The Combat of Mirror's Edge - Addendum.

Just a quick addendum to the post on Mirror's Edge's Combat.

I already talked about how it seemed silly to put such an emphasis on combat (especially late game). My argument was that this game is about the Flow. To stop the Flow is to stop the core gameplay mechanic.

As another argument, I'll go ahead and invoke the ludonarrative dissonance of asking the player to fight.

(Side note: I was going to link to a definition of ludonarrative dissonance and found the internet lacking in quick answers. Essentially, it means that the meaning conveyed by the system of the game - the mechanics, reward structures, and verbs of gameplay - is different - and sometimes counter to - the meaning conveyed by the story. As near as I can tell, it originated with Clint Hocking here.)

Why is combat necessary in Mirror's Edge when Faith is a Runner? Her very title defines what she typically does. Either run away or run toward, but always running. Not kicking butt.

As a hopefully-some-day-designer of console games, I want to put players in the shoes of the characters. If I were Faith, the last thing I would be doing is killing guards. I know I'm a small woman. I know that I'm not super well trained in combat arts. In fact, given the options of 1) Fight, 2) Run, 3) Sneak Past, or 4) Wait for it to cool off, I would always choose options 2, 3, or 4.

My problem is that the game designers did not allow Faith to choose her most rational choice (even emotionally rational, if you want to argue that...).

Numerous times, I tried these strategies. In my previous post, I mentioned the door that took a while to open and the four guards. At first, I tried waiting. I waited a few minutes, just in case the guards would think I've moved on and vacate the garage. Nope. Next, I tried to sneak. I ducked behind cars, around corners, and monitored the guards' movements carefully. But the buggers had supernaturally acute vision and hearing. I was caught every time and riddled with holes faster than I could find a hiding spot. At the last, I tried over and over again to run through the guards in some kind of clever way, thinking, "There's no way the designers want me to fight! This is a game about subtlety and creativity, not just killing guards..." Guess who was wrong.

Rather than building a crappy combat system, I think I would have rather the designers built a decent sneaking system. Truly let combat be emergency only. Faith would not initiate combat without a good reason for it. She's not out to destroy the government. She's not out to draw attention to herself. She just wants her sister. Instead, the actions forced by the designers ended in the death of a few characters and more trouble than what a Runner could conceivably get into.