[HTML1]

Mirror's Edge holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers thanks to its unique first-person approach to free-running and parkour. Gamers are able to leap from rooftop to rooftop dodging attacks in an incredibly fluid experience. Unfortunately, some of that magic faded away when Faith, the game's protagonist, was forced into hand-to-hand combat. The game's combat controls were clunky to say the least, but luckily fighting wasn't what the game was all about. The amount of emphasis that will be put on combat in the game's followup, Mirror's Edge 2, has yet to be seen, but it seems like DICE plans to make some improvements to the brawling system either way.

Many fans of the original game cringed a bit when DICE revealed that for the follow-up, Faith would be taken off the rails and into an open-world. The developer quickly clarified that it has no intention of making Mirror's Edge a shooter, but that gamers should expect Faith to have a bit more versatility when it comes to fighting back instead of running away in Mirror's Edge 2.

DICE CEO Karl-Magnus Troedsson spoke to CVG about the upcoming game's emphasis on first-person combat and how the new approach will differ from that of its predecessor...

"What I can say is that if the last game focused on first-person movement, it was definitely shown in the movie [the E3 preview embedded below] here that the DICE team will be focusing on first-person combat as well, to really nail and refine that."

Obviously, the prototype footage features some gameplay that still needs a lot of work before launch, but the team wanted to give eager fans a brief glimpse at what is behind the curtain. Troedsson didn't offer any more details about how the combat system would be refined, but did hint that there is a lot more in the works for the sequel six years in the making.

"Fans of the game will just have to wait and see until we talk more about the actual game is and the vital mechanics of it... We've shown the combat and movement now, but there's so much more to talk about. What I can say is, this is not just going to be the same game as the last one. We're building Faith for a new generation."

We have no doubt that players will be happy to see improvements to the combat system, especially when it comes to the controls. That said, so much of what made the first game special was the graceful method in which Faith was about to flee violence and we hope that the upcoming sequel doesn't push us fist-first into battle against security guards more often than necessary.

Are you worried that Mirror's Edge 2 will focus too much on combat or do you think DICE can strike the right balance between running and fighting? Let us know in the comments.

___

Mirror’s Edge 2 is currently in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Follow Denny on Twitter @The_DFC.

Source: CVG