The Count | My Holiday Wishlist '08

5. Left 4 Dead

I’ve played Left 4 Dead. I loved Left 4 Dead. I want to play more Left 4 Dead.

I have some friends. They have Left 4 Dead. We like to kill zombies. We can do this together.

4. Time to play Fallout 3

Like Sinan said in his Silly Season editorial, it would be a crime to give a game as special as Fallout 3 anything less than my undivided attention. I’ve had this thing installed on my PC for about a month, and have yet to play past my in-game childhood. I have so many other games to play and obligations to satisfy, so I just keep pushing this beautiful blend of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises back to an imaginary time when I will be free to roam the post-apocalyptic world, uninterrupted. Maybe I should have wished for a time machine...

3. Metal Gear Solid 4 on 360

I love Metal Gear Solid. The truth of that statement alone would have been enough for me to grab a PS3 earlier this year, but rumors of an eventual Xbox 360 port kept me from dropping those Benjamins. Now, after all of the critical acclaim, my love and desire burns even stronger. I MUST play MGS4 soon, and a 360 port would be a big help in realizing that dream.

2. LittleBigPlanet & a PS3 to play it on

Yes, I know this sort of negates my last wish, but I’m not putting all of my eggs in one basket. LittleBigPlanet earned my vote for Best of E3, but alas, I haven’t played the game since then. Somehow, buying a new console for just a couple of exclusive titles seems ill-advised in today’s economic landscape, so I wait. Regardless, LittlBigPlanet is the game that I have drooled over the most this year, and I am dying to experience what it has to offer. From the excellent platforming gameplay to the robust community features (so long as Sony doesn’t absolutely cripple that part), this game has WIN written all over it.

1. Prince of Persia

I am a huge fan of the Sands of Time trilogy, but somehow the newest game flew under my radar for quite a while. Maybe it was just that I knew the game was coming, had it on my "get these games" list, and needed to pay no more attention than that; it was a done deal. Now, though, as we draw ever closer to the game’s release, I become more and more excited by the day. What I have seen of the game thus far conjures up fantstical images of a game where Sands of Time meets Shadow of the Colossus meets the Assassin’s Creed engine meets incredible artwork...and more. Why wouldn’t this be my #1?

Rev, Race, Rep -- Midnight Club: Los Angeles Review

Midnight Club: LA is the latest from Rockstar Games in their underground racing franchise. Sticking to the same formula as previous Midnight Club games, players will explore an open city and compete in various different types of races, earning street cred and winning prize money to upgrade and expand their garage full of vehicles.

While Midnight Club: LA is indeed an incremental step forward for the franchise, adding new design concepts and gameplay options, it unfortunately doesn't bring enough to the table to be a standout entry; just another Midnight Club.

Midnight Club: LA's main focus is its career mode, which casts players as the newest young rookie to hit the Los Angeles street racing scene. Hooking up with a couple of key personalities, players discover that this game is all about locating opponents around the city, and accepting their race challenges. There are a number of different types of races; ordered (checkpoint), circuit (lap), red-light (race from a stop light to a landmark), and freeway races are the basic types, but can be set up as single runs or series, tournaments or time trials, and occasionally allow players to wager either cash or the pink slips to their beloved rides.

There is a fair amount of variety in Midnight Club: LA, but still, players might find that the same process repeats itself for much of the game: race, race, race, earn, earn, earn, upgrade/buy car, repeat. The path is a long one, and there are many cars to purchase along the way. The fact that vehicles need to be unlocked is standard fare in today's racing games, but in Midnight Club: LA, the process is slow and arduous, leaving players with few vehicles right off the bat, and forcing them to conquer the career mode before graduating from a small selection of what you would expect to be the average teenagers' first cars.

The franchise-standard and fully-licensed tuners, exotics, luxury cars, muscle cars, SUVs, and motorcycles make their returns in MC:LA, and each will allow players to make use of special techniques such as agro (smash through other cars), zone (slo-mo), and roar (clear a path through traffic). Clearly, the Midnight Club franchise has always been closer to the arcade end of the racing spectrum, and more for players who care about the cars and speed than actual race mechanics and realism.

The city itself is possibly the best re-creation of LA in any videogame to date. Players familiar with LA will spot not only the various neighborhoods and larger landmarks, but will also be able to recognize the less glamorous, everyday street corners. Even that 7-11 where you buy your morning coffee is in there; unfortunately you can't get out of the car for a slurpee. Otherwise, players have free reign over the city streets, and an excellent on-demand google maps-esque gps and persistent mini map assist in navigation. Rockstar's Los Angeles is a living city with a day-night cycle, pedestrians, traffic, and even a police presence, so it is easy to immerse oneself in the game world.

Every other part of the game is accessed from the pause menu while cruising in career mode. Goal Attack and Arcade mode are extra options for solo riders interested in additional incentives or more control over their races. Goal Attack takes existing courses and challenges players to win them in under a set time and with less than a certain amount of damage. Arcade mode lets players choose a course and set traffic, weather, daylight, and AI conditions for a quick race. Additionally, MC:LA offers a race editor, where players drive or pan around the map, adding checkpoints where they see fit. These races can then be used offline or taken into the game's multiplayer modes.

Midnight Club: LA supports up to 16-player multiplayer in an online or system link environment, but lacks any local, split-screen play. Player matches, ranked matches, and Online Cruise are available, although you'll be hard pressed to find any opponents anywhere other than the latter. Cruising online works in much the same way as locating opponents in Career mode: drive up, challenge, race. Besides the normal options, multiplayer also includes matches such as Capture the Flag, Team Capture the Flag, Keepaway (keep the flag away from opponents), and Stockpile (collect the most flags at a home base). Finally, there is the Rate My Ride section, where players can post pictures of their best vehicles for every other MC:LA player to critique, score, or even purchase. They only get the specific tuning of the vehicle--not the car itself--so each one can be sold multiple times and players don't have to worry about losing the last thing in the garage.

The game's visuals, while not unappealing, actually end up being the game's biggest downfall. The cars are adequately detailed, although nothing astonishing, and the city is impressive in its scope and accuracy, but the environmental detail is such that things in the distance become difficult to see, as they are aliased, blurry, and blended into a mix of lights, shadow, and textured surfaces. This affects races. It becomes difficult to see what's ahead, and players will undoubtedly suffer far more crashes as a result of their inability to perceive the path ahead than as a result of their own skill or the game's AI opponents. As for the game's audio, it is a mixed bag of typical engine roars, tire screeches, and metal-on-metal crunches along with a basic rock and hip-hop soundtrack that has its high points, but still leaves much to be desired. The game's voice acting is ok, but if I hear the same 4 taunts during races anymore, I'm throwing my Motorola Sidekick onto I-5. (How does everyone get my number, anyway?)

Midnight Club: LA is neither wonderful nor horrible. It offers players seeking to customize street machines and race in the most illegal of ways the opportunity to do just that in a long and full-featured Career mode. The journey from chump to champ may be too long for some gamers, and the unavailability of cars for multiplayer matches at the outset is unfortunate, although the online options themselves are very enjoyable. A rental might be players' best bet with this game, as it certainly has some appeal, but may not be exactly what every virtual street racer is looking for.

Fight Or Flight -- Mirror's Edge Review

EA DICE has proven that approaching existing gameplay concepts from new angles can result in products that are fresh, fun, and impressive gaming experiences. The Battlefield developer's first-person action/platformer Mirror's Edge has lived up to its potential, casting aside the doubt associated with such bold design choices.

