In light of the Mirror’s Edge kerfluffle
Earlier this week, the increasingly-homeless-looking Steven Hansen wrote up a preview for DICE’s upcoming Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. He briefly mentioned that new skills have to be unlocked. “An upgrade tree? Why?” Steven asked, rhetorically. “You have to unlock the quick turn, leg tuck, and roll!” Denizens of the internet cried foul at the idea of having to earn points to be able to lift your legs a bit higher when jumping over obstacles.
And, y’know, that’s fair! The first Mirror’s Edge gave you all of the abilities from the onset and let you figure things out on your own. But this is a game in the year Two Thousand Sixteen, and we need to have numbers thrown at us to make us feel good (I admit, I can be a sucker for this in certain games). In the interest of posterity, here’s DICE’s reasoning courtesy of an interview on GameSpot: “The interesting thing about the quick-turn is when we gave it to players from the beginning, they didn’t use it so much. But when we allowed them to unlock the skill, there was a big upturn in how much it’s used.”
All will probably be fine. I’ve enjoyed what little bit I’ve played of Catalyst, and I’m sure having to learn how to roll won’t bother me all that much. What I’m more interested in is what y’all think is the silliest ability you’ve had to unlock. For my money, earning enough experience in Far Cry 3 to learn how to cook grenades is pretty silly. I’m fairly sure that right now, if I was to pick up a grenade, I’d be able cook it before throwing it. All you have to do is hold it a little longer than normal. I’m sure it could be justified as growing bold enough to actually hold onto an explosive device for longer than necessary, but it still strikes me as funny.
So what about you folks?
