Simple is good.

I finished up Mirror's Edge today. First PC game on my backlog to hit the completed list since Dead Space earlier this year. I felt like I should have been finishing Bioshock at first, but that notion quickly passed. Bioshock had it's turn to capture my attention, and I'm sure I'll come back to play it again someday soon. ME is a beautiful game. Everything is clean and angular. No dust, dirt, or grime mucks up this game's environs. Most buildings you come across are composed of only a single color inside. The design choice turns out to be very solid. You don't take the time to sniff out the details most other games provide. The game wants you to be moving at all times, having a prettied up bit of scenery to distract is only going to get the player killed. It saves breathtaking rooftop views and other wow-details for when the action slows down. ME uses the minimalist approach works very well while still managing to be aesthetically pleasing. Especially when you consider this is the UnReal Engine at work.

The game controls are remarkably intuitive and only one or 2 input keys are required during most levels. Despite this simplicity, the game never got dull or repetitive for me. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, vaulting over fences, and otherwise weaving my way through obstacles was fun. Sprinkle in a few cops or a helicopter trying to pace you and it becomes a hellishly good time. Combat is mostly unnecessary, dodging cops is all too easy, but you will need to scrap with them from time to time. You can KO them with a flurry of punches and kicks or wait until their weapon flashes red and take them out in one artful disarming maneuver.

A brief break was had from my nightly Left 4 Dead play. I took the time and worked on our L4D campaign. My efforts were spent first reacquainting myself with the toolset and learning the news odds and ends introduced in the Authoring Tools Beta. Building began in earnest this week on the first level. We have a workable layout in place that will no doubt be changed, but enough for the basic building blocks to start being set down. I'm excited to be working on it and should have some decent screenshots to show off in a week or two.

I'm still not able to put Stephen King down. I've managed to read The Green Mile, The Stand, Thinner, 'Salem's Lot, and Rose Madder within the last 2 weeks or so. Despite this, I have also managed to keep reading The Lord of the Rings off and on and have made a sizable dent in it's pages. While I'm on the subject, DelRey Books has released a free e-book novella set in the current Star Wars continuity. It deals heavily with the Sith and heck, you can't beat free. Download the PDF here.

As a parting shot, I want to mention the television series Jericho. The entire series is available for instant viewing on Netflix. I caught the pilot episode and was really impressed by it. Gonna try to catch another episode or two before my wife gets home from shopping.

V out.