PAX 2008 hands-on: Mirror's Edge, even edgier with an audience
by Kevin Kelly 
on Sep 1st 2008 1:30AM
Our first stop on the whirlwind tour of EA's heavy hitters was with our favorite running, jumping, sliding, wall-climbing, Faith.
Mirror's Edge continues to impress, and we were lucky enough to get a few minutes on a kiosk with her. However, the best thing about it isn't in the game, it was the cheering crowd behind us. Head behind the break to get the full skinny on our PAX experience this data-running hottie.
Yes, we've
gotten our paws on Mirror's Edge before, and yes it continues to impress us. We took Faith through her leaping, sliding and running workout until we'd disarmed a couple of enemies, made several nigh-impossible jumps, and finally hurled her through the sky in an effort to grab onto the skid of a hovering helicopter. We made it, luckily. The audio was barely discernible over the din of the crowd, but when you hear Faith pant and grunt while booking it up a wall-climb, it puts you on the edge of your seat just a tad more.
"Now when you hit empty, Faith holds onto the gun and you have to decide when to chuck it."
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Now, what was different from E3? Not much. The
motion-sickness dot is still there in the middle of the screen, and it must work because I didn't vomit once. The most substantial change they made was to the way Faith handles a gun. Previously, she would fire away until her gun hit empty, and you'd get one "click" pull, and then she'd toss the weapon away. Since there's no HUD or counter onscreen to let you know how much ammo you have left, it could be risky holding on to a weapon and hoping that there's a shot left. Now when you hit empty, Faith holds onto the gun and you have to decide when to chuck it.
A fairly sizeable crowd had gathered behind us while we played, and every time we got Faith killed (read: several) they would all go "Awwwwwwww!" When we surprisingly nailed the helicopter grab on the first try, they all went "YEAH!" Everyone should play games with a big audience watching, it really makes you feel like there are real stakes at risk. We can't wait to tuck and roll with the full version of this.
