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Mirror's Edge
November 14, 2008 | 9:42 PM PST
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Mirror's Edge is unlike any other game I've played. Developed by DICE, it is a first-person parkour game, in which you'll spend the majority of your time wall-running, swinging from poles and jumping from building to building. The game is a single-player affair, telling the story of Faith, a "runner" in a city wherein communication is closely monitored by an authoritarian government. In this tightly monitored city, privacy is a thing of the past. Faith's day job sees her doing work for clients: delivering information to those who want to keep their communications off the wire. That is until her sister is framed for the murder of a rising politician. Suddenly, her life has changed. Now her purpose is to clear her sister's good name.
What's Hot
The moment you see Mirror's Edge in motion -- whether you're the one holding the controller or just watching someone else play the game -- you'll be impressed with how fantastically stylized and immersive the game is. Granted, graphics aren't everything, but Mirror's Edge blows you away with its distinctive, eye-catching looks, and it's these graphics that help create the experience that makes the game such a treat. Its masterful combination of varied sound effects and realistic sense of movement make it one of the most immersive games ever made. "Immersive" is in fact the best word to describe Mirror's Edge. The game takes place in first-person, which helps produce unparalleled raptness as you play. As you walk, run and jump, the camera bobs realistically, and you'll often see Faith's hands and feet, grabbing onto ledges and when you're rolling, respectively. As a result, you'll quickly find yourself absorbed in Mirror's Edge. It successfully does something few games do: it makes you feel like you're really "in" the game.
It's not just Mirror's Edge's graphical and audio presentation that makes it a winner. Simply put, the game is unlike any other. Sure, we've all played platformers -- and even first-person games with some platforming elements in them. But Mirror's Edge tries something unique. It's a first-person game that is devoted entirely to running and platforming, and it takes place in a brilliant setting: a city populated with hundreds of skyscrapers. Although the game is linear, you often have multiple paths to take to reach your destination, allowing you to creatively manipulate Faith around her environments. In a way, each environment that you encounter is very much a puzzle in itself. You know your objective -- get from point A to point B. But figuring out how to do it is a simultaneously challenging and satisfying experience.
Some would disagree, but there's something else that's refreshing about Mirror's Edge. It's not about combat or fighting. It's about running. There's a combat system, which is in place primarily so that you can disarm enemies rather than actually wrangle with them. And you can even use weapons, although each gun has just enough ammunition for a few kills and the weight of each weapon will actually make moving throughout the world an impossible task. But both the combat and gunplay mechanics are far from the focus of Mirror's Edge. Rather, it's a rather simple concept -- running -- that is the star of the show. Everything else, whether an enemy or environmental, is just an obstacle for you to overcome. Impressively, DICE has created an entire game around this theme, and it's done so ingeniously. Indeed, Mirror's Edge is at its best during segments in which you're running. These moments are like something ripped right out of a movie -- so cinematic and thrilling, it's impressive to encounter them in video game form.
Thanks to the fast pace of the game, it's ideal for speed running. There are even a couple of modes specifically for just this. Both the speed run and time trial modes are excellent tools for those who are into the idea of mastering each level in the quickest amount of time possible.
What's Not
Like any game, Mirror's Edge is not without flaws. The story is decent at best. While the plot sounds like it has potential -- and it does -- it doesn't deliver. There's not enough character development, so the few "twists" in the game are underwhelming. The whole thing -- an eavesdropping government, runners -- sounds great on paper. But it's just not executed particularly well. It's a shame, really.
There are some bigger problems, though. There's a lot of trial and error to Mirror's Edge, especially if you're not skilled at it. This isn't a game for impatient gamers. Moreover, wall-running, jumping from rooftops and running from "Blues" (the game's term for police) is entertaining, but that's all there is to Mirror's Edge. The game is super short, so these things never become so routine that they become boring and eventually lose their glimmer. Perhaps Mirror's Edge's most embarrassing stumble is that once you've played it for 30 minutes, you've basically experienced what the game has to offer.
The level design is also a bit on the repetitive side. Much of the game takes place outside, on top of skyscraper rooftops, but there are a fair amount of indoor areas too. Unfortunately, the most dramatic change in scenery is always due to a color palette change as you go from place to place. Over time, the environments begin to feel sterile and even lifeless.
Final World
Mirror's Edge is a beautiful and immersive title that simply must be experienced. The visual style is fantastic and the first-person parkour purely entertaining. Coupled together, these things are largely responsible for why Mirror's Edge is so great. What's more, it's truly refreshing to see a game that's entire focus is on running and escaping enemies, rather than engaging them. It's just one of the many components of Mirror's Edge that makes it unique. While there are some problems here and there -- primarily a weakly executed storyline and repetitive gameplay -- they are easy to overlook. Mirror's Edge is just too damn good to skip out on because of such forgivable flaws. That said, the game is very short (8 hours or so), so consider that before you purchase it.
