[quote name='deadgopher']I gotta say, this game really fights itself when it comes to realizing it's intended design.
When a few battle-optional cops are around and your path is fairly clear, the game is intense, beautiful and extremely fun to play. But, at times, repeated deaths and the sometimes difficult disarm moves sadly get in the way of the action, the "flow."
I can deal with the elevators, though one might ask why a parkour specialist is taking an elevator instead of the stairs, but I did run into one mid-level, mid-running, Half-Life style loading time. Again, only once, mind you, and I pray that's the only time I'll experience it, but, man, talk about an immersion killer.
I certainly don't regret the purchase, and I'm still having fun, but I feel that DICE could have either streamlined some of the levels a bit, permanently painted the runner-vision objects red instead of SLOWLY fading them into view (ARGGGGH), or at the very least, attempted to speed up the checkpoint loading (ala Prince of Persia, about 1 second).[/quote]
I think that's a pretty fair assessment. The only thing I'd say in defense of Mirror's Edge is that it really is the first of its kind in terms of gameplay. It's a first person, action-puzzle-platformer. As much as I hate getting gunned down while running around trying to figure out where to go, it is kind of puzzle-like. Once you learn what you're supposed to do, I think it's pretty understandable how it could be done quickly. I just think most of us aren't used to solving puzzles while we're being shot at.
This game is almost like a more intense, first person, Tomb Raider. But it's like Dice thought "Let's not only have them leaping from point to point, and climbing up ladders and pipes. Let's have a helicopter shoot at them while they do it!!!" I've died a ton, but the game definitely isn't the most frustrating I've played. And I don't think the checkpoints are that far apart. There have been a few moments when I've thought "all the way back here???", but really not that many. And I feel like I'm progressing through the game fine on the normal difficulty. Of course certain aspects of gameplay could be improved upon, but overall, I'm enjoying the experience.
EDIT - Another thing I like about the game is that you really can play it two different ways. You can try to speed through the levels, and literally run away from the bullets. Or you can be more tactical and take cover behind places where the helicopters can't get to you and the cops have trouble finding you. I think this could be what's annoying people; trying to play the whole game one way, when you really need a balance of both.