Thursday, June 4, 2009

Once upon a time, X and Y planes were enough for everyone

11:10 AM / Games / Comments3 Comments

Games

Mirror's Edge is one of those games that I've been meaning to try out for some time. Various reasons have conspired to prevent this from happening, however, ranging from its DRM implementation (I'm still pissed about losing one of my five Red Alert 3 "activations" after forgetting to first de-authorise it before reformatting my hard drive) to the fact that I've been busy with other things, namely Red Alert 3 and Fallout 3 on the gaming front. There's also the fairly significant issue of the lack of a demo for the PC version: I briefly sampled the PlayStation 3 demo, but I don't like gamepads at the best of times and find them to be next to useless when it comes to first-person action.

Mirror's Edge 2D

Mirror's Edge 2D

Last night, though, I came across Mirror's Edge 2D, an authorised adaptation of the game for web browsers, jettisoning the 3D first person perspective of the retail game in favour of a 2D side-scroller viewpoint. Ironically, I immediately felt far more enthused about this freeware side project than the real thing. Once upon a time, EA could probably have packaged Mirror's Edge 2D and slapped a $50 price tag on it. Now, however, there appears to be an inexplicable apathy towards 2D side-scrollers, and games like this are almost always restricted to web browsers and hand-held consoles. Am I complaining about having the opportunity to play a really fun game for free? You bet I'm not, but I do feel a twinge of sadness about the fact that games of this style are now the exception rather than the rule.

There are certainly some issues with the game as it currently stands, not least the somewhat sluggish, unresponsive controls and the lack of a full-screen mode (playing the game inside a small window within the browser window doesn't exactly lead to an immersive experience), but if you're looking for a bit of a distraction, I highly recommend taking a look at it.

 
3 Comments

1. Poster said:

"Now, however, there appears to be an inexplicable apathy towards 2D side-scrollers, and games like this are almost always restricted to web browsers and hand-held consoles."

If you are into 2D platformers, you should give a shot to the most obvious recent success - Little Big Planet. That game definitely defied the notion that "2D platformes are dead". OK, it in fact uses 3D graphics to render scenery, and very advanced 3D at that, but the gameplay is confined to 2D plane. All in all, amazing and fun game. I see that you've said you don't like gamepads, but for 2D gaming they are more effective than keyboard as input method.

There's also Braid, an unusual time controlling platforming puzzle game which was recently released for PC after garnering much attention and praise on Xbox 360 release last year.

Also look out for an upcoming game called Trine which promises more platforming / arcade action.

(Posted on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 5:08 PM)

2. Steini said:

Mega Man 9 is 2D side-scroller that was made for PS3 and Xbox 360 (with NES style graphics and sounds). I also hear that there are some 2d side-scrollers coming out on the Wii.

(Posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 10:30 PM)

3. FoxyMulder said:

Talking about 3D have you thought about investing in this.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/review/2009/05/28/nVidia-3D-Vision-Gaming-System/p1

(Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 11:43 AM)

 
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