Mirror's Edge

"Fun while it lasted"

A lot of people were excited for this game. Everyone could tell it was going to be innovative. How couldn't it be? It was a First Person Platformer (FPP), something that has rarely been done. Plus, it was so realistic, the game made people sick just from all the shakiness. It was like “Cloverfield,” shaky, new and incredibly hyped. Sadly, “Mirror's Edge” did not deliver for me. In fact, it did not deliver for most.

Gameplay (8/10)
“Mirror's Edge” is groundbreaking. The FPP gameplay is incredible and executed well. You control Faith, a runner who performs parkour to deliver messages. Surprisingly, this is done well. The controls are simple. LB does all of the 'up' functions, like jumping and vaulting and LT does all of the 'down' functions, like crouching and sliding. The controls are good, but not totally responsive. Sometimes your character Faith will not wallrun at all. There are a few sections where you need to wallrun then turn and jump to another platform. At one of them, I tried wallrunning for about half an hour without any success. It was times like these that made me incredibly angry.

And this game will make you angry. There are way too many points where you have to stop, look around and figure out what you need to do. Often this takes way too long and breaks up the flow of the game. You see, “Mirror's Edge” is a game about speed. You are supposed to be racing through, never losing your momentum. The prologue pulls this off perfectly. There is only one point where you have to slow down. The rest of the chapters have multiple puzzles that slow the game down. I wish DICE was able to make all of the missions as exciting as the prologue. That would deliver to me and anyone else who wanted chapters similar to the prologue.

“Mirror's Edge” loves speed so much that one of its main modes is the time trials and speed runs. These are where you can work on different courses and become able to keep maximum speed. This mode can be appealing to those that enjoy finding the best routes. But others like myself will prefer the route to be simple so that we could blast through and have lots of fun. If the idea of becoming faster is appealing to you, then you will enjoy this game.

One more thing I was looking forward to was the fact that I would rarely need to participate in combat. Well, this isn't really true. If you are playing on a difficulty above easy, you will be attacked with a swarm of unavoidable bullets. Coupled with the fact that where you need to go is never obvious, this becomes very frustrating. I was hoping that I wouldn't need to use a gun, but if I didn't I would not have beaten the game. For the record, it is beatable without shooting a gun. I did do it, I just didn't do it on Normal difficulty.

Overall, “Mirror's Edge's” core gameplay, the parkour, is very fun. If only the game stayed at the fast pace of the prologue.

Story (5/10)
“Mirror's Edge's” story wasn't very interesting. It was very generic. You know, the government is controlling every thing, things like that. There was a plot twist, which surprised me a little. Also, the ending had a pretty cool animation sequence, but wasn't scripted very well. All the characters seemed very annoying. Overall, you really won't be into the game for its story.

Graphics (9/10)
“Mirror's Edge” looks very good. One of the things I love is that you really feel like you're Faith. This is because if you look down you could see her feet and legs. If you walk into a wall she puts her hands in front of it. And if you walk along the wall with your hands on the wall, they don't both drop at the same time, but they drop off as they come off the wall. Little touches like these are great. The city looks incredible. I remember first playing the demo and standing on the first rooftop. I could see the city sprawled in front of me. It was jaw-dropping. This game does have a graphical flaw. It is really bright. It actually gave me a headache. It is so bright you have to shield your eyes. In fact, it is so bright I wear sunglasses while playing this game. OK, I'm kidding, but it is too bright.

Sound (7/10)
The music in this game is awesome. It is very upbeat and electronic. It also gets me pumped up which is great. I think after a while it may get annoying, but it works really well. I also like how the music changes depending on the intensity of what's going on. For example, if you're getting chased by a helicopter the music becomes much more energetic then if you're running freely.

The voice acting is terrible. The characters are annoying and you don't want to like them. I've seen much worse voice acting, but this is pretty bad.

Replayability (4/10)
“Mirror's Edge” has very little that will extend its life. The only possible thing is the time trials. If you aren't into that sort of thing, you will get incredibly bored by this game. I don't think it was a good enough game to warrant beating more than twice. I think the time trials can extend the life a lot if you like them, so if you want to find your own path and perfect your times, then this is perfect for you.

Buy or Rent?
I think “Mirror's Edge” is a solid rental. I do not think time trials and a short story justify $60. If you are reading this a year from now and the game is like $10 to $30, then it is worth that price. I just don't think you are going to be happy if you pay the full sixty dollars.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/08

Game Release: Mirror's Edge (US, 11/11/08)