Review - Mirror's Edge (Xbox 360)

Developer: DICE Sweden (Digital Illusions)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: First person action-adventure
Console(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

The verdict: A surreal, thrilling adventure that takes an admirable number of risks that pay off and truly help redefine the first person method of playing games.

When a lot of gamers hear the term “first person game”, they automatically tend to think of heavy combat and guns. Mirror’s Edge is bound to break that stereotype. DICE has created a truly unique experience with unique controls, an immersive atmosphere, and exhilarating gameplay.

While games set in totalitarian cities aren’t a new concept, Mirror’s Edge has enough interesting twists to make the idea seem fresh and original. In a nameless city a totalitarian government heavily monitors all communication. Subsequently the city is clear, sterile, and lawful. This heavily censored environment has given rise to a network of individuals known as runners, who physically carry sensitive information from one party to another to avoid scrutiny by the government.

You take on the role of one such runner, Faith. In the middle of a run Faith discovers that her sister Kate, a cop in the city, is being framed for the murder of a progressive candidate for the mayor. Now Faith must run to clear her sister’s name and uncover the conspiracy that triggered the murder and the framing. The story is genuinely compelling, and though it ends in a cliffhanger that screams “sequel”, you’ll feel satisfied by the story’s conclusion. Players will find it hard to not grow attached to Faith as they led her across rooftops in between watching her joke with Mercury or speak with Kate.

Run, Faith, run!

Mirror’s Edge follows Dead Space’s lead by not having any heads up display during gameplay. The gameplay is noticeably different from most major first person titles in that there’s more of an emphasis on running, avoiding Blues (cops), and discretion. Game mechanics contribute to the run and jump tension of the gameplay – you can attack and disarm security guards with little effort, but running headlong into an army of armored SWAT team members is suicide. The game is subsequently an intense experience where you’ll need to use your acrobatic skills more often than your combat prowess, and Mirror’s Edge does a great job of making each enemy encounter feel like a genuine threat rather than a minor nuisance.

Of course, the biggest part of the game is running. You’ll run across rooftops, across bleak shopping centers, through alleyways, and across all levels of the city. In addition to running, you can utilize a three button scheme to utilize a huge variety of acrobatic abilities. Not only can Faith jump – she can grab and climb up ledges, wall jump, roll out of long jumps, run across walls, slide across rooftop railings, swing on rope – the list goes on. Faith’s arms and legs are visible, making timing flow smoothly. The game provides you with a tutorial level where you follow another runner’s lead to learn about acrobatic abilities and combat. You may forget which two buttons trigger which move, but the controls are simple and intuitive enough that the experience feels like riding a bike. After a few minutes the system will be second nature to you and you’ll instinctively make Faith dodge roll at the end of a long jump to avoid taking damage.

Leaping across rooftops in a single bound...

The high points of Mirror’s Edge come from the running you do. Leaping across buildings, climbing fences, and sprinting across alleyways is truly exhilarating. The motion detection and collision effects are perfect, and you’ll genuinely get a sinking feeling in your stomach when you take a great leap that barely lets you grab onto the side of another building. The noises of Faith’s running footsteps punctuate the bleak city, and you only have another reason to keep running when the SWAT teams show up and their footsteps and gunshots follow you. It’s a satisfying experience.

There are certainly times when trial and error comes into play, and the flowing pace slows may slow down occasionally when you take the wrong path or barely miss a ledge and fall fifty feet to splatter on the pavement below. It can get frustrating when you need to make several attempts to jump from one building to another, but this barely a problem. First, it’s frustrating but in a good way, and it’s a gratifying feeling when you make a successful leap drop. It doesn’t happen very often, and you aren’t punished for dying – you restart at most ten seconds away from where you died.

Leaping between buildings is always fun.

One of the helpful aspects of gameplay is runner vision, which serves as a helpful guide throughout stages. This highlights a trail of ledges or objects that give you a path, and it also highlights objects you may need to interact with. Path essential objects are highlighted in bright red, in stark contrast with the sterile white of most of the city. Between this and a button that automatically points you to your destination, you have a pretty good idea of where you need to get to if you need hints, even if there are occasional times where the path is a little imprecise or unclear. Runner vision can also be turned off at will to give the game more difficulty.

Combat is simple, but fun. Runner vision also highlights the enemies that can either be attacked or simply fled from, rather than armored SWAT officers which can’t be defeated. You have the option of using firearms or just fighting in hand-to-hand combat, and in a lot of cases you can simply flee from opponents. If you choose to fight combat is exciting, but it gets repetitive the more often you do it. It’s the only dull point of Mirror’s Edge, but you have the ability to disarm opponents and take their weapons. Gun fighting is a small part of the game but it works well.


Clean, sharp, and well orchestrated.

The nameless city really is pretty to look at. The city is bland and lacks detail in a lot of areas, but it’s supposed to be an emotionless, almost oppressively clean environment; a role it fulfills nicely. There’s an eerie sterile feeling that permeates the entire city, aided by the city’s impeccable cleanliness. The city is predominantly shown in white, which is a nice change from a lot of games featuring darker, grittier colors. Despite coloring the environments are crisp and character models are well detailed. Interestingly, cutscenes between missions are cel-shaded as opposed to the in-game graphics. Both types of graphics look great, although the contrast between them is rather jarring.

The sounds and music of Mirror’s Edge deserve special praise for how much they contribute to the immersive atmosphere of the game. The music that plays during intense chases where Faith must outrun city authorities is excellent, and the soundtrack throughout the game is superb. Voice acting is solid and Faith’s voice actress is perfect for her role. All of the noises from gunshots to Faith’s footsteps to her panting while running really put you in her shoes, and it’s reason why she’s easy to grow attached to.

Short but sweet.

Players will be able to finish Mirror’s Edge is around ten hours, and from there the only thing to do is test your skills on the time trials. There are leaderboards for the trials but there’s no real multiplayer, although I can’t fault the game for this. Mirror’s Edge is a great example of sacrificing average multiplayer for a superb single player campaign, and despite the short difficulty the entire single player campaign is fun and immersive. There are never any moments where it feels like the developers have artificially lengthened the game, and it’s up to games like Mirror’s Edge to show us that quality over quantity ultimately makes better games.

Conclusion

It’s great to see games like Mirror’s Edge that are unafraid of taking risks and introducing some truly fun gameplay mechanics. This is a great start to what should be an amazing trilogy, where the few, barely noticeable rough spots will probably be ironed out. The folks at DICE have really crafted something that should be played for its ingenuity.