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Mirror's Edge

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Mirror's Edge
Mirror's Edge cover art
Developer(s)EA Digital Illusions CE
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Designer(s)Owen O'Brien (Producer)
Writer(s)Rhianna Pratchett[5]
Composer(s)Magnus Birgersson
EngineUnreal Engine 3[6]
PhysX (Physics Engine, nvidia GPU acceleration and extra FX are PC exclusive)[7]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
ReleasePS3 & Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)First Person, Action-Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Mirror's Edge is a first person action-adventure video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2008. A Windows version was also released on January 16, 2009.[9]

The game was announced on July 10, 2007, and is powered by the Unreal Engine 3 with the addition of a new lighting solution, developed by Illuminate Labs in association with DICE.[6] The game has a realistic, brightly-coloured style and differs from most other first-person perspective video games in allowing for a wider range of actions—such as sliding under barriers, tumbling, wall-running, and shimmying across ledges—and greater freedom of movement, in having no HUD, and in allowing the legs, arms, and torso of the character to be visible on-screen.[10]

The game is set in a society where communication is heavily monitored by a totalitarian regime, and so a network of runners, including the main character, Faith, are used to transmit messages while evading government surveillance.[11] During an interview with EA Europe Patrick Soderlund at Videogamer, he confirmed that a sequel to Mirror's Edge is in production.[12]

Gameplay

Mirror's Edge aims to "convey the strain and physical contact with the environment", according to senior producer Owen O'Brien, and to instill a freedom of movement not yet seen in the first-person genre.[11][13] This is achieved not only with the exercise of parkour, but also by tying camera movement more closely with character movement, such that the rate at which the camera bobs up and down increases as Faith builds up speed while running and the camera spins when she rolls.[14][15]

File:Mirrors-Edge-scr1.jpg
Mirror's Edge features a realistic first-person view and hand-to-hand combat.

Also, the arms, legs, and even torso at times are prominent and their visibility is used to convey movement and momentum, such that Faith's arms pump and the length of her steps increase with her gait, and her legs cycle and arms flail during long jumps.[10][14]

With such a heavy focus on movement, it is imperative to maintain momentum, which is done by a fluid flow of actions, creating a chain of moves.[16] Failing to string these moves together results in a loss of momentum, which can mean that Faith falls off or short of an object if a certain level of momentum is required to traverse it.[17] Controls are simplified by being context-sensitive; the "up" button will cause Faith to traverse an obstacle by passing over it—for example, by jumping, vaulting, climbing, or grabbing set pieces like zip lines—while the "down" button will cause her to perform other maneuvers like slides or rolls, or simply crouch.[17][18] In order to assist the player in creating these chains of moves, the game employs a system called "Runner Vision", which derives its name from its purpose: to depict the environment the way a runner would see it, instantly recognizing escape routes. It is a highlighting system that emphasises environmental pieces useful for progression—like pipes, ramps, and enterable doors—with the colour red as Faith approaches, though it does not always indicate the best route.[17] Further along in the game, the number of these visual hints is reduced to only indicate the end goal, though the player can opt to turn off this hint system entirely.[16] It will also be used to create puzzles in which the player must figure out how to combine the highlighted set pieces into a chain of moves in order to reach the target.[17] Another means of assistance to the player is a system called "Reaction Time", which is a form of bullet time that allows the player time to plan where to go next without losing momentum, as well as making the timing of jumps and disarms easier.[18]

Although the player character can hold weapons, O'Brien stressed that "this is an action adventure. We're not positioning this as a shooter - the focus isn't on the gun, it's on the person." Gameplay in Mirror's Edge will focus on finding the best route through the game's environments while combat takes a secondary role. In fact, on the E3 'Gameplay Walkthrough' O'Brien says that going through the game without shooting a single enemy unlocks an achievement,[11] "Test of Faith"[19] Consequently, guns may be obtained by disarming an enemy, but when the magazine is empty, it will need to be discarded.[16] Additionally, carrying a weapon slows Faith down and the heavier the gun, the more it hinders her movement, which introduces an element of strategy in determining when to trade agility for short-term firepower.[11][17]

To increase the longevity of the game, there are 3 packages (bags) hidden in each level for the player to find to unlock extras, as well as a time attack mode where the player will try to complete small portions of a level as fast as possible. Online leaderboards as well as red "ghost runners" allow the player see their fastest routes or the routes of other people on the leaderboard.

