Let's Play Mirror's Edge - Late to the Party

If we're en route to a future dystopia, at least let it be one with clean rooftops and sexy ladies with killer triceps. Aoife never had the pleasure of cult classic Mirror's Edge when it first released ten years ago, so now Johnny is making things right. Get those shoulder buttons at the ready!
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[@abi_rose]

i didn't realise i needed to hear the words "one plucky lesbian" uttered in a gravelly movie trailer voice until now

[@adammarshall978]

What's this? Johnny was shit at a game where the player must constantly battle gravity at very high speeds whilst factoring in melee combat and finesse??? WELL I NEVER.

[@kipzonderkop1994]

I maybe biased as I stopped counting how many times I finished this game after 10, but once you’ve reached a point where you’re taking advantage of every little thing in the environment and trying to beat the high score like an arcade game, you really feel why people love this game

[@boomhall]

Johnny hasn't finished this because gravity's his arch enemy!

[@eurogamer]

Fair

[@Mirha77]

In my mind, Mirror's Edge was always a racing game. You could bumble through, cut corners, skid off the track and spin out/fall off a building, but basically get through eventually. But when you really got the hang of it, had that instinctive feel for timing the wall run, turn, jump, wall climb, turn, jump, vault back into full speed, it's essentially the same as getting a feel for the weight of a car, where you should break going into turns, acceleration, and pulling a fantastic last second pass to win a race. I adore this game.

[@SmevMev]

Where Mirror's Edge clicked for me was on my first non-lethal attempt, on the "Kate" level, where you have to get down a staircase crawling with armed police. Shooting it out with them takes minutes and just gets you killed on the hardest difficulty, but if you stop to think, there's a sneaky parkour route which gets you top to bottom in less than 30 seconds, which feels brilliant to discover. It was only after that that I realised the entire game is full of those subtly sign-posted, sneaky routes and it totally changes the flow of the game. I try to make sure I go back to Mirror's Edge every year now; it's become easily one of my favourite ever games.

[@monkeyblues5588]

i just want you two to know that all the gay discourse in this playthrough are greatly appreciated

[@Nerdazoid]

I'm sure a horse could be good at parkour but not furlong.

[@scooterjss]

Aoife seems to have a habit of looking in every direction except for the one she wants to go...

[@nightcatarts]

It's called situational awareness, like duh :D

[@Last_Colossi]

Just a heads up, The reason why the jump and crouch buttons are mapped to the left trigger and bumper is so that you can keep both thumbs on the sticks at all times, it takes a little bit to get used to at first but at about half way through the game you wouldn't want it any other way. Also if you guys are playing on PC you have to restart the game after enabling V-Sync for it to take affect (it gets rid of the tearing). P.S The one glove is for Zip-lining and gloves aren't to good for your hands while climbing so that's why she only has one. (and why it's fingerless)

[@icarusswitkes986]

Last Colossi Ya but realistically the glove would have to have a pulley or something on it, otherwise you'll just be hanging on a rope.

[@Last_Colossi]

Maybe if the palm of the glove had some plates embedded that were coated in Aluminium Magnesium Boride & Titanium diboride (BAM TiB2)?, it would also depend on the angle of the cable, but yeah it probably wouldn't be a easy as it looks in game for sure xD

[@spooky_electric]

Maybe she’s just a big Michael Jackson fan. It should sparkle, though. 🤔

[@ElaborateTiger]

Same reason why bumper jumper is so popular with competitive Halo/COD players.

[@alexrowley5014]

Without a hat i am unable to discern the late to the party goer.

[@eurogamer]

Dang! Thatnks for the heads-up - fixed! (Aoife)

[@Fafhrd42]

