It's pretty much a truism to state that a review is just one persons opinion, that my feelings on Dice and EA's Mirror's Edge are as subjective as anyone else's.
Furthermore I'm not a professional reviewer and therefore lack the methods and skills in objectivity of that vocation.
The reason I mention these things is that Mirror's Edge is a game that you can't help but have feelings for, it's something you experience rather than consume, it's far from perfect and yet it 'feels' like the best game I've played for years.
In an unnamed city in the dystopian near future lives Faith, a runner, employed in the business of hand delivering packages for clients pushed underground by the socio-political landscape. The majority of your time in the game is spent trying to unravel the reasons behind your police woman sister being framed for the murder of a mayoral candidate.
In all honesty it is not the most original or surprising of plots but it is well told in both the stylishly animated 2d cut-scenes and with in game chatter.
Advertisements and news bulletins throughout the game world serve to further enhance the mood and allow this game world to be very nicely and subtley realised.
The city itself, as you experience it, is palleted in bleached whites highlighted with stark primary colours. The alabaster skyline exists under a piercing azure sky whilst interiors are either clinical offices constructed of glass and pale concrete or grey industrial corridors littered with drain pipes and ironwork.
The contrasts between the vast whites vistas and slabs of bright colour is what gives Mirror's Edge it's own distinct style, especially when paired with the ambient music that filters into the experience perfectly.
The whole package is an achingly beautiful one.
Mirror's Edge is played from a First Person Perspective and it gives more than the usual amount of 'in body' feed back for this view point.
Faiths hands and feet are usually in view and the action bobs realistically as she runs, jumps and climbs across rooftops and through office blocks.
Despite not intending to be realistic in any tangible way the only 'game' trappings are a small white dot in the centre of the screen. This minimalist reticule was apparently implemented to prevent motion sickness but it's far more useful as a guide when lining up for a particularly daunting leap of *ahem* faith.
The running, jumping, climbing angle is the very heart of Mirror's Edge. The creators have achieved what has previously been seen in the Prince of Persia games, early Tomb Raider and most notably Flashback. They have made the very act of moving across the play area a fun experience in itself.
The in-game movement functions through the usual dual analogue sticks and 4 main control options: Up, Down, Turn and Attack. These are mapped to the four trigger buttons on the controller meaning that they are all accessible whilst moving around with the analogue sticks.
It's a scheme that takes getting used to ? the exact action that you instigate is context sensitive. Up will, if you are standing or running, jump. However if you are standing in front of a wall 'Up' will initiate a vertical scramble up the surface and, as long as the wall is low enough, see you clamber on top. If you were running next to a wall pressing 'Up' will begin a wall run, identical to that seen in the newer Prince of Persia series. All these functions can then be combined to create more elaborate movements and eventually you will come to see that although the simplification is initially vulgar it lends itself to the games flow perfectly.
The other important control option in the game is the 'Disarm' button. This is, for all intents and purposes, your one-hit-kill. Every enemy in the game is armed. Faith is not. In order to redress this imbalance you can approach an armed assailant from behind and snatch their weapon before they realise. Alternatively you can approach an enemy and go toe to toe with them. The second option is a far more common occurrence in the game than the first, in this situation your proximity to the NPC will cause them to try and batter you with weapon rather than shoot you with it. At this point a perfectly timed tap of Disarm triggers a selection of pretty damn cool sequences where by you relieve your assailant of their firearm and render them unconscious with it. Of course, if you don't pick your fights wisely you'll find yourself riddled with holes anyway as the bad guys buddies are not the kind to stand around and watch whilst you pound on their colleague.
Once you have the weapon you can use it until the ammo runs out, at which point you through it away - if you haven't discarded it before then that is. Guns are heavy you see, and our agile protagonist is only a wee slip of a girl so the game is an entirely different animal once you have gun in hand. Running is usually no longer an option and you can forget about jumping if you're packing anything but the smallest pistol.
