Somehow I emerged as an advocate for Mirror's Edge, while I stress I haven't played it other than a few minutes at E3, not enough to form an opinion. What drew my attention was the discussion around the game, the vocabulary with which it was being reviewed, and the audience response -- I didn't need to play the game to notice the conflict players had with it. I also re-published here what I was told by a designer regarding the game because I thought those discussing it in the comments here would find it interesting.
I'm not in the habit, to say the least, of going to bat either on attack or in defense of games I haven't played; even when people I almost always agree with praise or criticize something, I'm not comfortable noting a title as a success or failure unless I have had experience with it (although I'm obviously capable of rounding up critical reception or noting sales figures and the relationship those measures may or may not have to each other).
So I said I wasn't going to talk about Mirror's Edge anymore, and I won't -- but I would like to point you to Ian Bogost's feature in Gamasutra today, because I think it's an interesting way of looking at the game.
Bogost writes:
Video games are software, but they are not meant to serve the same function as spreadsheets. They are not tools that provide a specific and solitary end, but experiences that spark ideas and proffer sensations. Sure, video games have interfaces, like toasters have browning levers, like sweaters have cuffs, like word processors have font menus.The reason I questioned Mirror's Edge's reception is because I'm aware of this same tendency on our parts, both as players and as reviewers. It's part of the reason I take issue with the mass shunning of MGS4, a game you all well know I feel is worth several good looks and quite a bit of praise, flaws aside.
But too often we mistake the demands of these interfaces (and the in-game actions they facilitate) with the actions of tools. We gripe when a game doesn't do what we expect, rather than asking what such an unexpected demand means in the context of the game.
Nonetheless, the mixed reception is one of the reasons I'm highly doubting Mirror's Edge will make my playlist anytime soon -- like Assassin's Creed last year, it's fast becoming one of those "I meant to take a close look at it, but I just never got to it." But I like the way that Bogost, one of the most intelligent designers I've the privilege of knowing, approaches the game, so I recommend you check it out if you're interested in new modes of analysis.
My New Year's Resolution will probably be to embrace variant approaches more -- at least professionally. My personal New Year's resolutions are, of course, to lose weight and quit smoking, the same as they are every year.