To put it simply, Mirror's Edge is like Prince of Persia...in a modern metropolis...with guns...from a first-person perspective. The game's protagonist, Faith, is a "runner" in a dystopian, totalitarian regime not very different from the society depicted in George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four. She delivers messages between members of the outcast population who oppose the new government surveillance and control and remember the days before the city was sterilized and drained of life to make way for "protected," "comfortable," existence. This could be any city--yours or mine--and even includes replicas of real-world architecture in its skyline. Seattle's Space Needle and Chicago's Sears Tower are right there, if you look hard enough.

It is across this any-city skyline that Faith runs, jumps, slides, tumbles, climbs, swings, vaults, etc. A practitioner of parkour, her acrobatic talents allow her to travel across the rooftops quickly and efficiently, running along walls and leaping across the city streets, 200 feet in the air. Controlling this high-flying action is accomplished with only a few buttons: one for upward movements like jumping, one for downward movements like ducking, and one to quickly turn 180 degrees. The latter is especially useful for the ever-important wall jump.

It is surprising how well the control scheme works in Mirror's Edge; after just a few moments, it's easy to have gotten caught up in the action and covered a vast amount of ground--or roof, as it were--and to have enjoyed every second of it. The sense of speed and freedom one feels while controlling Faith is borderline intoxicating, and when the adrenaline of being chased by a half-dozen armed guards is added to the equation, that high becomes even more intense.

Although her debut is somewhat concurrent with the newest 007 film, Faith is no James Bond. She cannot dispatch an entire SWAT unit with nothing more than a pistol, and although she does show some skill with firearms, her first choice is usually to run. Mirror's Edge encourages players to avoid conflict, and makes sure the consequences of going all gung-ho with Faith's mere punches and kicks are dire, indeed. Bullets HURT in Mirror's Edge; Faith can only take a few before shutting her eyes for good. Incidentally, that's not very long at all, because after players fall 30 stories to the pavement below or suffer one too many blunt traumas to the skull, Faith quickly returns to the most recently passed spawn point to try again.

Forgetting the small and lonesome feelings players get from the cultural atmosphere in Mirror's Edge, Faith is far from helpless. As mentioned earlier, she can punch and kick foes, and even string these strikes together with acrobatic moves to create new, more effective attack techniques. Additionally, she is capable of increasing her own reaction time with a tap of the X button, effectively slowing down her opponents and making it easy to incapacitate them. Perhaps the most satisfying part of combat is disarming government agents with a well-timed press of the Y button and beating them with their own weapon. Of course having a gun to shoot the next guy you see is a relief, but really, guns are not the hottest commodity in Mirror's Edge. When she is holding a firearm, Faith is slow and not very nimble at all, so players will be discarding most of the weapons they pick up before ever expending a magazine. It's actually possible to complete the Story mode without shooting a single enemy.

The emphasis in Mirror's Edge is on "first-person," rather than "shooter." More so than most games played from this perspective, players are made very aware of Faith's physical presence. Her arms and legs are in the field of view most of the time as she grabs ledges and ladders and the like or hurdles over obstacles, and the camera itself bobs, rolls, and turns as if taped to her forehead. There is no information displayed on the screen other than what Faith can see in her surroundings. The visual effect is very engrossing.

Mirror's Edge has a unique and striking aesthetic style to go along with its original gameplay mechanics. The city is almost entirely devoid of color, making most of the buildings and other surfaces a pristine white canvass. Vibrant primary and secondary colors appear on this achromatic background, coloring certain structures (cranes, crates, signs, etc.) in stark contrast to the rest of the game world. Color serves a purpose, marking runners' paths through the city--paths to safety and success. Faith even possesses special "runner vision," which highlights key items bright red, indicating their usefulness for making forward progress. Ladders, pipes, beams, springboard objects, zip lines, and more are flagged with crimson on easy and normal difficulties. Hard mode requires a bit more exploration and examination, though, as these things remain as white as the rest of the city under that setting.