As the enormous majority of games in the first person perspective are built around the concept of shooting it is immensely refreshing that this offering, from a developer well versed in the FPS genre, actively discourages the use of weapons.
I cannot stress enough how irrelevant most of what I've written above is.
If you are relatively new to the medium of video games Mirror's Edge will drive you insane.
It is, first and foremost, a proper old school platform game.
That this is in stark contrast to the modern trappings and revolutionary interactions is a massive part of what makes the game so wonderful.
It's a trial and error game. That old fashioned beast in which you will not complete every level at your first attempt, you will fall and get shot countless times and every area is as much a feat of memory as it is one of digital agility. You are given an area and a goal and have to make your own way. The game highlights a path beautifully by colouring objects red to indicate a route but not only are these indicators fairly sparse but they don't always offer the best solution.
By way of an example of what Mirror's Edge achieves when at it's best I offer this:
There is a section in the game where you are deposited at the top of a flight of stairs and have to make your way to the bottom past a string of armed guards to make good your escape.
I probably played that small section 50 times before I completed it in the way I wanted to.
I could have simply scampered past the guards and straight out the door, would have taken about 30 seconds, but Mirror's Edge is a game that gives you freedom to make your own way. You don't have to, but not doing so would be, frankly, your loss.
These are the things that make or break the experience.
If you play games simply to be told a story and get to the end then you will not enjoy Mirror's Edge.
The story really offers nothing new or surprising and you will have seen it all in about 6 hours playing time.
Personally, I restarted levels of the game on several occasions not because I had plummeted to yet another 30 story death, not because I got lost and couldn't figure out where to go next... no, I restarted levels because my 'flow' had been interrupted, because my string of running and jumping had slowed to a series of trots and wall scampers and I just didn't like the way it felt.
This is Mirror's Edge.
It gives you the opportunity to transform traversing a level from a task to be completed into a work of art in motion.
It's not easy.
It's frustrating and infuriating to controller smashing levels but like all the very best platform games you will demand of yourself 'just one more go' to get it just right.
Furthermore I'm not a professional reviewer and therefore lack the methods and skills in objectivity of that vocation.
The reason I mention these things is that Mirror's Edge is a game that you can't help but have feelings for, it's something you experience rather than consume, it's far from perfect and yet it 'feels' like the best game I've played for years.
In an unnamed city in the dystopian near future lives Faith, a runner, employed in the business of hand delivering packages for clients pushed underground by the socio-political landscape. The majority of your time in the game is spent trying to unravel the reasons behind your police woman sister being framed for the murder of a mayoral candidate.
In all honesty it is not the most original or surprising of plots but it is well told in both the stylishly animated 2d cut-scenes and with in game chatter.
Advertisements and news bulletins throughout the game world serve to further enhance the mood and allow this game world to be very nicely and subtley realised.
The city itself, as you experience it, is palleted in bleached whites highlighted with stark primary colours. The alabaster skyline exists under a piercing azure sky whilst interiors are either clinical offices constructed of glass and pale concrete or grey industrial corridors littered with drain pipes and ironwork.
The contrasts between the vast whites vistas and slabs of bright colour is what gives Mirror's Edge it's own distinct style, especially when paired with the ambient music that filters into the experience perfectly.
The whole package is an achingly beautiful one.
Mirror's Edge is played from a First Person Perspective and it gives more than the usual amount of 'in body' feed back for this view point.
Faiths hands and feet are usually in view and the action bobs realistically as she runs, jumps and climbs across rooftops and through office blocks.
Despite not intending to be realistic in any tangible way the only 'game' trappings are a small white dot in the centre of the screen. This minimalist reticule was apparently implemented to prevent motion sickness but it's far more useful as a guide when lining up for a particularly daunting leap of *ahem* faith.
The running, jumping, climbing angle is the very heart of Mirror's Edge. The creators have achieved what has previously been seen in the Prince of Persia games, early Tomb Raider and most notably Flashback. They have made the very act of moving across the play area a fun experience in itself.