Mirror's Edge's real strength comes from the sort of recursive nature of the game. You play the story mode to unlock the Time Trials. You play the Time Trials and as you improve at them you learn the shortcuts and how to chain moves together to move quickly through the environments, and then you take that knowledge back into the Speed Runs where you put it all together to blow through the levels. It's more Burnout on Foot than Fast Thief (especially since the guards don't really have much in the way of AI. They're obstacles, not opponents). Also the controls are designed so you can jump and slide without having to take your thumb off the look stick, which would simply be impossible if jump and crouch were bound to the face buttons. Honestly, Johnny having Aoife play for the first time with a controller instead of m+kb was probably a mistake. Mouse and keyboard are much more forgiving for first timers because the controls are a pretty standard WASD+spacebar setup (the Steam controller is actually GREAT for Mirror's Edge because you can bind basically everything to the shoulders and grip buttons and you get the movement precision of the analog stick and the look speed and precision of a trackball) Mirror's Edge: Catalyst failed because they didn't understand that it was the movement system combined with the mastery of the environments was what made the people who loved it REALLY love it. They changed the artstyle up and made the environments a lot noisier and hard to read, they made an open world so there weren't any more discrete pieces to master (other than the missions, but see previous comment about the art style changes for why that didn't really work), and they made a much more complex combat system that NOBODY wanted (seriously, a sizeable chunk of the criticism of the first game was basically 'running good. combat bad. more running less combat, plz' and their response was 'lets make MORE COMBAT and also not let you use guns AT ALL this time'). Also it was a total reboot that had nothing at all to do storywise with the first game.

[@benmeister]

Fafhrd42 yes! Somehow they didn't understand why the first one was great and went the wrong direction spending time on an open world and track editor rather than creating a new story and more environments and a more flowing combat system which is what they should've done. I had nothing against the guns per se. They should have just enabled them in the correct circumstances. Gun combat should be kept to a minimum although it would be cool to chain that into the flow of the story shooting a handgun from a Wallrun to clear something ahead.

[@jadencioffi4508]

Love what you guys are doing! (Just a suggestion, you should either make a Late To The Party or a full series on Grim Fandango. You guys would love it!)

[@stereo_future]

I think the cumbersome feeling draws parallels to Dark Souls. People feel its slow and unresponsive until they figure out the finer points of the controls. For Mirrors Edge. the reticle matters. Slight changes in reticle positioning elevate a clumsy climb over a fence to a wall run into a vault over the same fence.

[@krawlingchaos3963]

This intro is GOLDEN :DD

[@degen83]

This game is great once you have the basics down. Free running is fantastic once you learn how to keep your momentum up. But when you are going fast you can easily jump off a ledge with nothing to break your fall. When I first played this game i thought it was rubbish because I sucked at it, but then I started to get better and I had a blast.

[@patrickbrennan7438]

Johnny, Your dramatic announcer voice is amazing 😅

[@i_heart_caligula6204]

This video has solidified Aoife as my favourite KZbinr. I don't know how she can make so many lewd jokes yet stay so classy, but she finds a way.

[@i_heart_caligula6204]

Slander! She appreciates them for their brains. Their sexy, sexy brains...

[@JesseCuster]

She met uh, Jeff Goldblum.

[@cloeshmoroz4512]

That falling + bone crushing sound is the stuff of nightmares. Really enjoyed the game but I did get stuck on some levels that were loaded with heavily armed ennemies

[@flame1148]

Wow that screen tearing is pretty brutal.

[@tribio1776]

I know it has been a while since this video was made about a month ago so this comment probably won't be seen, but I have a few pointers on playing, as well as comments/reminders on possible inaccurate statements (just friendly help). Yes, it is a distopia. I may be biased (due to enjoying the game), but I actually do parkour, and I am trying to approach this from a more analytical perspective. First, pay attention to when an object is red. This is the game showing you a good/possible choice for getting past the obstacle. This game is definitely one that rewards practice and replaying when it comes to feeling accomplished and skilled. Also, some of these parkour controls are also shared in Dying Light. The choice in the jump, slide, etc. being mapped to the triggers instead of the lettered/shaped right buttons actually means the most useful controls are mapped to buttons more easily used in quick succession or in conjunction with each other. The Harem pants are decent for climbing and flexibility, but they tend to be a softer material (just like yoga pants), whereas the pants that faith is wearing look (texturally, in my opinion) to be made of a stiffer, and more durable material allowing for the slides. Also, you mention how the jump to the ladder in the training section is "defying gravity" and that the part isn't a trampoline, but that ladder looks to be maybe 10-12 feet off the ground, which is not too high of a jump for someone well trained and experience in parkour. Stepping up onto something (as long as it isn't too high of a step up) while moving quickly can actually allow for more explosive muscle action, launching you higher than otherwise. The game is not all that unrealistic. The more unrealistic things are some of the high falls, and being shot not really hindering you much.