Completing chapters in Story mode unlocks new areas in Race mode, where players can attempt speed runs and navigate through a number of beacon-dotted Time Trial courses. Achieving better times earns star rankings, which are nothing more than bragging rights and something shiny to include in your virtual trophy case. If Xbox LIVE buddies have tested their wheels in Time Trial mode, they can download one another's ghost data to race against and possibly learn from; there are many ways to run through these courses and many shortcuts to discover.

Mirror's Edge is an excellent game. EA DICE has crafted a unique and enjoyable game that is both exhilarating and addicting, with sound gameplay mechanics, stylish visuals, and superb audio qualities. Other than long and frequent load times, the biggest complaint I could conjure up while playing Mirror's Edge was that there simply wasn't enough of it. This game is a must-buy, or at least a must-try.

Dangerous Comfort -- Mirror's Edge Review

Attempting to successfully deliver brand new gaming concepts in an industry filled with me-too copycats, sequels, and tired gameplay mechanics is always risky business for developers. Thankfully, EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE) has taken that leap of faith and crafted Mirror’s Edge, a unique and invigorating first-person platform/action/adventure/shooter.

As noted in my preview of the game, Mirror’s Edge takes place in a near-future dystopian metropolis; a sterile, geometric, and homogeneous cityscape whose government holds the reins tightly and authoritatively on its population in an effort to maintain an Orwellian society of surveillance, control, obedience, and ignorance.

The city itself appears to have had structures from real-world locations inserted into its skyline, from Seattle’s Space Needle to Chicago’s Sears Tower to any number of other contemporary edifices. The composition of this whitewashed urban jungle carries the message that Mirror’s Edge could potentially be set anywhere in the world. Absent, however, is anything old or impure. Each building stands as an impersonal and uninviting column of steel and glass; any predating the current regime -- any with character -- has been torn down and forgotten, just like the culture they aim to dissolve. There is nothing historic about this place. Gone, too, are the usual grays and browns of a worn, living city. Nearly every surface is white, from the roofs and walls right down to the sidewalk. Even the office plants and the trees in Centurion Plaza are devoid of color. It is reminiscent of a hospital, detention facility, or psychiatric ward.

Runners like Faith, the game’s heroine, oppose this way of life and work to deliver packages and correspondence between the pockets of citizens who hold onto the old ways. Because of this disobedience, government agents hunt them like rats, forcing them underground and onto the rooftops to deliver their assumed messages of revolution.

To the player, this means controlling Faith as she runs from point A to point B, avoiding armed officials and performing feats of acrobatics and urban running normally reserved for parkour traceurs. What separates Mirror’s Edge from other games of this nature is its perspective. This is a first-person game, but unlike most first-person shooters players are made very aware of Faith’s physical presence, from head to toe. The camera bobs, tilts, and tumbles as Faith traverses the rooftops, and her arms and legs often find their way into the field of view as she runs, jumps, and climbs over various objects. Players are meant to feel as though they’re literally looking through Faith’s eyes, and the lack of any on-screen health or ammo information serves to reinforce that feeling.

As Faith, players use a simple "up movement" and "down movement" control scheme to leap from building to building, vault over and slide under obstacles, run along walls, grab ledges, climb pipes and ladders, springboard off of small objects, and more. Momentum is very important, and can mean the difference between a cleared gap and a fatal fall to the streets below. This modern Princess of Persia is encouraged to move as quickly as possible not only to overcome obstacles, but also to avoid the pursuers who trail her nearly every step of the way. While she is more than capable of wielding firearms, Mirror’s Edge emphasizes the fact that one person is no match for a squad of trained law enforcement officers, and attempting to combat them is a fast track to the morgue. Instead, special "runner vision" highlights certain parts of the environment, indicating viable pathways to what the player can only hope will be a moment of respite. Color is the key to safety in Faith’s World. The environment is predominantly achromatic, but, certain aspects stand out like beacons in bright primary and secondary colors. Red, blue, yellow, and orange objects represent the way forward, away from danger, and even without runner vision players can spot these guiding lights from a great distance.

