'Mirror's Edge' dares to be different
The trial-and-error system is a challenge.
Nov. 17, 2008
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Well, no one can accuse EA of playing it safe anymore. "Mirror's Edge" might just be the most refreshingly unique game this year in nearly every aspect: gameplay, style, characters - you name it. And provided you're a quick learner, it'll take you on a short-but-sweet thrill ride, as well.
The runner placed in the player's hands is Faith, a young Asian woman dressed in a tank top, khakis and sneakers. Makes sense given the strenuous physical activity she has to endure just to survive. She's a refreshing change of pace from the busty, over-sexualized female leads typically found in video games.
The most obviously striking aspect of "Mirror's Edge" is its palate of bright primary colors; it stands as a shining beacon amongst the excess of dreary, gray and brown shooters of this generation. There's not a speck of dirt or grime to be found in this city. Even the plants are bleach-white. It's just a shame DICE decided to move the story along with flash-animation cutscenes that starkly clash with the beautiful real-time graphics engine.
Faith can run and jump, obviously, but it's the chaining together of these maneuvers that elevate "Mirror's Edge" beyond a first-person platforming game. You'll have to run up and along walls, grab ledges, quickly turn 180 degrees, roll to avoid hard landings and slide down suspended cables. Basically, make the best of your surroundings.
Grabbing ledges happens automatically, or at least it should. When it comes time to navigate an environmental puzzle, there will be unavoidable instances of the controls just not doing what you want them to do.
The most rage-inducing moments, however, lie in combat. These sections rarely appear (mercifully), and avoiding soldiers altogether is the preferable option, but when that option isn't available, going toe-to-toe with an armed bad guy is never an easy task. Faith isn't exactly wearing body armor.
Disarming a soldier requires hitting a button at the moment an enemy's gun turns red when he swings it at you. The timing window is impossibly narrow, though, so these attempts end up in failure the majority of the time. Almost as an admission of guilt on DICE's part, an entire face button is reserved for a special ability that slows down the action for a fleeting 7-8 seconds, but this ability takes a few minutes to recharge.
If it's not already apparent, you're going to die a whole hell of a lot in "Mirror's Edge." Probably more times than you'll be comfortable with. If not for the frequent checkpoints, you might eventually be compelled to break your controller into tiny pieces. As it is, it's still a mightily frustrating marathon of trials and errors.
Your perseverance will pay off eventually, though. While clocking in at a lightweight six hours (and entirely possible to knock out in one sitting), the gameplay is so consistently invigorating, and the world so beautiful to look at, that you'll want to play each successive chapter non-stop.
After finishing the story, you can challenge your speed-running skills by beating set time limits and finding shortcuts you missed the first time through to shave seconds off the clock, which creates a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
You might not take the developers of the "Battlefield" series as ones for thinking outside the box, but there's nothing quite like "Mirror's Edge." The trial-and-error gameplay keeps the experience from "pure joy" status, but just shy of that, you've still got a vibrant, pulse-pounding action game that'll induce a sense of exhilarating vertigo.
More Nov. 17, 2008 Arts Stories
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- 'Mirror's Edge' dares to be different — The trial-and-error system is a challenge.
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