[@BOTDFmawifeys4life]

I'm realising over a decade later that being a gymnast made this game both easier to understand/play and to believe, springboards are a gymnastics thing (think the < shaped thing infront of a vault) that propel you using the force you push into it with (exactly like a trampoline but hard), so springboards in mirror's edge could potentially be giving you extra height if you had the leg power to push off with one leg and momentum as opposed to two legs

[@danielepson6219]

Of course a part horse parkours, it's par for the course.

[@icarusswitkes986]

Daniel Epson the word "parkour" came from "parcourse" which was one of the military training things, like the obstacle courses. David Belle adapted it to be parkour.

[@jacqueslesauve579]

Personally I think a half horse, half man creature would be really bad at parkour... they'd have a really bad centaur of gravity.

[@E71]

Yeah, when you guys suck at it, you're obviously not going to enjoy it. Thankfully, for the most part, I felt naturally good at it and soaked it all up: the sunny sterile rooftop aesthetic, the music, faith's voice, the fluid freedom of movement.

[@SomeGuyXG3]

I hate when I mistake rats for gunshots.

[@admiralsunshine]

This was one of my favorite games, I don't care what anybody says. I still blitz through it about once a year, takes like 4 hours and I love it every time

[@zware88]

I feel your pain, peeps, ME’s controls felt pretty unresponsive as well until I stopped trying to do more than one thing at once then tried to do a neat sequence of commands whilst using the best trail possible through the levels

[@madzthedad]

I love that at 11:50 both Johnny and I start singing the exact same thing at the exact same time.

[@AzureRath97]

what? 2008 was just 4 years ago? ;A;

[@irishboy_pa]

10:37 what did she think was happening 😂😂

[@SpaceHopperCopter]

5000k Subs! Congrats! *airhorns for days*

[@callummellis3280]

This is my 3rd episode of Late To The Party (new viewer to the channel) and I really enjoyed them, the chemistry between the two of you is brilliant as is your sense of humour. Came over to watch after Johnny was on OXtra's steam and obviously as his role as literally everybody else in the world

[@thecastawaydc]

I am one of those that thought this was really underrated. The controls are difficult at the start, because they are not what we are used to. But you can see that during this play through Aoife starting to get a bit of a flow at times. Much like Crash Bandicoot, you just need to keep going forwards. Once you get the hang of it it's a great feeling. Also without this game there would have been no Dying Light. That would have been a real shame.

[@jvwriter9028]

And you definitively get better at it later on. After awhile you can do stuff so quickly and its a lot of fun.

[@timothymoynihan8063]

I'm currently playing Mirrors Edge for the first time. I bought this game back in 2009. Totally regret not getting in to it back then.

[@Jaryth14]

I'm having a lot of fun with this series, and I love the Eurogamer crew, but I have to say that I will be sooooo happy when the entire internet decides it's done making the airhorn noise.

[@Banderpop]

It sounded to me like playing Mirror's Edge was a lot of fun, especially in the chasing parts. I don't get how it's possible to appear to be so into something, yet still dismiss the game anyway. It's also odd that Johnny has never beaten it despite one of the main criticisms being that the game is a bit short (an hour or so more at this pace and you'd be at the end credits). What is it that you wanted from Mirror's Edge? No obstacles? No enemies maybe? Controls to be replaced with QTEs?

[@chloe.imogen]

Perfect first Late to the Party for Pride Month!

[@chloe.imogen]

GiRayne The former, at least to my knowledge! I've played a bit of it too and also never completed it. It would be cool if it was canon tho!

[@Sky-hk8gg]

Congrats on the 500 subs. I'm going to say that I love this game, (I picked it up last year in a recycled games bin for the 360). Despite games like dying light I feel like there's nothing quite like it. It felt so smooth and the concept really caught me. I completed all the speed running challenges and 100% the main game so I might be a bit biased but good choice Jonny!

[@jgray7440]

Mirror’s Edge. The games I love which make me vomit if I play to long. The motion in it is vertigo inducing.

[@laterkater4213]

J Gray I hear you, I started feeling rotten watching the gameplay!

[@yuanedo795]

J Gray I know that feeling,had motion sickness after finishing 2 last chapters back then.Took a whole day to recover.....

