“With a never-before-seen sense of movement and perspective, players are drawn into Faith's world.” (www.ign.com, 2008). This quote encapsulates what Mirror’s Edge is all about – innovation and atmosphere made possible through mechanics and visuals – the two unique selling points of Mirror’s Edge and there in, all of its incredibly unique mechanics which will inspire the entire design and development of ‘Mirror’s Edge: The Board Game’.
“…wall run, swing on poles, parachute roll out of long jumps and do a number of other moves that are styled after parkour.” (www.ign.com, 2008) is where Nate Ahearn believes Mirror’s Edge’s main focal point lies. The player is forced along a linear path towards a goal. The player has to negotiate various obstacles that require the player to utilise parkour mechanics. This is supported by the IGN’s video review of Mirror’s Edge that quotes Mirror’s edge is a “first person Prince of Persia” (www.ign.com, 2008) – a game that had identical primary mechanics. It is clear that Mirror’s Edge revolves around the primary concept of traversing rooftops using parkour acrobatics. With the first person perspective (as seen in the image below), motion blur and the dizzying heights of a cityscape, the exhilaration resultant from free-running along death defying routes cannot be understated and thus, Mirror’s Edge’s free-running is evidently the unique selling point of the game and similarly, should be the unique selling point of the board game. But what about the visuals, the second unique selling point of Mirror’s Edge?
IGN’s Nate Ahearn states Mirror’s Edge “shows off the power of the system” (www.ign.com, 2009) when discussing presentation. It’s visual design is unique and completely identifiable with Mirror’s Edge. Beaming whites, blue hues and deep reds: the theme you should expect from the power of the Unreal Engine - it provides the most unique visual design in years with Keven VanOrd stating “the visuals deserve kudos for their unusually crisp style” (www.gamespot.com, 2008). You wouldn’t find a review that didn’t praise its visual design; it’s as much part of its character as Master Chief is to the Halo franchise. The visuals are a unique selling point, as they create an atmospheric, character ripe world, which is almost always mentioned when Mirror’s Edge is in question. IGN, one of the largest gaming news websites, gave its presentation a “9” and so it stands proven that the visual design of Mirror’s Edge is just as important as the mechanics and therefore, the board game should perfectly reflect that visual style.
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Every single mechanic manifests from the free-running. Considering the board game will have mechanics that facilitate these, it is vital these are researched – the most obvious of which is parkour movement. When reviewing the control scheme, Christian Donlan stated, “whether you want to wall-run or just grab a ledge… slide or roll judiciously” (www.eurogamer.com, 2008). This supports the idea that the player has multiple forms of movement (wall-running, sliding, jumping, swinging etc.) and that they can string them together to traverse the environment. This primary mechanic is aided by Runners Vision. Nate Ahearn goes on to review that Runner’s Vision “highlights environmental pieces that you'll need to interact with to progress in a bold red color.” (www.ign.com, 2009). The entire game world isn’t traversable; Runner’s Vision dictates the path and what is interactive, so that only at specific moments will the player interact with the environment. The first image on this post demonstrates this. However the players encounter enemies that engage in combat – which has its own mechanic – reaction time and counters. Reaction time “makes some of these action-focused moves look cool but ultimately doesn't add much to the gameplay.” (www.gamepost.com, 2008) declares Kevin VanOrd. You can use this to slow an attack or movement for precision or excitement, however, as Kevin states, they really add nothing to the gameplay hence, you can choose to “never use a gun in the game (there's even an achievement and trophy for it)” (www.ign.com, 2008) as Nate Ahearn mentions – it’s optional and so flawed even the developers promote not using it.
It is evident through research that its unique selling points are free-running and a unique, pastel, visual design. The mechanics revolve around running, jumping and ducking, which can be strung together. The success of the player is determined by how fast they react and utilise these mechanics. It is a game heavily focused on movement and reaction in order to chase or evade opponents, rather than direct combat – the aim is to run, extremely fast, or fail in neglecting to do so.
