Story

Mirror's Edge is set in a society where communication is heavily monitored by a totalitarian regime, and so a network of runners, including the main character, Faith, are used to transmit messages while evading government surveillance.

Review (PC)

Gaming's Recent Lack of Innovation and the Few Gems That Shine

Innovation within the gaming industry is hard to come by nowadays when publishers are focusing more on proven franchises with slightly updated features rather than fresh, new original games. Every so often, a gem will pop out of nowhere and push the boundaries of a genre such as last year's surprise hit, Portal. In-house EA developer DICE, mainly known for their work on the Battlefield series, surprised gamers all around at E3 with their new parkour based game, Mirror's Edge. Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone, huh? For those who may not know what parkour is, it's a form of free running that involves moving quick and overcoming obstacles as best as possible. Simply put, there is no other game out there that delivers the type of experience that DICE's new game has taken on.

Mirror's Edge puts a completely new twist on the first-person genre with it's parkour styled gameplay where players must interact with the environment in a manner that looks so believable, it'll convince you to try running on walls. Okay, maybe that last part is a little exaggerated but, man, they make it look so easy! The way Faith [the protagonist] runs, loses and gains momentum, and then goes take a deep breath afterward, helps bring you into the shoes of the character.

Platforming segments and avoiding any obstacles in your way serve as the core of the gameplay. Obstacles can be something as simple as hopping over a rail in front of you, clearing a huge gap by taking a leap of faith off a nearby crane, to juking out the police who seem to have a “shoot first, ask questions later”, mentality. Most of the time, you will either be free running on sky rise rooftops or in narrow office hallways that lead to some very tight moments of cat and mouse. Only, the cats have guns and armor. The gameplay concepts in Mirror's Edge make it a bit tricky to review because it offers a slew of brand new, never-been-done ideas that work out surprisingly terrific but a few questionable design choices push it a few steps backwards from fully realizing it's potential.

So How Does the Game Run?

Momentum works as the backbone to the gameplay, acting with realistic physics behind it. Basically, the more momentum you gain while you're running, the farther you'll jump. The realistic physics apply to all of the games moves, so if you go for a wall run and don't catch enough speed, Faith will end up coming short. That's definitely not a good thing if you have a far fall below you. But when you do miss a big jump and start that long, hard plummet to the ground, it is one eerily realistic drop. One slip up will send Faith hurling to the ground like a human bullet as everything slowly becomes a blur and tunnel vision sets in briefly, before that final ankle breaking crunch. Ouch. There are a number of moves at Faith's disposal, but the ones that will be used the most are wall running, jumping kicking off a wall to reach a high ledge, performing a skill roll to soften a heavy landing, coil jumping over an object to gain speed, and a slide move that comes in handy during combat.

Essential moves like jumping is tasked to the spacebar (LB for a 360 controller), sliding goes to the shift key (LB for a 360 controller), and meleeing by clicking left on the mouse (RT for a 360). The control layout might feel a little odd at first, especially if you're using a controller, but after the first few jumps, moves will start coming together naturally and you'll come to appreciate the layout.Pulling off all of Faith's moves is as simple as hitting a key or button, but there are a few restrictive areas in many of the levels that get in the way of pulling them off properly. This is where those questionable design issues come into play.

Since the focus of the gameplay relies heavily on gaining momentum to reach areas, there are a few frustrating areas that just do not provide enough room to do something as simple as a wall run which leads to a lot of trial and error. And that is another issue players will have to deal with later in the game, repeating the same sections over and over. Running along rooftops and inside huge office buildings should offer a lot of freedom to get away, but unfortunately, things get a bit linear. It's hard to care to look for alternate paths inside a building when either all the doors are locked inside except for that one special door. I was actually fooled one time, when I went into an open elevator that didn't work. Why have an open elevator if it doesn't go anywhere? Another issue is that the game simply doesn't give the player enough of an opportunity to explore the environments. A good 50% of the game is spent being chased by the cops leaving you with little time to look around for alternate paths. Take too long and the cops will eventually catch up and gun you down so memorizing the level layout becomes a must.

It's a shame the game stops you in your tracks way too many times, because the game has a fantastic flow once you get a good pace going. That's where the gameplay shines, when you're given the opportunity to explore freely. There's also an also an option where you can the hit a button that will highlight the nearest path for those who get stuck. This is a welcome option for casual players looking for the quickest route possible. Turn the game on hard and any object that was highlighted red is now a static white like everything else, upping the challenge. Being able to find the best shortcut is important when the fuzz are hot on your trail, but there are going to be times when you're just gonna have to throw down.

