Gamers can expect DICE and EA to showoff some new Mirrors Edge 2 footage and gameplay details on E3 2014. But what do we know about the game so far?
Gaming news site Rocket Chainsaw noted a couple of things after seeing a build of the Mirrors Edge 2 live.
They noted that: (source)
- Mirror's Edge 2 is a total reboot.
- Target platforms are Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.
- The E3 2013 Mirror's Edge 2 teaser was indeed entirely real time and generally unscripted, including the combat systems. Target platforms are Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.
- Core goal of the reboot is to create an open world, living breathing city for you to explore.
- The open world environment includes a persistent, "always online" component. The open world is considered a multiplayer "playground" where other plays can drop-in/drop-out seamlessly, freely choosing their level of interaction with other players and the game world. A comparison to Journey's online feature was given as the closest example.
- Other general multiplayer components include co-op and competitive modes, such as time trials
- There will be new enemies. Mirror's Edge 2 will include many AI opponents, some on equal footing to Faith. Among these are the standard cannon fodder Protectors, melee combat expert Sentinels, and armoured gun wielding Enforcers. We've been told that Faith does not have guns.
- DICE has taken on a lot of feedback from Mirror's Edge in shaping the combat system for Mirror's Edge 2. Heavy revisions have shaped the combat away from useless gunplay and the one button combat system to a deeper system that emphasizes Faith's speed and fluidity. Environment interaction is also a key feature of the combat system as players are able to push, punch, and kick enemies out of the way, over ledges, tables, and railings. These physics driven interactions are combined with 1-2-3 punch/kick style combos, wall running, flips, and other martial arts moves, as well as brief grapples.
- Occasionally a third person take-down move will be used when an enemy is beaten, and "adaptive slow-motion" is used vary sparingly, mostly just to highlight cool sequences, like the E3 2013 trailer face punch. Rocket Chainsaw has seen all of these combat functions performed in real time, without scripting.
- While DICE are committed to providing a deeper combat system, melee combat is not the single focus of Mirror's Edge 2. DICE does not consider Mirror's Edge 2 as a brawler, but instead a racing game at heart. For the development team, the focus is on creating a game all about parkour: speed, fluidity, and mastery of your environment. Even these changes to the combat system are being done to prevent issues with Mirror's Edge where players would have a stretch of parkour with intermittent pace breaking stops to fight an opponent. DICE wishes to seamlessly integrate encounters and the combat system into the feeling of speed and parkour mastery, so players even while fighting are still on the move, making progress, and interacting with their environment.
-The target release date for Mirrors Edge 2 is in 2016 but the official release date would be announced at E3 2014.
There you have it. What do you think? In light of the new information above, are you still hyped for Mirrors Edge 2? Are you even more hyped for it? Sound off in the comments below!
