Fight Or Flight -- Mirror's Edge Review

EA DICE has proven that approaching existing gameplay concepts from new angles can result in products that are fresh, fun, and impressive gaming experiences. The Battlefield developer's first-person action/platformer Mirror's Edge has lived up to its potential, casting aside the doubt associated with such bold design choices.

To put it simply, Mirror's Edge is like Prince of Persia...in a modern metropolis...with guns...from a first-person perspective. The game's protagonist, Faith, is a "runner" in a dystopian, totalitarian regime not very different from the society depicted in George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four. She delivers messages between members of the outcast population who oppose the new government surveillance and control and remember the days before the city was sterilized and drained of life to make way for "protected," "comfortable," existence. This could be any city--yours or mine--and even includes replicas of real-world architecture in its skyline. Seattle's Space Needle and Chicago's Sears Tower are right there, if you look hard enough.

It is across this any-city skyline that Faith runs, jumps, slides, tumbles, climbs, swings, vaults, etc. A practitioner of parkour, her acrobatic talents allow her to travel across the rooftops quickly and efficiently, running along walls and leaping across the city streets, 200 feet in the air. Controlling this high-flying action is accomplished with only a few buttons: one for upward movements like jumping, one for downward movements like ducking, and one to quickly turn 180 degrees. The latter is especially useful for the ever-important wall jump.

It is surprising how well the control scheme works in Mirror's Edge; after just a few moments, it's easy to have gotten caught up in the action and covered a vast amount of ground--or roof, as it were--and to have enjoyed every second of it. The sense of speed and freedom one feels while controlling Faith is borderline intoxicating, and when the adrenaline of being chased by a half-dozen armed guards is added to the equation, that high becomes even more intense.

Although her debut is somewhat concurrent with the newest 007 film, Faith is no James Bond. She cannot dispatch an entire SWAT unit with nothing more than a pistol, and although she does show some skill with firearms, her first choice is usually to run. Mirror's Edge encourages players to avoid conflict, and makes sure the consequences of going all gung-ho with Faith's mere punches and kicks are dire, indeed. Bullets HURT in Mirror's Edge; Faith can only take a few before shutting her eyes for good. Incidentally, that's not very long at all, because after players fall 30 stories to the pavement below or suffer one too many blunt traumas to the skull, Faith quickly returns to the most recently passed spawn point to try again.

Forgetting the small and lonesome feelings players get from the cultural atmosphere in Mirror's Edge, Faith is far from helpless. As mentioned earlier, she can punch and kick foes, and even string these strikes together with acrobatic moves to create new, more effective attack techniques. Additionally, she is capable of increasing her own reaction time with a tap of the X button, effectively slowing down her opponents and making it easy to incapacitate them. Perhaps the most satisfying part of combat is disarming government agents with a well-timed press of the Y button and beating them with their own weapon. Of course having a gun to shoot the next guy you see is a relief, but really, guns are not the hottest commodity in Mirror's Edge. When she is holding a firearm, Faith is slow and not very nimble at all, so players will be discarding most of the weapons they pick up before ever expending a magazine. It's actually possible to complete the Story mode without shooting a single enemy.

The emphasis in Mirror's Edge is on "first-person," rather than "shooter." More so than most games played from this perspective, players are made very aware of Faith's physical presence. Her arms and legs are in the field of view most of the time as she grabs ledges and ladders and the like or hurdles over obstacles, and the camera itself bobs, rolls, and turns as if taped to her forehead. There is no information displayed on the screen other than what Faith can see in her surroundings. The visual effect is very engrossing.

Mirror's Edge has a unique and striking aesthetic style to go along with its original gameplay mechanics. The city is almost entirely devoid of color, making most of the buildings and other surfaces a pristine white canvass. Vibrant primary and secondary colors appear on this achromatic background, coloring certain structures (cranes, crates, signs, etc.) in stark contrast to the rest of the game world. Color serves a purpose, marking runners' paths through the city--paths to safety and success. Faith even possesses special "runner vision," which highlights key items bright red, indicating their usefulness for making forward progress. Ladders, pipes, beams, springboard objects, zip lines, and more are flagged with crimson on easy and normal difficulties. Hard mode requires a bit more exploration and examination, though, as these things remain as white as the rest of the city under that setting.

Completing chapters in Story mode unlocks new areas in Race mode, where players can attempt speed runs and navigate through a number of beacon-dotted Time Trial courses. Achieving better times earns star rankings, which are nothing more than bragging rights and something shiny to include in your virtual trophy case. If Xbox LIVE buddies have tested their wheels in Time Trial mode, they can download one another's ghost data to race against and possibly learn from; there are many ways to run through these courses and many shortcuts to discover.

Mirror's Edge is an excellent game. EA DICE has crafted a unique and enjoyable game that is both exhilarating and addicting, with sound gameplay mechanics, stylish visuals, and superb audio qualities. Other than long and frequent load times, the biggest complaint I could conjure up while playing Mirror's Edge was that there simply wasn't enough of it. This game is a must-buy, or at least a must-try.