Plot

Mirror's Edge takes place in an unnamed city where a totalitarian regime monitors its citizens through invasive surveillance, tracking all forms of electronic communication in order to reduce crime and quell any challenge to its power.[20] An upcoming mayoral election seeks to retain Mayor Callaghan in power to keep the government's control on the city, though a new favoured candidate Robert Pope promises to bring change. The Eurasian[21] protagonist, Faith Connors, is a "Runner", a person trained in parkour, to stay out of sight and to use rooftops and other means to help deliver physical messages between revolutionary groups within the city.[11][22] Faith along with another Runner, Celeste, were both trained by Merc who also provides radio support for the two.[23]

File:MirrorFaith.jpg
Faith is a runner and the main character in Mirror's Edge. The game's logo imitates the shape of the design around her right eye.

Faith receives a call for help from her sister Kate, a police officer, at the offices of Pope, and finds that Pope has been murdered, clutching a piece of paper with the name "Icarus" on it. Kate tells Faith to find out more and to report anything to her superior, Lt. Miller. Faith finds a former Runner named Jacknife who identifies that Pope's head of security, a former wrestler named Ropeburn, may have more information, but does not divulge any more. Faith reports this to Lt. Miller, who arranges a meeting with Ropeburn; Faith attempts to listen in, but Ropeburn discovers her and attempts to kill her. Faith gains the upper hand, and hangs him over a rooftop, attempting to gain information, but before she can, Ropeburn is killed by an unknown assassin. Faith gives chase to the assassin, discovering the assassin works for a private security firm that the city relies on heavily for its armed forces, and that the firm is training its own form of Runners in order to capture or kill the other Runners in the city. She regains the assassin's trail to a tanker and is able to corner the assassin, finding that it is Celeste. Celeste states that she has changed sides due to "Project Icarus" to avoid being constantly hunted by security forces and to be able to live her life. Fearing that she will be arrested if she is caught with Faith, Celeste escapes from Faith and disappears.

File:MirrorCity.jpg
Mirror's Edge is set in a gleaming, clean city.

Merc tells Faith that Kate has been convicted of Pope's murder, and arranges a spot where Faith can ambush the convoy that is taking her to prison. Faith is able to successfully free Kate, telling her to flee to the lair where Merc is waiting while she lures the police away. After avoiding her chasers, Faith returns to the lair to find it has been attacked, Kate having gone missing and Merc near death. Merc is able to tell Faith that Kate has been taken to the Shard, a skyscraper that is home to Mayor Callaghan as well as the city's centralized surveillance databases. With the help of Lt. Miller, who feels Faith is the city's best hope for change, Faith is able to make her way to the server rooms and destroy the servers, unlocking access to the roof. However, during this, Miller is suddenly cut off, and a shot is heard. There, she finds that Kate is being held at gunpoint by Jacknife. Jacknife explains that Project Icarus is a plan created by Callaghan to eliminate all the Runners in the city and to stop the uncontrolled flow of information, and that unlike Celeste, who took part in it only to stay alive, Jacknife was involved in it all along as a driving force. Jacknife attempts to escape with Kate in a waiting helicopter, but Faith follows and grabs onto it; she is able to jump into the helicopter and send Jacknife plummeting to his death. As he falls, stray bullets from his gun hit the helicopter and cause it to spin out of control. Kate falls to the edge of the rooftop, and Faith jumps out just in time to avoid falling to her death. Kate begins to fall from the rooftop, and Faith leaps out and saves Kate from falling. Faith helps Kate up as the helicopter crashes below. The two hug and the camera begins to zoom back to show that they are atop a skyscraper overlooking an entire city. During the game's end credits, an announcement states that both Faith and Kate are now wanted criminals but have gone missing, while urging the citizens of the city to avoid electronic communications until the city can repair the faults with the Shard's servers. The announcement also emphasizes that further questions are now being raised about the Runners, suggesting that Project Icarus is well in motion.

Development

File:Runnervision.jpg
Runner Vision highlights environmental pieces in red, indicating where to go next.

