at that, you are only allowed to keep the guns for as long it has ammo in the magazine. After that, you have to throw it away. That combined with the common criticism that the actual shooting gameplay is just poorly implemented, I think it feels like Dice is trying to disincentivize players from using them
I have a memory of attempting a subway assault many times. I would keep swinging through the rafters as swarms of SWAT were shooting at me. I kept running, jumping, and dodging until one of them was close enough to take down, and throw away his weapon, and go back to running until I could take out another. I died a lot, but I eventually made it through. And I felt bad-ass.
Don't remove the combat. Make it flow, as well as everything else in the game that doesn't flow. Fuck me, just call the game flow, it's the one thing the game depends on!
William Lazerdust too bad there's already a semen-simulator with that name
+William Lazerdust it seems its what they have done with the reboot. Faith no longer uses firearm, so combat, if there is any, is gonna be 'dynamic'
That moment when most of Errant Signal's propositions for Mirror's Edge 2 were catered to :D
I loved Mirror's Edge. The impeccable aesthetics, ambiance and surprisingly satisfying parkour mechanics drove it soundly top 20 favorite games of all time, despite some of it's shortcomings. There have been rumors of a sequel in the works, so I'm holding out hope, but when I'm visited by the notion that we may not see something of its like again, I cannot help but be filled with a profound sense of disquiet.
Holy shit man! Seriously, this series is amazing, it's like Oancitizen's Between the Lines series but with video games!
2:46
Lord of the Ring Battle for Middle Earth was not licensed junk
I list it as one of the few good licences games along with Star Wars Battlefront 2 both of the KoTOR titles and the more recent Shadow of Mordor
+Justin Milo First or second game?
Hood OfDefiance The first one. I cant speak about the second having never played it.
I think the second Mirror's Edge game worked a lot more with combat because the combat was incorporated into the parkour mechanics, instead of focusing on being an fps
This is my favorite video yet. I also loved the free-running sections of the game and would gladly play a game with nothing but first-person puzzle solving/running around having fun. This video touches into a lot of great points about what games are suppose to be and how marketing convolutes them.
I don't think there's anything wrong with *some* combat in Mirror's Edge. The problem wasn't having combat at all, it was having *bad* combat.
That said, I don't remember a scene with enemies that you couldn't run past. Even the server room singled out in the video enabled this. Yes, it's not obvious. No, that doesn't mean they want you to fight them.
I've played through the game at least a dozen times and there are 2 moments where you have to at least use combat, although not using guns is definitely feasible,
1 The scene on the boat with the LMG guy who stands near the door with the pressure seal
2 a scene I can't place off the top of my head with three swat troopers guarding a pipe you have to climb to proceed
Basically the game will occasionally put enemies that will damage you while you preform tasks that cannot be preformed fast enough no matter how skilled you are. These areas (at least on the hardest difficulty) cannot be completed by just running past the enemies. Honestly I think the game would have been MUCH better if it introduced the Project Icarus cops earlier and had them as the primary enemy NPCs
Xanthien 2 you can actually skip without utilizing any glitches or bugs. It's hard to judge whether it was done on purpose though.
Eh... idk about that. I think tacking irrelevant gameplay together is generally bad; they distract from each other even if the pieces are alright. If Call of Duty suddenly made you play Tetris or Mario suddenly made you play Solitaire, that would be stupid even though those games are widely enjoyed. For a less ridiculous example, imagine if Portal suddenly gave you a rifle and made you kill waves of gun-toting androids on the way to GLaDOS' lair.
I also think it creates narrative problems. Yeah this authoritarian state is apparently evil but we never see any of that and the setting's close enough to the real world that it's hard to see the enemies as anything but modern policemen. Basically we're playing a cross between a 14-year-old, "FAYHT THA POWAH!" idiot and Micah Xavier Johnson. Now there's nothing wrong with having that in a game but when it's brought up with no thought whatsoever it makes Faith pretty contemptible.
Everything or nothing is amazing, what the fuck??
I really love Mirror's Edge but I've never been able to put in to words exactly why it's so fantastic apart from it's aesthetic and originality, but you hit the nail right on the head. Great stuff. I really hope they do finally get around to making a sequel. There has been tentative news on it existing but I've all but given up that it'll actually see the light of day. Recently something showed up which seemed to bring hope that it was still in development, but I'm not holding my breath.
