Stylish, brutal, fun and far too short --
welcome to the Mirror’s Edge.
I knew little about this game, prior to purchasing it, other than it
looked “interesting.” It was a GameBoomers member and someone I work
with, both fellow Xbox’ers, who recommended the game. I was tempted to get
the Xbox 360 version, but held out until it was made available for PC. The
game is quite obviously designed for a game console controller due to its
variety of complex moves. There are a good number of keyboard combinations
that you will need to master in order to complete the game, but I
was quite impressed at the intuitive design of the keyboard controls. The
designers definitely worked at porting this to PC from the aspect of a PC
gamer. The many key combinations are all in reach of the left hand without
having to stray too far from the “home row,” allowing you to keep your
right hand firmly on the mouse for combat and camera control.
Mirror’s Edge takes place in a highly developed and metropolitan
city business center sometime in the near future. The government of this
place has turned neo-fascist and those who wish to conduct business away
from the prying eyes of the regime employ specialized couriers called
Runners.
Runners are so in tune with the ebb and flow the of the city’s
rooftop architecture that they treat it like their own private Zen
garden. They run across the rooftops many stories above the city streets,
jumping from building to building in a manner reminiscent of a gymnastic
floor routine on steroids. There is a definite Zen element within the game
to the running, swinging, sliding, jumping...dying. Oh yes, unless you
have youthful or exceptional hand-eye coordination, expect to die many,
many times -- at least during the first hour of the game. I played at the
Normal difficulty level and there were times that frustration made
me consider moving to the Easy level, but I felt that I would not
get the true feel that the developers were attempting to get across.
There were also times during the game that I felt the difficulty level was
skewed in order to increase the game play time. This was a disturbing
thought, since I came across a similar technique while playing another
Electronic Arts release, SPORE. The difference between SPORE
and Mirror’s Edge is quality on all levels. The level of
immersiveness, control and finish is far higher in Edge than
SPORE could ever hope to accomplish in its present form.
Since the game is so very short, figure 8-10 hours of game play for the
average gamer skilled in FPS (First Person Shooter)/Action style games,
I’ve decided not to cover any detailed aspects of the story line, because
in truth it is really secondary to the game. Now, I can already hear the
RPG (Role-Playing Game) gamers saying, “WHAT, the story is secondary? The
game is too short? How could this possibly be a good game?” To be honest,
I really don’t know. What I do know is that I had a blast playing it, even
though I lost count of how many times my character was turned into
“pavement burger” while playing.
The game is at once very similar to many action games I’ve played, but
altogether different as well. I am reminded of the Tomb Raider games to
some extent, but Mirror’s Edge takes character control to a new
level and does it exceptionally well. When the keyboard and mouse
combinations finally clicked, I felt a real sense of accomplishment. At
one point -- faced with several armed foes -- I ran towards them,
wall-walked over their heads, did a flip over the last, disarmed him as I
landed, shot two others with the gun I took from the first and then jumped
to an adjacent building to disappear in the distant rooftops while SWAT
helicopters, still searching, circled in the distance. My girlfriend
laughed when she heard my audible response to the sequence, “That ROCKED!”
This game is built to give you an adrenalin rush. There were times that I
found my palms sweating as my character ran, slid and then jumped across
an impossible gap 50, 60, 70 stories above the city streets and vaulted
over electrical fences while pursuers unloaded round after round.
Music for the game fits the environs. I’m not sure if this is the
standard release, but my copy included the game’s soundtrack. This was not
a collector’s version, only the result of a pre-order. The techno/pop
music fits the game very well and the catchy main theme reflects some
slick production values. This shows a professional effort was put forth to
make it commercially acceptable and potentially radio worthy.
Drawbacks to the game are the occasional freeze-up that seems to happen
at crucial moments. Additionally, the game uses the checkpoint system
for saves. You cannot save at any point within the game; it’s done for
you. This sometimes means that you will need to start quite a distance
back from your point of demise. This can happen innumerable times, but
this reviewer could not put his finger on exactly what it is that drives
the gamer forward. Though I have the sneaking suspicion it’s related to
the wish to be able to have the skills that Runners possess, so
that you feel obligated to help your character succeed.
Psychology aside, this game has all the attributes of the predictions I
have read and heard from various gaming sites related to the future of
gaming due to the stressed economy. An increase in methods that will lower
demand in the used game market by producing games that are shorter, but
more desirable to keep. This is done through a combination of required
online activation, free additional content and the promise of full (paid)
expansions. In any case there is a give-and-take, but I really do hope
that the producers, writers and developers come up with some more cutting
edge expansion material for Mirror’s Edge.
Rather than recommending the game, I recommend playing the demo to
determine if it is a game for you. While the story is somewhat lacking
and the game play seemingly too short to justify its introductory purchase
price, it still provides a great deal of entertainment value. Graphics
that switch between slick, true, three-dimensional views of the city’s
rooftop landscape and animated graphic novel illustrations give this game
a style all its own. Frenetic game play, immediately followed by
fantastic and flowing chase sequences, show the developer’s skill in
planning. Picking the correct course while running across the rooftops is
made easier by the “Runner Vision” option, which colors potential aids in
your run across town in a vibrant red. There is also an effective use of
the other primary colors (yellow and blue) throughout the city, giving the
scenes the appearance of something you might find in the Museum of Modern
Art. Aside from the “Story” level of the game, there are also Race and
Training Modes that allow you to take full advantage of the game’s
features without the combat or story driven aspect.
You will need a fairly buffed up gaming machine to get good frame
rates. The machine I used contained a 3GHz Core2Duo CPU, dual XFX 8800
GT 512MB Alpha-Dog Over-Clocked video cards in SLI and 4GB of available
RAM. Even with this combination I saw my CPU and memory spike close to
full utilization more than once during the game at maximum settings. It’s
worth it, though, to try and obtain a balance using the higher settings to
get the most out of the wonderful graphics.
All in all, the game is visually appealing and the well executed
controls combined with varied playing environments make you wish for more.
For as short as the game is, the variety of paths across the city and the
wish to improve your game play does lend some “replayability” to the
game. Combine that with the promise of future content and you have
exactly what the producers wanted -- a keeper.
Game Score: 8.5
January, 2009
design copyright©
2009
GameBoomers
Group
