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By Eli Green
December 16, 2008 - 17:30
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In Mirror's Edge you get to play as Faith, a runner who grew up during the civil unrest caused by the city's increasingly restricted information surveillance. You're given a decent introduction to Faith and the city – her parents would take Faith and her sister to rallies against the changes in the city when they were younger, but eventually they gave up, in her parent's case, or gave in, her sister joined the city's police force – and then the story unfolds as you play the game. When Faith's sister, Kate, is framed for the murder of Robert Pope, the mayoral candidate fighting to dismantle the city's communications surveillance, Faith is the only one who can help prove her sister's innocence. What she finds when trying to solve the mystery behind the murder though, is something far more sinister.
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I definitely enjoyed the storyline in Mirror's Edge . Throughout each chapter, I was stuck to my seat, very much thanks to a combination of great gameplay and the involving story. You really get thrust into Faith's character and the world around her. She's not really trying to save the world, she just wants to survive. The circumstances she falls into just force her further into the story. That, and her love for her sister. I only had two issues with the storyline. First, I don't care how big a city is; if it's not a province/state or a whole country, a simple question like “Why don't you just move?” can really detract from the whole atmosphere. Second, there's too much sequel space. I really enjoyed the game and can't wait for the sequel, but there is such a thing as leaving too much space for a sequel, thus leaving a story unfinished. I could let those points bother me, but I enjoyed this game to much to let them do so.
Gameplay
This is first-person platforming done right. The development team deserves, and has received, major kudos for designing the control system for Mirror's Edge , because it was done so masterfully. First off, the controls are extremely simple. Once you take a close look at them, you'll realise that all the controls were intuitively mapped to allow you to do as many moves as possible, either simultaneously or in quick succession. This allows you to do an extremely complicated move, like going from a wall run to a jump across a gap, with relative ease (the more complicated moves will take some practice).
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Like most first-person games out there, your movement and looking control is based around the analog control sticks. The left stick controls your forward, backward and strafing movement, while the right stick lets you look around in all directions. You can even look at your feet, which can be really helpful if you're having trouble timing your jumps. Unlike most first-person games though, your jumping and crouching aren't controlled by the buttons on the controller's face. Instead, the shoulder buttons and triggers control those moves – left button for jumping, left trigger for crouching, sliding or coiling during a jump, and right button for a quick 180 ° – and the right trigger also handles combat. This allows your right thumb to almost always stay on the right stick, which is key to being able to pull of a move like the wall run and gap jump I mentioned above. The only other controls are the Use/Interact button (A), the Disarm button (Y), the Reaction Time button (X) and the Hint button (B), which isn't so much of a hint as much as it is a compass.
Getting into the game itself, you're given a fully interactive tutorial in the runners' training Playground. Once you're done with the tutorial you can choose to mess around in the Playground or go straight to your missions, and the story begins. Soon enough you'll be running for your life, jumping over rooftop air conditioning units, grabbing onto pipes protruding from walls, running through various construction sites or any other number of areas of the city. And once your in, you'll be hooked.
The only problem with the story mode is that it's way too short. Don't get me wrong, the story is told very well and it flows, but the whole thing is just nine chapters, not including the prologue. The least they could have done is add in one or two regular missions before throwing you straight into the full storyline or make things more interesting by using the runner's base of operations as a starting point for each chapter, making it your job to get to the areas where all of the chapters currently start. That would also give you a better feel for the city a whole, rather than just a group of separated environments. On the flip side, some people may consider that option to be more boring, but at least it would make the game a little longer.
Truth be told though, Mirror's Edge is really about speed. If you wanted to, you could probably finish the entire game's story mode within 3 hours, give or take a few minutes for the cutscenes. And if speed is your thing, this game will have immense replay value, because outside of the story lies a Speed Run for each chapter of the story, as well as Time Trials based within the environments of each chapter. The Speed Runs are just a run through of the chapters with a timer, while the Time Trials are races with checkpoints. The cool thing about the Time Trials is that there can be multiple checkpoint setups for the same level, and you can race against your own ghost from your best time, so the replay value grows even more.
Multiplayer and Online
What game with racing elements would be complete without a good sense of competition? While Mirror's Edge does not have an actual multiplayer mode where you and your friends can play together either online or offline, you can still compete for the best times on each Speed Run and Time Trial. As long as your friends have accounts for the game, they can upload their times and you can race against their ghosts in the Time Trials. If you don't have any friends with the game, you can still try your hand against the world's fastest players and try to beat them or, at the very least, learn some of their moves. It's just a shame they didn't put ghosts into the Speed Runs as well.
Environment and Graphics
I'd like to apologize in advance to people who think I use the phrase “visually stunning” too often when describing the video games which I think look amazing, because Mirror's Edge is nothing but visually stunning. You'll feel fully immersed in the cityscape, and that's because it all looks so realistic. All of the buildings, railings, fences have a realistic feel to them, and it's only enhanced by the level of detail put into other things around the city like traffic (you'll have to look down from a long way up, but it's there), random debris floating in the wind and birds in flight.
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During one of my sessions with the game, Josh noted that one of the areas I was in looked far too bright. I might have been inclined to agree with him if I didn't think that the brightness added to the game's realism. If you're looking at something on a very bright day, shouldn't that thing, especially if it's a highly reflective or light reflective surface, like a solar panel or white wall, be very bright as well? The light is very different based on each level and the time of day. The problem I had with the game's lighting was with place where it changed for no reason, like elevators. The lighting in elevators should be constant unless the power goes out. There shouldn't be any moving light sources in an elevator unless, well, there actually is a moving light source.
The only thing that doesn't seem to change is the weather. It's always clear. For a game that takes place over such a short span of time though, it's not much of a concern. I would like to see what they could do with rain effects in the sequel though.
The character models are another graphics element that was extremely well done. They all look like real people and, even up close and personal, have very realistic attributes. There did seem to be a bit of an issue with lighting on the characters' faces when they spoke. That could have used some work.
Sound
They might have actually gone a little too realistic with the sounds in this one. Yes, the sounds of the city are great, not to mention very precise, and the sound effects for running on different surfaces are also quite well done. The different effects for things like helicopters, guns, breaking glass and voices when heard through radio communications area cool too, but, dear lord, the sound of Faith's bones crunching when you fall is just so spine chilling, especially after that rush you feel while watching the fall. From where I stand though, that means that all the sound effects in the game are great.
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The vocals were also very well done. It's always nice to see when someone does a good job of casting actors, voice or otherwise, and the casting for Mirror's Edge is no exception. Each of the voices fit their characters to a tea. My favourite out of all of them has to be Mercury (Merc), the leader of the runners. He's the gravelly, but unseen voice helping you along all your missions, but you can tell there's a specific attitude behind it; one of concern for the runners and of years of experience.
The music in the game is all original, and does a great job of accompanying the gameplay. I'm not a fan of techno or electronic music, for the most part, and I probably wouldn't listen to the soundtrack outside the game, but you can't knock a good fit. The music balanced perfectly with the atmosphere in each level, and with chase sequences as well. I've got no complaints with any part of the sound in this game.
Conclusion
Mirror's Edge finally proves that first-person platforming is possible, when done right. With a great control scheme, amazing visuals and an awesome soundtrack, Mirror's Edge is a fully immersive experience that will keep you glued to your seat. While the story could have been longer, this game has so much replay value it will keep you interested for weeks, and the upcoming downloadable content should keep you entertained for even longer.
Verdict: Buy It