Since this, Mirror's Edge 2 has been announced (officially...?). I am REALLY excited for it, and I certainly hope the music is just as good as how well I hope they flesh out Faith's world and character.
Mirror's Edge is a game that always resonated really strongly with me because of the risks it took, both in core platformer design and the beautiful contrast in the aesthetic design. I get this horrible feeling that you were right and the modern shooter cash cow will bleed all creative drive out of the big publishers and their subsidiary devs. But if Mirror's Edge gets another chance to flesh out the world and refine the mechanics, I'll have my faith in humanity back.
I'm so glad we're going to get a follow-up to Mirror's Edge. Hopefully we can get even more out of Mirror's Edge 2.
Now that Mirror's Edge is getting a sequel all I hope for now is a Beyond Good & Evil sequel.
Hearing what you said about the underground and the chunks missing from the story gives EA and DICE a perfect reason to make a sequel to a great game.
Oh the irony. RIP Maxis
Waiting is what all we can do now for Mirrors Edge. I sure hope it's not entirely forgotten, but I also hope DICE handles it with much more responsibility than before. Stay optimistic!
I played Mirror's Edge a few years ago for the first time and it quickly became one of my favourite single player experiences of all times. I enjoyed it so immensely that I played through it multiple times. It has never been deleted from my HDD since release which is a hard feat for an SP only title.
I grew up with FPS titles but now that I've grown up, I want something more. The first person perspective has so much more potential than mere gun play. Here's hoping for Mirror's Edge 2...
I tip my hat to you, good sir, for making a strong, well thought argument about the status of the game industry! Such an analysis would be difficult to find anywhere on the internet (game forums, news sites, let alone within game companies) and has taken infantile thoughts I had and shown their mature counterpart. Well done.
Now that I think about it, one of the reasons I think Nintendo is able to experiment a lot with new mechanics and games is because anything they try usually has Mario in it and therefore can be marketed easily.
I can understand why it's so hard for publishers to take risks now but it's really starting to get annoying that every big game has to be an FPS or at least have guns.
7 years later Activision just said "fuck it" and took a sledgehammer to Blizzard
00:42 oh, hey, that's Sseth !
Despite its perceived flaws, Mirror's Edge is my favorite game of all time. I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but using a gun is NOT necessary at all! The room you used as an example (6:42) can be run through in about 5 seconds without even taking down a single guard. It requires you really stop and think about the fastest way through an area, which is why I love it so much. There's nothing quite as satisfying as nailing a speed run in this game.
4k views already i am glad to see your popularity increasing. you know your stuff man
And here it come. Mirrors Edge reboot!
To further elaborate: I liked the shooty bits because the only ones that come to mind are the ones at the top of the other side of the sewer, and the ones in the train station. They allowed you to strategize/plan out your attacks or who you take out and how. Too bad there wasn't much story...
So we have art appreciation classes, and literature class based on analyzing a novel's political commentary or message. with more people understanding video games as a social media will we start to see classes based on the premise that games(and there creation and publishing process) are able to convey messages just like a painting, song, or performance?
Keep making these, it's a crime you're not already some sort of internet cult favorite!
I love these types of "vblogs" or "internet reviews", and your stuff is the exact style I like (not afraid to say what needs to be said, and lenghty enough to crash on the couch or bed while watching). Harsh, fair criticism that goes hand-in-hand with my own way of thinking. Like Ashens, Spoony, Clan Of The Gray Wolf (16-bit gems) etc...
You should definately try to get yourself on Blisteredthumbs (net)! :)
Your videos are making me think so hard it hurts! Keep up the amazing work man.
First I'd like to thank you for these great, great videos. Deeper looks into gaming culture are much needed these days and Errant Signal fills in on a huge gap.
But! For the first time watching your videos, I have to disagree with you on some points of view.
One big thing you missed on Mirror's Edge is that gunplay is not necessary. There's a small hint in the achievement list: you get the"Pascifist" achievement if you don't use any weapons during the gameplay. At all. This turns dull gun fights into something quite fitting in a parkour game: manic run-away-from-bullets-and-kick-everyone-in-the-head-ballets. You have to move _constantly_ to avoid fire, split enemy groups into smaller parts and take soldiers down one by one. Is it hard? Very. Especially towards the end where you have to face a number of SWAT members in open spaces, it's pretty much infuriating. Is it rewarding? Absolutely. The last desperate sprint towards the elevator doors and counting every nanosecond while the elevator doors closed while soldiers rushed to catch me - that was a gaming moment to remember. It's possible to play through the whole game without shooting any weapons at all - and it takes Mirror's Edge to a whole new level.
