In many ways Mirror’s Edge is one of the more unique games that was released last few years. The main theme of the game is running. As the character Faith, you run from people, you run to people, you run all over the city. You play as a “runner", not surprisingly. This game is definitely worth a look if you want something different from the typical shooter.

Where this game really works is in the puzzles. As in games such as Tomb Raider, rather than ambiguous puzzles which involve combing things together, this game is focused on figuring out how to navigate the environment. Like Lara Croft, Faith makes death defying jumps, and performs impressive acrobatic feats in order to navigate the city. (Though, unlike Lara Croft, she has a much smaller bra size.) Certainly the idea of the environment being the puzzle is not new, but in many regards, Mirror’s Edge doesn’t feel like Tomb Raider or Uncharted. It is much faster paced. Rather than carefully planning out the path that you are going to take, you are just going to make a run for it and hope for the best. Naturally, you’ll often cause Faith to fall to her death. This isn’t particularly horrible, because the checkpoints are frequent enough that you aren’t going to lose your temper too much. Though, there are a few very frustrating moments.

Death defying leaps of Faith in a pristine utopia.

In this game, Faith’s ability to navigate the environment is very robust. She can run along almost any wall, grab onto most ledges, and navigate her way over fences in the snap of a finger. It’s the ultimate game of parkour. Many of the more difficult jumps are somewhat forgiving when it comes to how accurate your button pressing skills are, but there are a few that do require very precise timing.

Navigating through levels is extremely fun, except for one thing. Combat. The combat is absolutely horrendous in this game. The idea was cool, but poorly executed. The idea was that Faith would be making a run for it, then glide past an enemy, disabling them and taking their weapon, then take a few shots at another bad guy, then toss the stolen weapon and continue running. It sounds really cool, and it’s cool to watch in the load screens, but it just doesn’t work out that well in the game. For one thing, you have to perfectly time when you push the “grab” button. Most of the time you will fail to disarm the enemy, and you’ll end up just beating them down with your fists. There is a slow motion option to make disarming an opponent a little easier, but it is far too slow, and if you use that option you have to wait forever for the disarm animation to complete, before you can get back into the action. And another thing is that you almost always face too many enemies at once, so while you are trying to disarm one, another three are going to shoot you dead. Combat might actually be tolerable if encounters with the enemy occurred half as often. As it stands combat is very awkward and far to frequent.

The story should also be commented on. It’s not very strong, and most players won’t follow it at all. Before and after every level there is a little cut scene that is supposed to give the player an idea of what is going on, but other than Faith, and her main boss, a guy named Merc, most people won’t even realize who the other characters are. There is a part of the game where it is revealed that a guy that Faith thought was bad, is actually good, and as a player you won’t even realize that he was a character at all. Now if you actually do follow the story through the whole game, you’ll probably notice that the story has one very disturbing element: Faith is a cop-killer.

Essentially, Faith is a cop-killer.

The only enemies in the game are what are referred to as “blues", which are law enforcement officers, or cops. Further, there is nothing in the story to suggest that the police force is corrupt, there are a few corrupt city officials, but nothing particularly abnormal about the city. In fact the city is a Utopia, and not the type of Utopia where it’s a paradise on the surface, but then a really horrible place underneath, no. It actually is a genuine Utopia. In fact the reason that “runners” like Faith exist is because they had grown bored with the Utopia, and thought that the city need a little excitement, and why not throw in some crime while they were at it. Indeed, you essentially play as a criminal gone cop-killer, whose only motivation is that it’s fun.

In the actual plot of the game, there is something about Faith’s sister being framed for murder, and so maybe that is the justification for Faith’s illegal activities, but Faith was already a criminal and cop-killer before the framing occurred, and the back story confirms that the “runners” had always been criminals.

While playing a criminal is not particularly unusual, or absurd, it is strange to think that this game did get a T rating considering it’s would be controversial storyline. Honestly, though, the storyline is so forgettable, that few would think to mention this, or decide it’s rating based up it.

