Mirror’s Edge is a new take on the first person shooter genre, set in a dystopian city which on the surface looks very clean, polished and ordered. As all electronic and traditional methods of communication are monitored by the city state, those who wish to stay off the record communicate via messages couried over the rooftops by “runners”, one of which, Faith, you control throughout the game.
Is it a bird, is it a plane?
If you had to pigeonhole Mirror’ Edge you’d likely call it a cross between a platformer and a first person shooter, with all the positives and negatives that instantly implies.
On the positives, the game looks lovely, with the physx effects on PC allowing smoke, particle effects in sunlight and set pieces involving lots of glass being shot out as you run past at full tilt. The sound is sufficiently meaty, with gunfire, Faith’s ragged breathing as she runs along with footsteps pounding and various grunts of exertion all adding to the immersion. (Insert your own joke about being inside the body of an athletic young woman here if you like, I’ll wait). The sound of breaking bones should you fall from a great height rarely fails to raise a wince.
Watch me jump mummy
The simulation of free running the game provides is most enjoyable. Objects that can aid your acrobatic progress are highlighted in red, which the game explains away as “runner vision” and fits in with the stark bright colour scheme of the gleaming city (I”ll leave out the question of why the cities rulers have decreed that absolutely everything, even down to the sewers has to be attractively painted, but at least it has real life precedents for the architecture and leads to perhaps the best level of the game).
Jumps, rolls, wall runs and the like are all activated by the space bar key, with shift being used to tuck in Faith’s legs on long jumps or to crouch / slide. The game is overtly pacifist, which whether you like it or loathe it, at least fits in with the concept (if runners were merrily killing left right and centre like a psycopathic version of speedy gonzalez the city wouldn’t have allowed them to persist for so long). It is possible to disarm / knock out adversaries and take their weapons but it’s a lot more satisfying to run straight past or over them in a balletic display of “I don’t care if you’re shooting at me ne ner ner ner”… especially as none of the weapons’ ammo clips last very long.
The daily routine
Each level generally consists of three elements, the running, some adversaries to defeat or avoid and indoor sections which serve as the puzzle portion of the game (as when outside a path through is generally much more obvious). A tutorial level is present, although whilst it introduces your various moves you’ll likely only just be feeling fully comfortable with them once you’ve finished the game and therein lies the greatest problem with Mirror’s Edge (which exacerbates all the other issues it has), it’s just too damn short.
Because of the length of the game (nine chapters) you’ll be pushed up against puzzles that feel infuriating because you’re not yet a master of moving through the game and combat that feels compulsory when it isn’t. Let me make it clear that in almost all cases the game doesn’t force you to fight (despite highlighting adversaries in your path with runner vision) however the way through without fighting, or at least the way through by only disarming those directly in your way is often only obvious after you’ve cleared the room of enemies (this is especially the case in the last three levels). This might just be my own poor route spotting skills, honed by years of having to cheerfully massacre everyone in an area before the exit door opens. Faith is fast enough to simply run away or duck behind cover when shot at, but get caught between multiple enemies and she quickly drops dead, which actively makes you want to shoot them all on your next try as payback for showing up for work in the first place.
Secondly, the story, whilst a pretty servicable concept, never gets developed enough for you to really care much about the runners or find anything much out about the world of the game. The comic book style cut scenes may have worked very well earlier on in development of the game, but in the finished product feel like an after thought, they simply grate against the highly polished visuals of the game proper and you feel that the lot would have been better served being shown in-engine.
Keep on running right by?
Mirrors Edge essentially feels like a third of a complete game. The levels, depite having multiple routes in certain sections are largely on rails despite the free running concept. Where are the puzzles that use the physx system as well as free running? (using Faith’s natural momentum on unstable surfaces, to knock things over that aren’t a person etc). A plausible addition would be a sandbox style section of the city, where you could explore a bit as an ordinary citizen or enter illegal races against other runners. Now Faith knows the powers that be in the city are out to kill her, should you acquire your own gun? Yes carrying it and the ammo would slow you down, but this would simply close off certain routes or give you the choice of discaring the gun should you be in a tight enough spot. I personally feel that a sequel to the game should introduce these sorts of elements in order to maintain the player’s interest.
Whilst Mirror’s Edge is a brave attempt to do something new with the genre and was enjoyable to play through (if occasionally very frustrating on the non open air sections and in combat) it doesn’t quite come off feeling right. I picked it up for a tenner however at CoolShop and at that price, it’s well worth your time, if just to see something genuinely a bit different being done.