[@umarirshad4115]

One of my favorite games of all time. It gets really enjoyable once you build up your muscle memory.

[@vagabond28]

So how has fallen off more ledges? Aoife in Mirror's Edge or Johnny in Dark Souls?

[@jvwriter9028]

God, It been about a year since I last played this game through to completion but I still remember everything.

[@siloPIRATE]

Faith was delivering a privacy policy update notice 😂 Imagine the runners are delivering that to all their clients. Dear user, the runner's network now share information with their partners including the CPF (or whatever the authority is called). By continuing to use our service you consent to our new privacy policy. If you do not agree please stop utilising our services

[@benmeister]

Gotta replay this for the 14th time. Nothing like it still. It hurts me physically that noone has followed this up.

[@nananananacomeon]

Right away, thumbs up for that intro.

[@danielepson6219]

I agree that no one has ever bought a Twix. I think they're left in places by a Gideon's-like group.

[@lightsideofsin8969]

I feel like the story isn't great and the gameplay is clunky when you don't know where you're going. That's why this game is definitely better on a second run. It's a bit like Sonic games where the satisfaction comes from the speed.

[@nightcatarts]

Who is installing all these crash mats on skyscraper rooftops? Is it a future thing? Even though I'm not a fan of parkour in general, I'm glad it was in Dying Light & that they learned the lessons from this game. I think the problem here is that there's nothing else really.. It works better as a means of moving around the map than an entire game in & of itself.

[@Kamtrocity]

The story of this game left much to be desired but I loved it nonetheless. I especially remember love doing the speed runs for the achievements!

[@borisdg]

I love this game and seeing it in 2018...damn..it aged so well!

[@WIMMine]

I really really loved this game on PC. It feels much more fluid than on console. I spent a lot of time both speedrunning and just casually hopping around for fun.

[@GleichUmDieEcke]

I miss this game.

[@jacqueslesauve579]

I like the way Aoife let out a massive random burp right at the same time I took a massive swig of my drink. This is why they're winning awards!

[@IDidntSetAHandle]

20:31 - Chopper-y.

[@kingofthebottleshooters5805]

I only finished the game once, but I played the first four or five levels to death. Once I had the hang of it, it was one of the most addictive games I've ever played.

[@siloPIRATE]

It's been 10 years. 😱Wow...

[@Endriumilano]

I've just watched the intro to this video and it's already awsome

[@theDegausser]

I never cared much for this game even though I thought the mash up of this game and Dead Island, Dying Light, is one of my favorite games of all time. It has a lot of elements taken from this game.

[@dominateeye]

I said yes to the poll card only because of "legs for days". I don't actually think that having your waist connect directly to a horse torso (a _horso,_ as we call them in the industry) would be very conducive to freerunning.

[@nicholascross3557]

Closest I think I ever came to parcour, which is basically pretending you're a squirrel, was being about 8 and eating a cadburys creme egg, holding it in both hands and gnawing away at the chocolate to get at the gooey insides.

[@cliffevans2315]

"Hey, let's make a game about pathfinding, traversal, momentum and flow!" "Excellent! Should we have a single correct path through an area?" "Yes!" "And should the controls be fiddly and micromanaged?" "Yes!" "And should we put all of the primary controls on one hand instead of dividing them up across both hands on the controller?" "Of course!" "Sounds like a plan!"

[@Madbuk101]

You obviously haven't tried speedrunning this, there are multiple ways to progress and the controls aren't fiddly at all.

[@StopForcingPlusOnUs]

Another great vid :) I remember buying this game years ago and got bored after 10 minutes, never to be touched again lol.

[@Giga-lemesh]

I really love mirror's edge, and I have replayed it fairly recently. I didn't play catalyst since when it came out I didn't have a computer that could run it, and by the time i did i had heard it wasn't great.

[@jupitermond2325]

This is very true to my Mirror's Edge experience: lots of falling and screaming in terror. More singing though. The musical episode.

[@A_Red_December]

I think this is one of those games that works better on PC... I don't remember being the controls being that difficult.

[@magikalalchemy]

The soundtrack for this game was equally as amazing as the game.

[@bearhustler]

My housemate just overheard me listening to this and after Aoife's comment about this being 'a dystopia she can get on board with' she wants to play it too.

