Mirror's Edge Review

 

DICE brings a different style of gameplay to the PC.

If you've ever gone running, you'll know the thrill that comes along with hitting a rhythm, falling into a pattern of motion where everything just feels right and reality seems to melt away around you. DICE tries to recreate such a sensation with Mirror's Edge, a game built on the ideas of parkour, efficiently scaling obstacles to, in this case, escape the armed troops of an oppressive regime. It's not the easiest setup to pull off in a virtual space, to be sure, and for the most part it's a success. If you missed the game last November when it released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, you should definitely consider picking it up for the PC.

To see how the versions stack up, head on over to IGN Insider's Mirror's Edge Head-to-Head.

The setup is simple. There's a nebulous government attempting to squash the resistance networks of which you're a part. You play as Faith, a remarkably athletic runner caught in an ill-defined web of conspiracy and betrayal, and it seems your only way out is to run your ass off.
And run you will, in addition to pulling off a wealth of other tricks like wall-jumping, sliding, rolling, and vaulting through the air to dodge bullets, enemies, or reach certain areas in time. The aim is to maintain momentum. Faith doesn't have a single pace, she accelerates as she continues forward, and inputting the proper jump or slide commands at the appropriate times keeps her going without losing too much speed. There's an undeniable joy to nailing an extended sequence of movements, like pulling off a rapid succession of Scout rifle headshots in Counter-Strike or hitting the entirety of a solo in Guitar Hero. Speeding unhindered while performing seemingly superhuman stunts does take a little practice, but it's also an easy enough system to use where pretty much anyone could understand it and enjoy it, thanks in part to the game highlighting helpful objects as you approach and a simple but versatile control setup.

Video Review - Watch or download the video here (HD available).
The first-person perspective is a little odd for a move set normally confined to third-person action games. You'll find the camera shakes around a lot, and those prone to motion sickness might very well have some issues playing through, particularly while performing quick-turn wall jumps. Yet the jitters and distortions you'll see onscreen really enhance the sense of immersion here, something further strengthened by the way DICE includes Faith's limbs. In some first-person games you're just a floating gun, but in Mirror's Edge you'll frequently see Faith's hands as she grasps at ledges, legs as she curls into a somersault, and feet as she kicks through windows. It grounds the game with a sense of realism that's contrasted against the often dreamlike quality of action and setting.
Buildings are drenched in white, sometimes blindingly so, and oppressively bright color motifs applied elsewhere in the world make everything seem ordered, sterile, under control, and entirely at odds with the way Faith is able to cut freely across the rigid, rectangular, and seemingly unyielding environments. Sound, too, underscores this theme, with the pattering of footsteps and Faith's perpetual breathing punctuating a soundtrack of bubbling electronics, bolstering the sense of the otherworldly.
Relative to how powerfully this world is presented the storyline doesn't match up, with minimal information given regarding the world's fiction which, strangely enough, works to the game's advantage. DICE's withholding of narrative detail fits in perfectly with the mystique weaved by the audio-visual components. The way it's presented, however, could use a lot of work. The crudely animated cut-scenes that crop up between action sections really need to go, as their flimsy presentation and the hammy lines of dialogue are totally at odds with the game's strengths and effective only at ruining the sense of immersion.
Combat is another weak spot; it's something that you'll occasionally need to engage in, but it doesn't work as well as the platform-hopping mechanics. The initial required fight sequence will momentarily kill the game's urgent sense of pace, but provided you put in a little time it's possible to get used to the finicky disarm mechanics and thereafter bash your way by enemies almost as easily as you would wallrun across a gap. Assuming you stop to pick up enemy firearms you'll find the shooting mechanics to be pretty rudimentary, though then you're getting away from the point of the experience.

Time for PhysX.

Small scale platforming puzzles also occasionally distract you from the high-speed sequences, as you're forced to stop and consider your surroundings. In these parts it's necessary to look around and carefully pick and choose paths along which to climb up, over or across, and though there really isn't anything wrong with them, it's an off-putting step down in intensity from the chase sequences. Even so, they don't last all that long and do little to detract from the title's overall impact.
The game's structure is pretty simple. You've got a fairly brief campaign, maybe six or so hours in length, and then a number of extra time trial courses where you strive for speed and can match up your results against others in the community. Considering the time trials emphasize the strongest aspect of the game--continuous sequences of running and jumping--they should provide a number of hours of entertainment once the main campaign is complete. You can also go back and speed run the story levels and poke through an array of unlockables like artwork, videos, and music.
With the PC version you do get a few extra features, the majority of which are expected. You can use a mouse and keyboard or Xbox 360 controller for instance, and the former turns out to work pretty well, as we used it to play through the whole game as well as log some decent runs in a few of the time trial modes. There's a standard array of video options such as anti-aliasing, texture and graphics quality, and resolution settings, as well as a toggle for PhysX effects. Turning this on populates the world with flowing banners, billowing plastic and fabric, as well as a number of other flashy effects that most definitely enhance the visual appeal of the world. There's nothing revolutionary here, and even with an 8800 GTX card and the latest drivers we hit some areas of pretty severe chop, but if you've got the hardware, hey, might as well flip it on. Even with the occasional performance hits, the game was consistently playable on with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad, 2 GB of RAM and the aforementioned card on Vista 32.

The Verdict

There's a distinctive flow and rhythm to DICE's Mirror's Edge, letting you bound across obstacle courses with seemingly inhuman strength and agility. Though the disarm system isn't as immediately accessible as the platform-hopping mechanics, with some practice you'll eventually find you can slide, dash and smash for long, continuous stretches, a thrill reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog's early days. While its elegant controls, visuals and audio weave a dreamlike tapestry that its animated cut-scenes do their best to eat away at, the whole is an experience you'd be remiss to let fly by if you missed it on consoles.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Mirror's Edge Released Jan. 13th, 2009

Xbox 360 PS3 PC

Great

Charles Onyett 13 Jan 2009

8.5 i

7: Presentation Strong immersive elements, helpful environmental cues for navigating terrain, but the animated cut-scenes really need to be tossed.

8 :Graphics A powerful artistic vision enhanced by the occasional tattered fabric, shattered glass, and smoke and fire of the PhysX effects.

8.5 : Sound The effects present, from the wind hissing as you run to the footsteps to the electronic soundtrack, greatly enhance the sense of atmosphere.

8.5: Gameplay Though it can be disorienting at times as a result of the perspective and combat can be a little awkward, the platform hopping and environmental navigation work well.

8: Lasting Appeal Time trials, speed runs, and leaderboards await after the short main campaign is completed.