Mirror's Edge

EA's apparent answer to the accusations of constant sequels and no new franchises. I was interested in this game after trying out the demo -- and when it went to £20 in the January sales, I couldn't resist picking it up.

The Packaging:

No porn. Oh well.

The Story:

Mirror's Edge plays out without much in the way of an introduction. Faith Connors is a runner; a messenger whom delivers information between underground political groups in opposition to the totalitarian regime currently in power. You're thrust head foot first into a grand conspiracy set within the confines of this Albino Apple^tm;

As you progress through the game you don't really feel attached to the story at all. There are “twists” set up that are about as obvious as a bottle of vodka at an AA meeting. What's that? The assassin is female and has a ponytail similar to your off-screen team mate's? The team mate that also warned you against pursuing your current and now interrupted course of action? She also possesses the skills of a 'runner'?

Needless to say, when the shocking and unexpected revelation was unveiled, I was speechless.

The Gameplay:

Have you ever wondered what Mario would play like in the first person? I haven't -- but if you swap triple jumps for wall-running, and Goomba's for the police, then Mirror's Edge is the closest thing to a first person platformer there is. The controls are very simple: focusing on an intuitive three button system. You can run, jump and crouch. However; depending on your speed, which object you're interacting with and how high off the ground you are, there are endless possibilities for different moves and combinations that this simplistic system hides.

There are two differing ways to play the game which come into play depending on whether you're inside or outside a building. Usually when you find yourself atop the roofs of City X, you are in for fast paced leap of faith styled sequences that range from losing police helicopters to chasing enemy 'runners'. On the other hand, when you enter the interior segments of the world, it switches to a slow paced puzzle-solving challenge. The true challenge in these sections comes from chaining together successful jumps that are often extremely tricky.

Of course, most of these jumps are -only- tricky because the bright environment seems to have caused the game to sporadically turn a blind eye to the player’s attempts at interaction with the terrain. I lost count of the sheer amount of times Faith flailed her arms helplessly as she momentarily forgot how to grab a hold of a pipe and plunged to her death. Nevertheless, if we ignore the rare collision problem, the gameplay for Mirror's Edge is sublime and smooth.

Level Design:

While the actual gameplay is great, the biggest problem with Mirror's Edge is the area in which we can play it in. The premise for each level is getting from A to B; and one of the goals is allowing players to work out their own way of making the journey. However, rather than having many overlapping options, we have one route that occasionally allows for a slight divergence.

Mirror's Edge would have suited an open world -- one in which we can approach our destination from any angle. One in which we could explore. One in which we could generally mess around in. Perhaps this is a bit out of scope for the game, but it is something I think would have greatly improved its lasting appeal. As it stands, the missions are repetitive and linear.

Graphics and Sound:

Mirror's Edge looks stunning, from the blindingly white outdoors to the mono-coloured interior designs. I found myself gaping at many of the scenes rather than continuing the missions. The first person viewpoint is enhanced by the breathing motion the camera does at all times. When you are running, the edge of your screen blurs. Your hands and legs are visible when they should be; whether that is the light palming of a column as you run around it, or your knees coming into view as you sprint along a train track. It all serves to immerse the player as he makes his way through the campaign -- a lot more than the 2 Dimensional characters do, at least.

The soundtrack of Mirror's Edge isn't great, nor is it terrible. Although the music definitely suits the atmosphere created, it does very little to actually enhance the experience. The sound effects are much better, though. The discomforting crunch as you fall from a building (and you will fall repeatedly from buildings) is a good reason to try that little bit extra in order to make a particularly troublesome jump.

Conclusion:

For all the poor level design and collision problems – Mirror's Edge is a one-of-a-kind experience that I would recommend anyone to try. It is not perfect, and it is very short. But it is very refreshing. It is the fact that this is so refreshing that makes me look forward to the future.

EA are not famed for their risk taking, or their innovation. To see them do something like this and put all the marketing effort into it as they have – it can only bode well for the future. Perhaps in ten years time we will be complaining about Mirror's Edge 4 being another case of sequelitis, but for now I am looking forward to Mirror's Edge 2. Let's hope they improve the few but telling issues by that point.

7/10 - If this game had a precedant I may have been harsher. But the refreshing and innovative gameplay deserves to be recognised.

/Shifte

Red Alert 3

Command and Conquer is a series that I remember fondly. From sending a subterranean army of Cyb0rgs to my enemies' bases in Tiberian Sun, to nicking a Soviet Cloning Vat in RA 2 - - the games had always been very over-the-top, challenging and full of glorious destruction.

So, you can imagine my anxiousness to get the game booted up and played. Anyway, lets get out of the nostalgia and into the now.

The Packaging:

You may find this section odd, but I thought it was worth mentioning as it was the first thing of note when I opened my gamebox. Red Alert 3 comes with a free soft porn poster, with every female character appearing scantily clad and posing for the camera. EA knows its target audience , I'll give them that. (Although one has to inquire if this will become a habit in the game industry. Where could this lead to? Princess Peach on the Beach? Having sun tan lotion applied by Mario Luigi?)