The in-game movement functions through the usual dual analogue sticks and 4 main control options: Up, Down, Turn and Attack. These are mapped to the four trigger buttons on the controller meaning that they are all accessible whilst moving around with the analogue sticks.
It's a scheme that takes getting used to ? the exact action that you instigate is context sensitive. Up will, if you are standing or running, jump. However if you are standing in front of a wall 'Up' will initiate a vertical scramble up the surface and, as long as the wall is low enough, see you clamber on top. If you were running next to a wall pressing 'Up' will begin a wall run, identical to that seen in the newer Prince of Persia series. All these functions can then be combined to create more elaborate movements and eventually you will come to see that although the simplification is initially vulgar it lends itself to the games flow perfectly.
The other important control option in the game is the 'Disarm' button. This is, for all intents and purposes, your one-hit-kill. Every enemy in the game is armed. Faith is not. In order to redress this imbalance you can approach an armed assailant from behind and snatch their weapon before they realise. Alternatively you can approach an enemy and go toe to toe with them. The second option is a far more common occurrence in the game than the first, in this situation your proximity to the NPC will cause them to try and batter you with weapon rather than shoot you with it. At this point a perfectly timed tap of Disarm triggers a selection of pretty damn cool sequences where by you relieve your assailant of their firearm and render them unconscious with it. Of course, if you don't pick your fights wisely you'll find yourself riddled with holes anyway as the bad guys buddies are not the kind to stand around and watch whilst you pound on their colleague.
Once you have the weapon you can use it until the ammo runs out, at which point you through it away - if you haven't discarded it before then that is. Guns are heavy you see, and our agile protagonist is only a wee slip of a girl so the game is an entirely different animal once you have gun in hand. Running is usually no longer an option and you can forget about jumping if you're packing anything but the smallest pistol.
As the enormous majority of games in the first person perspective are built around the concept of shooting it is immensely refreshing that this offering, from a developer well versed in the FPS genre, actively discourages the use of weapons.
I cannot stress enough how irrelevant most of what I've written above is.
If you are relatively new to the medium of video games Mirror's Edge will drive you insane.
It is, first and foremost, a proper old school platform game.
That this is in stark contrast to the modern trappings and revolutionary interactions is a massive part of what makes the game so wonderful.
It's a trial and error game. That old fashioned beast in which you will not complete every level at your first attempt, you will fall and get shot countless times and every area is as much a feat of memory as it is one of digital agility. You are given an area and a goal and have to make your own way. The game highlights a path beautifully by colouring objects red to indicate a route but not only are these indicators fairly sparse but they don't always offer the best solution.
By way of an example of what Mirror's Edge achieves when at it's best I offer this:
There is a section in the game where you are deposited at the top of a flight of stairs and have to make your way to the bottom past a string of armed guards to make good your escape.
I probably played that small section 50 times before I completed it in the way I wanted to.
I could have simply scampered past the guards and straight out the door, would have taken about 30 seconds, but Mirror's Edge is a game that gives you freedom to make your own way. You don't have to, but not doing so would be, frankly, your loss.
These are the things that make or break the experience.
If you play games simply to be told a story and get to the end then you will not enjoy Mirror's Edge.
The story really offers nothing new or surprising and you will have seen it all in about 6 hours playing time.
Personally, I restarted levels of the game on several occasions not because I had plummeted to yet another 30 story death, not because I got lost and couldn't figure out where to go next... no, I restarted levels because my 'flow' had been interrupted, because my string of running and jumping had slowed to a series of trots and wall scampers and I just didn't like the way it felt.
This is Mirror's Edge.
It gives you the opportunity to transform traversing a level from a task to be completed into a work of art in motion.
It's not easy.
It's frustrating and infuriating to controller smashing levels but like all the very best platform games you will demand of yourself 'just one more go' to get it just right.