And I think it's a bit too simplistic to blame the Call of Duty boom for the (greatly exaggerated) death of the franchise. DICE released Battlefield: Bad Company next year after Mirror's Edge and Bad Company 2 soon after that. DICE has always been known for their open world war games - long before COD was anything more than a Medal of Honor Turbo Edition. So I don't think that it's quite fair to blame Battlefield series for delaying Mirror's Edge 2 for almost ten years - they would've concentrated on Battlefield series anyway (and I'm glad they did because Battlefield are pretty great games in their own league).
There's also one thing you seem to miss here: I believe it was Mirror's Edge that made DICE look deeper into movement mechanics and enhance the 1st person immersion - visible body parts, flowing movement over the objects and more physical feeling of the player protagonist. And that was one of the biggest things that made Battlefield 3 feel much more immersive than any other war game on the market today. It's not quite fair to compare movement in Call of Duty to Battlefield games - Battlefield 3 just feels so much like real physical thing. And I think that's one of the greatest heritages Mirror's Edge gave to the gaming world (besides being a lovely game on it's own rights).
Hope you could make it through the whole thing despite my bad English. I love your work and I'm hoping to see lots of more of these videos - this is something that I myself find very important culturally.
- Iikka, your fan from Finland
Now that it's out, I'd love to hear your thoughts about Mirror's Edge: Catalyst.
Funny what's happened since then, however the reason I re watched this video was I saw the TitanFall preview from E3 and it immediately made me think of Mirror's Edge. A FPS game made by the creators of COD that incorporates elements of free running and movement based combat sounds insanely awesome. It wouldn't have been possible without Mirror's Edge first proving that FPS games can be above movement, in the same way Portal proved that FPS games don't just have to be about shooting.
In BF3's defense, it's actually a great game.
This guy's gonna get some major whiplash when he gets to 2017
2:47 hey! That LotR RTS game was sweet!
Also, it's weird to hear EA spoken of as something other than a pile of microtransaction pushing garbage.
I feel like Mirrors Edge Catalyst fixed a lot of the issues that you had with it. Even if it did fall into the Ubisoft open-world set-up, but I still really enjoy the game
Mirror's Edge in VR would look so awesome!
I have an Oculus rift and used a program to do that. It's vomit enducing. Pretty and cool but so hard to play
This sort of thing is why I'm really glad the indie developers are around and taking chances. They're where innovation will come from, and the big studios will surely rip off their ideas and make a version of Minecraft with guns.
"It's like trying to use Orwell's 1984 universe to tell a spaghetti western story of a new sheriff in town"
*raises eyebrow*
Funny how Ubisoft seems to have stolen the crown these past few years.
Well,no...at least not yet, but it sure as hell is on the right way
Actually, I believe the point in the "shooty bits" was to force people to again think like a runner, and fight like one, not like a gamer.
When I played this game, I went through these bits by running upto them and taking them down quickly. Only resorting to actually firing weapons a small amount of the time. My brother on the other hand whenever he encountered these bits tried to get a weapon, and treated it like a standard FPS, and took much longer completing these sections because of it.
"It is general knowledge in the Stockholm dev scene that Mirror's Edge 2 is in production at DICE " tweeted by @BenjaminCousins. There's a lot of hope going around.
This is why Valve is awesome that they take risks in a sense that they stick to what they believe in rather than a their publisher asking them to change something...
I can't remember if I said this or not, but LotR: RotK was actually one of the better movie licensed games I have played because it was a pretty, well-executed hack and slash.
In addition, 2006 was the year where the last best Battlefield game was released; BF 2142. It was innovative and imaginative at the time. While the elements of BF 2 were there, the plot was interesting; a second ice age forces humanity to fight for space and resources in order to survive. Much better than what we have now
man, you hit the nail on the head. Keep this up dude, we need more people thinking like you
What the hell why is this guy so smart and observant and analytical and... and...
What's this hippy talked about creative freedom, we wanna shoot stuff and rule da world.
Great video. Insightful and telling of the Industry mindset of where it was in the recent past, sits in the present, and looks to the future.
