Mirrors Edge

Mirror's edge takes free running to the extreme. This game's slick graphics and unique looks make it a must have item for every serious adventure gamer who doesn't suffer from vertigo, that is. The hand-to-hand combat style is excellent and the feeling of immediacy makes your pulse race as you run and jump for your life to escape the baddies in their heli from hell.

• Gordon Myatt August 12, 2013 PS3

  ****

  I don't think I've ever sworn at a game as much as I've sworn at MIRROR'S EDGE.
  
  That should tell you two things: number one, that this is a game that will challenge you and frustrate you. But number two: that despite that frustration, there's still something about the game that keeps you coming back for more.
  
  Let's start with what's good about it. Firstly, it's pretty original. Whilst most games are easy to pigeonhole - a shooter, a sports game, a platformer, beat-em-up, or a puzzle game, say - MIRROR'S EDGE is harder to neatly categorise. And that's one of the first signs of what an innovative and original game it is.
  
  You play as a female free-runner called Faith who's part of a kind of "fight the power" resistance movement of free-runners in a futuristic dystopian city. If that sounds like a bit of a silly fantastical setup, don't let that put you off, as it's really just an excuse for a game that's all about intense urban free-running.
  
  The game manages to make free-running incredibly fun to play. Whilst it essentially consists of just running across rooftops and through buildings, and making use of whatever props you can to overcome obstacles that block your path (like fences, high walls, or large drops between tall buildings), the full MIRROR'S EDGE experience reveals itself to be a lot more subtle than that.
  
  As you start to learn how the mechanics of the game work - through the helpful tutorial level at first, then as you play the game - you begin to realise that being good at free-running is all about stringing together a series of moves in a long, fluid sequence, and keeping your movement as "flowing" as possible in order to maintain your speed and momentum.
  
  Whilst it's a steep learning curve at first (you'll spend plenty of time falling off buildings to your death and having to replay sections of the game over and over to get them right) you'll gradually get the hang of what turns out to be an exhilarating and beautiful method of movement. And you'll start to feel incredibly triumphant as you find yourself able to string together exactly the right combination of moves at exactly the right time in order to evade your pursuers - or, sometimes, defeat them.
  
  It helps that the game looks so pretty, too. Despite being several years old now, this is still one of the best-looking games on the PS3, with its giant gleaming and glimmering skyscrapers looking just as photo-realistic as the flailing limbs that fly out in front of you as you try to execute increasingly daring parkour moves.
  
  The game's colour scheme is also really striking: a combination of a lot of bright white building-exteriors with some bold primary colours that really pop and catch your eye.
  
  Red is used to highlight items that might be useful to you as part of your free-running antics (springboards, rope-slides, pipework and suchlike) whilst a gentle blue tint is used to signify the slow-motion effect that you can trigger (for a short time) as part of your "runner vision": a bullet-time-style effect that makes everything slow down so that you can time some of your more complex moves more easily. And interior sections - which cover locations as varied as offices, underground sewers, air ventilation systems and more - benefit from vivid greens and oranges that help to set them apart from the outdoor areas.
  
  Another thing that makes the game look so striking is that the first-person viewpoint is uncluttered by the usual maps, meters and statistics that you'd usually see on-screen in first-person games as part of your "heads-up display". There's none of that in MIRROR'S EDGE, because the game simply doesn't require it. Your health regenerates back to full whenever you're not actively engaged in combat, and you use weapons so rarely that an ammo-count just isn't that useful. This gives the screen a really clean feel that enhances the realism of the first-person perspective.
  
  In amongst the gameplay sections, there are animated cutscenes done in a flatter 'manga' style that look totally different in terms of visual style to the main game, but which look really sharp in their own right. It all helps to add an air of style and sophistication that makes MIRROR'S EDGE feel really polished and slick.
  
  As I suggested earlier, though, I do have a couple of criticisms of the game. The first is the difficulty level. The steep learning curve as you get used to free-running means that you'll suffer endless deaths as you try to get certain move-sequences right. And by the twentieth time you see Faith fall down to her death between the same two buildings, you'll likely be tearing your hair out in frustration.
  
  Part of the problem is that the game often requires pixel-perfect jumps or manoeuvres to be executed in order to reach the next stage of the level. These can be difficult to line up, especially when you're moving at speed, and repeating them constantly can become a laborious process.
  
