The Video Game Revue

Remebrance Day, Mirror's Edge, WotLK: Day 1

I try to take note of Remembrance Day each year, as I feel that it is important to honor the memory of soldiers in various conflicts throughout history. In years past I've often set time aside to play something WW II themed, and this year was no different: I logged a total of 7.6 hours of Day of Defeat: Source on Nov 11th, according to my Steam community page. This would have been a satisfying way to mark the occasion in itself, but I managed to top that by finally convincing Matt to partake of DoD, which lead to him becoming a fast convert. He tells me that he plans to play DoD regularly from now on.

Between Day of Defeat: Source, Gears of War 2, and Wrath of the Lich King, I had just enough time to squeeze in an hour of Mirror's Edge. I've heard that it's very short, but that doesn't bother me so much--the game is very good, perhaps even excellent. It's an immersive, cinematic experience with a novel visual style and solid gameplay mechanics. It may not be the kind of classic game that will be remembered decades from now, but for a seasonal hit, it is very satisfying. I need to play more of it before I can decide if there's anything about it that I really don't like.

Actually, as a quick aside, there is one thing that I don't like about Mirror's Edge: the writing. It's easy for me to forget that the writing is even there because, like Battlefield: Bad Company or Gears of War 2 before it, I'd given up on the writing in Mirror's Edge before I'd even started with it. The dialogue is generally painful in the few spots where it isn't bland, and the story arc in general does not aim to be very challenging. I was both taken aback and shaken out of my suspension of disbelief at one point during a cut-scene where one of the characters stops to explain (obviously for the benefit of the player) what the legend of Icarus is. A note to the game directors: fans of the game who are gripped by the story and don't get the reference to Icarus will look it up--don't insult the intelligence of everyone else by spelling it out.

So, Wrath of the Lich King. 'Tis a big deal. Sunny and I lined up at the local EB Games for the midnight release, which went smoothly and was fairly quiet. When we got home we played for a couple of hours and powered through many quests in the Howling Fjords. Unfortunately, I need to work today, or I'd be playing right now. :) I don't know if there's really much to say about WotLK. It's WoW, it's more of the same with a lot of new stuff, and it's totally fucking awesome. Even the mere intro movie blows me away.

So sorry, Little Big Planet and Gears of War 2. I'll be back for you someday.

posted by Parappa @ 2:22 PM