Shine

I'm writing this while listening to the Mirror's Edge main menu theme, and eventually the main theme to Mirror's Edge, Shine.

I love Mirror's Edge. It's one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever seen in gaming, and it was executed beautifully. The City it takes place in is beautiful, working with simple colors (most buildings are either white stone or black glass), and any actual color is simple. No gradients, nothing like that. It's beautiful in its simplicity. It also feels like I'm not really missing anything when I'm running full bore across rooftops (Of which there are sadly few, more on that later).

God, this music is so relaxing.

I also really like the main character, Faith. She's, well, human. It's easy to side with her, and she doesn't talk much while running, so it's easy to imagine what she's thinking. The other characters are really just there to advance the plot, so they're not really that important in the big scheme of things. Faith is the real star here, and it's a very personal experience to control her. It kind of feels like I'm really her when I play this game, it's a game that I can get immersed in very easily. Soon after I start playing, I start to think like a runner, like she would. It's amazing. Try to find character like this in Halo's Master Chief or Gears of War's Marcus Fenix. I dare you.

I have two main qualms with this game. First off, it's very easy to die. I died so many times getting through the campaign, whether it was mistiming or misaiming (That's a word, right?) a jump, or getting shot to Hell by the many soldiers later in the campaign. But, I can forgive Mirror's Edge for that. I die all the time in games like this, so I'm used to it. My second qualm is that there aren't nearly enough actual rooftops to cross in this game. Half of the campaign is set elsewhere, like warehouses, office buildings, or even freighters. I don't have that much of a problem with that, but I would like a lot more of the open freedom of rooftops in this game, I don't want to have to rely on the time trial maps for this. Granted, a lot of the non-rooftop areas were still interesting, with the same great level design, but come on.

Mirror's Edge is pretty much my favorite game of 2008, except for Metal Gear Solid 4, since, well, it's freaking MGS4. I'm so glad I own this game, and I really can't wait until they come out with a sequel. I'm going to preorder that as soon as it's announced, I assure you. What do I want in ME2? Other than more rooftops and maybe even a few gameplay enhancements, more than anything I want a free roaming mode. Think the Spider-Man games, I want to be able to run around the city not really doing anything, except maybe find some hidden items or something like that, but nothing really obtrusive, more like something to keep in the back of your mind while you play.

I don't think I've ever played a game where I've felt so immersed in it. As I said before, as I was running across rooftops, I quickly started thinking like Faith would, thinking of possible ways to go forward. It was an amazing experience, one I haven't felt in any other game. I just have to pray that EA and DICE don't screw up the sequel.