This is where combat comes into play where Faith uses a variety of punch, kicks, and slow motion ass kicking to stick to the police. When face to face with an officer, you hit the left mouse button (RT) to engage in a series of punches and can mix things up by wall jumping and throwing a 360 degree kick. There's also the option of picking up or disarming a cops gun, allowing you to pull off some sick shooting moves while sliding on the ground John Woo style. If you want to get real fancy, there's also the ability to slow down time and take enemies out ala bullet time. Try to take on more than 2 enemies though and you'll most likely eat lead. Combat is completely optional up until the last few levels where there is no choice but to fight. It's nice to have that kind of choice, but in the end, Faith's real weapons are her own legs.

A Real Looker That Has A Shallow Side

At the start of the game, players are treated an interesting animated introduction that delves into the backstory of the main character, Faith. Here we find out about the city Faith she lives in, get to know her family, and why she has chosen to run. For an introduction, the animated cut scene is a nice touch, but it's a little odd seeing it chosen as the main medium for most of the cut scenes in the game minus the ending. After every level, an animated cinema will come up showing where Faith will travel next. Think of the animated cut-scenes like a high budget flash movie with a few neat 3D elements thrown in. When you look at the impressive scope of the in-game environments and detail on the character models, it almost seems like a wasted effort. Most likely, the cut-scenes were outsourced to some other company, while the developer chose to focus on the gameplay.

Living in a city, under the watchful eye of the government, Faith is forced to run to keep her sense of independence. Faith's sister, a member of the police force, is framed for murder of a mayoral candidate and only she can save her sister. While interesting on paper, the story itself won't win any awards as it never really gives enough of a background to make the player care about the characters or what will happen next. Crafting an interesting story around the concept of free running isn't exactly an easy task so it's okay to let that slide.

Using the power of the Unreal 3 engine, Mirror's Edge was one of the best looking games to come out on consoles in 2008 and it's visual prowess carries over to the PC with even more flare. That is, if your PC can handle the updated visuals. The rooftops Faith traverses over give a grand look over the city and, wow, is it a sight to behold. From atop, you can almost get lost in the hundreds of buildings rendered, all sharply detailed and never losing detail, even in the distance. Fall to the floor and you'll see a fully realized city below complete with streets, cars, and people going about their business.

Simply put, there are few other games that offer the type of immersion and visuals that Mirror's Edge does. What you won't see is a dirty or grimy looking city, but instead an almost too clean looking with clues spread all about the game that make you feel like Big Brother is watching you. Faith jumps, slides, and performs any other trick up her sleeve, absolutely flawless. I'll say it again, this game makes all her moves completely believable and will make you think running on walls in real life is a piece of cake.

Helping you get more lost in the visuals is the addition of the Nvidia's PhysX technology that renders objects in the game like tarps, flags, clothes and glass with amazing detail. Smash through a glass wall and watch as each individual shard of glass fall to the floor. Unfortunately, your PC will also take a hit if it is not strong enough. Since the PhysX technology was only developed for Nvidia based cards that are an 8 series or higher, using a card below an 8 or even an ATI card will have your framerate dropping to the single digits. If you can run this feature though, then congratulations because you not only have an amazing rig, but an amazing game to gawk at and show off to your console buddies.

On the audio side, the music kicks in at certain moments with different tunes for a different occasion. When you're all by your lonesome and finally get some time alone time, soft ambient music sets in but when the fuzz are on your trails, it kicks up for those adrenaline pumping moments when bullets are whizzing past you. All the music is pleasant to the ears, especially the ending theme. Also, included in my copy of Mirror's Edge was a bonus music CD with tracks mixed by artists like Benny Benassi. The remixes sound crazy good and are definitely worth a listen to.

Final Thoughts

While the gameplay is somewhat short, only lasting around 5-6 hours, Mirror's Edge takes gamers on a ride like they have never experienced before. Hopefully, that's without motion sickness. Time Trials and Speed Runs add a good amount of replay value encouraging players to find alternate routes and perfect their newfound parkour skills. With the addition of several new Time Trial maps as downloadable content for all platforms (PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3), any complaints about the short campaign will be put to rest.

Mirror's Edge has all the workings of a masterpiece; innovative gameplay, deep sense of immersion, jaw dropping graphics, and some of the best use of Nvidia's Physx technology. It's a shame that a few annoying design choices hamper what should have one of the most refreshing takes on the first-person genre to date. Look past those flaws, though, and be ready for one of the brightest, most refreshing games the genre has ever seen. Mirror's Edge is a gem that just needs a bit of polish to it. 

Final Score: 8.5 - Great!

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