Mirror's Edge

"An Excellent start, But..."

Mirrors Edge is the first game to follow a free running/Parkour style theme entirely from first person making it an especially exciting release. I downloaded the demo for Mirrors Edge as soon as it appeared on the marketplace and immediately I was hooked, the demo was just what I wanted it to be and it left me counting down the days until the release date.

Gameplay: 7/10

When you first start playing Mirrors Edge your movements are slow and clunky, this isn't the games fault it's learning curve is perfect and as you slowly progress through the first missions you start to hit real speed and string together combos that give a great rush when pulled off well. Unfortunately these combos are few and far between as the game is full of areas where you have absolutely no idea what to do to progress to the next area. There are also weapons to be used in Mirrors Edge but the use of them feels clunky and out of place in the fast action of the game. The game itself will not be hard for beginner gamers on easy or normal (which you have to play through to unlock hard anyway.) and after you play through once the game becomes noticeably easier to play as you know what you have to do to get past each area.

Story: 5/10

The story is not to hard to follow in the game with the cut scenes being shown in fairly dull 2D animated films, I honestly skipped most of them as watching them didn't contribute much to the story anyway. I gave this section a 5/10 as the story feels predictable and is dull to follow.

Graphics/ Sound: 8/10

The graphics in this game are from one end from the spectrum to another, at times it displays the sprawling mass of a city in front of you perfectly and it is a sight that will actually make you want to look around, but the gun models are weak and look overly square and uninteresting,this brings down this sections mark considerably because we know the Xbox 360 has some excellent first person shooters where the gun models look amazing. The soundtrack is perfect and provides that extra touch of adrenaline in a chase phase or makes the uninteresting gun you are holding sound amazing.

Play time/ Replayability: 6/10

This is probably where the game falls down the most as the game has only 10 missions, one of which is a tutorial mission which can last about three minutes, this short play time leaves you with a sour taste after a promising start, it leaves you yearning for another chase scene where you can find your own route amongst the city. The replayability factor is only really for those chasing achievements or speedrun stardom, as after the game you unlock the ability to do speedruns of chapters which give some an ideal challenge. There are also time trials over certain areas and whilst some might find going for the world best an irresistible challenge others will inevitably not.

Overall: 7/10

Overall this is a great game with amazing and imaginative ideas which unfortunately were not all implemented properly, you feel that this game could do with a couple more chapters, a more imaginative story and a bit more chasing and a little less puzzles. In my opinion if you are a person who enjoys chasing target times and doing the same time trial over and over to beat the best time then this is the game for you but otherwise I would borrow the game off a friend or rent it for a week because after you've done the story mode there's little else to do.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/09

Game Release: Mirror's Edge (EU, 11/14/08)