Of course, there are times when Faith is forced to fight. In these instances, pressing the X button will engage Reaction Time, a slow-motion effect that gives her the upper hand on her opponents, allowing her to step in and incapacitate them, unharmed. A well-timed tap of the Y button strips an attacker of his weapon and puts it in Faith’s hands, or for a more direct approach, she can simply punch and kick her enemies into unconsciousness. Stringing these strikes together with parkour techniques increases their effectiveness and creates new types of attacks. In fact, players needn’t kill a single person throughout the entire game. Holding onto weapons actually limits Faith’s mobility, so it’s really a matter of "fight or flight" at many points in the game.

If either option should fail, Faith is quickly resurrected at the most recent spawn point, which are plentiful throughout the game. There is only a short load time here, as opposed to the relatively long waits players are forced to endure prior to each chapter. Even mid-stream, there are a few jarring level loads that freeze the action in place (similar to those in Half-Life 2), as well as a few patience-trying elevator sequences that attempt to disguise the data-retrieval. The elevators do tie into the theme of government media regulation, however, with articles and news briefs almost always scrolling on the walls of these confined spaces. The propaganda is shoved down citizen’s throats right where they can’t escape from it.

Faith can escape the oppression of the game’s story via Time Trial mode. There, checkpoints strewn across the rooftops create individual courses that players must rush through as quickly as possible, earning higher rankings and unlocking new areas as their performance improves. Ghosts of prior trials, Xbox LIVE friends, and worldwide leaders can be set to run each course, acting as a sort of goal or guide. It can be very enlightening to see what tricks others have used to clear these rooftop playgrounds with record speed, and very addicting trying to better your own times. And if you can’t quite let go of the Story mode, but still have the need for speed, Mirror’s Edge also has a Speed Run section that keeps track of players’ best times through each of the game’s 9 chapters.

EA DICE is to be commended for their work on Mirror’s Edge. They have taken an existing gameplay concept and applied it in a brand new way, creating a thrilling game whose biggest flaw is that there simply isn’t enough of it. Load times bog down the game’s flow at times, and the gunplay isn’t tweaked to perfection, but the overall experience is interesting, exciting, and stylish from beginning to end.

Round Two, Three, Four... -- Naruto: Clash Of Ninja Revolution 2 Review

The Naruto series is fast becoming the new go-to source for franchise spam in the video game industry. There have already been four Clash of Ninja games over the past three years, one new game on the PS3, two on the Xbox 360, and a whopping five on the PS2 -- not to mention six games between the two handhelds. That’s a whole lot of Naruto.

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 (CNR2) is a simple fighting game for the Wii, with a style similar to the Super Smash Bros. series. Players seeking a vast move set, in-depth combo system, or otherwise complex fighting system will find little to be excited about in the game’s weak/strong/special attack setup, but fans of the series will feel right at home, because CNR2 is nearly the same game as last year’s offering, with a few small tweaks and improvements.

If you are unfamiliar with the Naruto manga/anime, here’s a quick rundown: it is about an adolescent ninja suffering from a mild case of ADHD who aspires to become the leader of his village by proving himself to be the strongest warrior. He isn’t exactly taken seriously by the villagers, but makes friends and develops skills and character over the course of the series. CNR2 features a roster of 35 characters from the Naruto universe, seven of whom are newcomers to this series, and four of whom are exclusive to the North American version of the game.

This installment adds new stages to battle on, as well, bringing the Clash of Ninja series up to speed with the multi-tiered arena concept that so many other fighting franchises have employed for years. It’s also the first in the series to feature a tag-team battle system, a la Tekken Tag Tournament or Marvel vs. Capcom.

