Hands-on: Konami's DSiWare 'Reflection'

You play as Kirra, a thief for hire who has been tasked with retrieving an ancient mirror from some similarly ancient ruins. When she finds the mirror, it does what all ancient mirrors do: it breaks. And in doing so, the mirror shatters her reality as well. She now has to reassemble the mirror if there is any hope of restoring her world, and she does this by traveling through both her world and the mirror world, reflected in the DSi's bottom screen.
Gallery: Reflection (DSiWare)
Reflection a bit like Mirror's Edge meets ... well, a mirror. Kirra can run, jump, slide, and wall jump with a truncated set of Faith's parkour moves; however, the twist is the inclusion of the second screen, and you'll run into completely different obstacles on both. Barriers, pits full of spikes, sheer drops, and more.
You'll have to figure out how to get Kirra past the obstacles on both screens, because what happens on one screen will be reflected on the other. For example, if you jump to a platform on one screen, your Mirror-Kirra may be standing (safely) on thin air. However, if you slide under an obstacle on one screen, and Mirror-Kirra falls off the map, you die. Both versions of Mirra have to survive for you to continue.
In some levels you'll encounter a dark, shadowy version of Kirra who is de-synced in time from her other self. If you jump on one screen, it might take Shadow-Kirra a second or two to jump. As you'd expect, these levels are much harder, and you'll have to find creative ways to continue on.
Konami estimates that it will take roughly three hours to complete Reflection's main quest, and longer if you're trying to track down all of the journal pages (detailing the mystery of the mirror and how it was created) and explore all of the areas. You can also unlock Expert Levels and a Time Attack mode to extend the experience.
The innovative gameplay really defines this game, but the short completion time and the low production values detract from the overall experience. But if you're looking for an unique DSiWare title that, notably, started as a student project at USC, you owe it to yourself to check out Reflection.
You'll have to figure out how to get Kirra past the obstacles on both screens, because what happens on one screen will be reflected on the other. For example, if you jump to a platform on one screen, your Mirror-Kirra may be standing (safely) on thin air. However, if you slide under an obstacle on one screen, and Mirror-Kirra falls off the map, you die. Both versions of Mirra have to survive for you to continue.
In some levels you'll encounter a dark, shadowy version of Kirra who is de-synced in time from her other self. If you jump on one screen, it might take Shadow-Kirra a second or two to jump. As you'd expect, these levels are much harder, and you'll have to find creative ways to continue on.
Konami estimates that it will take roughly three hours to complete Reflection's main quest, and longer if you're trying to track down all of the journal pages (detailing the mystery of the mirror and how it was created) and explore all of the areas. You can also unlock Expert Levels and a Time Attack mode to extend the experience.
The innovative gameplay really defines this game, but the short completion time and the low production values detract from the overall experience. But if you're looking for an unique DSiWare title that, notably, started as a student project at USC, you owe it to yourself to check out Reflection.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zinger314 @ Oct 14th 2009 5:20PM
I'd tap that.
With a stylus.
Traceur_Ryuk [All Digital until December] (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Oct 14th 2009 5:21PM
I'm sorry, but that "cover art" is just awful.
Anti-Villian @ Oct 14th 2009 5:31PM
Yeh, it makes the game look newgrounds quality.
Babaloo @ Nov 12th 2009 4:37AM
Anyone else's eyes burning here?
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 14th 2009 5:36PM
That's deviantart quality right there.
snowleopard233 @ Oct 14th 2009 6:03PM
That's Digital Art 101 quality right there. Like you took it as an elective because you're like "heck I need the credits and I like to draw mustaches on people in my textbook."
DomoBraden @ Oct 14th 2009 6:17PM
It's fucking terrible, at least as official game art. Not bad compared to the average person's scrawls of stick-figures and smiley-faces though. Keep in mind that this is a student's project that Konami is publishing, not an in-house effort. The game and all related assets were probably done by the same person, which is admirable. You also have to give props to Konami for this guy/girl a chance at having his/her game published.
Still... you'd think that they'd swap out the non-in-game art with some stuff done by a professional artist, for marketing sake if nothing else. That shit is god-awful. Seriously, my eyes hurt now.
Eh @ Oct 14th 2009 6:43PM
I dont understand why they couldnt pay someone a wopping $500 to do some advertising art like a cover. There are a lot of people that can do good quality pinup stuff and would be fine to do it for a few hundred bucks as long as its just a couple things and not the whole game.
