SE51 > /dev/null > Games

So the game I have been waiting for a long time, “Mirror’s Edge”, finally hit the shelves on Friday, at last. So naturally I tested it, and here is my verdict.

DICE, or Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment, has been working on this for quite some time, and it shows. In case you don’t know DICE: they are most widely known for the creation of the Battlefield series and are now a subsidiary of EA.

What’s the plot? We are in a city which has had a violent past. Riots, downfall. Politics didn’t work out. The entire city was rebuilt after the riots, the government has put new measures into place to make the people feel safe. So everything is monitored, highly monitored. Think 1984 on steroids. So transporting information is becoming a lucrative business if it shouldn’t go through the wires. This is where Runners come into play. People that see rooftops as their playground, where they can move freely. Usually the cops leave them alone. You’re Faith, one of these Runners. You’re pretty good at what you do. But you despise what the government is doing and you chose this lifestyle. Your sister Kate is a cop, she supports the government. However then she is framed for a murderer she didn’t commit. So Faith’s and Kate’s paths collide. And this is where the story begins.

On the edge of a utopian city is where Faith’s and her sister’s paths collide

The game starts off at the stage that you might have seen in the very first “Attractor” video (as they call it). If you have seen it you will familiar immediately with the setting and get the hang of the controls pretty easily. It is intuitive, and easy to master.

The whole thing is a good mix between action, puzzle solving, and quick thinking from your end. There are scenes where you simply have to evade cops. There are scenes when you have limited time before they break through a door and you HAVE to be out of there. Or when you have to solve the puzzle and have got only so and so much time to proceed after you solved it.

There is no real guidance (except you press B on the XBox 360 and it will tell you which direction you have to head to), there is no HUD, there is no ammo display, no health display. You see what Faith sees. She’s in the end human, and humans don’t have HUDs in their eyes. Which I find highly interesting - gives the game more the feeling that you are doing everything on your own. The only thing that kinda helps you is called “Runner Vision”, which highlights elements you can use in red. Such as wooden ramps, or entire cranes.

Well of course there are some odd spots in the game at which you will curse - but also be surprised if you solve them - and how easy it was. Seriously.

One of the coolest scenes in the game: Jump from a crane to the next rooftop

Currently I am in Chapter 5 of possible 9. And all in all… man. Wow.

The city looks amazing, everything looks pretty photo realistic. The city however is mostly white, some colors populate the city scape. Which is okay, fits the whole atmosphere perfectly.

What’s my verdict?

RUN - don’t walk - RUN to your next game store.

Unlike anything I’ve ever played, it is truly amazing - it lives up to its hype. Poetry in motion is what I’d say. Perfect 10 through and through, worth every cent. Make sure you play it on a high-def screen.

Mirror’s Edge
DICE / EA
Platforms: XBox 360 / PlayStation 3 / PC (coming soon)
Released: November 14, 2008

Lisa Miskovsky
Still Alive
Mirror’s Edge OST

Source

Well the obvious answer to this one would probably be ‘even more high-def’. Okay, admittedly, at some point an image can reach such a depth that it is no longer distinguishable from reality. Some experts in Japan are working on the successor of HDTV, named UHDTV (Ultra High Definition TV). But don’t expect that to be near any household soon.

But that’s not my point. Next thing up is making it even more realistic, making you even more a part of the game or movie as you already are. And just how do you do that?

The Wii is getting closer by tracking movements in three dimensions of the controller, and by doing so rendering the image according to the movement you made. Pretty cool. But… we’re still looking at a simulated 3D image.

Okay. In the end, a screen is a screen, and everything is bound to its surface. But there are tricks or you can fool your brain into thinking that what you see is an actual window, with full three dimensions. Meaning that when you move your head, everything else moves with you, like it would in the real world.

Johnny Chung Lee, from the Carnegie Mellon University, became aware that this effect needs to be achieved for truly stunning 3D experiences. Make your screen a window into another world. A real window.

And so he did.

Watch this.

Now we wait for the next console generation.

I didn’t know about it until yesterday night, and since then I have spent some time collecting information about this game. So what do we know about it? We know that it’ll be released for XBox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows. We also know it’s going to be in the shelves on November 11. At least that is the targeted date. It is built upon the fairly recent Unreal Engine 3, which enables real stunning effects.

The main character is a beautiful (and hot) girl named Faith. She is a runner and has to rescue her sister from the corrupt government. She cannot use normal means of communication such as mobile or landline phones, Internet or email, or maybe even letters. Everything appears to be monitored for the government, and she can’t risk being exposed.

Faith is pretty hot and sweet all right, but also has a dangerous task on her hands

The focus of the game is to maintain physical contact with the environment, while trying to figure out the next optimal move. In the game, the so-called Runner Vision enables Faith to see what would be the next move - Runner Vision highlights elements of the environment in red.

Runner Vision highlights elements Faith can use in red

Over the course of the game the Runner Vision will remain, but the highlighted elements will decrease, leaving the choice of where to go next to the player. This enables for more choice, more openness, more puzzle solving fun.

While this game is First-Person, it is not a shooter as such. It could be more categorized as a Parkour solving game, similar to maybe Prince Of Persia - only set in a free roaming environment, similar to Liberty City in GTA. Weapons appear to be only a secondary element to Faith.

Police will apparently try everything to stop Faith from getting to her sister

The screens you see here are all live renders from the console, meaning it is in-game footage. And let’s be honest here: it looks absolutely awesome!

The trailer for the game gives a pretty good taste of what’s to come in November - the game itself and a pretty awesome soundtrack. In the trailer, you can see a lot of detail, and it shows that the makers have put in messages, that tell you even more about the game, and the work behind.

From the trailer analysis of GameTrailers.com. Can she jump as well?

All in all, I can’t really wait for this game now. I’m seriously looking forward to it in November. And I hope you do too, after having seen the trailers.

Mirror’s Edge Trailer

Mirror’s Edge Trailer - Analysis

You know, by now you should have heard or know that Liberty City, the fictional place and center stage of Grand Theft Auto IV, is based on New York. This time it really shows, many landmarks, streets, parks, and buildings have their Liberty City counterparts. If you don’t have the game, or not seen all of the landmarks, here’s one example. Left: Real life, right: Liberty City.

Wanna see ‘em all? Or most of them? I bet you do. Check out the below link.

Flickr: Sightseeing in Liberty City

You know I think the Wii is great. Stunning even. But there’s still one problem: Due to its lacking graphical horse power, many games won’t be on that console. But I want to play GTA IV! I want to go to Liberty City! Stop whining is probably what you say. So I did. This is why I got myself a brand new XBox 360 (Pro version with HDMI port) on the weekend, including Rockstar’s latest flick which, if possible, would earn 11 points out of a possible 10. Or make that 12. San Andreas already had 11.

Okay so I set up the machine over component because I had no HDMI cable left. Damn! But luckily that component cable came with the console and it was set up in seconds. The console was told to do 720p first, but then went higher to 1080i. I know I know… Interlaced isn’t as good as progressive - but to be honest, there was no noticable difference in the display, except that the resolution is bigger. Which is as it should be. Okay. So console running at almost full graphical horsepower, I dared to put in Rockstar’s latest flick, the one the world is talking about.

And man… the intro video alone was worth the money I spent earlier on that morning, and not only that: I would be able to play all the other games people have been talking about, like Bioshock or Halo 3. Honestly, I should have gotten the console a lot earlier.

What can I say… the detail of the city, of everything, is so incredible - it’s difficult to describe in a few words because it’s on a level that you have to see to fully understand. People on the street are most of the time random, it is unlikely you will see the same guy again in a while. There are people arranging meetings on mobile phones. Drug dealers. Gangs.

So here’s a little rundown of the things I have discovered so far:

- 3 subway lines, and you can use them free
- You can watch TV in your apartment
- Like 10 or so radio stations
- Fake Internet including a social network named MyRoom
- There are Pool Halls
- Bowling places, too
- Regrettably the amusement park is not usable (or not usable yet?)
- Have been eating burgers
- Some select cars have a GPS, a smaller number of select cars have a talking GPS
- The levels that could be built up in San Andreas, like Stamina, are missing
- City is absolutely amazing in detail, skyline looks like, well, New York
- Arcade machines have a some sort of Tetris in 3D
- Mobile Nicco has with him is customizable in terms of settings and ringtones

Guys. If you have a 360, or PS3: Get this game - NOW! Don’t walk to the next store, RUN - before they run out of stock. And I haven’t seen much of the city, or even the multiplayer yet.

It’s gonna take forever to explore everything in the city… and that’s what I really think is awesome beyond words. You know when you get the box, unfold the map and turn it around so that you get familiar with Liberty City’s Subway network.

I had my eye on EVE Online for quite a while now, always fighting with myself whether I should try it out or not. For those who don’t know what it is: EVE Online represents the largest gaming universe on the planet, and is a MMORPG. Much like World Of Warcraft - except that this is set in space. So something more for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, WoW is pretty cool and neat and all - but I’m just not the fantasy guy you see.

EVE takes place in a time after mankind left Earth, and was able to traverse the vastness of the universe with Stargates first. Later, a wormhole was discovered, which could take us into even greater distances, we had so much more to explore. However the wormhole collapsed, and man was eventually split into four races. Each of them now has their own characteristics, weaknesses, strengths… you name it. The EVE universe is the universe in which the four races stayed after the collapse of the wormhole.

I have had a go for only two days, and all I can tell you is that it is incredibly vast, you can become who ever you want to be. There are entire corporations run by players, organizations, and military arms.

My tiny ship on its way to another Stargate, employing the Warp Drive

I wasn’t sure if my iMac (which is the new one, 20 inch) would be able to withstand the demand of the game in terms of graphical juice. Well so far it looks pretty damn awesome, and it runs in full native resolution with a great amount of detail. I’m sure when I upgrade to a paid account I will have more settings available.

All in all, give it a go. You can fly free for two weeks and honestly, you won’t be disappointed.

Yes, this is for real. This guy solves the entire Super Mario Bros. 3 game in in a little bit more than 11 minutes. Incredible.