There are many ways to play CNR2, as the game offers five different control schemes: Wiimote only, Wiimote and Nunchuk button mode, Wiimote and Nunchuk movement mode, Classic controller, and GameCube controller. In movement mode, the game makes heavy use of Wiimote gesture and pointer controls, although the implementation is not always optimal. During matches, weak attacks are mapped to Wiimote flicks, while stronger strikes are performed with the A button. Not only does this create a strange disconnect between attack types, but it limits the precision with which weak blows can be delivered at all.

As for the other Wiimote-specific controls, they work very nicely. Aiming paper bombs (like explosive paper airplanes with remote and proximity detonation) via the Wiimote pointer is intuitive and effective, and the hand gesture patterns that allow players to restore a bit of health or chakra during the fight are easy to get the hang of, yet difficult to truly master.

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 features a handful of gamplay modes for players to battle it out in. Up to 4 players can compete in solo or team matches in any combination, individuals and tag-teams can attempt a Score Attack against 10 rounds of cpu-controlled opponents, and lone warriors have the added options of Time Attack and Mission List modes. The Mission List is a nearly endless stream of special-stipulation matches from which players must emerge victorious in order to be successful. If not, there is always Training mode, which offers freestyle practice as well as a step-by-step tutorial.

In what is meant to be the meat of the game (there’s still no online multiplayer, by the way), the story mode sees a former Leaf Village ANBU member (like an FBI ninja) brainwash a number of other characters to turn on the village. It’s up to Naruto and friends to stop this dastardly scheme. Besides being overly generic in concept, this part of the game is also very poorly presented. Plain text narrates the story, and very rudimentary cutscenes involving mostly still in-game character art with voice overs link the written descriptions with the actual fighting. Basically, players can expect to engage in combat with just about anyone they may come in contact with ... for any reason.

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2’s visuals match its story mode; they are passable, but feel a generation too late. Developer Eighting has added 16:9 support this time around -- a nice gesture -- but the series is still in need of a more comprehensive graphical upgrade at this point in its lifespan. Art and renders appear to have been re-used from the older games, frame rate suffers when multiple characters are on the screen, and visual effects are generally very simple. On the audio end of things, there is little to applaud. The fact that the original TV voice actors play their roles in the game is a plus, but otherwise the soundscape is bland and unimpressive. And for those fans who prefer the Japanese voices to the English ones, I’m sorry to say that you’re going to have to put up with English in this one. On the bright side, at least the new PS3 Naruto addressed that issue.

With Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, Eighting has made a number of incremental improvements upon previous entries in the series. Even so, the game still has a long way to go before it can be considered a true contender in the fighting genre. The most casual of players (or fans who don’t care what they’re playing as long as they’re playing a Naruto game) will likely find little to complain about, because the game is still enjoyable, but a number of flaws and lack of any major updates to the core formula leave much to be desired.

Possible Futures: What's In Store For The Zelda Franchise?

When I think of the Zelda franchise, I think of the good old days of The Legend of Zelda, a game that defined a genre and showed gamers a way of playing video games that they’d never seen before. I think of A Link to the Past, when the game exploded into an expansive dual-world adventure with a myriad of weapons, items, and upgrades, many new gameplay features, and more individual dungeon areas than gamers could have hoped for. Finally, I think of Ocarina of Time, a 3D video game experience that, at the time, was unprecedented and nearly unimaginable, but still a faithful rendition of Hyrule, seen in a completely new way.

Since Ocarina of Time, however, Zelda games have been great, but have never achieved that same blow-me-away factor of that "triforce" of masterpieces. Now that we’ve reached into the third dimension of gaming, what can be done besides changing the artistic direction of the series? Wind Waker and Twilight Princess essentially just took the Ocarina formula and tweaked it to make something "new." Don’t get me wrong, I loved the island-hopping exploration of Wind Waker, but it didn’t change the foundation of the series’ game design. Twilight Princess, while incredibly enjoyable, was basically Ocarina of Time for the new millennium.

