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Mirror’s Edge is an action, parkour, drama that tells a story of totalitarian political system; Mirror’s Edge was developed by Dice EA and was released on 2008.
Settings: Utopian city
Mirror’s Edge is a very sleek designed video game; The design emphasizes a lot on being “clean” and somewhat “minimalist” to underline the fact that the settings is placed on a Utopian system; the political system is totalitarian. The game color scheme is very distinctive, contrast to other games out there because the colors emphasize “cleanliness” and “sterility”. There are no gray margins in the tone to make us distinguish Mirrors Edge from other games.
“[Mirror’s Edge] asks how much of your personal freedom are you willing to give up for a comfortable life.It’s not one girl against this police-state dictatorship. It’s more subtle than that.” -Owen Brian (Senior Producer)
The concept and the designs are beautifully made. You will be seeing almost 100% skyscraper and corporate Architecture, because the game takes place in interior space, and exterior rooftops. Environmental artist purposely made some area of the game more profound to guide you through the destination. If you are playing the game, you have an option to turn off the “red” guides so the game will encourage you to try new routes. But most of the designs, colors and architecture in Mirror’s Edge shows the true meaning of “clean” design.
The light and arrow guides you minimally.
Sharp red color tells you how to get from point A to B
As similar to the Deus Ex: Human Revolution post earlier on, Mirror’s Edge also stuck with the color consistence of certain areas. As shown below, Yellow / Red / Blue (and also there are green and other colors.) Each chapter has a distinct color of place, timeline, and architecture. The tiles, the lighting, the features are very consistent throughout the game. Landscape and trees are white, to keep the sterilization concept of the urban city.
The consistency of Yellow and Orange ochre
The consistency of Red on a storage facility.
The consistency of Blue in a lobby.
I also want to point out that the soundtrack used for each chapter has a strong “futuristic tone” to it. (which was composed by a Swedish artist: Magnus Birgersson, and collaboration with other artists such as Lisa Miskovsky, Benny Benassi, Junkie XL, Paul van Dyk, Teddybears and Armand Van Helden) This doubles the accent of a Utopian environment.
The video below will show you an example of one of my favorite chapter that will also show the color themes, architecture, soundtrack, the dynamics, and many more.
Mirror’s Edge will “Wow” you in terms of the virtual beauty that the Dice team has created. I suggest everyone to play Mirror’s Edge at least once in their lifetime. Mirror’s Edge 2 is coming out soon, and I cannot wait to explore and go through the Utopian world of Mirror’s Edge.
I also want to point out that there is an art book for Mirror’s Edge. It is a little rare to find though.
How was Mirror’s Edge? Did you love it? Comment and let us know below!
Sources and Links to check on:
Mirror’s Edge wiki (Great for guides)
Mirror’s Edge official website
Mirrors Edge Concept Art (Google)
Mirror’s Edge Twitter Make sure to follow them for the latest news, and let them know Polygon Architecture brought you there!
I do consider all of the ideas you’ve presented on your post.
They are very convincing and will definitely work.
Nonetheless, the posts are very short for starters.
May you please prolong them a little from subsequent time?
Thanks for the post.
Sure. These posts are on-going and will always be edited to get more details. The articles will be a major topic in which I don’t have to make new posts about the same game.
Thank you for reading though, I really appreciate the comment.