http://www.humanoension.es/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mirrors_edge_logo.jpg
Mirror's Edge is an action-adventure-platformer-shooter-Parkour game for the PS3 and X-Box 360 created by DICE and published bythe scourge of the seven continents EA. The biggest draw of this game is that it's unique, artistic, highly stylish, and a brand new and highly innovative game. Something not a lot of games can claim as of late. The only problem with complete innovation is that you don't have the warm, fuzzy blanket of "Tried" and "True" in case you botch the delivery. That is the problem that picks up Mirror's Edge, and runs with it all the way through the game.
Graphically, what there is to say about Mirror's Edge could fill up several novels, a few reviews, an editorial, a magazine or two, with enough excess words to travel the length of this review and back a few times just to scoff at anything that isn't so worthy of mention. The art direction in Mirror's Edge, in my opinion, is the way graphics should look in today's bright, glowing bloom-and-lense-flair world.
http://www.xboxist.com/xbox-360/images/2008/11/mirrors_edge_15.jpg
The game positively "glows" with the je ne sais quoi that always seems missing with the current generation graphics. The style of the buildings and decor adjusts with the person and the placement, and colors are almost always contrast intensive, and often times very abrasive to the casual observer. It's the sort of art direction that commands attention, and it carries itself very well. Visually, the gameplay remains bright without the eerie bloom that games have all seemed to pick up sometime, when they're not being so gritty and murky you could hide them in a swamp, and instantly lose sight of them when you let them out of your hand.
Mostly, I'd like to spend this paragraph gibbering about all of the little things that I liked. The fact that the machine guns had tracer rounds, but still rounds that could not be seen, how reflections and water carried themselves beautifully, how the wind shook your vision if you gained enough momentum, how your vision focused or lost focus depending on the depth of what your "vision dot" was resting on. Artistically, this game went the distance. I could go on, but I think I'd be talking too much about it.
The between story direction, on the opposite coin face, is a highly artful cel-cartoon style highly reminiscient of e-surance commercials [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qahoiUVCMB0]. Artfully speaking, this is a stylish way to transition the story between levels, but is somewhat depressing when you look at the sheer quality difference between the visuals between the chapters, and the visuals during the chapters. They probably would've been more pleasing had they stuck to the same stark contrast that the rest of the game maintains. The blinding red of the "Runner Vision" beautifully illustrates how artfully contrast intensive the game can be, and the between-cutscenes don't maintain that. Overall, though, they're still artful and descriptive, and explain the in-between events wonderfully.
The story, on the other hand, is a pretty familiar setup. Not quite the gritty urban dystopia that's all-too familiar in gaming, but still a dystopian society where you control the "dredges" of society out to stick it to the blatantly evil Man. The personal involvement with the main character and her compatriots is fairly interesting without being too stereotypical, and the twists in the story are fairly interesting without being too far-fetched.
Still, the game didn't do a lot to really change the dystopian plot, especially with the main character's reasoning for getting involved with the anti-government group. Whatever part of it there is, at least.
The problem is that the art direction is a little too clean, and the jarring twists in the story are visible on the surface if you look hard enough. No one every really skirts the line, everything is pretty clear cut. No grays, just white or black. Although, in retrospect, it does fit the decor quite well. Regardless, it was written well, but not very well.
http://www.ene3.com/multi/mirroredge/mirror9.jpg
The gameplay is a wonderful mixture of running, jumping, climbing, getting shot at, and exploring. Although, given just how many sandbox territories we've been given to play with as of late, I'm rather dejected this game had such a linear pathway style across the roof-tops. That little nit-pick aside, the game handles itself well, with exceptions. Sometimes, the mechanics are genuinely difficult on you, expecting perfection, and others too loose, allowing you to mostly "wing it." The difficulty is welcome, but sometimes relentlessly aggravating. Considering I've yet to try the game on Hard, I'm sure my aggravation could be exponentially more.
The difficulty quirks aside, the game does a good job of forcing you to play your hand close. You can't run into any gunfight without expecting to pull a slug from your leg shortly after, nor can you expect the game to hand you many disarm opportunities. On top of that, the game encourages you to move, focusing less on gunplay and more on run-and-run action. There are even several trophies for not shooting anyone, and others for not throwing a punch, or being shot.
