That's a wrap! Just beat Mirror's Edge on the PS3 today, and wow, I must say that I am shocked that I am doing two PS3 game reviews in a row! For those of you who do not know, I did not take my Wii down to college with me this semester as I get far too distracted with it, and thus my grades were slipping... So I am borrowing a bunch of PS3 games from my friend Slater to help relieve some boredom! I'm still Nintendo, don't worry! (^_-) Anyway, onto the review:
Mirror's Edge is one of those unique titles, one of the ones that stands out from the crowd if not for any other reason than the fact that it is different than it competitors. If you have ever seen a trailer for the game, you know what I am talking about. Mirror's Edge is unique in that it is a FPR, or a "First Person Runner" game. You play as main character "Faith" (which I found to be a highly entertaining name. Faith, as in a Leap of Faith, brilliant) who is a "Runner" in a semi-futuristic city. Runners are rebels of sorts in this city. It is difficult to explain their position any further without spoiling elements of the stories rather dry plot. Regardless, Runners, um, run across the roof tops of the city in which the game takes place. Highly acrobatic, these Runners leap from building to building, sliding down wires, jumping over air conditioning ducts, etc. All of this is done in first person view. The city is GORGEOUS. Not in the sense that is is highly realistic, but in that it is like a piece of art. The graphical style is cartoonish, yet realistic, very strange indeed. The beauty of the environment makes running around that much more fun; and that is an accomplishment considering it is already REALLY fun. It is hard to imagine running in a virtual world as entertainment, but believe me, when you get some speed going, the game does such an impressive job at simulating running, you feel as if you ARE in danger as you leap from building to building. At one point, I was in a subway station, and a train came rushing towards me. As it neared, I froze, not able to react. The train hit and killed my character, and as it did, I jolted as if awoken from one of those dreams you have where you fall from a cliff. It felt so real, and that fact impresses me greatly. Lastly I would like to mention that there is no HUD. This helps tremendously at immersing you in the experience.
While running, you see certain objects in a very vibrant red. While you can jump and climb on almost all the object in the game, the ones that shine red are object that are particularly useful, and usually advance the current objective. For example, a metal bar hanging above you highlighted in red would allow you to jump up, grab, and swing off of it. This, "Runners Vision" as its called is really useful, and while it acts as a hint system, it actually acts as a contributing factor to the games super bright environments. Rarely are hint systems implemented so well. And if you still don't like the idea of it, you can play without it in "Hard Mode." Nice.
As the game progresses, combat elements are added to the game, and while you are supposed to try to avoid confrontation as much as possible, sometimes you simply have to fight enemies. Faith dies after only taking a few shots from most guns, so you must be careful when engaging in combat. You can fight using melee attacks, or disarm enemies and use their guns against others, effectively adding an FPS element to the game. This is where the game loses a bit of its value. Later in the game, the story forces you to fight more and more. This really sucks, because it is almost impossible to stay alive, and thus you are constantly being forced back to a checkpoint from a billion hours ago. When a game is about overcoming obstacles, running, jumping, swinging, I found it very annoying to have to fight so often later in the game.
The games story was incredibly dull, and I felt no emotion what so ever when certain important characters died. This made me very sad... I like it when games make me love characters so much that I cry at their deaths or hardships! The fact that I had no desire to see the end of the story, and that the fun part of the game (the running and climbing) was replaced with a lame combat system halfway through the game made it very difficult for me to complete Mirror's Edge. I almost gave up numerous times at a few very frustrating points.
Overall, Mirror's Edge is a very unique game, that delivers it's strange game play very effectively. It is extremley fun when you first pick it up, but that fire quickly dies out as the game goes on. I think positively with my experience with the game though, simply because it was so different, and it was so fun. It shows that games still can stray from the norm and be fun. Good news. (Though this is proven time and time again on the Wii...)
PLEASE take the time to watch the short trailer below! It shows off the pretty graphics and game play. The entire trailer that is shown in first person is actually playable, exactly how you see it!!
Mirror's Edge - 7/10
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