This is a case study in innovation in the video game industry. Thank you.
the sad thing is even though all the environments are devoid of people, all of em look as if there were people there just 5 minutes ago, the environments are beautiful, vibrant and look incredibly alive (only they are inhabited by ghosts)
"WHA-SHIT A TANK!" *Throws Medkit* I'm sorry but as soon as I saw that I died.
I nearly cried when he had a moment of silence for bullfrog.
@zankokujin Yeah, I was talking about the second fight in chapter 7, The Boat. I didn't include the server room because it's much, much faster to just use the guns instead of letting them shoot the servers and then running past. I was talking from more of a speedrunning point of view. Everywhere else it's faster to just ignore all the fighting
Great video! I never thought about these publishing drawbacks that prevented the game from expressing its full potential (Mind you I was 12/13 when I first played it and just enjoyed it for what it was). I was wondering if you could make a video for Mirror's Edge: Catalyst? The game has been out for approximately 3 years and I enjoyed that game too but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks :)
I bought Mirrors Edge and it was an awesome game, I completely agree with Errant's opinions. Sequel with more platforming, more populated world, actual story with deeper characters and without shooting or at least some sort of "peaceful" melee combat like Aikido or Ju-Jitsu and maybe some open city free run option - I would pay even hundred bucks to play that game.
THIS WAS AWESOME! I love how you introduced Battlefield 3..
I realize I'm about 8 years late to the party but EA is still the big bad. With their surprise mechanics as in "Surprise! You're now financially ruined and have a gamble addiction!"
This is why indie games should, and hopefully will, be the games of the future.
DICE has stated they are not done with ME yet and that they'd love to make a sequel to it. I really hope they can make it happen. ME is an amazing game. It's true that the story and the lack of actual running missions doesn't make too much sense. But when the game gets to its core gameplay it is amazing. Also, it is possible to play through all of ME without firing a single shot, except for that one time where the game forces you. Most of the time you can avoid enemies without losing momentum.
Even with all it's problems I would still definitely place Mirror's Edge in the top 10 games of last generation.
I definitely agree with him about most things. I didn't care for mirror's edge at first. I thought the controls didn't make sense, faith would simply not respond to button commands, sometimes for no reason at all she would let go of the edge and fall to her death, but over time the game grew on me. It was different to say the least. I disagree with the idea of removing the "shooty bits" entirely but I agree that they should never be forced. It should be optional and mostly discouraged.
Lol. He tried to use a medpack on an enemy tank.
LMAO
Dude, I agree with everything except for I think the story works super well. I think it's really easy to get dissolusioned with games where i topple a dystopian regime over the course of 9 "mission" and 12 real life game hours. I like the idea that the game world is established and this is a story that occurs within it. The story doesn't have to be about the world. It's about real people within it.
Nice, makes me think of comics and movies as well! Let us use this as a cautionary tale, as we are beginning to live in a world much like the one in Mirror's Edge; Polished, Expensive-looking, but with not much going on!
There was a movie that came out around that time that was pretty much EXACTLY the same setting. White, austere, corrupt, materialistic, with an underground full of awesome parkouring runners.
Annnd I totally forget the name >.>
I am with you 100% on this one. I really enjoyed Mirror's Edge and wanted to see it do well. But the developers totally shit the bed when it came to story on this one. There were a lot of cool ideas here, but not enough exploration of said ideas.
It's ironic looking back at this video how much you predicted for Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and the improvements it would make, and I would like to see a video on the new one so you can rag on everything it got wrong. Open world for no reason other than saying "look, we can do that too!", an expanded set of parkour moves that is set back by a more limited path of traversal DESPITE the open world design, uninspired plot that still doesn't delve much into how the City functions or what anyone's real motivations are, and a collection of uninspired minigame-type activities and Far Cry-esque collectibles to needlessly populate the sparse rooftops. Mark Brown does have a fantastic video on it, but I'm specifically interested on your take of the game.
There was a trailer at E3 for a game literally titled "Mirror's Edge 2".
So yes there is a Mirror's Edge 2.
Jim Sterling did a good piece on innovation. Innovations in gaming is good and all, but if it isn't done to make a game more entertaining, then it really is just being pointless.
People may bash CoD and Battlefield, but the fact that they don't just sell, but sell on a massive scale speaks volumes of, more often than not, it is better to just polish an old idea(like FPS multiplayer) and make it better than it is to try and re-invent the wheel.
DICE could also make a good battlefield single-player campaign if they used their skills of making multi-player games.
Maybe they will explore the stuff you talked about in the prequel coming out next year