[@UnsafeTuna]

“I’m close to the edge here man” - that pedestrian dressed in orange in GTA San Andreas

[@TheLeninTrain]

20:29 A choppy scene for a choppy chopper

[@RickLeMon]

I like this game. Or if I don't, I want to. I am, however, remarkably bad at it. Partly because it isn't really WASD-friendly and I am not terribly comfortable with controllers. Also, I'm not very good with up. Up is a strange direction to go.

[@siloPIRATE]

Once the city used to plus with energy. Dirty and dangerous, but alive and wonderful. The changes came slowly at first...

[@FreekHoekstra]

that was the best intro you guys ever did xD

[@IndecisiveStoner]

NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING! lol

[@DevilboyScooby]

Stormtroopers have good aim Johnny, OK? #JusticeForStormtroopers

[@RainbowscapePictures]

I never finished playing Mirror's Edge either. It's not that I don't love the game. It's just I got stuck at part where there's a really difficult jump. The difficulty on this game just ramps up and is very unforgiving. Fun to watch Johnny have you try it out.

[@microsista1413]

2:25 it's not interlacing, but screen tearing

[@DevilboyScooby]

10:07 I sang "Baggy Trousers" exactly when Aoife did, that's weirded me out a little...

[@jvwriter9028]

What Johnny doesn't know is that the ending to this game is so shit. I love this game but the ending is so bad.

[@jyjy111]

Ahh I see, the protagonist of Mirrors edge is the first instance of a human being being hydrophobic. Only way I can explain that ability to launch that far off waterfalls and be repelled mid air by a flow

[@Vamptonius]

6:30 - Completely by accident, I had a tickle at the exact moment Johnny did.

[@droptozro]

I hated using a controller on this too--it didn't feel very responsive, the button mapping sucked... and the keyboard/mouse was way smoother.

[@LinusWP]

Weren't there a bunch of Steam messages in the lower right corner? I think they were playing on PC.

[@MisterSkraz]

Yeah good, but now can we have Aoife and Johnny's rendition of either Harder Better Faster Stronger or Technologic but about Mirror's Edge?

[@Iandarth]

Your Bonnie tyler singalong reminded me of videogamers reviewsical and total biscuit of the heart by regular features

[@mcrazza]

Gawd, Mirror's Edge was a frustrating game. Basically, perfect execution is a must: the parkour flows great when you do it right and it's totally unforgiving when you don't. The enemies are OP and their aim is aggressively accurate. And the anime cutscenes was an odd choice too. I can see what DICE was trying to do and I want to like it, but this game is just too bloody unforgiving.

[@eliwam400]

They called hammer pants harem pants.

[@darkjackel8608]

Johnny. Please, PLEASE use that intro voice for the next OXVenture campaign. Please. 😊

[@lshaw303]

You finally got your wish

[@samrobinson2671]

Should have played the level where you have to climb the building thats still under construction, that level was the game's high point.

[@caid0229]

Second game was more forgiving, route was more obvious and it was easier to feel cool - it was a good sequel. Problem with first was that your jumps were fairly short without momentum. So if you screwed up a jump the first time you had to get it perfect the 2nd+ time. Did feel great when you got going though. I stopped playing it for a week and became utterly terrible at it and didn't go back to it but i loved it while it lasted

[@WilCornish]

Aoife just doesn’t quite have enough *faith* in her routes. You can really open it up and get flow once you don’t instinctively go for stairs etc.

[@bearhustler]

(F*cking) Excellent Bonnie Tyler from both of you

[@tontsa77]

The theme song is nice

[@madquinn13]

I would play this but even a lets play gives me motion sickness

[@oatmeal4020]

"This is a game that does..."

[@gaara3000111]

Ayye big ups the croydon mention

[@G00N3R7883]

I finished both games. Good concept, but the first one was let down by frustrating controls (much like you see in this video) and the second was just a bit boring, full of glorified fetch quests.

[@tiafielding]

I really liked this on PC back in the day, although much like Johnny, I've never finished it. The controls on PC seemed much easier than this, though!

[@jatzi1526]

My game didn't work at my computer which super sucks. I would get to a certain part and then it would just crash

[@IrvineTheHunter]

Gun barrels get quite hot when fired ergo, her gun grabbing hand has a glove, lol

[@jvwriter9028]

Gravity defeated Aoife this week.