What the Game's About
Mirror's Edge is unlike any other game I've played. Developed by DICE, it is a first-person parkour game, in which you'll spend the majority of your time wall-running, swinging from poles and jumping from building to building. The game is a single-player affair, telling the story of Faith, a "runner" in a city wherein communication is closely monitored by an authoritarian government. In this tightly monitored city, privacy is a thing of the past. Faith's day job sees her doing work for clients: delivering information to those who want to keep their communications off the wire. That is until her sister is framed for the murder of a rising politician. Suddenly, her life has changed. Now her purpose is to clear her sister's good name.
What's Hot
The moment you see Mirror's Edge in motion -- whether you're the one holding the controller or just watching someone else play the game -- you'll be impressed with how fantastically stylized and immersive the game is. Granted, graphics aren't everything, but Mirror's Edge blows you away with its distinctive, eye-catching looks, and it's these graphics that help create the experience that makes the game such a treat. Its masterful combination of varied sound effects and realistic sense of movement make it one of the most immersive games ever made. "Immersive" is in fact the best word to describe Mirror's Edge. The game takes place in first-person, which helps produce unparalleled raptness as you play. As you walk, run and jump, the camera bobs realistically, and you'll often see Faith's hands and feet, grabbing onto ledges and when you're rolling, respectively. As a result, you'll quickly find yourself absorbed in Mirror's Edge. It successfully does something few games do: it makes you feel like you're really "in" the game.
It's not just Mirror's Edge's graphical and audio presentation that makes it a winner. Simply put, the game is unlike any other. Sure, we've all played platformers -- and even first-person games with some platforming elements in them. But Mirror's Edge tries something unique. It's a first-person game that is devoted entirely to running and platforming, and it takes place in a brilliant setting: a city populated with hundreds of skyscrapers. Although the game is linear, you often have multiple paths to take to reach your destination, allowing you to creatively manipulate Faith around her environments. In a way, each environment that you encounter is very much a puzzle in itself. You know your objective -- get from point A to point B. But figuring out how to do it is a simultaneously challenging and satisfying experience.
Some would disagree, but there's something else that's refreshing about Mirror's Edge. It's not about combat or fighting. It's about running. There's a combat system, which is in place primarily so that you can disarm enemies rather than actually wrangle with them. And you can even use weapons, although each gun has just enough ammunition for a few kills and the weight of each weapon will actually make moving throughout the world an impossible task. But both the combat and gunplay mechanics are far from the focus of Mirror's Edge. Rather, it's a rather simple concept -- running -- that is the star of the show. Everything else, whether an enemy or environmental, is just an obstacle for you to overcome. Impressively, DICE has created an entire game around this theme, and it's done so ingeniously. Indeed, Mirror's Edge is at its best during segments in which you're running. These moments are like something ripped right out of a movie -- so cinematic and thrilling, it's impressive to encounter them in video game form.
Thanks to the fast pace of the game, it's ideal for speed running. There are even a couple of modes specifically for just this. Both the speed run and time trial modes are excellent tools for those who are into the idea of mastering each level in the quickest amount of time possible.
What's Not
Like any game, Mirror's Edge is not without flaws. The story is decent at best. While the plot sounds like it has potential -- and it does -- it doesn't deliver. There's not enough character development, so the few "twists" in the game are underwhelming. The whole thing -- an eavesdropping government, runners -- sounds great on paper. But it's just not executed particularly well. It's a shame, really.
There are some bigger problems, though. There's a lot of trial and error to Mirror's Edge, especially if you're not skilled at it. This isn't a game for impatient gamers. Moreover, wall-running, jumping from rooftops and running from "Blues" (the game's term for police) is entertaining, but that's all there is to Mirror's Edge. The game is super short, so these things never become so routine that they become boring and eventually lose their glimmer. Perhaps Mirror's Edge's most embarrassing stumble is that once you've played it for 30 minutes, you've basically experienced what the game has to offer.
The level design is also a bit on the repetitive side. Much of the game takes place outside, on top of skyscraper rooftops, but there are a fair amount of indoor areas too. Unfortunately, the most dramatic change in scenery is always due to a color palette change as you go from place to place. Over time, the environments begin to feel sterile and even lifeless.
Final World
Mirror's Edge is a beautiful and immersive title that simply must be experienced. The visual style is fantastic and the first-person parkour purely entertaining. Coupled together, these things are largely responsible for why Mirror's Edge is so great. What's more, it's truly refreshing to see a game that's entire focus is on running and escaping enemies, rather than engaging them. It's just one of the many components of Mirror's Edge that makes it unique. While there are some problems here and there -- primarily a weakly executed storyline and repetitive gameplay -- they are easy to overlook. Mirror's Edge is just too damn good to skip out on because of such forgivable flaws. That said, the game is very short (8 hours or so), so consider that before you purchase it.
November 20, 2009
