senataur:

One of the parts I liked best about Prince of Persia : Warrior Within, were the Dharka chases. Where the game forced you to platform at speed with the bad guy on your heels. The whole theif Idea was a kind of way to introduce that same element of hot on your heels chase action, just with the cops on your tail rather than a monster. It could be done sandbox. Just like the way the Driver series did it with car chases. I was envisioning a game where you to stealthed into buildings, disable security systems etc, to steal the loot. Then finnish it off with rooftop escapes of 3D platforming fun.

I don't think ME needed to be open world or have any new elements like you've described. I can see the appeal, but I still hold that the big problem of the game was trying to create a story and game world that legitimised the game mechanic in the same way that (for example) most FPS games create scenarios and worlds that legitimise being a gun toting superhero.

To me it's like taking Tony Hawk or Skate and trying to create a narrative out of it. It doesn't work. It's better to have individual levels with various challenges. In the story mode of ME you use the "Playground" as a tutorial. In the Time Trials they create 3 separate runs from it. The tutorial takes about 10 minutes tops. I think I spent 5 hours 3 starring the Playground Trials. If the Playground was part of an open world the only way I could see myself giving that much time to it would be if they still had the 3 time trials there, but as part of some kind of open world instance quest type thing; a guy standing at the start point whose sole purpose is to dish you out a pre-scripted excuse for why he wants you to run the time trial. Tony Hawk wound up doing that around the time everyone said they'd run out of ideas.

Or look at the most recent Prince of Persia. It's open world, and the only reason you don't fast travel everywhere is because you have to collect all the light seeds after you've purified each level. So you wind up running each level twice, three times for some, and so the game takes a good 30 hours when there's really about 12 hours of content there. It's unnecessary padding and you can see in the reviews that that doesn't go unnoticed.

I never did have a problem with the camera or the collission physics, and to me the bloom was only a mild irritant. "Shocking brevity" does seem to be a pretty good description, though.

By the way, does anyone else here remember Breakdown? It was the Namco first-person melee game that came out for oldschool XBox way back in like 2002.

I loved that game like Yahtzee loves Branston Pickle.

I was envisioning a game where you to stealthed into buildings, disable security systems etc, to steal the loot. Then finnish it off with rooftop escapes of 3D platforming fun.

It's a free running game. Free running is about speed and action. It's not Trilby's Art of Theft.

As for an Assassin's Creed open-world thing... no thanks. Sure, Burnout: Paradise, Assassin's Creed, and others did it well, but I'd settle with just having slightly more freedom.

I said this game would suck when I saw the trailers. I played the demo and I knew it would be a mass of meh and just be average.

This is one of Yahtzee's best reviews.

Another thing, the time trials are what really makes the game for me. There's no combat at all, just pure parkour. Just trying to hit all the checkpoints to get the best time. It's very addictive. I get the sense that Yahtzee didn't even try this aspect of the game before ragging on it.

Mirror's Edge will be one of those gems that people years from now will acknowledge as a classic. A game that actually dared to use first person in a platforming environment - and it WORKED. That alone is a HUGE accomplishment.

didn't extratech give this game 5 stars?

i didn't even know about the game until ben made posted this video...

ahaha.. its so true.. play the demo like 4 or 5 times and your all set!

Probably, it has been a very highly reviewed game. I did enjoy the demo but haven't played the full game yet...We shall see

Where did you buy it for $100? (just asking)

i did actually get to play it in JB HI-FI today. for a first-person game the controls were a bit strange even though i just picked up the controller and predicted how it would work.

Looked good. But a bit of a disappointment.

Viggo:
I was hoping this game would turn out sorta like Portal but it just added another line to my "do not buy this game" list...

yeah, i actually bought mirror's edge in hopes of the same, and was far less disappointed in it than yahtzee. but as always, i loved the review nonetheless :D

I was really looking forward too this game that is until this review arrived and made me second guess myself buuuuuuut each to their own I guess I might end up enjoying it after all so i'm gonna get it anyway :P

I didnt think people actually listen to Yahtzee when considering buying games.

I certainly dont. I loved this game and his review.

I must be crazy because no one else likes this game. I am a freerunner so that is probably why I like this game. I don't think though it was worth 60 bucks. It is good just not that good. Very funny, good job.

I'm replying to this awfully late, but I thought I'd comment on this:

Leyvin:
I could be wrong, but isn't $60 (USD) ~$95 (AUSD) ... oh my god you're getting charged an extra $5 for titles to be imported!! Call the freaking papers this is the biggest scandal EVER!

Sorry mate, but I live in the UK; we're charged £50 (GBP) per title, which is ~$75 (USD) and only a year ago it used to be closer to ~$90 (USD), if anyone has a right to claim their being ripped off I think it's the British.

Honestly, that's more to do with how badly the Australian dollar is going than anything else. Just a year ago, I could say we were paying almost twice as much as what the Americans were for videogames. I mean, our dollar was almost at the same level as the American dollar, yet we were still getting new games for $100-120 AUS. Now things have changed, and (for a little while at least) our right to bitch isn't really there, but it doesn't change the fact that we were being screwed over more than you guys.

Leyvin:
Especially given most of the time we have to wait 3-6months for titles damn well developed here. Does that happen with Australian developed titles? No it bloody doesn't
Sure you might have to wait an extra few months, for no apparent reason but guess what that's because your review board is retarded... We have to wait for it to be translated in to English, German, Spanish, French, etc. etc. and you know what's more irritating about that is 90% of the titles we actually have published here ONLY contain English. So claiming it's the language barrier doesn't even make sense anymore.

