Mirror’s Edge Review

For the last twenty years, Prince of Persia has been the innovative Father of platform games. Now Mirror’s Edge, a stunning new entry into the genre, adds its own niche, by making a platform game in the first person.

Set in a city run by a totalitarian government, you play as Faith, a runner who transports information for non-conformists by running along rooftops, parkour-style. Parkour, according to founder David Belle, is “getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency situation.” Mirror’s Edge embodies this concept; the majority of the game is Faith running away from police, treating rooftops, walls, and flagpoles as obstacles to utilize in escaping faster.

This a refreshing game experience from Electronic Arts, which challenges both genre standards and company history. Most of the team behind the game worked together on a couple of games, like the drab, unimpressive, Battlefield 2. However, nothing that is a worthy predecessor to this visual masterpiece. The opening hits the ground running… literally. Faith tells us the city was once “alive and wonderful.” She must be referring to the political climate, because cityscape is both vibrant and captivating white and sky blue metropolis.

The gameplay is simple and appropriate. Since you will be running for your life along rooftops, it’s good that the opening has a thorough training mode. Not only do you get the feel for running and bouncing along walls, (which isn’t that difficult) but you get examples of what kinds of walls you can utilize. To make things easy, most things you’re supposed to use are crimson red; like doors you can open, wires you can swing down, and canopies on which you can safely land.

Faith’s move repertoire is similar to Prince of Persia: wall-running, ledge grabbing, leaping off walls, and pole swinging. What makes this game different is its focus on avoiding combat. When combat does occur, Faith can disarm or attack police hand-to-gun. There is also a limited-use, slow-motion mode, which makes disarming police (which is a little tricky) and large jumps a little easier. Faith has a few punches and a jump kick, but they aren’t always effective. Since there is an achievement for beating the game without firing a gun, it seems like EA wants you to disarm and evade.

Since there is no gun on the screen, there isn’t a central focal point for the player, which might make some players dizzy. However, EA has cleverly made up for this by adding a tiny recital to the centre of the screen. One thing you should probably ignore is the odd building architecture. Occasionally, you will find yourself in a room that serves no purpose, but has half-finished steel platform, a flagpole, and an open duct. In-between chapters and leading the story, is a Samurai Jack-esque animation that compliments the game’s comic book style art. While the bulk of the game looks great, the movements of the characters using the Unreal 3 Engine are not as fluid, nor are the characters faces as expressive.

The story itself is weak. The foundation of a great story rests on its characters, but the focus of this game is the city; Faith seems more like an afterthought. The basic outline is that Faith’s sister (who is a cop) has been setup for murder. Our hero Faith promises to discover the truth, and fortunately has the skills and support to do so. You don’t get any insight into the sister’s relationship, or any of Faith’s for that matter, you must take the names of their relationships “sister,” “handler,” and make assumptions on what these connections mean. That being said, the story servers well enough since it provides a constant driving force to run.

Missing the timing on a jump, redoing the same thing over, and over can get a little frustrating. This is a problem for almost all platformers, but at least the checkpoints in this game are fairly well placed. However, a word of advice – if you’re trying to go somewhere and finding it too difficult, you’re probably going the wrong way. This game is not hard. If you are stuck, there are some great YouTube walkthroughs.

Another complaint you’ve undoubtedly heard is that the game only takes six or eight hours to complete, and doesn’t offer much in the way of replay value, other than collecting hidden bags, or playing the time trials. Consider yourself warned. If you’re not one to buy a lot of games, you might choose this for a rental instead, or borrow it from a friend. It doesn’t change the bottom-line, this is a must-play. Mirror’s Edge is fantasy candy. If you were a fan of the opening scene in The Matrix where Trinity is escaping the police, and thought, “Whoa,” then this is definitely a game you should try.