Mirrors Edge is a free running game in a first person viewpoint developed by 'Dice' (an in house studio of EA) and published by EA themselves. You play as Faith, a 'runner' in a city governed by absolute surveillance in an effort to reduce crime and violence. Faith and other revolutionary groups use the rooftops to transport messages to each other and of course, all are well trained in parkour. Faith soon comes across her twin sister (a binary opposite - she is a police officer) who has been wrongly framed for murder.
Mirrors edge is very simplistic, LB is for up actions and LT is for down actions. That is the crux of the game, you jump over things, run along things, balance across poles and slide through vents. There is an element of combat but this isn't great and seems to be there purely for the sake of reality, the police are going to try and apprehend you but you are ill advised to fight - always run.
The story of Mirrors edge is short, you can complete the main quest line in about 6 hours. The story is predictable but also very satisfying and you will unlock hard mode which will take you the same time again. One of the main game play mechanics is the runner vision which turns certain object red and will guide you in a world that you will inevitably get lost in. Speaking of this world, it is stunning. Powered by the Unreal 3 engine the game encompasses a rare sight in video games. The game is bright and hyper-real, it looks believable but does not quite look 'real' per se. Either way, the developers have done a great job in constructing the city and though you will do repetitive actions over and over, the visual pleasure will force these actions to be nothing short of astounding.
That's not it for Mirrors edge though, there is what should be described as a 'pull your hair out' time trial mode and a set of speed runs for each of the games chapters. These speed runs are hard, they take commitment and hours of game play but if you love the game (and i mean LOVE the game) then you will get many hours worth of play out of it.
Mirrors Edge is a great game but its a new property and so there are bound to be some hiccups with the system. It's not a glitchy game but sometimes Faith has a way of doing what she wants and you will get very annoyed with the games lack of awareness. The game is also very simple and if played on the easy setting is more like an interactive film. The time trials require extensive skill and this is where hardcore gamers will get their satisfaction. Mirrors Edge feels like a good beginning to the franchise but it always feels like it the game should be doing more, doesn't quite hit its true potential. I would recommend this as a rental and then see how much fun you have with the time trials before buying it!
Mirrors Edge
released 14th November 2008
7.3/10
Achievements:
This game is a pretty harsh one, if you want 1000 points your going to have to put the hours in - many, many hours. That's 10 speed runs and about 15 time trials, each one needing at least an hours work. All are offline achievements so there's nothing to be concerned with there, its just a matter of how committed you are. Casual gamers are looking at about 450+.
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