Mirror's Edge is a fast paced platformer that unfortunately trips over its own two feet.
THE GOOD
-Thrilling fast pace platforming
-Visually striking environment
THE BAD
-Weak combat elements
-Many slow puzzle segments ruin the pace
-Story only scratches the surface
In an unnamed city where a totalitarian government maintains a watchful eye over the privacy of every citizen, a group of outliers called runners are born. These courageous messengers scale the urban landscape to deliver important information under the radar from "big brother". Faith, the main protagonist, chose to take on this profession as a way life in order to free herself from the system that squashes all hopes and dreams. Staying off-the-grid is her specialty but that all changes when she crosses paths with her sister Kate. Kate, a city police officer, has just been framed for the murder of a political figure. Even though these two sisters have chosen different lifestyles, Faith decides to put family first and help investigate.
Faith's entire adventure, ironically like the gameplay, is over in a flash. The nine chapters fly by quickly with your first play through roughly spanning a short five hours. Beyond that there is a Time Trial mode but that'll only extend your stay a few more hours, tops. The mini cut scenes between each section feverishly rush through the dialog and offer only a brief glimpse into the world of Mirror's Edge. The characters seem likable but you barely scratch the surface into their lives. By the end, you feel like all the characters (including Faith) were nothing more than humble acquaintances. This is unfortunate because the plot setup offers an intriguing environment, which would have been easy to dive into and enjoy.
The gameplay in Mirror's Edge thrives on momentum. The thrill of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, zip lining, and other parkour elements is exhilarating. What's even more amazing is the fact that you can pull off many of these death defining maneuvers with only the LB (action up) and LT (action down) buttons. To aid novice runners, there is a handy feature called Runner's Vision, which accents key elements of the environment in striking red to guide you in the right direction. You also have the option to temporarily slow everything down, via the X button, to give you some extra time to pull off the more difficult stunts.
Running at full throttle is absolute bliss in Mirror's Edge. Unfortunately, this game tries to be more than a speed running experience and this is where the pace comes to a grinding halt. For a game that claims to be all about speed, there are many instances where you have to figure out some sort of challenging platforming puzzle. Many of these occur inside buildings and its not that they are bad, per se, but that they are out of place. The last thing you want to do after pulling off some high velocity performance is sit idly scratching your head over how to get from point A to point B.
Another setback occurs when any forced melee combat with the "Blues" (law enforcement and the bad guys in this game) are involved. Faith is a talented gymnast but is absolutely useless in a fight. Her weak stature coupled with disarming hiccups usually terminates our heroine in no time. Dreadfully, to make matters worse, there are a few occasions that require Faith to solve some sort of puzzle while enemy combatants whiz bullets in her direction. The initial adrenaline rush can be exciting but in reality you end up not having enough time to figure out where you need to go. In essence this awful combination lends itself to a frustratingly long trial and error sequence, which further slows down this adventure.
The level designers paint a perfectly themed picture for this distopian city where freedom of expression is outlawed. The graphically stunning environment and the first person perspective compliment each other well and help make this game visually memorable. The obtrusive cut scenes, on the other hand, are just plain awful. For some reason the game switches from the beautiful 3D graphics to a bland 2D cartoon that don't do Mirror's Edge any favors.
At its height, Mirror's Edge soars with fast paced parkour action. Pulling off a series of jumps and other athletic maneuvers make you feel like a platforming god. Unfortunately, this game spends way to much time slowing you down. The myriad of complex puzzle sequences force you to do more sitting and staring, which is counterproductive to the very nature of this game. Couple this with a lackluster combat system and you're in for a long period of infuriating trial and error. This game would have been much more appealing had it stuck to what it does well, speed running. In addition, Faith's adventure had potential but the superficial storytelling doesn't make you care enough about getting invested at all. In the end, Mirror's Edge is best described as an elegant runner with her shoes tied together.