There is one “bug” that should be commented on as well. The PC version of the game allows you to activate PhysX which allows NVIDIA Graphics Card owners the ability to enjoy extra special effects such as a realistic glass shattering when a window is broken, but even on newer Geforce cards this can seriously slow down the game. If you are experiencing this problem, turning off PhysX will remedy the problem.

The combat and story aside, this is definitely a game worth playing for the unique game play alone. It’s not often that games come out that are both unique and fun, but with Mirror’s Edge you will be able to have that experience. Expect to jump, roll, hop, slide, and run to your heart’s content.

Rating: 7/10

Alternatives: Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Heavy Rain is a cinematic adventure game, developed by Quantic Dream, that is to be released exclusively for the PS3 early next week. To get gamers excited about it, a demo has been released on the Playstation Network. Quantic Dream is same developer that produced Fahrenheit, which I reviewed in December of last year. In many ways Heavy Rain is the follow-up to that game, and it will have a dark story and cinematic game play, though this time around the game story will not involve the supernatural. However, it will take place in the future, and feature various pieces of science fiction based technology.

Heavy Rain, a very dark film noir thriller with mature themes.

Having played the demo, I wanted to express some early thoughts on the game. First of all, as in Fahrenheit, this isn’t going to be a game. It’s going to be a movie that you have to press buttons in order to watch. For example in the demo, the first character you play as is a private detective, and after a panic attack the player has to press various buttons for him to first, grab his inhaler, second, lift the inhaler to his moth, and third pump the inhaler. The full game is probably going to have a lot of sequences like this, not game play, and not that fun. This was the main problem with Fahrenheit, and this game won’t be much different.

However, I will say this, I think that Heavy Rain is going to have a great story, and as far as I can tell this time around there are going to be more choices to make, and more ways for the game to end. I believe, that, once again, this game will be worth playing for the story alone. While very little has been released on the story, it is clear that rain is going to play a major role. Where Fahrenheit’s underlying event was that the temperature continued to drop, in this game the inches of rain is going to increase, my guess is that by the end of the game the characters may be dealing with a full blown flood. This will certainly add to the suspense, and I think players are going to get a lot of emotion out of this game. I do plan on playing this game, eventually.

I do want to say that I’m not pre-ordering this game, and further I would not pay $60.00 for this game, simply because I don’t think it is worth that. It is a movie, and in my mind it is worth maybe a little bit more than a movie, because it is playable. It certainly won’t have the value of a game that has a lot more to offer. I would not pay more than $20.00 for this game. So, I might not be playing it for several years, then again this game might go down in value quickly simple because it won’t have much re-playability and used copies might be hitting the market quickly.

I think this is the type of game that hardcore fans our going to defend to the grave, they’ll be offended by any criticisms directed at it, and they won’t be able to admit that it has faults. It is also the type of game that others will buy, and be utterly disappointed, not realizing what they got themselves into. For them it will be an utter waste of money. I think there may be a lot of arguments over this game. Then again, maybe it will have a weak release, and no one will buy it at all, except for a few cult followers of Quantic Dream.

UPDATE: February 19, 2010
I realize now that I can probably rent this game. I primarily play PC games and renting isn’t an option on that platform, so when I originally wrote this post it didn’t even occur to me. I probably will rent this game when I have some free time, which still won’t be for a while.

Acne is something that I’ve wanted to comment on for a some time, and I’m not promising that anyone that reads this is going to be cured, but I do have something important to say about it. Now, it should be known that I never had severe acne, but from around sixteen to nineteen I would have semi-frequent mild outbreaks, usually localized to very specific regions of my face. Naturally, I felt uncomfortable with it, not only did I think it was unattractive, but it felt gross and I couldn’t get over the temptation to pop the pimples.

I tried the over the counter products. Specifically, the Oxy pads, and anyone that’s tried those knows they don’t do anything. Of course there are other products as well, and entire systems, like Neutrogena and Proactiv. I never tried any of these, but my brother who had more severe outbreaks did, and all proved useless.

Well having tried some of these products, I figured I’d talk to an expert. No, not Jessica Simpson of the Proactiv fame. Instead I went to see an actual bonified doctor with a medical degree. Well my doctor said, “why don’t we try an antibacterial,” and he gave me a prescription for tetracycline. So I started taking that, and within days the pimples were gone, and they stayed gone for as long as I was on the drug. Who would have thought it could be so simple and painless?

