The first thing this demo did right was to load up in delicious 1080i. To list everything it did right after that would be to list every moment I experienced until the demo ended. This game is one of the most conceptually ambitious games I’ve ever played, and Dice appears to have done it exactly right. Those who wish the game were in third person are missing the point of the perspective, and are ignoring everything that has been done to make that perspective work. The game that we have here would not work any other way.
Being in first person while doing all of these amazing things creates a kind of visceral feel that I’ve never experienced before. The look of the game to a third party observer is likely that of chaos, or nonsense. I imagine most people would feel that way if they could see through someone else’s eyes but be unable to control it. For me, I felt at one with the controls right away and thus the barrier between me and the character was dissolved.
It really makes me think about what a company like Valve has chosen to do with Gordon Freeman. They claim by never taking your control away and never having him speak, the player is allowed to truly be him since he does nothing to break that belief. I, however, feel even less like myself when I play a character with no personality. A non-speaking protagonist doesn’t work, especially when you’re in control of him, because everyone you meet would either have to constantly point out that fact or have awkwardly-written dialogue in place of something you would say. Immersion isn’t broken by having your character say something; it’s by having them say something stupid. Strange that Valve, a company staffed with some of the finest writers in the industry, wouldn’t have the confidence that they could write dialogue that most people wouldn’t object to.
Needless to say, I was thrilled that Faith is allowed to speak in Mirror’s Edge, and I can’t wait until this game comes out to see the rest of what it has to offer.
