A lot of people have been giving EA a hard time because they feel EA is taking over other game companies like a dictatorship. They feel as if EA is turning in a quick buck (quantity over quality). They may be right, but I’m glad that EA is taking a chance with new properties like Mirror’s Edge. It’s a nice change of pace from all the sequels coming out like Fallout 3, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Prince of Persia, Fable II, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Mirror’s Edge is a first person game that focuses on parkour, free running. The game makes you feel like an experienced runner. Moving around has never looked and felt this awesome. With all the abilities you have, moving around the city is a cake walk. The game encourages you to run away from the enemies instead of engaging them. It gives you that adrenaline rush of what it would feel like to be a fugitive and always on the run. Breakdown was another first person game that tried to emulate the feeling of being the main character in first person, but it didn’t succeed because of the clunky controls and unimaginative game design.

Story

It’s the distant future. Corporations and the government have become a totalitarian society where everything is monitored and the blues (cops) are out in full force. But there are those who want a free society and have rebelled against them. The resistance uses “runners” to deliver messages for them under the shadows (or more like on city rooftops).

You play as Faith, a runner, who is trying to help prove her sister’s innocence from a murder. The victim’s a candidate for mayor who’s seen as a man that can change the corrupt government. The game uses a mix of first person cutscenes and Flash-style animation. The animation is kind of cool, but it does take you away from the experience of feeling like you’re inside Faith’s eye. As for the rest of the story, it’s a nice concept, but is mainly used to give you a city to play with.

Gameplay

The game is fast paced and fun. Escaping the cops makes you feel like Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. Chasing after other runners makes you feel like Jason Bourne.  And just moving around the city will make you feel like you can do anything in real life, or maybe not.

You’re Faith’s eyes and ears. When you run, you’ll see your vision shifting left and right while seeing Faith’s hand swing left and right. When jumping, you’ll see her legs and feet curl and then stretch, reaching for the ground. Pretty much anything that you do, you’ll see Faith’s hands and feet performing the appropriate action.

Since you’ll be on top of rooftops a lot, you’re likely going to be falling to your death a lot. There will be plenty moments of “wtf” when you fall, but the reloading time is fast with many checkpoints, so dying won’t piss you off as much. Another useful button lets you know where you’re suppose to go so you’ll never be at a dead end from going the wrong way.

Controls

With a game that makes you maneuver over rooftops, hallways, scaffoldings and walls with ease, the controls are tight and intuitive. Jumping, sliding, ducking, rolling, wall running, disarming and counter-attacking is a lot of fun and smooth when you get the hang of the controls.

The critics would say that the action department needs work. I’d have to disagree. Since the sensitivity for movement and looking around is really high to give you the freedom to freely run, the shooting plays a secondary role. The aiming is really sensitive to movement and holding weapons will bog you down from running fast. This is done on purpose so that the focus would be on running. But when it comes down to action, disarming is the best and coolest way to take out your enemies. The timing is tricky, but you should get the hang of it.

Graphics

The graphics are nice and the color palette is mostly white with color mostly used to represent destination points. The city looks breathtaking from afar, but when up close, not so much. It’s not really distracting because the city looks nice and clean anyway. The lighting is really good, especially when you run out the door and you only see the brightness outside as your eyes are trying to adjust. I was on top of this one building looking down the other smaller ones, and there was a gap between buildings that allowed the sun light to shine through parts of the other buildings. You can see the sun rays just glowing radiantly. It looks really good.

Sound and Music

The audio makes good use of surround sound. From running and jumping through the air, you’ll hear the wind whooshing around your ears. Looking down at the city, you’ll hear cars moving and the city busy with activity. Running and busting through doors sounds cool and the many sounds of Faith grunting while grabbing, running, and jumping sounds hot. The sound of gun bullets whizzing by with helicopters flying behind you always makes you feel uneasy and sweating.

The music as a whole has a lot of ambience when you’re just admiring the skyscrapers. But when you’re being chased, the music quickly changes to make you feel rushed. The theme song, Still Alive, is beautiful and has a similar style to Frou Frou. Check it out.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this game. I love the feeling of being a runner in first person view. The adrenaline of running away from cops is exhilarating. The ability to disarm cops and use their guns against them makes me feel like Trinity from the Matrix (too bad the Matrix games were awful). The moments of falling down and disarm timing can piss you off, but once you get the hang of the controls, you’ll feel like an unstoppable force. The length of the game does hurt the game a little. I was able to finish it in less than a day in two sittings. Unless you like to redo the levels with speed runs, this will be best for a rental or when the price goes down. Minor setbacks aside, it’s a heart pumping, run for your life, satisfying thrill ride that shouldn’t be missed.

Grade: A-

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