I’m not going to spoil the story for those that haven’t seen it yet, but I will elaborate on some of the elements of the movie that I really enjoyed.

Firstly, let me get the science fiction aspect out of the way. I’ve seen a lot of complaints in reviews regarding the science in the movie and it saddens me that the general concept of Hollywood science fiction has been limited to extreme sci-fi such as blasters or lasers, robots and outlandish alien spacecraft. And as for aliens… not every alien needs to be Giger-esque.

Science fiction to me has always been the vision a writer has, casting their mind’s eye forth to what they feel could be a possible and sometimes plausible future. Looking back at some of the grandmasters of sci-fi in the last century, even they admitted that if they knew then what they knew now, their stories would be very different. (I’m almost positive this was said by Arthur C Clarke…)

Science has moved in leaps and bounds in the last few years, but not so much so that we can abandon all logic when it comes to constructing a possible future scenario. Sure, some folks seem to think that given the gap in time between present and depicted future that we’d have come up with something better… Personally, I’m of the opinion that we, as a race, tend to grasp at a concept then spend the next century making it better. One needs only look at our present modes of transport. At it’s core, the mechanics are not that far removed from the original. We’ve simply made them faster, stronger, hopefully safer, more intelligent. Sure there have been some outlandish alternatives and hybrids that have been proposed over the years, but they tend to die out after a while due to various reasons such as funding, price, odd energy requirements, overall feasability or mainstream acceptance.

So, taking that into account, let’s look at some of the human science in the movie:

a) Amplified Mobility Platform or AMP Suit – yep, the big walkers that act as extensions of the pilot’s body. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to think that this might be possible considering the current exo-skeletons in research and production at present. That and I think it’s a nice tip of the proverbial hat to the power loader exo-skeleton from Aliens…

b) The Scorpion Gunship – I’ve always had a fascination with VTOL flight and VTOL/conventional flight hybrids. Helicopters are great but their design feels a little dated. The Scorpion is, to me at least, a refreshing update that borrows aspects of the aggresive Apache and Hind choppers and throws in a little UNSC Hornet VTOL gunship from Halo 3.

c) Similarly, the Samson has taken it’s cues from the old faithful multipurpose Bell UH-1 “Huey” and Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, a design that has been echoed in Command & Conquer’s Orca bomber/fighter, Halo’s AV-14 Hornet, Fallout’s Vertibirds and Starcraft 2′s Banshee.

d) The Dragon, in my mind, is a large VTOL version of my old favourites, the versatile “death from above” C-130 Gunship. Large enough to be a troop transport or carry vehicles and other payloads or outfitted as an aerial artillery platform.

One of the big “Wow!” factors for me was the holographics. Yes, it’s been overdone so many times, but I still marvel at them. Especially if they make sense. So often, in science fiction movies, the user interface they’re tapping away at makes no sense.

Ok, enough drooling over the hardware… Onto the software!

I’m a big fan of the Adobe product suite. I’ve been Photoshopping since 1996 and it’s still my preferred image editing platform. The other programs in the suite are a bit foreign to me, but having seen their usage in this film as well as in other projects, I’m astounded at the results.

The other (and major factor in the movie) was the motion capture, specifically the facial expressions and fluidity of movements in the Na’vi. We saw what was possible with Gollum in Lord of the Rings. This… this was just better than anything I could imagine.

Finally, the mixing of CG and ‘normal’ camera work. I pride myself on being fairly critical of CG artistry, having spent many many hours, days, weeks on my own admittedly simple projects, and browsing through others’ online projects for inspiration. After a while you can spot elements that seem out of place, superimposed or added in after the fact. With Avatar, in this initial viewing at least, I could not tell the difference between real and CG. Maybe in a second or third viewing where I can ignore the action sequences and concentrate on the overall graphics… but even then, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

I’ll say this… this movie is not for everyone. Some, will avoid it purely because of the hype. Some, will scoff at the movie, calling it “Dances with Smurfs” or something along those lines because they feel that the story has been overdone. Others will not be able to watch it because they cannot sit through 2 and a half hours of 3D without getting a headache or eyestrain.

However, for those that do go see it and enjoy it, it’s fast becoming “that” movie that they talk about, marvel over or go to see numerous times.

If Pandora was real and the Avatar program existed, I’d sign up today! Until then, I’ll eagerly await the DVD or Blu-ray release so I can relive the adventure!

I’ve always loved synthesizer music. I remember, as a wee lad, my folks buying a 4 CD boxset – Atmospheric Synthesizer Spectacular -  for me (which I still have and play now and again when I’m feeling nostalgic). I remember losing myself for hours on end, listening to covers of well known 80’s groups and artists, featuring mostly movie soundtrack themes like Dune and Beverley Hills Cop.

