Mirror, Mirror on the HDTV

Mirror's Edge, for those unfamiliar with the game, blasted onto the gaming blogosphere with a bang thanks to its realistically-moving camera. The rest of the game's fairly standard platforming fare- plop on a roof, jump onto a pole, swing, land, beat up bad guys that run to meet you, and repeat. But it's the first first-person shooter/platformer that actually attempts to attach a camera to the character's head, rather than place it on a static X-Y-Z axis. Now, if you kick the back of a guy's head, you'll look down your arm, center on the enemy's head, and the camera will bob as you make his face meet steel grating. It's a nice touch to a genre that's been unexcitingly consistent in presentation.

Some of this action has been shown in a brand spankin' new gameplay video released at Leipzig Games Convention 2008 (after the jump):

One concern from earlier trailers was that it'd be too scripted or oversaturated with gimmicky camera movements. Since nobody's tested the final product it's impossible to verify the truth of that allegation, but assuming there's a gradual progression of skill sets and fights a'la Portal's evolving stages, the gimmick factor should be minimized.

I'm satisfied with the eye-candy shown so far, but I'd love to see more gameplay. Since release is a while off, with many game shows going on before then, expect more to be released in a calculated way. Marketing teams just love doing that.

There's even some back story to the craziness contained in the above videos. Peep extra trailers and related videos below: