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Life On The Edge

Gamers are in for a truly unique first-person adventure as EA explores the untapped potential of this perspective and the possibilities of movement in its latest original IP, Mirror’s Edge

Perhaps it’s an unintended comment on humanity’s warlike nature or a sign of its limited imagination, but any game featuring the first-person perspective as a standard viewpoint is almost guaranteed to be based around one of a few things: guns, shooting, and death. From the days of cutting down pixelated Nazi soldiers in the original Wolfenstein to sniping fully rendered ones in the upcoming Call Of Duty or Brothers In Arms, the term ‘first-person’ has, more often than not, been followed by ‘shooter’.

There have been exceptions, of course, with the likes of The Elder Scrolls series and this month’s Fallout 3 (coincidentally developed by the same company) bringing the first-person perspective across to a whole new genre, but their focus on combat makes it difficult for them to differentiate themselves from the trigger-happy bullet fests they sit alongside on retail shelves.

Breaking this tried and tested mould is Mirror’s Edge, the newest IP to join EA’s library of titles and a release destined to shake up a genre with its radical new approach to the first-person perspective. While guns are present and can be used to shoot enemies, such behaviour is discouraged as the game concentrates instead on one of the most basic but essential gameplay mechanics.

“What makes this game unique is the fact that it focuses on movement in first-person, not just shooting guns,” says Nick Channon, producer at developer DICE. “Clearly, the game contains guns and combat. However, the core of the game is movement through an urban environment.”

Set in a fictional utopian metropolis, Mirror’s Edge takes place in a world where information is monitored and the only way to transport messages safely is by entrusting them to the Runners, who traverse the city via the skyways and rooftops. Slipping into the shoes of a Runner named Faith, players are sent on a mission to discover why her sister was framed for a crime she did not commit, all the while taking care to avoid the forces that are hunting her.

As they progress through the story, penned by the writer behind Heavenly Sword and Overlord, Rhianna Pratchett, gamers must make their way across the city between objectives by freerunning (also known as parkour), leaping between buildings, climbing onto roofs and using any means they can to avoid being captured or killed.

Should she be confronted by the corrupt cops out to stop her, Faith can incapacitate or disarm them with a few acrobatic martial arts moves. If they get their hands on enemy weaponry, players will be able to return fire, but this comes with both moral and physical consequences, as Faith’s abilities are diminished with the weight of a rifle in her hands.

While the game may look and sound complex, seemingly narrowing the game’s appeal to a hardcore audience, the decisions made when creating the protagonist and how she travels around her world ultimately defines Mirror’s Edge’s target demographic.

“We have designed the game so that it will appeal to a broad audience,” explains Channon. “When developing Faith as a character, we were very careful that we didn’t go down the route of a typical game character. She is a normal person with normal proportions. This approach has meant that she resonates with both a male and female audience.

“Additionally, the control system is very simple to pick up, and you can use the basic controls throughout the game, thus making the game very accessible to a more casual gamer,” he continues. “However, the beauty of the game is the fact if you can use the controls in combinations to pull off more advanced moves, then you can move through levels very quickly, and there’s rewards for doing that, thus appealing to more experienced gamers.”

LEAP OF FAITH

It is this freedom that will prove to be one of the biggest draws for self-proclaimed hardcore gamers. While the plot splits the game into a series of levels, the sense of scale in each one will be unprecedented and players will be able to make their own way around each level with a little skill and imagination, experimenting in a city where every ledge and pipe can provide them with access to new areas and routes. It’s a unique concept, to be sure, and one executed magnificently when seen in action, but where did the development team at DICE find the idea for such an unorthodox game?

“We were prototyping and working on concept ideas for a new game,” explains Channon. “We tried a lot of different things but two simple aspects were constant; first-person in an urban setting. However, we soon found that an urban environment. However, we soon found that an urban environment really highlights the limitations of traditional first-person controls. Everything becomes an obstacle and the way you have to navigate the environment becomes very unnatural. It was then that we really started exploring the idea first-person movement and soon we were completely hooked on it. Everything we did flowed from that central core of movement.”

Accomplishing their goal of creating both an expansive world for players to explore and method of movement for them to experiment with is Channon’s proudest achievement on this project. He says: “For me, it comes down to the way it looks and the ways it feels. I must have played it countless times but I still get such a great feeling when I’m sprinting as fast as I can through a level, making perfect leaps between buildings, or wrenching an enemy’s weapon out of his hands.