So what do they actually need to do? Oh yeah change it to PAL format... OMG back in the day that was crazy changing from NTSC 60Hz to PAL-I 50Hz, but ya know what we all sodding use PAL-60 or HDMI now; both are sodding internation given PAL-60 is identical to NTSC (cept it has a better colour bandwidth).

I'm a little uncertain about this, but I'm pretty sure that even today, we get the same versions as you guys do. We're considered to be Britain's weird cousin for some reason. We even get our games around the same time you guys do, with all the same languages. But heck, maybe things have changed for the 360 and PS3. I know Nintendo still group us together, at least.

Leyvin:
You want to bitch about feeling like a third class gaming citizen do so and all, but maybe you should do it in a room full of over-priviledged yanks. Cause believe me the UK gets shafted on every front when it comes to games... which ya know seems a bit rich given let's look back and see just where the most influencial hardware and software developers came from... HMM I wonder!

Could even say that Per-Earning-Potencial in to this whole equasion, but seriously anyone actually want to do that? Do you guys even want to know what the adverage earning potencial in this country is right now? Trust me I'm sure if half of you knew what the situation was like in the UK maybe you'd feel a hell of alot better about what you all pay, cause we're raped in every direction ... and we damn well accept it. In-fact personally I never care until someone bitches about how much things cost in their own country.

"Oh no gas prices have risen to $3 per Gallon", well ya know what screw you we've been paying $11 per Gallon for over 5 years now.

And that's the big reason why I don't bitch that much. I'm pretty sure our average wage is considerably higher than either the UK or US average wages. I just wish region free gaming existed for every console, so the option of importing was there.

But anyway, I doubt you'll ever read this. I just thought I'd add my 2c.

OK so if yahtzee says a game is crap dont buy it?? HELL NO!!! and he didn't say it was crap i bought the game and enjoyed it beat it and realized yahtzee is slacking off!!!! there is a clear 180 degrees button that makes you turn around, the controls were easy, the story was fantastic(and when a game is about the story yahtzee does shit to make it look like a bad thing) it states your working for the bad guys without knowing it, the gameplay and engine is not as bad as he said. what im saying is dont be like yahtzee and buy the Xbox version. do the smart thing and buy PS3 version

JPMotion:

Viggo:
I was hoping this game would turn out sorta like Portal but it just added another line to my "do not buy this game" list...

yeah, i actually bought mirror's edge in hopes of the same, and was far less disappointed in it than yahtzee. but as always, i loved the review nonetheless :D

Viggo: did you even buy the game???

JPmotion: welcome to Escapist btw i disagree but its still fun to play i play it and i cant really change your choice to say that its bad but i still like it on my PS3

-bladerunner-:
Looked good. But a bit of a disappointment.

did you even buy the game?????

thevegetarianzombie:

By the way, does anyone else here remember Breakdown? It was the Namco first-person melee game that came out for oldschool XBox way back in like 2002.

I loved that game like Yahtzee loves Branston Pickle.

lol i thought i was the only one that remembered that^_^

SP2esspytood:
didn't extratech give this game 5 stars?

i didn't even know about the game until "ben made" posted this video...

im guessing you mean yahtzee posted this video and made it

essflawcondodgeckindesimudstorliketersockity

Your reviews are excellent and funny as hell Yahtzee, however why the hell do you let Unskipable crap all over the end of your videos? I'm in a happy place buzzing from all of the big words then to a very unfunny poorly dubbed vid at the end OF EVERY STINKING ONE OF YOUR VIDEOS. Loose the tail bro.

You should try the pc version. From what i can tell off the review most of the biggest issues with the game are non-existant in the pc version.

And i wouldn't really call this game an open world game. It's more like a puzzle game with the walls being 100meter drops off buildings.

I absolutely love Zero Punctuation and Yahtzee, find him hilarious, although I have to say I was looking forward to playing Mirror's Edge at some point. Of course, I'll still get it, since a lot of the time I disgree with Yahtzee's comments (although I am aware that the many design flaws and so on he points out in games are true, and I notice them myself, I merely don't care, a la Assassin's Creed). However, I was listening to the theme music, Still Alive recently and I have to say it is one of the most hauntingly beautiful melodies I have ever heard in a game (this coming from a guy who likes JRPG's, melody central). By the way, to hear it search on Youtube, and if you do search for the piano cover. You won't be disappointed, it's by a girl who has never done piano lessons and plays the instrument off the top of her head, yet it still does the song justice. As for Yahtzee, I think at some point it would be interesting if he reviewed his own games (in particular the Chzo Mythos), beause as an honest critic it would be interesting to hear his views on that and see what he does and doesn't like about his own games.

Ok, now that I have played the game (on the pc) I have to say that you are lieing about the game. It's trully awesome.

I quite liked Mirror's Edge, but I was disappointed when the story was only 10 hours long. In fact, I don't see why anyone wouldn't.

He entirely missed the time trials, the other half of the meat of the game.

He also played it on a console, the mouse let me see my feet and judge jumps easier, bloom wasn't that bad, and combat was better (not much better, but better).

ampa451:
essflawcondodgeckindesimudstorliketersockity

And of course, Mirror's Edge.

I played the game and my cousin played the game we both thought the graphics were great and the gameplay was fun but it really wasn't worth it because of the replay value.

good points Yahtzee, its never really explained who you're working for or who you're delivering the "packages" to

I keep coming back and rewatching this one, and it makes me laugh out loud every time. Several times every time, actually.

Yahtzee, you sassy-mouthed troubadour,

I hear so many times from so many reviewers that one of the biggest problems with video games in today's society is the camera angle, flitting around looking at everything unnecessary or otherwise useless. However, the concept seems so simple that I can't understand how developers and programmers keep on guffing it up.

What, then, is YOUR idea of a game with good camera angles, since everyone seeks to cry foul, but no-one seeks to offer solutions?