A few hundred dollars towards making this look like a normal professional game would easily pay for itself.
under13warrior @ Oct 14th 2009 7:27PM
That looks like microsoft paint
IGLAW @ Oct 14th 2009 7:55PM
Hey, Touhou gets away with it.
mahouneko @ Oct 14th 2009 11:19PM
But Touhou is bullet-hell fun! This one... I'm not too sure until I can get my hands on a DSi.
At the moment I hesitate to pick up a DSi because of its region-locked DSiWare. Anyone know of a way to get around this without resorting to buying two DSi's (one JPN region and one USA region)?
Shagittarius @ Oct 14th 2009 5:22PM
I think that art is supposed to be like one of those motivational posters:
REFLECTION
Perhaps I should have gone to art school...
Shagittarius @ Oct 14th 2009 5:42PM
my REFLECTION
It is also cross-eyed
Shagittarius @ Oct 14th 2009 5:47PM
REFLECTION: DERP!
DomoBraden @ Oct 14th 2009 6:08PM
Thank you, but the good one was good enough.
Shagittarius @ Oct 14th 2009 6:08PM
ouch
DomoBraden @ Oct 14th 2009 6:19PM
Just being honest.
Shagittarius @ Oct 14th 2009 6:23PM
REFLECTION
When one post would have been better than three...
TriviumSuffocationTheBlackDahliaMurderLambOfGod @ Oct 14th 2009 5:22PM
I agree that the cover art is bad, but the gameplay looks fun and I love Mirror's Edge, despite its shortcomings. I will definitely give this game a look.
Benny @ Oct 14th 2009 5:23PM
Where did they get that cover from? XD Looks like something stolen from a 12 year old anime fan girl.
Gnoll @ Oct 15th 2009 8:34AM
All of the impressive MS paint drawing vids out there and you pick that one? You could have found one that was a LITTLE better than a slightly warbly looking anime pic.
Spirit @ Oct 14th 2009 5:24PM
is it me or could a game company such as konami do better than one of those embarassing MSPaint fan art artists?
fuzzynyanko @ Oct 14th 2009 8:20PM
Don't underestimate MS Paint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2Y_mvTgYw
Though I do agree that a company like Konami could hire a good manga artist to do better.
thedepthsofdarkness @ Oct 14th 2009 5:41PM
This game hold no interest for me, i don't even know why i'm bothering to comment? :(
Yan @ Oct 14th 2009 6:02PM
I guess it's a REFLECTION of your boredom.
Yan @ Oct 14th 2009 6:01PM
The last post about this game, users were bashing the actual concept because of the art and screenshots.
I'm glad that the responses for this one have been more... sane, for lack of a better term.
I'm looking forward to this. As I mentioned last time, this reminds me of a portion from a Rockman 5 mod, Wily's Dream Space. This section, in particular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_67gD2jlsQo#t=02m09s
mahouneko @ Oct 15th 2009 2:01AM
I personally think that the art is fine... especially after you look at what this lady has drawn:
http://kotaku.com/5381256/another-horrible-horrible-drawing-from-that-pretty-lady
bongoes is no longer a Black Lantern. @ Oct 14th 2009 7:08PM
That's some bad art right there. At least for an actual published game. Good concept though.
Faceman @ Oct 14th 2009 7:30PM
concept: interesting. art: awful
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 14th 2009 8:50PM
I know I post in this topic earlier but I just can't get over at how bad this artwork is, I though it was gonna grow on me but it's just terrible.
JayVe @ Oct 14th 2009 9:01PM
Instant Art Contest!
Submit links to your own cover art for Reflection. Who knows, Konami may end up using it.
partner @ Oct 14th 2009 9:08PM
Pretty good for a student project! USC Film School = 20th century. USC *Game* School = 21st century!
Maybe I missed it in the article, but was there any mention of pricing or release date?
GoldN @ Oct 14th 2009 9:56PM
Woot for USC's game program. I'm actually a freshman in that program. They really did a good job of putting together a major that legitimately teaches the subject. There aren't enough quality programs out there yet.
Here's the outline of what we take if anyone's interested (go to page 6): http://viterbi.usc.edu/assets/092/65642.pdf
Unregistered @ Oct 15th 2009 3:31AM
Another 5 year old's drawing. Typical.
Darkpen @ Oct 27th 2009 4:12AM
What the fuck is that shit? Did they hire a 15 year old who just learned how to use photoshop?
Fuck, man. I could do them one better :/