The action sequences aside, there are moments where Faith just refuses to work correctly. Sometimes, her jumps will be inconsistent in height from one ledge jump to the next, and others that will be astronomically longer. This leads to a lot of drops to the death, which is further compounded by the very selective nature of whether or not a jump leads to catching the ledge, or grabbing the jutting pipe. Overall, though, it's never bad enough to put down entirely, just a crimson slash on an otherwise clean track record.
On the front of sound, this is the most atmospheric soundtrack I've ever had the pleasure of listening to in a very long time. Not exactly immersive, as it doesn't set the dystopia-feel of the city, but the ambient beats certainly have a home in the runner's head as they're vaulting the rooftops, or sprinting away from the hailfire of the local police. In fact, this is another instance where the soundtrack and invaded my casual listening time, which isn't something that happens very often. On top of that, the heavy breathing, and wind rushing past you as you sprint and leap from building to building is a positively ecstatic feeling that more games should strive to achieve.
http://fc71.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/142/6/f/Mirror__s_Edge_Big_Glass_Logo_by_CyberR00T.png
Despite being admittedly short, and sometimes too fickle a mistress with ledge grabs, jumps, disarm timings, and combat, the game does a lot to really push forward in the right direction, especially where art, graphics, and design on concerned. It's a fun game that gives a lot without asking for too much in return. The play experience actually flows with the movement, and really presses home that sometimes just because it's tried and true doesn't mean it's right.
[HEADING=2]Verdict[/HEADING]
Buy It. Some may argue it's short enough for a rental, but this is the sort of game that can be enjoyed for an extended period well after its first completion. If you must, give it a rent until the price goes down, but this game has a strong appeal, flavor, and a competent-enough online mode to make it worth the price. Although some may argue the built-in sound test is enough to merit a buy. I'd highly recommend this game, frustrations and quirks in all.
Mirror's Edge is an action-adventure-platformer-shooter-Parkour game for the PS3 and X-Box 360 created by DICE and published by
Graphically, what there is to say about Mirror's Edge could fill up several novels, a few reviews, an editorial, a magazine or two, with enough excess words to travel the length of this review and back a few times just to scoff at anything that isn't so worthy of mention. The art direction in Mirror's Edge, in my opinion, is the way graphics should look in today's bright, glowing bloom-and-lense-flair world.
http://www.xboxist.com/xbox-360/images/2008/11/mirrors_edge_15.jpg
The game positively "glows" with the je ne sais quoi that always seems missing with the current generation graphics. The style of the buildings and decor adjusts with the person and the placement, and colors are almost always contrast intensive, and often times very abrasive to the casual observer. It's the sort of art direction that commands attention, and it carries itself very well. Visually, the gameplay remains bright without the eerie bloom that games have all seemed to pick up sometime, when they're not being so gritty and murky you could hide them in a swamp, and instantly lose sight of them when you let them out of your hand.
Mostly, I'd like to spend this paragraph gibbering about all of the little things that I liked. The fact that the machine guns had tracer rounds, but still rounds that could not be seen, how reflections and water carried themselves beautifully, how the wind shook your vision if you gained enough momentum, how your vision focused or lost focus depending on the depth of what your "vision dot" was resting on. Artistically, this game went the distance. I could go on, but I think I'd be talking too much about it.
The between story direction, on the opposite coin face, is a highly artful cel-cartoon style highly reminiscient of e-surance commercials [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qahoiUVCMB0]. Artfully speaking, this is a stylish way to transition the story between levels, but is somewhat depressing when you look at the sheer quality difference between the visuals between the chapters, and the visuals during the chapters. They probably would've been more pleasing had they stuck to the same stark contrast that the rest of the game maintains. The blinding red of the "Runner Vision" beautifully illustrates how artfully contrast intensive the game can be, and the between-cutscenes don't maintain that. Overall, though, they're still artful and descriptive, and explain the in-between events wonderfully.
The story, on the other hand, is a pretty familiar setup. Not quite the gritty urban dystopia that's all-too familiar in gaming, but still a dystopian society where you control the "dredges" of society out to stick it to the blatantly evil Man. The personal involvement with the main character and her compatriots is fairly interesting without being too stereotypical, and the twists in the story are fairly interesting without being too far-fetched.
