Pariah’s Guild

Mirror’s Edge

---

Genre: Action/Adventure Platform:PS3, X-Box 360 ESRB:T Players:1 Rating: 9 out of 10

---

Every PC gamer has heard of EA DICE. EA DICE is the game developer responsible for every single Battlefield game in existence. Yes they made the classic Battlefield 1942, yes they made Battlefield 2, and yes they made the horrible Battlefield games for the last-gen consoles. But, have you realized something about these Battlefield games? These games have an excellent multiplayer, but a terrible single player. Some gamers think that EA DICE can only create great multiplayer games; however, the developer has proven gamers wrong with the release of Mirror’s Edge. Here’s what I would say about Mirror’s Edge if I could sum up the game in one word; “wow.”

So what’s the story in Mirror’s Edge? You play as Faith who is a runner in a city ruled by a totalitarian regime. For those who don’t know, runners in Mirror’s Edge are agile messengers who can evade government surveillance in order to get their job done. One day, Faith is contacted by her sister, Kate, and makes her way to the suite of Robert Pope, a mayoral candidate that people thought would be capable of bringing “change”(lol, change) to the government, who is now dead. Faith believes that Kate has been framed of committing the crime. Kate asks for Faith’s help, and she flees as the police arrive, her only clue being a reference to Icarus. The whole game is spent on clearing her sister’s name and uncovering a conspiracy that could threaten the livelihood of the runners. The story is filled with many twists and turns that will satisfy any conspiracy junkie.

Graphics are great in the game. The game uses the Unreal 3 engine (no surprise there), but includes a new lighting solution developed exclusively by DICE. This lighting system (aka Runner’s Vision) is used to provide helpful hints in the game’s environment by coloring various objects in the game red. Red objects in the game often signifies that it can manipulated in any aerobatic way (e.g. some objects can be used as a trampoline, while others can be used a ramp). Also, the character modeling, the game’s environments, and the physics in the game were executed flawlessly. The Audio in Mirror’s Edge was also well done. Although I thought the voice actors did an good job voicing their characters, I was amazed by Mirror’s Edge music. The Mirror’s Edge music brings that “totalitarian” atmosphere the game needs. But, I will admit that Mirror’s Edge music isn’t enough for anyone to go out and get the game’s soundtrack.

If you ask me, “What makes Mirror’s Edge so unique?”, then I’ll likely tell you “its gameplay.” Unlike other games with a first person view, Mirror’s Edge place special emphasis on platforming elements (or its ability to “convey the strain and physical contact with the environment”, according to senior producer Owen O’Brien). In other words, the game is nothing more than a first person Prince of Persia. You can do typical platforming like jumping, running on walls, vaulting, sliding, sprinting, etc. What’s not so typical is that Mirror’s Edge encourages players to use momentum by combing various aerobatic actions. For example, in one of the chase sequences, I had to slide underneath some pipes, leap building to building, wall run to a fire escape, vault over a fence, and made a daring leap of fate off a building and onto a tarp. If you fail to string these moves together, then player loses momentum and Faith could fall off or short of an object because of the level of momentum required to traverse it. For a game that use a first person view, it sure doesn’t encourage gunfights thanks to the game’s emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. Unlike “hand-to-hand” combat in typical FPS games, combat in Mirror’s Edge feels and moves smoothly. Faith can perform an array of deadly moves and will make players forget about picking up a single gun (in fact, there’s an achievement in the game that rewards players for not using a gun throughout the whole game). If the player decides to use a gun, then expect Faith’s speed to be drastically reduced, and her normal aerobatic abilities to be inaccessible.

I have a few complaints about the game. First off, although I found the combat in the game amazing if not awesome, I found it annoying that I got killed easily if I’m surrounded by more than one enemy. Sure, the game developers said that Faith is better off fighting one-on-one than two-on-one, but filling the level with eight enemies and expecting me to beat them all seems a little unfair. Finally, I hated the fact that there’s a lack of any re-playability. Sure, there are things like Time Trials or Ghost Runners, but these features weren’t enough to satisfy me. But, this is a momentary issue since EA will be releasing DLC (Downloadable Content) for the game in the near future.

Mirror’s Edge is the much needed morphine for the First Person View genre. For too long, these games have been associated with nothing more than shooting at random enemies and…well…shooting at random enemies. Mirror’s Edge definitely proves that a great first person platforming game is no longer a dream, but can become a reality. That is why, I’m giving Mirror’s Edge a 9 out of 10.