“Funnily enough, one of the toughest parts was getting was getting Faith’s walking and running the feel right,” Channon adds. “It sounds silly but because most of us don’t jump between buildings on a daily basis, it’s much easier to sell that fantasy. But we all walk and run every day and we know what it feels like, so getting that to feel good was a challenge. We were tweaking it for months.”

Additionally, the producer is proud the game features such a distinctive look. “We wanted you to know that you were looking at Mirror’s Edge when you saw a screenshot; it had to stand out,” he says. “Being in first-person, you play the game through the eyes of Faith, and the visuals you see are how she perceives the city. She sees the city as a cold, austere place. The controls that have been placed on the people living there mean the city has lost its vibrancy. This why we have the very unique art style within the game.”

When asked what EA has planned for Mirror’s Edge in the future, both Channon and the publisher’s UK product manager Kevin Flynn were optimistic but keen to focus on this all-important first release. Channon states his team are doing their utmost to make Mirror’s Edge the “best game we possibly can”, cheekily hinting “beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see”.

Flynn says: “The future’s looking good. We’ve got a great game and an incredibly relevant and exciting heroine in Faith but at the moment it’s important that we focus on making the launch of Mirror’s Edge as successful as possible because it deserves it.”

This is certainly a statement much of the world’s gaming press would agree with. Having kept a keen eye on Mirror’s Edge, games magazines and websites have been singing the praises of EA’s ambitious project, despite it only spending a little over a year in the public light.

“We’ve been very pleased with the press coverage we have received to date, going all the way back to last summer and the worldwide announcement in Edge magazine,” says Flynn. “In fact, we’ve had four UK magazine covers to date and hundreds of specialist and mainstream column inches in print and online that seem to indicate a real groundswell of support for a title that the press seem genuinely excited about. We hope to deliver on this high level of anticipation, which has provided us with genuine belief in the game but which we must also make sure doesn’t create an uncomfortably high level of hype.”

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS

When promoting Mirror’s Edge, EA is keen to make sure consumers understand the unique space the game occupies rather than dismissing it as another FPS. Flynn says: “We want people to have a new gaming experience. It’s important consumers realise that this isn’t a first-person shooter; it’s an action-adventure game through a first-person perspective… It’s also important to draw gamers into the rich fiction of Mirror’s Edge. Rhianna Pratchett has helped to craft a very relevant storyline about control, totalitarianism and the search for freedom and justice.”

In terms of marketing, the company is treating the game like a Triple A release, so the campaign behind it will be just as extensive, if not more so, than its established franchises. A demo will be released ahead of the game’s launch to give gamers a taste of Mirror’s Edge’s unique features, and those who pre-order the game at selected retailers will receive a code to unlock a Time Trial mode in this demo. As well as a TV campaign, EA has secured advertising on cinema screens – something the publisher is particularly looking forward to seeing.

“Faith’s freerunning skills also provide excellent inspiration to some very cool and dynamic digital advertising, experiential and PR activity,” Flynn adds. “Mirror’s Edge will also be a big part of our Be The One event in Trafalgar Square, which takes place during the London Games Festival on October 31 and November 1. We might also have a few special tricks up our sleeves, so watch this space.”

Mirror’s Edge is just one of the various IPs EA will be launching this quarter, as well as the usual instalments of its most popular franchises, and the publisher believes these new properties to be just as important to its business, especially Mirror’s Edge, which met critical praise at both E3 and Leipzig, where it won the Games Critics Awards for Best Original Game and Best Xbox Game respectively.

“Every title we publish is important to us but Mirror’s Edge represents an enormous opportunity for this year,” says Flynn. “Gamers and press alike recognise its genuine originality. DICE is a great studio with a great track record and we hope to make it a stand out hit and establish a strong new IP in the marketplace before Christmas.

“launching new IP of course represents different marketing challenges than established brands such as FIFA or Need For Speed,” he continues. “Our key challenge is to communicate to both our core market and to a wider audience the genuinely unique gameplay and aesthetic features in Mirror’s Edge that sit it apart from a standard first-person shooter experience, and to establish Faith as a fresh and exciting new gaming heroine. It’s about making a splash and exciting and engaging consumers, helping them to understand that Mirror’s Edge might offer something that simply isn’t available anywhere else.”

SUMMARY
Mirror’s Edge is a truly unique title, bringing new ideas and high quality to the eagerly awaiting gamers already anticipating its release.