This is the heroïne of the new computer game Mirror's Edge (and since it doesn't involve precise aiming, like HALO, it would play very well on console). I hope there will be customization options on what the character looks like. I remember reading the preview of a game called Star Trek Elite Force, and people could customize the main character to be of their gender. The current game called Mount and Blade allows for extensive customization of what the character looks like in gender, ethnicity as well as looks.

I love what I have seen of the game so very much; this would be the first game that would be centered around running and I love it. The opportunity of jumping from roof to roof is also utterly fascinating. When I first saw the trailer though (and it was utterly breathtaking) I didn't know the main character would have a face. I though it'd be like HALO where everyone can be the main character. Hopefully the look could be somewhat customized. If it's an attempt to make an Asian version of this:


(Charlize Theron in "Aeon Flux")

then the attempt is less than successful. The girl looks anemic compared to Charlize Theron and it's not due to skin color. She seems less alive. Thankfully at least she doesn't look like a corpse like the current "Versace"-style of models , the dead and dying photographs of whom they manage to waste entire magazine on (compare with same person, actually alive). But the perverted fashion "standard", of course, isn't quite what guys would want a girl to look like. Real girls look more like Cortana from HALO or Alyx Vance from Half Life II.

Having tried a free version of Red Alert II (and that's of course, many years after its publication, hence it was available on a legitimate website for free) I remember the character of Tania (or Tanya) who once in a while said "Yeah, baby" almost in a sexual kind of way. And I am glad that girls have gone from sexual objects to girl friends and girlfriends in videogame design, meaning Cortana and Alyx are people to go into action-adventure with, in addition to being attractive girls (but not in the porn-type of way, because then people could just go look at that; in gaming there has to be something different because sex is not the reason people play videogames).
When referring to Cortana, I meant Cortana in HALO II, that is. I haven't yet tried HALO III, and I am not sure about that semi-naked figure (and, sexual-object-ing Cortana who has thus far been a great character in HALO I and II) in a game clearly meant to be played by a lot of under-18 people.


I am not sure whether it's the sparkle in the eye or what, but both of these seem more alive than the Asian girl.


OK, put it another way. Were there some kind of ODST operation like in the beginning of "Delta HALO" level of HALO II, or that landing scene in Starship Troopers, I'd jump headfirst into the atmosphere with Starbuck, or fly into the midst of a Cylon attack wave with Starbuck (I somehow think landing from a hundred mile high is more dangerous than flying a Viper Mark II)



And if I had to go through a city under enemy occupation with snipers everywhere and minimum provision and maximum danger, I would go with Boomer.





As an Asian face of action-adventure, she is far more lively and better-looking and more real-person looking that the Asian girl of Mirror's Edge. I would jump into jungle/space/wind/ocean/cities and climb mountains and ford rivers and explore wilderness with all these girls pictured and know they'd be by my side. (adding Angelina Jolie in both Lara Croft movies, adding Miranda Keyes in HALO II, adding Aishwarya Rai in "The Last Legion", adding Coen in Splinter Cell I, adding Juno Eclipse in "The Force Unleashed", adding "The Ghost" (2:19-2:34 5:30-5:34 5:52-5:55) in "Starcraft Ghost" which they should make!) I have some difficulty in make-believing the same with the Mirror's Edge girl, who despite the in-game content portraying her as athletic and roof-to-roof leaping, and therefore exceptionally courageous and brave, looks like a repressed Asian girl of some stereotype who wouldn't think on her own. (Compare her with Sharon Valerii or "Boomer")

So, I am sure the in-game content, physics, level design, graphics, concept art, atmosphere, storyline and gameplay is all very high quality. There just seemed to be a parallel divergence between the visual expression (that's much more than facial expression) of the main character, and the visual expression of everything that the main character does in-game plus the gameplay plus the environment, etc.

A bit more bold (not pissed-off, not serious; bold) look would be great. There are girls who can look bold and adventurous even when smiling. In the few pictures on Google, the Mirror's Edge girl looks from repressed to spooky. Miranda Keyes portrays a military person in uniform and she looks more lively than this. If the character inspiration of the Asian girl is from some Japanese anime, well the Japanese anime aren't the best source for visual expression of people in actual life. The slant-eye make-up is quite a bit much and she looks like she doesn't speak English. Since the game premise is about the every-day high school and college-age people identifying with the main character (since everyone can be a "runner"), perhaps it's better to make a girl that girls can identify with (how about a late-teen Asian athlete) and guys would want to be around.

It is my hope that people could identify with the main character and more people would actually be inspire to run in real life, thereby increasing the fitness level of the average people. It's so good to see a videogame centered around running and not around gunfire.