The Story:

Ridiculous. Insane. Full of more holes than a fine Swiss cheese. And, ladies and gentlemen, would we have it any other way? Red Alert has never been a game that took its story seriously.

The first scene you are greeted with is the grinning face of Tim Curry in a Soviet Officer's Uniform. The Union is defeated, and it is only a matter of time before the Allies storm the building. But good ol' Tim has a plan! In an accent that has more in common with a dying parrot lamenting its impending death than a Russian, Premier-to-be Tim announces his plan to go back in time and kill Einstein; ensuring the technology the allies needed to defeat the Soviet Union will never be available.

And that, my friends, is the part that makes the most sense. Later on in the game you will come to meet "Parabears", Giant-Mecha-Samurai, Light Sabers and Mancannons. Be prepared.

The Gameplay:

The gameplay is much unchanged from the originals. Chances are, if you're a person interested in this review (both of you), this will be a good thing. There have been some tweaks that certainly do help things however:

1) Nuclear Missiles no longer exist. As I stated earlier, the death of Einstein seems to have had the added bonus of removing these gameplay spoiling monsters from the Multiplayer. They have been replaced with "Super powers" - which bear a striking resemblance to Battle for Middle-Earths' spells (although with far fewer options). The more 'chaos' you cause, the more power you build up. In fact, lets not hide it. The system -is- a direct copy from Battle for Middle-Earth, but it is also a very welcomed copy. Anything that encourages less "turtling" and removes the famous "race to get nukes" is a good thing if you ask me. Which you are, since you're reading this.

2) Resource gathering has had its much needed rebalancing. No longer can you have an army of resource collectors -- now you'll have one per refinery, drastically reducing the ability to 'Rush'.

3) Naval Combat. Perhaps the greatest change made. The need for a navy has become one of the most important aspects of Red Alert 3. With so many land units now able to swim/float, and the general buff to the power levels of water/amphibious units, one has to consider the placement and volume of naval units a lot more carefully than before. Especially considering the vast portions of water on competitive maps.

The Campaign:

The Campaign portion of RTS games is often considered an afterthought to many gamers -- and I can see why. While playing through the story might give a few hours of entertainment, it is the multiplayer portions that offer the greatest challenge and staying power.

For me, though, the campaign is as equally important as the multiplayer. A good story and challenge against the game can be the perfect way to relax and try ''Cool stuff'' rather than concentrating fully on the min-maxing world of the online RTS.

I've already covered the story of Red Alert 3 -- it's zany, senseless and charming. Box one is checked. The progression path once you select your faction is extremely linear, however. Not that I am one of those folks who thinks linearity is necessarily bad, but I had hoped for a little choice when it came to what battles to fight, and when.

This installment in the series has been built from the ground up to support co-op missions. In fact, every mission you do has at the very least a computer controlled ally who has pretty decent AI. This isn't the Eldar from Dawn of War's final mission -- these guys know their objectives and they go about completing them in a manageable manner. With a simple UI in the top left corner (with options such as "control area") you can command your allies and change their goal to whatever task you set. When you do not do this, they tend to follow you while pursuing their own agenda. If you have a large force moving towards an enemy base your allies will send you back up, or attack from a different angle. Not only that, but when playing co-op online, the extra player should help with particularly difficult missions.

"Should", being the operative word. The missions are very, very easy. From start to finish I only failed one, and that was because I lost track of the special characters location (whom was soon snipered). My experience of 'Hard' mode was about as difficult as 'Super Easy' in Pacman.

Multiplayer:

The improvements made to the gameplay have certainly helped multi-player. The lack of nukes, renewed importance of the navy and slower paced resource gathering have certainly ironed out a lot of the annoyances of the previous games. However, not much else has changed. More patches will be needed until the game is completely balanced, and the experience still lacks a bit of depth. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a fun, destructive multiplayer game that has its tongue firmly in its cheek - you could do much worse than Red Alert 3. It will, at the very least, tide you over for some of the time until we are blessed with Starcraft 2, Dawn of War 2 and Empire Total War.

Graphics and Sound:

As far as appearance goes -- Red Alert 3 possesses the same style as previous games in the franchise. It is colourful, cartoony and vibrant (as opposed to the realistic approach of Tiberium 3). The water in the game looks amazing, and the details put into the enviroment are top notch. Special effects have also been tuned up and remind me of the early beta video's of Diablo 3.

The music played throughout the game suits the mood exceptionally well, and it always seems to kick in properly when the action is about to start. Each faction has its own soundtrack -- which helps with getting into the 'feel' of them. Very little beats storming an enemy base as the Soviets while a heavy guitar rift kicks.

Conclusion:

The game is not revolutionary. It's exactly what C&C has always been, but improved. Time will tell if the series will ever take a risk and do something different -- and with the abundance of triple A strategy games on the horizon, it may well have to.

6/10 : better than I expected, but not enough of a change from previous games to be considered much better than average.

/Shifte

It's my turn now?

I'd like to do an introduction.

What's that? You don't care? Hrmpft. I only get one shot at a decent first-post, and your pessimism will not put me off.

Anyway - I'm going to post computer game related reviews and rants articles that you will no doubt find extremely inciteful and an overall joy to read.

/Shifte