Despite continuing to develop games for its successful Battlefield franchise, DICE wanted to diversify away from it to a "fresh, interesting, and interactive" game that had not been seen before in Electronic Arts' portfolio, according to DICE's creative director, Ben Cousins.[24] In June 2007 it was revealed that DICE was working on a game called Mirror's Edge that was mistakenly described as a first-person shooter, which was being planned with the intention to "shake up the genre".[25] On July 10, 2007, Mirror's Edge was officially announced by Electronic Arts, and at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in February 2008, the first demonstration of gameplay was shown.[18] At the Sony PlayStation Day in London on May 6, 2008, the first video featuring entirely in-game footage was revealed and released.[26]

The game uses Epic's Unreal Engine 3 rather than DICE's own Frostbite Engine because the development of Mirror's Edge began before Frostbite's development was complete. Beast, a new lighting system developed by Illuminate Labs in association with DICE, was added to the Unreal Engine in order to accentuate the different art style of Mirror's Edge and allow for the reflection of colours as well as light.[6][27]

In order to address the issue of simulation sickness that is associated with the free movement of the camera in first-person view, a small reticle was placed in the centre of the screen, though this is not apparent from the first video released because it was removed from the in-game footage shown. The reticle serves as an aiming point and as a focal point to prevent the player from experiencing dizziness, working in a similar fashion to the dance technique called spotting. Other than this reticle, no HUD exists in the game (and the reticle may be removed by choice of the player).[20][28] EA has confirmed that both the PS3 and 360 versions of the game will receive downloadable content in early 2009.[29]

On November 6, 2008 it was announced that the game had achieved Gold status and was ready to be shipped to retailers.

Release

When preordered at Game Crazy a time trial code for the demo was given, as well as a Mirror's Edge themed t-shirt. A time trial code was included in GameStop preorders as well, along with a yellow "Runner Bag" which resembles the ones that Runners use in the game. Preorders from UK retailer GAME included a Mirror's Edge edition Fenchurch t-shirt. On the Electronic Arts website, a combo package of the Mirror's Edge game plus a red "Runner Bag", similar to the ones given by Gamestop and made by Timbuk2, was available for the price of $130. On the front was the logo of the game, and the inside shows a portrait of Faith.[30]

During Comic-Con 2008, DICE announced it would create a limited run comic book adaptation of the game together with DC Comics division WildStorm.[31] The comic is drawn by Matthew Dow Smith and written by Rhianna Pratchett.[32]

A demo for Mirror's Edge was released on PlayStation Store for the Playstation Network on October 30 and Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox Live on October 31, 2008. It consists of the training level and the prologue level.

The senior producer for the game, Owen O'Brien, has divulged the plan to turn the game into a trilogy by saying, "the story we're telling at the moment is kind of a trilogy, a three-story arc."[33] Independent developer Borne Games is also currently developing a 2D side scrolling browser game interpretation of the game with Electronic Arts titled Mirror's Edge 2D. A one level beta was released on November 11, 2008, with an expanded three level beta released on February 24, 2009. The game is similar to and uses the modified engine of Borne's popular game Fancy Pants Adventures.[34]

On January 16, 2009 Mirror's Edge was released for Microsoft Windows. Reportedly the game's shortcomings control wise were fixed and, because of the short story mode, the game has added time trials at the end and speed challenges for already completed levels. There is also support for NVIDIA's PhysX where it adds detail and physics to glass, smoke and soft materials, which can be enabled and run on the CPU if the player does not have a GPU that is PhysX capable, i.e. a GeForce based graphics card with CUDA support. The game includes the SecuROM v7.x (activation based) DRM software[35], unless bought from Steam.

Downloadable content

On December 4, 2008, EA announced downloadable content for the game to be released in late January 2009. The pack will consist of seven new Time Trial maps. Owen O'Brien, Senior Producer for DICE, says on the new maps that, “The freedom of movement and control in first person has been the most popular aspect of Mirror’s Edge so we decided to distill these down to their purest form for this map pack... We deliberately chose a more abstract aesthetic that is still within our distinctive art style and then focused on flow and gameplay to create an experience and challenge very different from the main game.” An additional exclusive map will be offered free on the PlayStation 3.[36]

On February 19, 2009, after being delayed from its original scheduled release day of January 29, 2009, Electronic Arts and DICE released the first downloadable content pack for Mirror's Edge. The 'Time Trial Map Pack' is available for download for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.[37]

As with the time trials included on the game disc, the 'Time Trial Map Pack' challenges you to achieve the fastest times possible in races through various environments. The only difference in the maps included in the pack and the one included on the game disc is that instead of running through environments in the city, the pack includes specially created aesthetic environments using carefully placed shapes instead of cityscape.