  Also, due to the way the game's controls work (you only use a couple of controller-buttons to execute most of the character's actions), there's sometimes a sense that the game doesn't understand exactly which function you're asking the character to perform at a given time - meaning that often, when you finally do end up finding the right way to do something, you're not sure exactly why it worked that time when it didn't previously.
  
  Another part of the problem is that the game often doesn't give you clear enough pointers on where to go next - which isn't so bad during the quiet parts of the levels when you have time to explore all your options, but which is really problematic during high-octane chases when you're being pursued by armed guards who will kill you within a few sections if you don't follow the right route.
  
  This leads to a trial-and-error approach where you end up having to explore every option - and get killed plenty of times in the process - before you stumble across the correct path to lead you out of harm's way.
  
  Finally, you get the feeling that some of the first-person shooter (FPS) elements that are included in the game have been a bit under-developed. Your encounters with gunmen are very simple, and your methods for disarming or fighting them are pretty limited. This leaves these sections feeling a bit clumsy and generic. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the developers had been forced to shoehorn them in at the last minute, especially since the gun-toting sections don't really fit with the largely non-violent ethos of the rest of the game.
  
  However, despite these faults, there's something about MIRROR'S EDGE that keeps you coming back for more. It might be one of the PS3's older titles, but it remains one of the most graphically spectacular games released for the system. Combined with the unique and innovative gameplay and the replay value of the game's time-trial function (which encourages you to keep tying to find faster and more efficient routes through the levels), this makes it well worth your money - especially given that it can now be picked up at a budget price.
  
  And who knows, maybe the sequel that is being developed for the next-generation consoles will manage to iron out the game's imperfections and provide a truly perfect free-running experience.
  

• Thomas Rich October 11, 2010 PS3

  ****

  You are faith, a messenger, known as a runner with no sense of danger running from rooftop to rooftop carrying messages to and fro. Jumping and sliding with a gun or just your fists to complete your objectives. Your legs and stamina are your vital tool to surviving on the edge.
  To play mirrors edge, you need patience, but all will pay off with stunning graphics, fantastic sound effects and music that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The length of the game is its only weakness, but with multiplayer and time trials, there are endless gaming opportunities!

• Benji Sua Kay December 17, 2008 360

  ****

  When I first heard about this game I got quite excited. Free running along rooftops, performing some exhilarating wall runs and roof top to roof top jumps and effortless and seamless movement. Carl downloaded the demo and we both played it, and thought it was awesome. This is something different and something brave, something never before tried in a game, we thought. After having played the game through to the end, I can't help but feel a little disappointed and let down. Like a child who asks for a Lego set for Christmas, and gets a Playmobil one instead, and then has to pretend to be happy so he doesn't look like a spoilt brat. For all that this could have been, it was found wanting really quite badly. I did read the reviews on IGN and GameSpot, and they said all the things I later found out, but I really wanted them to be wrong, and I wanted to prove them wrong, and throw it back in their face (metaphorically of course) but none of that happened.
  
  The game is based on the concept of free-running, or parkour, invented by David Belle. Sounds pretty cool, eh? The idea of running around roof tops performing various moves that aren't to do with utterly pummeling your foe sounded refreshing, different. The implementation of this idea was a little different. Although the controls are easy enough - your main buttons are [LB] for jump and [LT] for crouch/slide - it is not always obvious which way to go, or what obstacle to jump over or slide under. Even with the idea of "runner vision" which highlights things in red so that you know what obstacle to jump over/under/whatever and the [B] button which actually turns you in the right direction, you will seldom be free running in this game. I found that for a game whose core ideals came from free-running, there was way to much time spent crawling through vents and slowing down or stopping to see which way you needed to go. A lot of the time was spent dying too. And after dying 20 times on the same bit, I felt like throwing my controller through the TV. Very frustrating indeed.
  
  I felt that too much time was dedicated to running away from and disarming the bad guys, who in this case are the police. I found that the areas where the game could have excelled were littered with bad guys shooting at you from every angle, and making it annoyingly, not difficult, because the game wasn't difficult, but annoyingly interruptive, if that makes sense. In many cases I knew exactly what I needed to do, but kept getting shot down by the police. This might sound like a really petty quibble, but I got a distinct feeling that in order to make the game a little harder, they put a few more snipers or police in areas where it would otherwise be "easy" to free-run through. I found that the constant running from police was a bit tedious, especially as this is not a shooter and when the opportunity arose to shoot them down, the controls weren't tuned for it and it was largely unsatisfying. But I think that would be missing the point, because this game is not about shooting, so it is logical that the shooting is not tweaked and unsatisfying. I don't think that should be a contestable point. The fact is, the game should be finishable without a gun, but there are some parts where if I hadn't have had a gun, I wouldn't have made it. That in itself is quite annoying.
  