That led me to listen to many of the artists’ original works and so my fascination with synthesizer and electronic music in general began. Back then, the range of artists available was limited to the likes of Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Tomita and Vangelis. These days, you have artists like Magnus Birgersson aka Solar Fields added to their ranks.

I first encountered Magnus’ work in the soundtrack work done for EA’s Mirror’s Edge – to be more specific, in my hunt, at the time, for extra information and downloading every conceivable trailer I could get my hands on, I noticed at the end of one of the ‘official’ trailers, mention of remix work done by Solar Fields and then a website URL. I browsed to the site and while I didn’t find much regarding ME there, I bookmarked it nonetheless as something of interest for later.

A while later though, while browsing emusic.com (thanks to Dave Warner from Dave’s Lounge Podcast for pointing me in that direction) for more music to download (I have a basic membership allowing me to download 30 DRM-free songs a month), I found Solar Fields under the electronica section. So I downloaded the latest album, Movements…

Now, the music in ME is very much up my alley. Soft ambient tracks here. Slightly harder synth tracks there. It all depends on the setting and what is about to happen to you. I could listen to it for hours (and sometimes do, now that I’ve unlocked all of them in the game).

Movements follows on that and leaves me with chills running down my spine and goosebumps all over my body… it’s that good! I have had it on repeat now for more than a week and I still can’t get enough of it.

Now, traditionally I’m a headphone-man. And as such, I tend to buy myself relatively decent headphones, be they earbuds or full-earmuff types. My one main criteria is decent bass and depth of sound. If music starts distorting, I get frustrated.

Sitting here at the office, listening to tracks like “Sol”, I can forget about the arguments, the politics, the piercing shrill sounds of desk- and cellphones ringing, as the music thrums and soothes my frazzled nerves. I can feel myself drifting away on an electronic ocean where I need only close my real eyes and open my mind’s eye to visualise the soundscape that have been so beautifully presented to me.

Now, as I said, I’m an earphone fan… but that is not to say that I don’t have a decent set of speakers at home, or that they’re incorrectly setup to enjoy music like this… it’s just that more often that not, my time in the lounge is so limited, due to the hours I work, that I often just collapse on my bed at home and lie there listening to music via my laptop until I fall asleep. However, the other night, I played Movements through the 5.1ch Dolby hi-fi…

All I can say, is WOW! What a difference. Such depth. Such range. It feels like the music reaches out and encompasses you.

I look forward to next month when I can download some more of Magnus’ work. And I’m keeping an eye out for the official Mirror’s Edge game soundtrack as well.

Back to the game…

I first saw reference to Mirror’s Edge a few months ago when people were referring to the demos (available for XBOX 360 and Playstation 3) and what caught my attention was the emphasis on the game physics and physicality of the game’s main character, Faith. I also heard mention of odd effects in the rendering engine such as a sort of ‘tunnel vision’ where everything outside of a certain area becomes blurred and blown out as you run. Sounded like an interesting way of doing things.

Then a few weeks back, I saw a Tweet by Aubrey Kilian aka buge on my Twitter peer network about a review he’d written and being the curious fellow that I am, I followed the link and read a very honest, straightforward review, followed by some trailers. Now I’m not usually a game trailer fan as they usually show you scenes played by gaming pros or beautiful cut-scenes that the game itself never lives up to…

This time though, it looks like I was wrong.

From that point onward, I can only describe my interest in the game as something bordering fanatical obsession. I downloaded HD trailers from the official site, went hunting for the theme music, watched YouTube videos and read every review I could get my hands on.

I had to have this game… and so I went and bought the XBOX 360 edition, thinking that I could maybe monopolise a friend’s console for a while and try it out. I think that thought lasted about 4 days before I couldn’t take the wait any longer and went and bought the console myself.

Anyway, back to the game itself… First impressions…

The controls are relatively intuitive once you get the hang of them and stop confusing yourself about which finger is doing what on the controller. Initially I found myself tapping the ‘turn’ (RB) instead of ‘attack’ (RT) but that may just be because I’m a console newbie.

The viewpoint of the game is through Faith’s eyes, leading a person to think that this is just another FPS game. However, no other FPS that I know of (please feel free to correct me!) shows you your own body in relation to your actions. As you vault, climb, hang, jump, etc in the game, you will see your arms, shins and feet, even thighs as you tumble. And the motion is not the typical “camera on a stick” feeling you get. You bob. You lean (especially when walking/balancing along pipes, etc). You fall… spectacularly at times.

Landings come in 4 flavours – relatively gentle, hard (losing you some health temporarily unless you roll), fatal (ending in a grisly sounding crunch after the rush of wind signaling your impending doom) and then there is the landing-on-your-back-feet-in-the-air landings where you have to ask yourself, how the hell you managed to do that…

Also, unlike other FPS games, Mirror’s Edge is not primarily a combat game. You start off with what nature and training gave you – your hands, feet and (hopefully) quick reflexes. You can disarm opponents and take their guns but don’t suddenly start looking for a HUD giving you an ammo count. You’ve got very limited ammunition and depending on the size of the gun, it may or may not encumber you to the point where you can’t jump normally (bare in mind you are playing a relatively small-framed Eurasian girl that probably only weighs about 50 or so kilograms). After a few shots the gun is emptied and discarded and you either have to disarm another opponent or resort to hand to hand combat which is where the game really shines.

