Review: Mirror’s Edge, They Exist on the Edge Between the Gloss and the Reality

by Sarkis Daglian - November 11, 2008

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Over the last few months we have seen a real push from EA to release new IP’s and try new games and genres. Mirror’s Edge from DICE follows in this vein and really delivers a unique and innovative gaming experience.

The city in Mirror’s Edge is much the same as other stories and games you’ve read. In response to long standing crime and protests the government has created a Utopian city at the price of individual freedom.

Information is heavily controlled, however a special breed of courier known as the runner have emerged in society to transfer important documents and data. In Mirror’s Edge, you play the role of Faith, who has lost her family in all the sweeping changes of the city and has now found a home as a runner. Faith quickly uncovers just how deep the rabbit hole of corruption goes within the city.

From the moment the game boots onto your screen you quickly understand just what exactly the clean city of Mirror’s Edge looks like. Sanitized, monotone, and orderly. The menus for the game are among the slickest looking of the generation and even the futuristic opening audio was able for whatever reason to get me pumped to hit the roof tops.

The visuals in Mirror’s Edge are well done and the frame rate is smooth. The smoothness of the visuals and motion are an absolute must for this game as it is tied hand in hand with the game play and DICE delivers well. I almost find myself longing to see a 3rd person perspective or even a replay cam of the same awesome jump sequences I’ve accomplished such as jumping off the roof top of a building right into a drop kick on a police man below.

The outside environments are very well done and its nice to just take a quiet moment and scope out the various sky scrappers and building in between the matrix-esque jumps and combat scenarios. There are some absolutely jaw dropping effects on the environment such as the water when sliding down a water and the lighting in the game. However, for whatever reason the enemies do not look up to par. It almost seems as though Faith and the environment were done in one art style with a lot of attention to detail and gloss and the enemies such as the police men and SWAT members were done in a more cel shaded anime style which really seem to contradict each other visually during play.

However keep in mind though combat is present in Mirror’s Edge it’s not the main focus of the game and rather than facing your enemies face to face you are encouraged more to run away and or engage in small doses. The story of Mirror’s Edge is advanced completely through cel shaded cutscenes between levels and I as described above so much fantastic visual work was done in game it was a tad disappointing to see the cel shading anime style cut scenes.

Mirror’s Edge bread and butter is its gameplay. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to properly experience the acrobatic antics of the Matrix this title is on the money. The general game play mechanic is going from point A to B using jumps, slides, wall runs, climbs, swings, as well as advanced maneuvers combining these moves. Left thumb stick is for movement and right moves your view. By pushing the left stick forward Faith will eventually build from a jog into a full on run which you will need to complete some jumps.

Easily the two most important button’s in the game as your left bumper and left trigger. Left bumper is to jump and you will be hitting it a ton. Left trigger will bring Faith into a slide off a run or also crouch. Left trigger is also used for a roll during bigger jumps which will injure Faith unless rolled out of. X brings up a rarely used bullet time mechanism which is a bit more important for combat than anything else. A allows you to interact with objects. Right bumper will allow you to quickly turn which is useful when you need to perform a wall jump onto a ledge that is behind you. Right trigger is used for attacks.

Getting from point A to B sounds simple but in Mirror’s Edge looking at the roof tops and city scape can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how to get somewhere. Thankfully, the game has included runner’s vision. When you are near objects you should be paying particular attention to they will go from their normal color to a bright obvious red.

The game offers even more assistance, in most instances if you are lost holding down the B button will instantly move the camera in the general direction of your objective or where you are supposed to go. It isn’t a map and it doesn’t tell you what to do, but does a great job of giving the player just enough help to figure the puzzle out themselves and not become frustrated. And fear not challenge seekers, if you defeat the game one time on the normal difficulty you will unlock the harder difficulty level which will turn off runners vision.

The next component to Mirror’s Edge is the combat. As you’ll find out early on combat is necessary though often ill advised. The game was designed for you to try and avoid fighting and gun play. Though those of you who cannot resist are given the option to engage any way you see fit. Using the right trigger a punch can be thrown, the left bumper and right trigger together will launch Faith into a drop kick though getting a good amount of momentum here is key. A weak drop kick is simply shrugged off as you are knocked down. The left trigger and right trigger drop Faith down and throw a jab straight to the crotch which works well for momentarily stunning enemies and stringing together a decent combination of moves.

You can also disarm enemies using the Y button though it is a risky proposition. Disarm scenarios will involve an enemy swinging his weapon at you in melee and for a brief moment the weapon will flash red, if you correctly time it and press Y Faith will perform a disarm. If you miss, you’ll end up on the ground. You can increase your chances by using the X button which activates the game’s bullet time to slow down the scenario for a better opportunity. Once disarmed you will be holding the weapon and you can either use it or drop it with Y.

Though you can shoot a gun in Mirror’s Edge it’s more than obvious the game was designed with the idea that you wouldn’t and there are achievements involved throughout the title for refraining some shooting up the city though I imagine it would make the game much easier. Faith can be very easy to kill and also very difficult. Faith is able to multiple bullets before your screen goes black and you die but in melee combat she can only survive a shot or two without being knocked out and unfortunately there is no way to block a strike.

The overall package of Mirror’s Edge brings a lot of style and wow moments. I am reminded of Portal in a few scenarios while playing the game. You will need to do things such as jump across moving trains moving at full speed (and the sense of speed is awesome) while dodgers and ducking away from signs and overhanging structure. In one memorable instance you are to zip line down a line half way before letting go and catching another zip line leading to another building mid air. T

he game features a very nice auto save feature and with the exception of one instance where I had to back track only a few moments if you fall, and you will, the game does a great job of sticking you back at that spot. The game’s length does seem to be on the “short” side. But length does not bother me any and I actually prefer my titles to be in the 6-8 hour window it will take most gamers to complete Mirror’s Edge.

Besides the single player, there is a time trial mode which serves as the MP component for Mirror’s Edge where you basically race through levels against the clocks and the best times on live.

However, once the story is complete I personally do not see the draw with so many other titles out there with more robust multiplayer features to warrant coming back a second time through or to engage heavily in the time trial mode.