  All that said, there are parts when you feel "oh, my god, that was so sweet, I can't believe I just did that". But these are so few and far between in what is a very short campaign, that it can't, as much as I wish it would, excuse a slightly above average game. I wanted it so much to be more than what I paid for, I probably set my sights a little too high with a game that is genuinely ground-breaking and innovative, but because its only its first run out, hasn't quite managed to deliver the finished and polished product. The potential is definitely there to make this concept work, and hopefully in the future it will work. EA has promised a sequel, so fingers crossed.
  
  The game is set in a utopian society, who have given up freedom for security under a totalitarian society. Obviously the city is shiny on the outside, but rotten to the core. You play as Faith, a runner who chose not to comply and who's life is spent on the roof tops and in the shadows, on the mirror's edge, dealing in information and escaping the cruel hand of "justice" by running. Early in the game Faiths sister is framed for the murder of someone very important, and it then becomes about saving her and unravelling a conspiracy amongst the upper echelons of the city's government hierarchy. Its a little flat if you ask me, but that shouldn't have really mattered. The story shouldn't have needed to engage me because the gameplay was supposed to be so good. However, once the gameplay was found out to be a little above average, the story should have kept me going. But it didn't. It's really not that interesting, and much like the gameplay, it could have been so much more.
  
  The graphics are beautiful. This game is definitely up there in terms of looks. The palette is very simple, bright colours and lots of whites, but this only makes it all the more striking and unique. There is a good mix of indoor environments and outdoor environments to give the graphics enough variety, so that you don't become too used to them to not admire how good they actually are. At the end of each chapter, and there are only 9 chapters, you are rewarded with a cutscene presented in a comic book cartoon style. I'm in two minds over this, and although it breaks up the chapters nicely with some variety, it also looks a bit crappy.
  
  The sound effects and the music is also top notch. The sound effects are very minimal, some traffic in the background, the pitter patter of shoes hitting the ground as you run, breathing, and apart from that, not much else. This works sublimely in conjunction with the minimalist graphics, and you'll probably want to turn it up quite loud. The music is very trancey, a little like Halo actually, and absolutely awesome. When it gets to critical level, like running from the police, the beat drops and a full on trance track kicks in to give you an adrenaline rush as you progress through the level.
  
  I really wanted to be biased with this review, and I really wanted to be able to give a top score. Unfortunately I can't. So here they are:
  
  presentation: 9.5/10
  graphics: 9.5/10 (still no HD TV so I can't quite give it full marks)
  sound effects: 9/10
  gameplay: 5/10 (really disappointing gameplay, compared to what could have been, however potential is there to improve)
  lasting appeal: 4/10 (short campaign and no real multiplayer. time trials are cool, but quite boring)
  
  overall: 7.4 (I feel the excellent graphics and sound effects offset this rating for the better. If this was not an average, I would probably have given a 6 overall)

• Alex Bintley November 02, 2008 PS3

  ****

  This game is totally mind blowing, it is basically a free running game where you are a runner who deliver packages for people and this buisness is usually left to be but now something strange has happened and the police have turned their attention to you. They framed your sister for a crime she did not commit and you are about to find why they did this and rescue her from captivity. This games is a must buy for people who like to have the freedom of taking your own route to get to destinations as pretty much fly across buildings performing many acts of acrobatic ability. When confronted by the police (blues) you have the choice to fight your way through with guns by disarming the blues and using their weapons or just disarming and throwing away the weapons. Whichever way you choose it the game is spectacular!

• James Bracher November 01, 2008 PS3

  ****

  I downloaded the demo for this game and had a mixed opinion by the end. I mean yeah the graphics are very good and the story seems steady and of good quality but all u seem to do is run and jump around rooftops. Personaly i won't be buying this but i recoment that you give the demo a try.

• Mirrors Edge 360PS3 | 01:45 Play Trailer