DICE: Mirrors Edge Screenshots

[Sa74n]

2 screenshots of dices new ip mirrors edge. from what i heard its a parkour based game. some sort of resistance fighting against an opressive government or something.

the ingame shots sure look fantastic. really dig the art style and consistency. can't wait to see a trailer.

one thing that made me curious is the radiosity you can see there. my guess is that its lightmapped but could it be one of the first titles to successfully implement realtime radiosty in a game? your thoughts?

heres some info about the game:

Game Title: Mirror's Edge

Working Title: Project Faith

Developer: DICE

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: TBA, most likely sometime during 2008

Genre: First-person shooter, Action-adventure

Platform: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Short Description: Mirror's Edge is a shooter based on movement. Instead of blasting your enemies to bits with the most badass gun you can find, you will need to find ways to avoid them. Inspired by Parkour it is a game where you will be able to run, jump, slide and climb like it has never been done in any other first person game. You will control a character called Faith, running through urban areas of a futuristic metropolis with tight security. There is no doubt that you'll need to utilize all your movement and some cunning intellect to escape from the armed forces that controls the law. But still the game includes weaponry and firearms, even if they have been taken out of focus. Your goal is to survive, not necessarily to kill every single enemy.

In Mirror's Edge you will be an outlaw, a courier trying to use the rooftops as a safe path through an utopian society. With heavily armed police controlling the streets and Internet and phone-traffic being monitored the only way to pass on messages in secret is to let a runner deliver it in person. Thats who you are, a runner. With movements more similar to those we have earlier seen in Prince of Persia than an fps like Half-Life, you will be delivering something, but what it is we don't really know... yet....

Game Mechanics

Your body: In almost all FPS-games your body has consisted of a lose arm floating in the air. That will now change, it has been confirmed that you will have a 100% complete body within Mirror's Edge. It took the gaming industry long enough, and we have all been waiting for it!

Acceleration: Yes, we will for the first time in FPS-history see movement acceleration and deceleration, not just holding down your ctrl-key to get double speed from running, but true acceleration with your pace increasing and decreasing. Which will be interesting to see once some in-game videos are released.

Walking: There will be need to watch your feet, when you try this game for the first time. Your feet will no longer be gliding over the floor and keep you upright no matter what, if you aren't careful you might just fall over or stumble.

Controls: As far as I have understood the controls will be kept to a minimum, with your jumping button being an all purpose button for moving around the environment, and your aggression button not only triggers your gun but it will also allow you to kick down doors.

Combat: Keep moving whatever you do, your enemies are dangerous, and the more you move the harder target you become. But keep in mind that a heavier weapon will restrict your movement. Keep the balance between fire-power and agility, then you will succeed.

Slowmotion: Slowmotion has started to become a more and more common feature in games, and it will also be a part of Mirror's Edge. This is probably there to give you time to perform athletic movement combinations while in battle.

[e-freak]

Wesley Tack is working on that game afaik. Looks promising!

[aevirex]

According to this and this it uses prerendered shadows.

[Pericolos0]

realtime radiosity is still far off =).

Looks awesome!

[R_Yell]

I liked the style immediately. Looks like immense urban environments with a good amount of detail.

Real time radiosity could be ready relatively soon AFAIK, at least seems to be one of the upcoming effects in development if you take a look at some DX10 demos. However that scale of scenery seems too large to implement it, even when there is hardware powerful enough.

[Thrik]

Have you guys seen the older shots? It's not the graphics that excite me but the player physics.

While some games let you see your legs and do some slightly fancy moves, the majority of FPS games are just running and jumping. This is different because you can do all sorts of crazy moves, hence the parkour comment above, in an FPS. The shots I saw and storyboards in Edge Magazine a few months ago looked awesome.

[D3ads]

Great construction work.. but what's with all the blue and other colours?

[Pericolos0]

Great construction work.. but what's with all the blue and other colours?

they look great? Better than the brown and grey every other nextgen game has imo

[dux]

I'm loving the colors. Most refreshing.

[D3ads]

Doesn't look right to me I'm afraid, spoils the scene. If it aint broke.. don't fix it.

[dux]

Shush and go back to your brown and grey Half-Life 1 engine.

[Synthesizer]

I really love the style as well. I also don't know why more games don't push the lightmaps farther, like this and HL2. Radiosity looks so nice, and most of the time you don't even need the lighting to be dynamic.

[Nexus]

this looks good!

[Thrik]

It's set in a futuristic utopian city, D3ads. It's meant to look very vibrant, and in the Edge Magazine article about this game it was said it's actually part of the storyline (the bastards in charge put such colours everywhere to try and calm the oppressed population).

It's a shame the article isn't online. It's totally the storyline, concept, and actual player physics that'll set this game apart, not the eye candy. Not every rendition of the future has to be dark and grimy D3 -- they have a vision.

[-HP-]

According to this and this it uses prerendered shadows.

Pre-rendered shadows?! Call me an ignorant, but I had never hear such thing before! How come the shadows be pre-rendered?!