The pack includes:

  • Kinetic
  • Actino Rise
  • Razzmatazz
  • Actino
  • Reflex
  • Chroma
  • Flow
  • Velocity
  • Synesthesia (PS3 Exclusive)

Soundtrack

Main article: Still Alive – the Remixes
Untitled

On October 7, 2008, E.A. announced a Mirror's Edge remix album featuring the Mirror's Edge theme song "Still Alive" by Swedish musician Lisa Miskovsky along with five remixes of the song by Benny Benassi, Junkie XL, Paul van Dyk, Teddybears and Armand Van Helden, all of which are unrelated to the soundtrack of the same name featured in the video game Portal[38]. The album, titled Still Alive – the Remixes, was released on November 11, 2008.[39]

The composer of Mirror's Edge in-game score, Magnus Birgersson (aka Solar Fields), has released an official album with the game's score.[40] It was released as a digital-only release on Amazon MP3 and the iTunes Store on May 19, 2009.

Reception

Mirror's Edge has received mostly positive reviews. Official Xbox Magazine gave Mirror's Edge 9.5/10, praising its "brilliant sense of motion and gameplay". X-Play gave it a 4/5, criticizing its short length. Play Magazine awarded it 10/10. Computer and Video Games was also on the whole positive, giving it 9/10, and calling it "A brilliant and unique experience, even if the small shooting parts aren't quite up to scratch."[42] Many reviews whilst positive overall criticised certain elements such as the "cramped" feel of some the levels[48][49][50], the short length[51], the poor storyline and animated cutscenes[48][50][52] and the 'trial and error' nature of the play.[49][53][54][55]

Gametrailers.com gave Mirror's Edge 8.3/10.[23]Eurogamer rated Mirror's Edge 8/10, praising the game's ambition and general game-play, but admitted the game would not have an appeal to everyone, saying "this is going to divide audiences down the middle. It's an ambitious game, but it manages to match its achievements with irritations at every turn; it's bold and forward-thinking, yet stilted and old-fashioned. Some will be able to overlook the gaping flaws, but others will never appreciate its moments of brilliance, and both positions are justifiable... "[56] IGN UK has given the game 8.3 out of 10, saying the graphics, sound and presentation were amazing, but didn't last for a really long time. Gamespot has given the game an overall score of 7 out of 10, praising the immersive gameplay environments, but criticizing the inconsistency of gameplay speed.

However, Edge Magazine gave the game 5/10, stating that the levels felt contrived and that there was no true freedom through the levels, merely multiple preordained paths.[57]

Electronic Arts reported over one million copies sold of the game as of February 2009.[58]

References

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  13. ^ Edge staff (August 2007), "A Leap of Faith", Edge, no. 178, pp. 54–61. Reprinted July 29, 2007, "A Leap of Faith", Next-Gen.biz
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  19. ^ Mirror's Edge Achievements
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  31. ^ Comic-con 2008: E.A. and D.C. create Mirror’s Edge comic book
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  35. ^ Games with SecuROM 7
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  37. ^ Quillen, Dustin (February 19, 2009). "Mirror's Edge DLC Available Now". 1up. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  38. ^ Mirror's Edge soundtrack will feature "Still Alive"
  39. ^ "DICE Announces Mirror's Edge Remix Album Hitting Airwaves This November". Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  40. ^ "Interview with Mirror's Edge Music Composer Magnus Birgersson (aka Solar Fields)". Retrieved 2008-10-11.
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  54. ^ Baker, Chris (2008-11-11). "Review: Mirror's Edge, the First-Person Parkour Game You Must Play". wired.com. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
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  57. ^ "Edge Online - Mirror Edge Review". Edge Magazine Online. 2008-11-26.
  58. ^ Faylor, Chris (2009-02-03). "Mirror's Edge, Dead Space Break 1 Million". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
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