Ok. Brink and Mirror's Edge both have a parkour style freerunning. So... I am trying to decide which is a better game altogether. I think they're similar enough that they can be compared!

brink is a shooter. mirrors edge is a parkour game. you cant compare.

Only games that are within the same genre can be compared. Brink is an FPS with parkour but that doesn't make it a platformer, and Mirrors Edge is a platformer with some shooting features but that doesn't make it an FPS. Once again, the games are too different to compare.

You CAN however compare features such as the shooting elements in which Mirrors Edge is very obviously lacking considering it's not an FPS but has better parkour in which Brink is not necessarily lacking but has no exponentially exceeding component that surpasses Mirrors Edge.

Mirror's Egde focuses on parkour, not shooting. In fact, the focus on shooting is so little that when you use up the magazine on a gun, you can't use that gun anymore.

Brink focuses on shooting, not parkour. The focus on parkour is so little, you hold down a button and run forward and you're performing super leaps and slides. And even then, it's only there to simplify skill jumps, like rocket jumping.

Mirror's edge is a first person platformer with some shooting. Brink a first person shooter with some platforming elements. Depends on what your looking for.

Besides what everyone has mentioned I'll like to add that Mirror's Edge also require precise timing on moves like the lifting knees jumps, rolls, and perfect timing on certain challenge maps. I guess I can try to compare the two:

Brink:
Brink is a FPS which revolves around teamwork, and completing a mission (or side mission should you choose). Added onto the game is the SMART system which allows you to perform Parkour, using SMART with basic jumps, slides, and sprinting causes the player to gain an advantage over those who do not. The parkour CAN be controlled by holding a single button.

Mirror's Edge:
Mirror's Edge is a Parkour game (not to be confused with free-running), the main emphasis is getting from point A to point B to further the story, no forms of side missions (except collectibles, which Brink also has). The game also allows for guns to be used, but since the main character Faith is not well trained in gun use, the accuracy can come off alittle shaky. The parkour in the game is use by continuing onto a run to sprint, jumping to climb fences, pressing LB or RB (xbox) to turn 90 degrees towards another wall to climb it. Which means every button or so is used to perform different actions of parkour.

Also, why has no one given you a welcome turtle? :turtle:

Here's my two cents:

Parkour was the main focus in Mirror's Edge. It was the primary tool and required some level of timing and situational awareness to use correctly in order to succeed in the game.

Parkour is a secondary tool in Brink. It is used to increase tactical and strategic movement across maps to objectives and targets, but it is completely optional (you can play the game and never have to touch the SMART button or utilize manual parkour moves if you so desire). Brink's main focus is the shooting and the objective-based teamplay, and the parkour enhances that. It isn't necessary to succeed, unlike Mirror's Edge. But it will be popular and commonly used to travel the levels quickly and efficiently.

I could say something but everyone above me has it covered. For your efforts :icecream:

WHOOO!!!!! ICE CREAM!!!

needless 2 say mirrors edge's parkour is much better due too the fact that it revolves around it, brink is a fps with parkour so it needs to focus on all of it's well handled attributes. so yeah pretty much same as Wraith. lol

While both games can be compared side by side in a video-game breakdown, I really do think that, because it is not out yet, Brink can not be compared with ME to decide which is the better product.

Funny, we had the Portal 2 vs. BRINK thing before.
Because you can't compare either Portal 2 or Mirror's Edge to BRINK.


BUT you can compare Portal (2) and Mirror's Edge, because they're both action-adventures (and even ME is a puzzle-game to some extend).

If you are going to compare two games generally you have to stick to areas they intersect, otherwise there is little tangible ground.

For Brink and Mirror's Edge there's a fair bit shared but I think most of this would really require playing both games to have a solid opinion. Take parkour for instance, is it better implemented in Mirror's Edge or Brink? I don't know. Mirror's Edge hit a good balance between usability and complexity in my opinion whereas Brink is specifically letting us streamline this (which makes sense since in Brink you'll have many other things to worry about, in ME you could really focus on the parkour). ME also had a fairly closed environement - you could reach things through differing actions but it was mostly a fixed and fairly linear course, in Brink the system has to work everywhere so the level design will be quite different.

So while ME's parkour will probably be deeper and more visceral Brink's will be more fluid and flexible.

I don't think the levels in BRINK are any more open than the ones in Mirror's Edge, really.

Lots of people have already said basically the same thing in different ways, but here goes...

Mirror's Edge is all about movement and flow.

Brink is about shooting, and the movement controls are intended to give you more options, not to be the core of the game.

Different focus = different game.

All you can compare fairly is the animation style for the first-person movement system, which is pretty much "Brink = newer + customisable + more advanced graphics = win.

But gameplay-wise, they're not the same at all.

Ok, guys. Call me noobish, but what exactly is the difference between parkour and free-running? I'm not completely sure, I've heard BRINK be called both of these. But apart from that: Here is my opinion.
Mirror's Edge: Fun parkour game where usually melee is the way you kill enemies, and you rarely use guns. Most of the levels focus on you running away, and even then your best best is to punch people in their stupid face.
Gunplay is not the main focus, I'm pretty sure there were less than 10 weapons in the entire game.
BRINK: Brink, however, has its main focus on weaponry, with a multitude of guns to choose. Parkour is not the main focus here (though it is emphasized during interviews and the such. Not much shooters do this.) Its a game focused on the massive slaughtering of those jerk-faces we call the Resistance (I am a Security fan, but I'm still kidding about the "jerk-face" part)
So, in contrast, you are comparing Super Mario to Sonic. They both have elements of platforming, but a totally different feel.

I was thinking more that Mirror's Edge often has a fixed route - to get from building A to building B you need to jump off of this ramp, or run across this wall. Sometimes you had multiple routes and some areas were more flexible than others but it was still fairly fixed. Brink seems more fluid and flexible in this regard in part because the parkour elements seem more . . . well general. It's more about maneuvering around the environment using parkour rather than using parkour to achieve incredible feats (which is what so much of ME is about)


From my admittedly limited understanding parkour focuses more on speed and free running on flair.

Agreed with what most said,and if i remember correct in an interview SD creator said that Mirror's Edge was an inspiration for them but these are different genres,not to compare thus.
He said that Brink is an FPS with a little of parkour where Mirror's Edge is exactly the opposite.

I loved Mirror's Edge and this is why i'm so excited about Brink.

That pretty much hits the nail on the head, free running is more like a dance style, and parkour more like a martial art.

Parkour isn't necessarily about "speed" so much as "efficiency" - it usually amounts to being faster, but it's more about shortening the distance you're traveling, knowing your body's capabilities, and reducing the impact on yourself while getting from A to B. Free-Running emphasises tricks and, as mentioned, "flair" - making sure you look awesome as you go.

Hungry Donner gave a quite precise explanation, but it doesn't really help if you don't know how Parkour and Freerunning look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMppD-bUNWo, how Parkour looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fouvwilGWc, how Free Running looks like.


Hm ... well, that does make sense.
But only because BRINK doesn't have an actual fixed route.

parkour and free running are two different things. :biggrin: