A couple of years ago the free running
thing was pretty interesting to me. Unfortunately, I was never very
nimble. I stuck to watching videos of parkour master Sebastien Foucan
on YouTube. I always wanted a game to utilize this sport. I was
bummed when Eidos canceled their free-running game, but finally, the
people at EA and DICE have once again combined forces, taken this
idea, and created a game that has a lot of interesting mechanics set
into motion. Mirror's Edge, praised immensely after an impressive E3
showing and an entertaining downloadable demo, finally clambered onto
shelves last week in one of the most chaotic game release weeks in my
recent memory.
The good news is, there are a lot of
fun things to do in Mirror's Edge. It is an exciting game that grabs
you by the arm, throws you in heroine Faith Conners' fancy running
shoes, and tugs you through a gauntlet of tricky 3D jumping puzzles
in nine parkour-inspired levels. It looks great, sounds great, feels
great – hell, there are a lot of great things about Mirror's Edge.
Some of its best qualities have been seen in other games, but it
reproduces these thrills with its own flair to keep the experience
interesting.
Unfortunately, the bad news is
troubling. To throw an already relentlessly washed-out cliché
that you already read in someone else's Mirror's Edge review,
sometimes the game falls flat on its stylish little face. The game I
anticipated to be a fast-paced Run Faith Run adventure ended up, in
many instances, throwing nothing but trial-and-error pains in my ass
at me. Sometimes, the same controls that I swore were smooth and
fluid ended up ripping another hour out of my day because I was stuck
on the same jump for countless stupid reasons. Why, EA? Well...at
least you are dabbling into the world of new IPs.
Look for the red, hit the jump, and
stick it.
There are countless platform and
adventure games that lend influences to Mirror's Edge: Super
Mario World, Prince of Persia, N+, the list goes on. It even uses the
exclusive first-person view similar to the Xbox's under-achieving
shooter, Breakdown. Beyond that, the game is reminiscent of
Run Lola Run. Even the main
character, Faith, is similar to Lola. If you don't know what Run
Lola Run is, find and enjoy that
quirky German film. Now, with all of that in mind, you have an idea
of what Mirror's Edge is about. Like EA's recent hit Dead Space,
Mirror's Edge is not (by concept) the most original game out there,
so I can't exactly agree with the droves of people who herald it for
being completely unique. Still, it has its own sense of style that
sets it apart from anything else.
The
story is told through animated scenes that reminded me a lot of
Samurai Jack. This is
sort of strange, considering that these scenes are found between the
levels and are the only ones that use this art style. The rest of the
game is presented with the real-time graphics during in-level
sequences. Mirror's Edge takes place in a government-controlled
society where the people are corralled by strict government
regulations and deal with large amounts of corruption on many
different levels. “News”, as Faith puts it, is nothing more than
advertising full of made-up stories circulated by the people in
control. The few people with the courage to try and break down the
government's control are called “Runners”, and these couriers are
responsible for transmitting important messages to each other in
order to demolish the “man”. The police and government are trying
their hardest to track down the thorns in their side with a program
called Project Icarus, so the Runners are in great danger at all
times. The story ends up going a lot of different places. There are
some plot twists, character revelations, and even a cliffhanger
ending – imagine that! You didn't think EA would pull a
one-and-done with an original IP, did you?!
Take it, sucker. It is certainly a lot of fun to kick the crap out of the Blues.
Throughout
each of the nine levels, you'll use all of Faith's nimble acrobatics
to survive tricky jumps and obstacles, evade “Blues” (the
police), and break down the security forces that stand in your way.
Anything that can be run on or used for parkour is highlighted in a
bright red color so you can have a sense of where to go next. Objects
like ramps, poles, and swinging bars will light up and help you find
the right path. If you have any further trouble finding out where to
go, you can hold a button to look in the right direction. Although
this is a little vague and misleading at times, the “Help Me
button” idea I have mentioned in Fable II and Dead Space reviews is
still helpful whenever you get lost, stuck, or just plain annoyed.
There isn't a direct line to follow, though, so sometimes Faith will
simply look in the “right direction” even if there is a wall or
building between her and the intended point of focus.
Mirror's
Edge is one of the better-looking and better-sounding but not
necessarily one of the best-looking or best-sounding games out right
now. The high-contrast graphics won't blow you away by any means (in
fact, some of the areas look rather plain), but the way that the
style is bled into the world is interesting nonetheless. The outside
world in Mirror's Edge almost comes off as sterile and spotless; if
Condemned and Dead Space are “dirty-looking”, this is the polar
opposite. Seriously, I would eat my Thanksgiving dinner off of this
game's floors. The style fits the game's story well, as people in the
game world have no freedom and hardly any possibility of dirtying up
the place. The animation, although you cannot see Faith directly (due
to the first-person view), is very realistic and authentic. Other
than the fact that rooms and areas are actually rather boxy, the game
looks great and comes off as artistic rather than oversimplified. The
same things can be said about the sound effects and the music – I
really got a kick out of the exciting electronic tunes, the voice
acting was pretty good, and the sound effects are definitely better
than in many games – but overall, nothing really stands out as
“amazing.”
This picture gives you a great view of not only the ground below, but all four of the main colors used in Mirror's Edge: white, red, black, and blue.
As
great as they often look, the levels are not as open as I thought
they would be. If that disappoints you, then Mirror's Edge might be a
disappointment altogether. Although I would hardly call it linear,
this game does “suggest” that you go a certain way to most of
your objectives. The only time I felt like I had a lot of freedom was
when I was on the rooftops jumping from building to building. It
seems the idea of “freedom” that EA and DICE had in mind was
on-the-spot freedom, or the ability to string together cooler moves
than necessary to do something that ultimately makes you feel like a
badass (kind of like in Skate). While this idea is successful in some
parts; in others, particularly in the indoor areas, there are only
one or two ways to go. If you don't figure it out quickly, you will
be stuck running around in a room looking for glowing red objects or
anything sticking out far enough to grab onto.
Speaking
of grabbing, I simply cannot ignore the fact that Mirror's Edge does
not feature a grab button. It is as annoying as Skate not having a
walk button and Ocarina of Time not having a jump button, if not
worse. Parkour is all about being smooth and flowing from one thing
to the next as fluidly as possible, and that involves grabbing things
like edges and anything that really “sticks out”. Since Faith
only grabs things on her own, and I could not manually reach out in
desperation for anything to save me from a fatally-calculated jump,
you almost have to get the right “line” before running and
jumping. If your line is off, you'll often fail to grab that glowing
red pole or swing bar that would otherwise get you to safety. This
takes away the speedy element that EA and DICE worked so hard to
implement and show off, and that is a real shame. Also damaging that idea of speed is the fact that no matter how fast you mash the hell out of the buttons, Faith never climbs up an object or ledge any faster. It's a set speed, every time. The same applies to turning valves or cranks in the game. I recently read an
Internet article that mentioned 3D being one of the killers of fast,
reaction-based gameplay (found in 2D platformers). Instead, according
to this article, 3D gameplay is the innovator of carefully-planned
jumps and maneuvers, and it is very unfortunate that this idea
perfectly applies to Mirror's Edge. Carefully-planned jumping is okay in a game that doesn't carry such parkour influence.
Oh, trust me - Faith is totally dead right here. Good job; evidently you missed something, or Faith didn't grab onto something that would save her from becoming a smear on the bottom of this chasm.
The
fighting system is hit-or-miss (whoops, a pun). I thought that the
hit detection was occasionally “off”, and sometimes I would swing
at an enemy to no avail. Faith's slide-kick and jump-kick moves are
overpowered but they are incredibly useful and entertaining to use.
