Mirror's Edge
In an industry overwhelmed by macho power fantasies, Mirror's Edge represents a breath of fresh air in the medium. Mirror's Edge core conceit is the opposite of that of most games, rather than head straight into combat, you spend much of the game avoiding it. Its a far different mind set than that of most games, and requires an interesting skill set that far too few games allow you to utilize. Mirror's Edge is essentially a first person platformer, while many first person games have included platforming elements, few, seem to do so successfully. Mirror's Edge is a great example of how focusing on a single mechanic can result in an incredibly focused and polished experience.By the end of the game, you have learned this skill set, and have had time to polish these skills.
Mirror's Edge art direction is some of the strongest in the medium, the clean, high contrast world that you are placed in is brilliantly executed, and rather eerie at times. This all works towards creating a very interesting Science-fiction world that I was still interested in learning about after completing then main campaign. Mirror's Edge's main protagonist Faith is the rare example off a strong highly motivated female protagonist, although her dialogue comes of as a little bland and emotionless at times faith is a great character to hold up the narrative arch.
The games difficulty ramps up towards the end, and the game becomes more of a trial by death puzzler than a smooth action game. This can be quite frustrating when the most enjoyable aspect of the game is running smoothly from obstacle to obstacle at high speeds. The check-pointing is good however and I never felt like turning off the game and walking away.
Mirror's Edge's cutscenes are interesting, they are handled in a Half Life sort of style, from the first person view, yet they lock your movement. When the writing hits and the animation isn't overtly robotic these scenes work really well, however there are several instances when the writing fails and the animation enters a bizarre uncanny valley realm. They are also Anime style cutscenes which bookend each mission. These scenes act as exposition for the upcoming mission and work well, yet feel sort of out of place in the game, mostly due to the perspective and art style shift. Mirror's Edge strongest narrative mechanic is simply the environment, the world is full of little bits of fiction, from advertisements to news reels that help to expand the over all narrative.
Mirror's Edge is a great game and something genuinely unique. It is a great example of trying something new and interesting in the medium, it saddens me to think that we may never see a sequel.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
I went into Assassin's Creed Brotherhood with a lot of doubts. I wasn't sure 1 year was enough time to put out a new game, I wasn't sure that multi-player fit within the realm of Assassin's Creed and I wasn't sure whether the Italian setting could be interesting enough for another trip around.
I was wrong.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood picks up seconds after Ezio and Desmond left off in Assassin's Creed 2, and follows Ezio's journey as he builds the foundation of a brotherhood of Assassins while trying to stop the Cesare Borgia. Brotherhood's campaign is shorter than that of its predecessor but is also more concise with far fewer weak areas. Brotherhood has the strongest narrative arch of the series, and its villain, Cesare Borgia, gives one of the strongest performances in the series if not one of the strongest performances this year. The writers also seem far more accustomed to their cast, the characterization is much stronger and the dialogue is genuinely hilarious at times.
The Stealth sequences within the game also feel much better moment to moment, rivaling that of Metal Gear and Splinter Cell. However these sequences are far and few between, and instead you will be forced to play through some incredibly frustrating and tunneled 'stalking sequences'. These missions don't allow for much experimentation or creativity, forcing you along an all to narrow path that feels less like a test of skill and more like a test of patience.
Rome, the sole location of Brotherhood, is the largest, most interesting and fully realized area in the series. Brotherhood takes place in an interesting time for Rome, the city is in a state of great change, and is just spectacular to look at, several times throughout the game I would just stop to take in the scenery. Rome also features an upgrade system, similar to that of your villa in Assassin's Creed 2, despite giving you a greater feeling of impact on the surrounding world, these actions felt out of place. Why the man responsible for assassinations and murder feels the need to be an entrepreneur I will never know. Brotherhood as a whole incorporates plenty of RPG elements, some of which are well integrated and believable, and some that feel bizarre and mechanical.
Horses, are perhaps the worst aspect of Brotherhood. In AC2 Horses were forbidden from the interior of the cities and for good reason, in small spaces the horse controls poorly and avoiding people in the streets would lead to your horse rearing into a wall, turning around and bolting back in the opposite direction. Another situation where Brotherhoods control scheme bests itself is during the interior platforming sequences, when expected to be precise the Assassin's Creed Control scheme can feel very frustrating with my hands contorted around the controller.
Combat is also far more refined, now allowing you to take a more aggressive approach, stringing together critical kills together and making combat feel like much less of a chore.
This allows for far more exciting action sequences, and combined with the action set pieces of the game create much greater thrills than ever before. These action sequences paired with the methodical stealth and narrative sequences create a great overall experience of superb quality.