Now I’m not saying tetracycline is the cure for everyone, but I am saying that instead of wasting your (or your parent’s) money on scams that may have absolutely no scientific backing, you should go see a doctor. It’s that simple. Believe me, if your acne is so bad that your doctor can’t write a prescription for it, then you are certainly going to be out of luck with anything sold over the counter. To be honest, I don’t even think it is worth trying any of the advertised products, but I’m sure that doctors will give good results.

Of course, I don’t have acne anymore. Getting older has taken care of that. And with most people, getting through puberty will do the same, but you don’t have to wait that long, not if your doctor has anything to say about it.

The bottom line is that there are a lot of myths about acne, and a lot of self proclaimed “miracle” cures, but life doesn’t have to be that hard. It can be as simple as a visit to the doctor’s office.

I have an exceptionally fine memory, but it isn’t quite photographic. I in no way can look at a blackboard and remember everything on it. I don’t really want to brag in writing about this, because I want to make a different point altogether, but I do have a very visual memory, and by visualization I can remember things very well. Since it would be incorrect to describe it as photographic, I don’t describe it that way. Instead, I made up the term “Videographic Memory". It’s like photgraphic, but instead of the brain recording photos of events seen, it records videos of events as they occurred.

What I mean when I say I have a videographic memory is that my mind records pretty much every event that happens, but it doesn’t necessarily record every detail and it doesn’t record in high definition. So I can’t, for example, recite the text out of the page of a book I’ve seen. Instead, I can recall how something occurred, but not necessarily the finer details of that event. This has been helpful to me as a writer, because I can take event from real life, and even though I can’t remember all the details, I can use my creativity to create a fictional version of those details.

As I said, I’m not writing this to brag, but instead I’m talking about this, because if you know you are gifted in some area, but can’t explain it using terms you know, then just make something up. The beauty of this is that no one can argue with you. No one can tell me I don’t have a videographic memory, because I made it up. I know exactly what it means, and it describes me perfectly.

With this in mind, I do not suggest going around making up self declarations about yourself. There should be some reasoning behind a description you’ve made up. I do have an exceptionally fine memory, therefore I can make up some term to describe my memory. On the other hand, for example, someone who is not athletic, could not make up a term such as “recreationally innate", which implies athletic ability, and use it do describe their self. Some descriptions work, and some don’t, so be careful when describing those attributes about yourself where you consider yourself gifted.

Just in the last six months, maybe a little longer, I have noticed something new in the grocery stores. Short shopping carts. These are perhaps one of the greatest things I have seen in recent years. As a bachelor, going to the grocery store usually involves picking up only a few things. Previously, I had three options. Try to carry everything by hand. Use one of those baskets that you can carry around. Or use a full-size shopping cart.

Compact shopping carts.

Now, carrying items around by hand is fine if you only need two items, or possibly three if the items can be held in one hand, but for grocery shopping this will certainly not work.

What about the baskets? Don’t get me started on those. They could possibly be the worst shopping invention ever made. Have you every used one? First of all, they are extremely awkward to hold. And if you put so much as a bottle of pop in them, the weight distribution is unbearable. It’s not that they are too heavy, it’s that they throw your center of gravity completely off balance. You constantly have to shift baskets from one hand to the other.

So, the best option had been full-size shopping carts. And they worked okay, but usually I found myself putting all the things I was buying in the child seat area, and that has the problem of smaller items falling out into the main basket anyway. Ultimately I had to reach down to the bottom of the cart no matter what. In additional to that, I always felt silly pushing around an enormous cart when I was only getting a few things.

All that has been relieved, however, with the introduction of the compact shopping carts. These miniature carts bring a certain amount of satisfaction to me as I push them around the store. I actually like going grocery shopping, simply for the thrill of navigating these through the isles. They maneuver much better. Ninety degree turns are a cinch. They hold exactly the right amount for a single person. They are perfect. The only question I have about them is: Why on earth did someone not think of this sooner?