Faith is a very physical character. She runs. She jumps. She slides. She runs along walls and does any number of impossible looking manoeuvres inspired by “parkour”. Add some basic punching and kicking into the mix and you have the makings of a very agile and elusive martial artist. Add to that a sort of “bullet-time” effect and you have someone that could run at an opponent, slide-kick them in the groin to drop them, or disarm them and then knee them in the face, or jump-kick them, knocking them off scaffolding to fall to their death, etc, etc.

Your environment becomes something you can use to create some spectacular attacks. I haven’t done so myself as yet, but I believe you can roll past an opponent and disarm them from behind, wall-run and jump to launch a aerial kick-attack, jump onto an opponent from higher-up, effectively doing a Mario Brothers styled stomp (which unlocks an achievement) and so on and so forth.

A quick note about shooting in the game. Picking up a gun does not mean you’re suddenly invincible. It takes only 4-5 shots to kill you, even less if you’re recently taken a hard fall from somewhere (this makes the scenes where you’re being shot at from a chopper quite hair-raising at times) and you’re opponents generally don’t die from one shot either, so you need to be pretty sure of yourself when shooting. I found the sniper rifle and the shotgun the most effective, but in a pinch, the handguns will do.

Controlling the firing reticule on the XBOX controller takes some getting used to (I’m gathering the PC version players will find it much easier) but with some practice, you can take down some opponents at range. There is however two achievements for not firing a gun – one, “Pacifist”, requires you not to fire a gun during any one story mode chapter; the other, “Test of Faith”, requires you not to fire a gun throughout the whole game. Having played as far as I have, I have to wonder how you get this right and still keep your sanity…

Aside from the combat (which is fast, furious and a little frustrating at times until you get the hang of it), the primary aim of the game, in my opinion, is as a fast-paced 3D, urban-themed, platformer.

Don’t get me wrong… you’re not running around looking for coins or tokens or anything like that. I have LEGO Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda for that… You’re more often than not running for your life from someone, or occasionally, chasing after someone that is trained like you are. The 30 or so runner bags you may find, spread throughout the game are more like special bonuses or secrets.

But there are also quieter portions of the game where you are trying to work out how to get from here to there. This is where Runner Vision comes in handy. That and (B) on the XBOX controller. (B) give you a hint as to where you want to be headed. But it often does not take into account the obstacles in your way. That is where Runner Vision comes in by providing red-coloured objects as hints, indicating that you can use this to overcome an obstacle. The further you get in the game, though, the less this happens, making you become more aware of your surroundings because you have to look for these yourself.

The story for Mirror’s Edge is also quite interesting. It’s set… well… now-ish. Or a few years from now, at most. In a city called New Eden, an almost militant “Big Brother” like city built over the old city. The police are everywhere. Everyone is watched. Everything is monitored. Information flow is strictly controlled.

Which is where Faith and her friends come in. They’re Runners, agile athletic couriers that transport information that their clients can’t send through the normal channels, for a price of course. A price justified by the fact that they are hunted. They stay off the streets where possible, using the city rooftops as their playground and just run…

Now Faith has an added complication in that her sister, Kate, a cop, has just been framed for the murder of a prominent politician in New Eden. In one of the early missions you go to her at the crime scene and she asks for your help, etc. Shortly after that, you start running for your life as bullets start flying around you… From there, it just seems to get more intense as you uncover more behind what happened and other people try to make sure that you never get a chance to reveal the truth…

The action in the game is enough to keep a person sitting on the edge of their seat most of the time and some of the stunts you perform are not for the faint of heart. Or those that get motion sick easily as this is one of the few games said to “hack” proprioception, ie. it screws up your sense of where your real limbs and body are. Fear of heights may also present a problem to some folks…

I’m about halfway through the game (it has often been criticised as too short) on easy mode and once I can complete it, I intend trying the other modes. For those that feel competitive, there are also non-combat time trial versions of the story maps as well as other maps. And sometime this month, a downloadable content pack will be released, focusing purely on time trials and finding your path through what looks to be a purely geometric map.

Mirror’s Edge (on the console at least) has the standard achievements and unlockables. The achievements are story mode based, combat style based and time trial based. The unlockables feature cut-scenes, game music and concept artwork.

I will say this though… if you’re going to play this game, play it on HD, 720p at least. SD is ok, but it just doesn’t do the game justice at times. Dolby 5.1 will help too. And turn up the volume. Trust me on this one…