Mirrors Edge was foretold to be the revolutionary platformer, to be unmatched and unrivalled and truth be told, Mirrors Edge doesn't revolutionize the genre but innovates it. Mirrors Edge certainly shows a high level of polish but it still has frustrations that were needed to get passed to make this a revolutionary game. Instead it's more of an innovating concept rather than a revolutionary standard for platforming games to take upon this path in the future.
Mirrors Edge background is a surprising one, it seems to follow the idea from George Orwell's successful "Ninety Eighty Four". Where the whole world is under surveillance, feeling a like a prison, human beings pinned down from having any kind of freedom what so ever. Any scurry or whisper would be heard; even the silence can be heard. Basically what would've happened if Germany won the 2nd World War and Hitler took over.
Some people hide from the government and want to be free, they're sick of being forced to hide. These people hire runners and give them the desired message or parcel to pass onto the receiver. You're one of these runners and you're called Faith. But one night, Faith hears of the murder of one of her Dad's old friends. When she turns up at the scene she finds her sister. Her sister was there minutes before the man died and then in her sister being framed, Faith must find the one responsible in a rather clever crime, murder mystery.
The single player clocks in at six hours depending on your skill though you'll only want to play through the game once seeing as all the levels are presently unlocked in the time trial, leader board feature. The difficulty itself isn't especially hard but it's the frustrating game play elements which will particularly test your patience. It's a shame the game couldn't up its value much more because it makes Mirrors Edge feel more of an concept or an idea than an actual game.
It's a shame DICE haven't made the most of their innovating platformer. Some missions leave out on some cool stunts and they feel like missed opportunities regarding the often fresh game play. You'll have a stack of boxes which you'll quickly run on top off, one after the other then jump for a cargo being held in the air by a crane. These are some of the best parts, but otherwise they all have the same jump, slide and wall-run game play mechanics with nothing fresh or exciting to expect on your next jump.
Combat also really breaks up the pace of the game. Punching feels clunky and doesn't feel right even while pulling of flying kicks, further chopping up the games rhythmic flow. Guns are also really undeveloped as you can't even see the clips and rounds that your guns have remaining.
Speaking of repeated game play mechanics, it's one of Mirrors Edge's other flaws. The controls are left unfulfilled, you'll spend most of your time jumping which feels very much overused, other buttons which include combat, crouching and wall-running are left untouched for the majority of the game and it makes the game play feel slightly uneven.
Though technically speaking, the game play in Mirrors Edge shows an incredible amount of polish, moving and jumping is superbly animated and once you get into the rhythmic flow of things, it feels like your second nature. That is until trial and error starts occurring, there is alot of directional aid in the game but lots of it feels undeveloped. The arrow will point upwards to where your destination is but it doesn't tell you how to get there, there's also a red highlight on compulsory objects which must be jumped on though that's if you can find the object. As without any half visible guidelines or a cursor which points to your next mini check-point it makes the game play feel incredibly frustrating.
Mirrors Edge is simply a stunner, the colour palette is limited within environments - usually white and red in urban environments and black and green in sewers but it's the clean but stylish and surreal look that the city delivers. The frames are ultra-smooth and it doesn't just make the game play feel slick but the graphics an added authentic feel thanks to the contributed animations which too are amazing. However it's not all perfect with some noticeable jagged edges and an occasional graphical blemish.
Though the presentation in Mirrors Edge is bar none, the menu shows the transitioning from mission to mission in a very slick, stylish manner. Bizarrely loading screens are addictive to watch thanks to the top notch combat animations and for the fact that playing throughout the entire game in first person gives a very immersive feel to it.
The audio design is organic and bone-crunching at its best. With adrenaline rushes running through your body as you make a three second leap through the air, it's been a feat yet to be accomplished until today. Falling from a skyscraper feels so "life-like" that you'll cringe at the feeling of falling because you really feel so immersed in the first person game play. It feels natural enough without hearing the footsteps and forward rolls from a jump. It's something which makes Mirrors Edge so unique and rewarding by seamlessly combining first person game play with terrific audio creating magnificent results.
Although it's then you wish you could say the same for the voice acting. Faith sounds decent but she doesn't do as good of a job as the cringing sound effects otherwise did. The cast of other characters do average too, but then since when has voice acting become the focus of a game?
The single player is hardly returnable once finished and the playgrounds will be your next stop. Levels from the single player are all playable and others as well which often follow the same level design but take on a different route to add some more flavour. There's even downloadable content called the "Pure Time Trial" pack which is now free via the Playstation Store and adds some more length to the online function.
Typically, EA's connection servers are broken despite the fact I'm signed on with Playstation Network. I can still play it offline but it's disappointing that I can't see my ranked score and time just because of the developers online problems. There are other issues such as the ridiculously high pass rate for even the lowest of medals and that even with plenty of playgrounds to toy around with, the game play formula won't last you much longer after the single player.
Pros
+ Immense setting and interesting plot.
+ Immersive, polished gameplay.
+ Innovating concept.
+ Natural and organic sound effects.
+ Stunning visual design.
Cons
- Broken connection servers.
- Combat feels weak.
- Directional aid needs some more aid.
- Frustrating amount of trial and error.
- Little bang for your buck.
- Merely average dialogue and voice acting.
- Missions feel like missed opportunities.
- Some blemishes and jagged edges.
Mirrors Edge feels more of a shiny tech demo revealing an innovating concept which designers should take on board and add onto. Though Mirrors Edge is planned as a trilogy and with this being the first attempt at such, it's not half bad at all and in being, hopefully DICE will take heed of their game play frustrations and fix them for the inevitable sequel.
