Acrobats are the New Zombies
What's the hottest look in gaming this season? No, it's not the undead, contrary to the current onslaught of a nasty flu bug (Left 4 Dead), nasty reanimating aliens (Dead Space), irradiated ghouls (Fallout 3) or Nazi zombies (CoD: World at War). Gore and necrotized flesh is sinfully unattractive any way, not to mention awful-smelling.
No, the new hotness this fall is beholding the lithe grace and beauty of an acrobat. Leading the charge is Faith, of Mirror's Edge. The EA/Dice production turns the FPS genre on its head, giving players all the free-running prowess they possessed in last year's Assassin's Creed, but restricting them to a first-person perspective. This entails all the nausea-inducing moments you might expect as Faith jumps, tumbles and rolls her way through a dystopic amalgamation of near-future Hong Kong and Singapore. The critical reception has been mixed so far but there has been near universal praise of EA's courage to even attempt such a unique take on the creaky FPS genre. Arguments abound on the Internet message boards about whether ME should be given special merit for its daring design or suitably docked points for committing some predictable gaming sins. Specifically, halfway through the short 6-hour campaign, the level design rebels against its original mandate and dials down the parkour, forcing players through restrictive jumping puzzles and mandatory combat engagements.
Crystal Dynamics is also out to prove that what is old is new again. Tomb Raider: Underworld has landed on shelves in all it's dual pistol-wielding glory. Laura Croft, quite possibly gaming's version of Madonna, attempts to reinvent herself once again by, ironically, returning to her roots. The style of play is much like it was in Legends, with less emphasis on the automated gunplay and more focus put on the exploration of ancient, exotic environments. Staunchly old school, Laura is strictly a climber and flipper. Sure, she may have a couple new moves in her toolset but her acrobatics exist solely to scale her up another cliff face or get her around the various anti-tomb raiding security measures. The reviews so far have been generally solid, but one can't help but shake the feeling that Laura, while seemingly ageless in her game world bubble, is actually that fading, wrinkling starlet hanging over your shoulder, pining away for the "good ol' days".
Our final gymnast is also another entry into another long-running franchise. The new Prince of Persia is a reboot of the classic series, intent on erasing some bad taste left over by the moody, emo-centric stylings of the previous two Prince games on the PS2. This latest efforst takes all the death-defying leaps of Mirror's Edge into the third-person view, replete with a desolate fantasy world, sword play and a life-saving female companion. Of all the acrobatic games mentioned thus far, I'm most intrigued by this one. The reviews have pegged it as an all too short adventure and balanced a touch too far towards the "easy n' accessible" end of the difficulty scale. A longer experience awaits those who choose to fully explore the linear environments for collectibles. The tug of war between playing a simply beautiful, enchanting game and my need to receive a stiff challenge has me torn about purchasing PoP. Perhaps the best I can do is to wait until the holiday dust settles off and I have completed more of those new releases I have piled on top of my 360.
Ditto for Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider...
No, the new hotness this fall is beholding the lithe grace and beauty of an acrobat. Leading the charge is Faith, of Mirror's Edge. The EA/Dice production turns the FPS genre on its head, giving players all the free-running prowess they possessed in last year's Assassin's Creed, but restricting them to a first-person perspective. This entails all the nausea-inducing moments you might expect as Faith jumps, tumbles and rolls her way through a dystopic amalgamation of near-future Hong Kong and Singapore. The critical reception has been mixed so far but there has been near universal praise of EA's courage to even attempt such a unique take on the creaky FPS genre. Arguments abound on the Internet message boards about whether ME should be given special merit for its daring design or suitably docked points for committing some predictable gaming sins. Specifically, halfway through the short 6-hour campaign, the level design rebels against its original mandate and dials down the parkour, forcing players through restrictive jumping puzzles and mandatory combat engagements.
Crystal Dynamics is also out to prove that what is old is new again. Tomb Raider: Underworld has landed on shelves in all it's dual pistol-wielding glory. Laura Croft, quite possibly gaming's version of Madonna, attempts to reinvent herself once again by, ironically, returning to her roots. The style of play is much like it was in Legends, with less emphasis on the automated gunplay and more focus put on the exploration of ancient, exotic environments. Staunchly old school, Laura is strictly a climber and flipper. Sure, she may have a couple new moves in her toolset but her acrobatics exist solely to scale her up another cliff face or get her around the various anti-tomb raiding security measures. The reviews so far have been generally solid, but one can't help but shake the feeling that Laura, while seemingly ageless in her game world bubble, is actually that fading, wrinkling starlet hanging over your shoulder, pining away for the "good ol' days".
Our final gymnast is also another entry into another long-running franchise. The new Prince of Persia is a reboot of the classic series, intent on erasing some bad taste left over by the moody, emo-centric stylings of the previous two Prince games on the PS2. This latest efforst takes all the death-defying leaps of Mirror's Edge into the third-person view, replete with a desolate fantasy world, sword play and a life-saving female companion. Of all the acrobatic games mentioned thus far, I'm most intrigued by this one. The reviews have pegged it as an all too short adventure and balanced a touch too far towards the "easy n' accessible" end of the difficulty scale. A longer experience awaits those who choose to fully explore the linear environments for collectibles. The tug of war between playing a simply beautiful, enchanting game and my need to receive a stiff challenge has me torn about purchasing PoP. Perhaps the best I can do is to wait until the holiday dust settles off and I have completed more of those new releases I have piled on top of my 360.
Ditto for Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider...
posted by Clinton @ 10:55 a.m.
2 Comments:
I had not thought about it but you;re right. Lots of acrobatics going on. I still have not tried Mirror's Edge other than the demo. I've got to stop playing TF2 and Gears of War 2 for a while and check it out.
Hey Jigsaw! You know, Mirror's Edge is probably the most divisive new game this fall if you've been looking at the range of pro and user reviews on the web. I loved the demo and planned to buy this sometime in the new year. But with news that the sales are not up to par, I feel compelled to hurry my support a new IP that is trying to break new ground in game design.
I'm also a big supporter of niche games that are misunderstood and score middling reviews. Those, sometimes more than the blockbusters, are what really appeal to me.
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