Still, the game didn't do a lot to really change the dystopian plot, especially with the main character's reasoning for getting involved with the anti-government group. Whatever part of it there is, at least.
The problem is that the art direction is a little too clean, and the jarring twists in the story are visible on the surface if you look hard enough. No one every really skirts the line, everything is pretty clear cut. No grays, just white or black. Although, in retrospect, it does fit the decor quite well. Regardless, it was written well, but not very well.
http://www.ene3.com/multi/mirroredge/mirror9.jpg
The gameplay is a wonderful mixture of running, jumping, climbing, getting shot at, and exploring. Although, given just how many sandbox territories we've been given to play with as of late, I'm rather dejected this game had such a linear pathway style across the roof-tops. That little nit-pick aside, the game handles itself well, with exceptions. Sometimes, the mechanics are genuinely difficult on you, expecting perfection, and others too loose, allowing you to mostly "wing it." The difficulty is welcome, but sometimes relentlessly aggravating. Considering I've yet to try the game on Hard, I'm sure my aggravation could be exponentially more.
The difficulty quirks aside, the game does a good job of forcing you to play your hand close. You can't run into any gunfight without expecting to pull a slug from your leg shortly after, nor can you expect the game to hand you many disarm opportunities. On top of that, the game encourages you to move, focusing less on gunplay and more on run-and-run action. There are even several trophies for not shooting anyone, and others for not throwing a punch, or being shot.
The action sequences aside, there are moments where Faith just refuses to work correctly. Sometimes, her jumps will be inconsistent in height from one ledge jump to the next, and others that will be astronomically longer. This leads to a lot of drops to the death, which is further compounded by the very selective nature of whether or not a jump leads to catching the ledge, or grabbing the jutting pipe. Overall, though, it's never bad enough to put down entirely, just a crimson slash on an otherwise clean track record.
On the front of sound, this is the most atmospheric soundtrack I've ever had the pleasure of listening to in a very long time. Not exactly immersive, as it doesn't set the dystopia-feel of the city, but the ambient beats certainly have a home in the runner's head as they're vaulting the rooftops, or sprinting away from the hailfire of the local police. In fact, this is another instance where the soundtrack and invaded my casual listening time, which isn't something that happens very often. On top of that, the heavy breathing, and wind rushing past you as you sprint and leap from building to building is a positively ecstatic feeling that more games should strive to achieve.
http://fc71.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/142/6/f/Mirror__s_Edge_Big_Glass_Logo_by_CyberR00T.png
Despite being admittedly short, and sometimes too fickle a mistress with ledge grabs, jumps, disarm timings, and combat, the game does a lot to really push forward in the right direction, especially where art, graphics, and design on concerned. It's a fun game that gives a lot without asking for too much in return. The play experience actually flows with the movement, and really presses home that sometimes just because it's tried and true doesn't mean it's right.
[HEADING=2]Verdict[/HEADING]
Buy It. Some may argue it's short enough for a rental, but this is the sort of game that can be enjoyed for an extended period well after its first completion. If you must, give it a rent until the price goes down, but this game has a strong appeal, flavor, and a competent-enough online mode to make it worth the price. Although some may argue the built-in sound test is enough to merit a buy. I'd highly recommend this game, frustrations and quirks in all.
Image
Logo: http://www.sidtheturtle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/mirrors_edge_logo.jpg
Graphically Stunning: http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1725/mirrorsedgetw2.jpg
Hot Fuzz Reference: http://www.ene3.com/multi/mirroredge/mirror9.jpg
Runner's Emblem: http://fc71.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/142/6/f/Mirror__s_Edge_Big_Glass_Logo_by_CyberR00T.png
Video
E-surance: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qahoiUVCMB0
Logo: http://www.sidtheturtle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/mirrors_edge_logo.jpg
Graphically Stunning: http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1725/mirrorsedgetw2.jpg
Hot Fuzz Reference: http://www.ene3.com/multi/mirroredge/mirror9.jpg
Runner's Emblem: http://fc71.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/142/6/f/Mirror__s_Edge_Big_Glass_Logo_by_CyberR00T.png
Video
E-surance: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qahoiUVCMB0