I can use one word to describe my enjoyment of Mirror's Edge - .... Meh...
Graphics - 8
So, the game looks nice. I mean, the whole design is pretty cool, and the way they use color (or the lack thereof) is incpiring. The problem comes in when you look at the game world as a whole. There is absolutely no life to the game other than Faith (the protagonist) and the two or three people she runs into. Outside of these characters, there is no one... nothing... nada... zilch. Technically, this wouldn't be categorized as "Graphics", but it belongs in the sense that there is simply no life in the game.
Don't get me wrong, the building tops and the overall architecture of the game is pretty good. But you really start to feel that you've seen everything there is to see in the game by the second or third level. The world is static, and with zero dynamic - thus, it would look good.
Animation is... well... there isn't a whole lot going on here either. I mean, there is animation, and it is solid.. but there is no variety. Pretty much, what you see in the first level (the tutorial) is what the game is like the whole way through.
Sound - 8
So, again, the music is alright - if you notice it. The problem is, you hardly ever notice it. Maybe that's not such a bad thing - I don't know. It doesn't get int he way, but it doesn't even try to inspire you, either.
Voice Acting is nice I guess, but this realy sort of loses it's luster because the story is so weak (I still don't know what the hell is going on in the game other than some standard plot devices.) On top of that, because so much of th erest of the game is so bland, the VA is sort of funneled into a game deivce that is in the game because modern games have to have it.
Gameplay - 7
So, again as with graphics. Everything Faith can do is put right into the tutorial - as well it should be. Still, everything she does (again) feels uninspired.
On top of this, you'll immediately wish Faith could do some stuff she can't do at all. For instance, the gun-play is EXTREMELY lacking. I realise that she isn't a trained soldier (like in so many other games), but it seems to me that she would encounter the need for a weapon often enough to justify that she would know how to use one properly - thus justifying a deeper gun-combat system.
Not only this, but her overall melee attacks are somewhat limiting as well. The whole way through the game, I had the itching frustration that what I was doing, was good... but you do the same stuff throughout the whole game. Because of this, you really notice how much better the game could have been for the "fun" aspect, had they just went a little deeper.
The parts of the game that really shine, however, are the segments where oyu are being chased by the Ninja Police (special officers trained in Runner acrobatics - I call them Ninja Police). They group up, they are hard to kill in melee, and the level design usually gives you enough freedom to run and jump about to your heart's desire. Really and truely, this isn't just the best part of the game. It's really what makes the game standout. These segments don't really occur until later in the game, and don't happen often enough or last long enough to really appreciate them. DICE should have put more emphasis on this in my opinion.
An interesting note, the gameplay is somewhat frustrating, but during these segments, I find that I actually play better and much smoother. It's a total rush.
Value - 5
My beef with this is the game is so content-lite, and was more or less a montage of "Things that are possible by modern game standards..." that I felt like I was playing one huge advertisement for video-games. I mean, seriously. I didn't feel like I was playing a real fully produced AAA game at all. I felt like I was playing one of those cheesey Flash-Media games that make up for their lack of interesting and deep gameplay by using highly stylized art (that looks good.)
Tilt - 7
So, I guess this is the part that demonstrates my overall feeling of the game, where I have a chance to grade the game as a whole. I didn't love this game. I didn't hate it. I liked some parts because of how fluid and well it played. I disliked it because it was the same thing over and over again, and was neither involving or attention grabbing.
Overall - 7 (Average) For once, I agree with Gamespot.
So, really, the game wasn't worth $50. I would have paid for it, for sure, but there is jst nothing here. I beat the game in a solid 5 hours of play. I have no desire to play it again. And really, while it was crisp and clean... I presume it was, because there was just nothing there. Basically, you could do a lot worse with this game, but you could do a lot better too.
By the way, this game isn't very inspirational and/or innovative. It's basically a modern day Assassin's Creed, put it in a First Person Perspective, and then took away the combat. I don't understand why people are saying it's "New and refreshing..." All this game did was make me wish I was playing something else that had a better story and deeper gameplay.