Interactive Friction: Mirror’s Edge: Episode 5: Tunnel Vision

In this episode, we take a moment to talk about Mirror’s Edge’s approach to platforming.

The subway section best emphasizes why Mirror’s Edge’s first-person platforming works, by taking away a lot of what makes it work.

When this game is at its best, precision isn’t a huge issue. It’s much more about looking around and quickly making a decision about which path to take. It’s not about timing, it’s about identifying and executing on an opportunity.

This subway section directly contrasts that. There’s no high-speed decision making going on. You’re not being directly chased by cops hot on your tail. It’s about waiting for something to go past so that you can get across to the next segment of the level.

I can’t really fault DICE for doing this, though. On the whole, Mirror’s Edge is and was an extremely experimental game. It’s doubtful that anyone would have even been able to figure this stuff out without first having Mirror’s Edge as a point of reference. For that reason, I can’t honestly be too mad about it.

Interactive Friction: Mirror’s Edge: Episode 1: Running Start

After a very long break, we’re finally back. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the fourth season of Interactive Friction.

We picked Mirror’s Edge for two big reasons:

1. We were exhausted by the end of Watch_Dogs, and needed a breather. Mirror’s Edge is a very short game, and we knew we weren’t going to get tired of it while recording.
2. Both Sam and I adore this game to no end. Even now, the color palate and extremely unique gameplay make it a breath of much-needed fresh air. This meant that any complaints we’d have would sound much more good-natured than they did for Watch_Dogs. Watch_Dogs, especially towards the middle, was far too vitriolic.

Also, since this game divides itself so nicely into chapters, we’ll be doing one chapter per episode. Many of them, especially early on, will be much shorter than the IF you’ve come to expect. Others will be about as long, or longer, depending on what happened. It’ll be interesting to trace than progression over the course of the game.

See you next time. 🙂