If you haven’t heard of Mirror’s Edge, the first-person parkour fest from EA and DICE, you should really come out from under that rock you’ve been living under. Seriously, everybody can get behind jumping around on skyscrapers and giant construction equipment. Think Assassin’s Creed minus the knives and ancient architecture, with a slick monochrome aesthetic that makes the city appear almost too clean and perfect – something that stands in stark contrast to the abundant political corruption in the story.

What’s puzzling to many people (myself included) is that Mirror’s Edge achieved great review scores (averaging 79-81 on Metacritic, depending on platform), yet has somehow fallen by the wayside. Several representatives from both EA and DICE have expressed a love for the game and a desire to see a sequel, but so far nothing concrete has happened aside from hints at a second game during E3 2011. This is a sad scenario indeed, but it begs the question of why. With a cult following backing it up and people within the development and publishing companies both advocating it, why hasn’t a sequel already been made?

The obvious answer is that it didn’t sell well. Mirror’s Edge sold less than 150,000 copies during its first month on shelves, a relatively small number for a game that was supposed to kick start a new series for EA. With such low numbers, it’s no wonder EA decided a second game wasn’t worth backing. But why didn’t the game sell well? What was it that kept people from picking up an excellent title with high review scores and general praise from critics and players alike? What turned Mirror’s Edge into a sleeper hit?

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“Tales From the Backlog” is a series of articles in which WingDamage Editor-in-Chief, Jonah Gregory, finally gets around to playing through the many games he has collected throughout the years.

I knew that a new addition to the family was going to mean a couple of things. First, less time for gaming and second, less money to spend on games. Don’t get me wrong, these are sacrifices I went in wholeheartedly expecting and willing to make, but it is also changes the nature of some of the coverage I am able to do here on WingDamage. At least for the time being.

On that note, I decided now was the best time (and the best excuse) I would ever have to start working through my pile of shame. You know, that stack of games you never get around to finishing?

First up on my list was Assassin’s Creed. It is a game that I tried very briefly after its launch, but until recently never had much interest in. This was before my epiphany during Saints Row 2 wherein open world games finally clicked for me. So after months of urging from Wes and Adam’s recent endeavors with the series, I decided it was the perfect place to start on my backlog.

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The weather has been cold and rainy, snowy for some. You know what that means. It’s time for Jonah, Jesse, Adam, and Wes to grab some hot cocoa, grab a warm blanket, and cozy up to the warm roar of the fire being displayed on your Nintendo Wii.

In our “Games We Played Last Week” segment, Jesse talks about the new DJ Hero 2 DLC and continues his playthrough of The Last Story. Adam tells us about Giana Sisters DS. Jonah finally finishes up Assassin’s Creed and Wes is up to his iPhone antics with Infinity Blade. The guys also talk Hard Corps: Uprising initial impressions and Marvel VS Capcom 3 in the return of our “Let’s Play Together” segment.

This plus news and new releases on Barrel Roll #105, “Cozy Fire Edition”.

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The Barrel Roll crew returns this week with their hundred-and-third showstravaganza. The guys took a week off for the first time ever while Jonah and his wife were busy having a million babies.

This week, Jesse gives us the details on The Last Story (Japanese Import) and Goldeneye for the Wii. Adam fills us in on why he couldn’t get his head around Mass Effect 2 while Jonah weeps softly in the background. He also talks about Bionic Commando ReArmed 2, which picks us right back up again. Jonah fills us in on the wizard-filled Magicka and also reports his pile of shame progress in the original Assassin’s Creed.

In the news we discuss all the Final Fantasy related news that’s been coming out, NGP details and much more. All this plus new games this (and last) week on episode 103 of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”.

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On a very special one-hundred-and-second episode of ‘Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast’, Jonah is still here with no babies to show us at all. Is he making the whole thing up? How long can he keep up this charade? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Oh, and I guess we also talk about video games. Square-Enix released a whole bunch of Final Fantasy stuff and Nintendo dropped a metric crap-ton of Nintendo 3DS details. Also, Wes returns with his take on Little Big Planet 2 and The Last Express, Jesse writes about himself in the third person while playing more Monster Hunter Portable 3rd and Dragon Quest IX, Jonah tries to convince us he’s having a baby while playing Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect 2, and Adam… well… he just listens.

All this and more on our fantastical podtacular showstravaganza.

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"Kids Love It!"

If you check my reviews for Civ Rev or Mighty Final Fight you are more likely to be met with a weird Youtube clip or a Rambo reference than a numeric score. Although at first glance this might be seen as the result of severe head trauma, there is actual reasoning behind this decision to eschew number scores.

I understand that many people like having an easy number that will explain everything, but in the end I think that a number score is the worst part of any review. I am not alone in thinking this way. Adam Sessler of X-Play has railed against the way his scores are interpreted by sites like Metacritic. And there are countless others, just about every reviewer hates giving numeric scores and just about every reviewer is forced to come up with them so that they can be used for sites like Metacritic.

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