To really excite me, I want to see something new. I want to see a story that goes further than the respectable attempt at novelty made by Twilight Princess. The idea of other worlds, realms, or dimensions has always been a part of Zelda lore, so why not place the Hero of Time in a story where he must venture to different worlds to complete his journey? Why not make these worlds all run on unique sets of rules that make the experience within each one completely fresh and memorable? Why not make the gameplay change depending on where Link finds himself, but still maintain that overall "Zelda" feel?

Taking that idea further, why not give the player more choices? Let there be a branching story, let the game change with each play-through, and let the player decide in which direction (s)he wants to guide our hero. Will he go here or there, will he help him or her, and will he do this or that? Then, what are the consequences of those decisions? What opportunities will open up as a result of those choices and what roads will forever be blocked? Let’s give Link some free will.

Finally, let’s not rescue Zelda. Maybe we can make her the protagonist, even, and give Link a rest...

...okay, she can have a supporting role.

Between The Gloss And The Reality -- Mirror's Edge Preview

Electronic Arts’ Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (EA DICE) have proven to be a talented group of developers time and time again with a number of successes in their critically acclaimed Battlefield series. Their newest project, Mirror’s Edge, aims to take the free-running and complex 3D platforming style found in games such as Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed, and apply it in the first-person perspective. Many have questioned the viability of such a concept, but after playing through the demo, all of those doubts can be laid to rest.

Mirror’s Edge takes place in a fictional metropolis where the governing entities keep a firm hold on the populace, enacting a strict policy of surveillance and regulation. Some citizens have herded like good little sheep, while others have chosen to rebel, thus being been cast out of the "normal" society. The game’s backstory (or what little was presented in the demo) appears to borrow themes from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, another tale of dystopian totalitarianism...until the gameplay kicks in.

This is not your typical first-person shooter. In fact, the game’s protagonist, Faith, is encouraged to avoid conflict with government agents whenever possible. She is but a runner--a physical transmitter of messages between members of the outcast society--and cannot even hope to combat the heavy hand of the government. This feeling of helplessness and the adrenaline-pumping chases that result from enemy encounters help form a bond between players and the woman who they embody in the game.

Another difference between Mirror’s Edge and the average FPS is that players are always very aware of the physical space that Faith occupies. Her arms and legs are often visible in the HUD-less field of view as she grabs ledges, climbs structures, vaults over obstacles, and leaps from building to building. The camera, too, moves as if stuck inside of Faith’s head. As she runs, the camera bobs up and down, and all of the tumbles, slides, and swings whip the camera in whichever direction her eyes would realistically be looking at any given moment. Even so, navigating and observing the environment feels smooth and natural.

The parkour controls in Mirror’s Edge consist of the normal dual-analog movement that players have come to expect in first-person games, combined with a simple up-action and down-action setup. "Up" moves are things like jumping, climbing, vaulting, and wall-running, and "down" moves are used for crouching, sliding, releasing Faith’s grip, etc. A 360-degree turn button is included for quick direction changes and Mario-esque wall jumps, and at times when balance is a necessity, the left analog stick keeps Faith from falling to her untimely demise.

Momentum and "flow" are important in Mirror’s Edge, and as players guide Faith along the rooftop conduits of the city, they build up the capacity to slow time and increase reaction speed by hitting the X button when faced with a hostile opponent. Because she lacks the firepower to neutralize these enemies, Faith relies on her ability to disarm or temporarily disable them and keep moving. She is capable of delivering a few key strikes, including a jump kick, slide kick, and punches, but can also string these blows together with acrobatic maneuvers like wall runs and jumps. More importantly, she can quickly turn the tables on an assailant with a tap of the Y button, which will cause her to counter-attack and seize his weapon.

It’s not all about running away in Mirror’s Edge, as I was able to quickly disempower a couple of lightly-armored agents and embed multiple pieces of lead in them to clear a path during the demo. Other weapons in the game include heavier rifles and shotguns, but the bulkier the gun, the slower and less agile Faith becomes. Players must choose between mobility and firepower, though it will be possible to complete the entire story without ever firing a shot.

The demo leaves me with few concerns about the game’s polish, as I was impressed with everything from the responsive and innovative gameplay to the stylish and artistic visual representation of what is meant to be a stark and unfriendly concrete jungle, to the character voices, sound effects, and score. I do wonder, however, if a game with such potential to be an expansive open-world playground will end up feeling entirely too linear as it directs players along specific paths through the city. Then again, if those paths are carefully crafted to optimize the gaming experience, then should it even matter?

Mirror’s Edge hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 11th. Urban flight is one week away.

Ethereal Instruments Of Destruction -- Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia Review

There are few certainties in the gaming world, but if you're betting on a classic two-dimensional action series to remain fun and satisfying with each new release, then Konami's Castlevania series is always one to consider. This holds true with the newest game in the franchise, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the Nintendo DS.

Order of Ecclesia is the story of Shanoa, a young member of the Order who is chosen as the wielder of the Dominus, a power that will spell the end of the returning menace, Dracula. Before she can receive this power, however, the magical glyphs of the Dominus are stolen and she must embark on a quest to recapture them before confronting the Count.

Although the story is quite engaging for this type of game, Order of Ecclesia shines most brightly in the gameplay department. Combat also revolves around glyphs, as every weapon in the game is not a physical item, but a glyph that Shanoa must absorb in order to use. There is a wide variety of these ethereal instruments of destruction available to the player, and the swords, daggers, axes, sickles, and the like can be mapped to the X and Y buttons in any combination in order to slay the forces of darkness. Choosing two weapons equips Shanoa with the tools necessary to combat foes in different ways (like short- and long-range attacks), while doubling up on the same glyph allows her to perform rapid one-two strikes and grants her the ability to unleash special, heavy-damage attacks such as raining down a screen-darkening volley of arrows or taking a single swipe with a blade three times her height.

Dispatching the creatures of the night in C:OE is a near-perfect classic gaming experience, with the only noticeable (and minor) hitch being the delayed transition to and from attacking and jumping/ducking maneuvers. Otherwise, the side-scrolling action feels just right, and the player is granted a carefully-balanced level of power via the adaptable weapon system to combat the hordes of monsters (s)he will be facing. The creative enemy design is refreshing, and never leaves the player fighting the same set of foes for too long. Most of the creatures look and behave differently from one another, following unique attack patterns that force the player to proceed with caution. Bosses are large, detailed, and impressive, and require a degree of strategy to defeat. The difficulty curve is natural and progressive.

Elements of C:OE function very much like a role-playing game. Shanoa has base stats that improve as she defeats enemies, thereby becoming more and more dangerous a warrior. New glyphs that players discover are typically stronger than those already in tow, and the money that they collect can be used to purchase various pieces of damage-reducing armor. Each person Shanoa rescues along the way returns to the main town, where they will request that she complete small tasks before rewarding her with a specific service (opening a shop, healing wounds, crafting items, etc.). These quests are optional and never get in the way, but they do provide additional goals for gamers to achieve and help build a more complete game.

All of the action comes wrapped in a gift box of excellent level design. Shanoa travels in all directions--up through ceilings, down through floors, into hidden areas, and back again. Warp pedestals make traveling from one end of a stage to the other easy, but the game rarely sends players backtracking in the first place. A number of environmental hazards and traps litter a few of the levels, and each area is very distinct thanks to some of the best graphics on the handheld as well as an outstanding score. The dynamic background animation and multiple layers of pixel art combine with top-notch sound effects to create a wonderful audio/visual experience.

If there's one DS game worth picking up for the rest of 2008, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is it. From its beautiful presentation to its engaging gameplay, there is little to complain about in this 2D action title. It even has a pretty good story...with a twist. Go get it.