Mirror's Edge - Review
Added November 17th, 2008 by Karmum
Mirror’s Edge is filled with so much vivacity and thrills that it makes for a great adventure. With this game, DICE (the developers of the Battlefield franchise) steps outside the box in a very distinct way. If you choose to take the leap of faith on Mirror’s Edge, a satisfying experience awaits you, although it suffers from a rather short single-player campaign.
Mirror's Edge has you quite literally stepping into the shoes of a female runner named Faith - a member of a secret underground courier service operating out of an unknown future metropolis. The only tie she has to her family is her sister, whose imprisonment by the tyrannical government forms the crux of the story. Faith must step up to the task and free her sister. Assistance is provided by a man named Mercury - the voice you’ll hear over the radio, giving you objectives and encouragement to move the story along. Cartoon-like comics will give back story between missions and information on the characters, although the story isn't exactly the greatest focus. The characters are merely window-dressing to the awe-inspiring utopian city against which they are fighting.
From the moment you begin Mirror's Edge, you’ll see the sprawling skyline of this metropolitan city and the spartan architecture. The city seems to be a clean, thriving utopia, but as the story progresses you will begin to see through the cracks in the paint, to the seedy underside of this supposed "paradise". The city is dominated by white and accentuated with orange, red and other bright colors. This art-direction allows for the game to obliquely direct you along your path. Follow the stream of color amidst the blanket white, and you'll usually arrive where you need to be. This mechanic, called "Runner Vision" is an interesting way to herd the player down a corridor, even when in an open outdoor environment. There are alternate paths not marked in the obvious red to explore, but for the most part Mirror's Edge is a linear experience.
The main mechanic of Mirror’s Edge is running. There is seldom a moment when you aren't fleeing from enemies or rushing to meet someone, enjoying the rush of leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The idea is to execute daring jumps and life-threatening acrobatics in the smoothest and fastest way possible. While most of the jumps are easy to make, there are some situations where you will repeatedly plummet to the ground until you learn to nail the sequence perfectly. Although not a huge problem in and of itself, these areas will serve to seriously break your momentum, something that is paramount to enjoying Mirror's Edge. Zipping over and under rooftop obstacles at high speed? Thrilling and compelling. Trying again and again to make a pixel-perfect jump just to get to another tough jumping puzzle? Controller-throwing frustration, and that's not even considering the combat.
In certain spots during the game, you’ll be forced to confront armed enemies, which will completely bring your freerunning to a halt as you deal with some fools wielding guns. In combat, Faith essentially has two options: attempt to disarm, which will incapacitate her foe and steal his weapon, all while looking like a first class badass, or beat the daylights out of her adversary until he passes out. Disarms are performed by hitting the Y button, but can only be performed when behind an enemy or when the enemy is attempting to melee you. Therefore, disarms are random at best. Punching and kicking is mapped to the right trigger and can be combined with almost any of Faith's parkour moves for some added punch, but hand-to-hand combat doesn’t have the same flow that running does. It feels disjointed and clunky, which is also the same when you pick up a gun. Gun combat is hardly worth the trouble, as aiming is difficult, ammo is extremely limited, and guns slow down Faith's movement, making some of the more impressive parkour moves unavailable. Overall, you'll probably discard equipping guns as they are cumbersome and, for the most part, useless.
On the other hand, guns seem obscenely powerful in the hands of your adversaries. A few bullets are all it takes to put down the dainty Faith. The cops are far more accurate with their weapons than you will ever be. Mirror's Edge has no HUD to display your health (the game's display consists of a single dot in the middle of the screen to prevent motion sickness). When you take damage a red ring will appear around your screen, very similar to the system seen in more recent Call of Duty games. Color will desaturate and Faith's pulse will pound out of the speakers. Wait a few seconds; she'll be back up to full health and ready to roll. During the time Faith is injured, it will be impossible to run to the best of her abilities and you will be vulnerable to attacks.
Mirror’s Edge isn’t the longest game on the market, which is one of its biggest drawbacks. My run through took about 7 hours, and I probably could have cut that down to around 5 hours if I was focused. Once you finish story mode, there isn’t much to return to afterward. This is a shame, because there are some solid gameplay mechanics in Mirror's Edge that could have been used in more than just a short single-player campaign. However, it is great while it lasts, and you can always go back after you've beaten the game to attempt a time-trial on a special course, or a speedrun through a campaign level, both with full online leaderboard support. This gives you the ability to compare your scores with everyone around the world. If you're into nailing a perfect run, Mirror's Edge will certainly provide for you. However, no online support will rub some people the wrong way. Though given the game's design ethos, it is easy to see how it would be difficult to shoehorn in an online co-op mode, or a deathmatch component. For better or worse, Mirror's Edge is unfortunately a single-player affair only.
Visually, Mirror’s Edge is simply put: crisp. Everything looks great, the city simply radiates. While the sun is up, all buildings provide shadows and the game looks nothing short of amazing. All of the city gleams and gives the impression you are inside the experience. Skyscrapers soar into the sky, and I would stop sometimes to simply look at how phenomenal the city and world of Mirror’s Edge was. The other aspects of the presentation are solid as well, with some great sound effects coming in for Faith's panting as she runs, or the sickening crunch of bones as you fall from twenty stories high to the unforgiving asphalt. The ambient soundtrack keeps things from getting too lonely, with a nice mix of quiet electronic music to accompany you on your solo sojourn across the rooftops.
Mirror’s Edge has an excellent but short singleplayer campaign with a few added whistles. One cannot help but think that perhaps the game could have been expanded had developer DICE simply been a bit more ambitious. However, even with that said, what there is to Mirror’s Edge is vivacity and excitement from start to finish. It looks beautiful, and is simply astounding to hear. Every jump could be your last. If you attempt the leap and nail it, the thrills of that moment are electrifying and outweigh the lack of ambition in the campaign. The ending of the story gives the impression there will be a sequel to Mirror’s Edge. If this is the case, we'll be here waiting for a spirited installment to an already great game.
You are supposed to 'review' the game. Analyse it's good and bad points. You failed to get into any real detail about the game itself and instead opted for a general overview. This does not give the reader any new information that they could not ascertain (as I have mentioned) from reading the box. They want a glimpse of the perspective of someone who has played the game to completion. Gameplay and storyline should form part of your review, correct. They should not be the only key points that your review examines.
You need more detail, and your points could do with being more succinct. Get down to the 'nitty gritty'.
My friend thought that my comment had some interesting points, that you should take note of. I didn't 'get' him to do anything.
My advice was intended to be constructive. This is not a personal attack. I hope that you take some of my criticism on board and incorporate it into your next piece of writing.