Kicking a Blue in the crotch never, ever gets old – especially when
said Blue shot you and killed you fifteen times in a row when you
were trying to make an escape. There are also some really cool disarm
moves that are much easier to use if you utilize the game's
time-slowing ability effectively. With that said, there are plenty of
Blues and bad guys to deal with, but these scenes were some of my
least favorite in the entire game. I can only describe how colorful
my language was by comparing it to a jumbo-size box of Crayola
crayons. Even Ninja Gaiden II and N+ weren't as frustrating as this
game is from time to time. Since Mirror's Edge tantalized me with an
80-point Achievement (“Test of Faith”) that is only awarded for
not
using a gun throughout
the entire game, I had to play this way. This makes dispatching the
handfuls of guards a lot harder, or it forces you to re-think your
strategy altogether so that you simply survive the onslaught of
bullets. Seriously, good luck getting the “don't-get-shot”
Achievement (“Untouchable”)
after the first or second level. Now, aside from my
Achievement-whoring game-playing tendencies, Mirror's Edge is not
actually that bad.
Shooting does not feel as smooth or tight as in other games, but that
could have been because I had the analog sensitivity set pretty high
(it makes turning corners quickly that much easier).
I was
let down by the fact that the story does not focus so much on Faith
as it does her sister, Kate Conners. Kate is the one set up in an
assassination of an important new political figurehead, and
throughout the game you are constantly trying to track her down and
save her from being captured or killed for the crime she didn't
commit. Faith is more or less just another Runner in a big grand
plan, just like the Blues are to the government that she is so
antagonistic about. I pretty much called one of the plot twists after
playing the demo –
not the game – and the finale was also suspected. That is, at the
very least, disappointing.
Sliding is definitely one of the finer and cooler parts of Mirror's Edge.
Mirror's
Edge is nine levels long (ten if you include the training Prologue),
and that is something that anyone interested in the game should take
note of. I beat this game in a matter of hours (with five other games
occupying my attention). That timespan does not include the time
spent after annoying or accidental deaths, and with that in mind,
each level only takes a couple of minutes (maybe 15-20 at most) to
charge through. You do the math. The time trials and speed runs are a
nice addition, but I found it difficult to care about trying to
perfect a level that killed me over twenty times when I was trying my
hardest to get through it in the first place. Even if your attention
is piqued by Mirror's Edge, I would recommend a rental rather than a
purchase unless you are absolutely dying to have it sitting on your
shelf.
There
are time trials and speed run modes to keep fans of Mirror's Edge
glued to the game, but other people might not find such an enjoyable
experience in these modes. Personally, I had enough of the game
before I was done with it. The frustration of pesky deaths is only
backed up by slightly repetitive level design and completely random
enemy A.I. Sometimes I would run into a room full of enemies and out
the other side without a scratch, and other times I was Swiss cheesed
in a matter of seconds after stepping around a corner. If you can
speed run through the frustrating parts of the game and still manage
to be entertained, there is no reason why you shouldn't buy Mirror's
Edge – it is a game made for you. Other people might want to avoid
such frustrations, at least as far as $60 is concerned. I am
especially happy that a friend and I decided to “go halves” on
Mirror's Edge, and because I was the one with the EB Games pre-order, I at least
got the snazzy messenger bag as a reserver bonus!
Dear, Level 2; the storm drain level: I hate you. Sincerely, Skate.
With
its frustrating deaths, occasionally-wonky controls, lack of a grab
button, and no multiplayer mode, it is difficult to praise Mirror's
Edge when it was released in the most hectic release week of 2008. I can't help but feel like EA had so much more
invested into this title than they came out with, and although many
could consider it a fantastic “blueprint” or “framework” for
an much-improved sequel, that doesn't mean I should recommend that
you spend your hard-earned holiday money on it. There are plenty of
reasons to play Mirror's Edge – it is stylish, it makes you feel
cool to play, and it captures the idea of free running very well –
but be wary if you are planning on adding this to your collection.
Final Score: C+
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