Mirrors's Edge: My first video game review
Mirror's Edge is a high speed parkour adventure game published by EA. The game has been a highly anticipated title since it was announced back in 2007. The game with it's completely first person view and parkour gameplay was like nothing that had ever been seen before. The game was finally released for the Xbox 360 and Playsation 3 on November 12th with a PC version scheduled for release in January of 2009. So has it lived up to all the hype or has it fallen over the "Mirror's Edge."
In the game you take the role of Faith, a "runner," who acts as a courier for "information" that has been deemed illegal by the authoritarian governement that rules her world. The bulk of the story focuses on clearing the name of your sister, Kate, who happens to be a cop that was framed for the murder of a political candidate. The rest of the story has you running from place to place following leads that could possibly clear your sister's name. The story is derivative with it's expected twists and betrayals. And the ending doesn't really offer much closure and feels rushed and uninspired.
Now on to the gameplay. The entire game has you running across rooftops, through buildings, and sewers. It is essentially a first person platformer. It really is something new and revolutionary and at some points it really shines. When you're running and jumping across rooftops you really feel a sense of speed and first person perspective works well to deliver that feeling. But for everything it does well the game falls flat on it's face in other areas.
The game offers a falses sense of openendedness. Although it seems like you could get to your destination in any number of ways only one or two actually work. That is not really the major flaw of the game. The major flaw comes when you have to try to figure out which way is the one the developers want you to take. This boils down to a trial and error, which can and will get frustrating. You will die alot. And even if you know where you need to go getting there is another story. Making certain jumps require percise angling and timing and sometimes the controller doesn't feel quite responsive enough. When you do eventually make the jump it feels more like luck rather than skill, it's a bit unfullfilling.
Another problem with the game is the melee and shooting parts of the game. The game puts a heavy emphasis on running away hence your title of "runner" but there are some portions when you are forced to fight and this is where major flaws show up. The controls for these portions are very clunky. During the tutorial they tell you that you can chain moves together with your parkouring to add additional damage but that is near impossible. The first person diarming is cool the first two times but after that you just want it to end because it takes a few seconds and breaks the flow of the game. The gunplay is even worse. When you're shot your aim reticle bounces like you're drunk making it impossible to aim. Shooting basically comes down to the old "spray and pray" method. These parts get really frustrating really quickly. The melee and gunplay portions feel like an afterthought the developers added to break the monotony of running. One chapter of the game even requires you to fight a boss of sorts and it is excruciatingly painful to play through. The boss can counter your attacks but you can't counter theirs.
Even with the flaws the game looks amazing. You actually feel like you are in this stark and sterile city. In my opinion it is one of the best looking games for a next gen console to date. Oddly enough the cutscenes are not quite so great. The devleopers opted for a weird cel shaded 2d approach. This really took me out of the game. After running in a super realistic environment the cartoony Esurance-esque cutsecnes felt like a totally diffferent game. It doesn't work. The animation seems lackluster making me wonder what the developers were thinking. After making the actual game look so good why opt for some low quality cel shaded cutscenes?
The main story mode of Mirror's Edge can be completed in a day running about 6-8 hours. After completion you unlock a harder dffculty and some conceptual art, music,etc. Nothing spectacular. There are some time runs where you can upload your time online to compare with others. But for the most part the replay value is nil for me at least.
At the end of the day Mirror's Edge is definitely like nothing you have every played before. But after an hour or two the novelty wears off and the game simply becomes a frustrating series of trial and error jumps. I give credit to DICE for trying something new but besides the parkour elements and graphics everything else seems lackluster. The story is not compelling. My only motivation to finish the game was to simply be done with it. Near the end the game was more frustrating than fun. Not to mention the playstation 3 version of the game will freeze at certain portions requiring you to restart the console and the level. Mirror's Edge is not for everyone. If you're looking for something new then rent it. Otherwise skip it. Once again again another game that does not live up to the hype but to be fair few ever do.
I guess since game reviews usually have numbers I would give Mirror's Edge a 5 out of 10. That includes a point for the revolutionary aspect of the game.
My review is based on the PS3 version of the game.
In the game you take the role of Faith, a "runner," who acts as a courier for "information" that has been deemed illegal by the authoritarian governement that rules her world. The bulk of the story focuses on clearing the name of your sister, Kate, who happens to be a cop that was framed for the murder of a political candidate. The rest of the story has you running from place to place following leads that could possibly clear your sister's name. The story is derivative with it's expected twists and betrayals. And the ending doesn't really offer much closure and feels rushed and uninspired.
Now on to the gameplay. The entire game has you running across rooftops, through buildings, and sewers. It is essentially a first person platformer. It really is something new and revolutionary and at some points it really shines. When you're running and jumping across rooftops you really feel a sense of speed and first person perspective works well to deliver that feeling. But for everything it does well the game falls flat on it's face in other areas.
The game offers a falses sense of openendedness. Although it seems like you could get to your destination in any number of ways only one or two actually work. That is not really the major flaw of the game. The major flaw comes when you have to try to figure out which way is the one the developers want you to take. This boils down to a trial and error, which can and will get frustrating. You will die alot. And even if you know where you need to go getting there is another story. Making certain jumps require percise angling and timing and sometimes the controller doesn't feel quite responsive enough. When you do eventually make the jump it feels more like luck rather than skill, it's a bit unfullfilling.
Another problem with the game is the melee and shooting parts of the game. The game puts a heavy emphasis on running away hence your title of "runner" but there are some portions when you are forced to fight and this is where major flaws show up. The controls for these portions are very clunky. During the tutorial they tell you that you can chain moves together with your parkouring to add additional damage but that is near impossible. The first person diarming is cool the first two times but after that you just want it to end because it takes a few seconds and breaks the flow of the game. The gunplay is even worse. When you're shot your aim reticle bounces like you're drunk making it impossible to aim. Shooting basically comes down to the old "spray and pray" method. These parts get really frustrating really quickly. The melee and gunplay portions feel like an afterthought the developers added to break the monotony of running. One chapter of the game even requires you to fight a boss of sorts and it is excruciatingly painful to play through. The boss can counter your attacks but you can't counter theirs.
Even with the flaws the game looks amazing. You actually feel like you are in this stark and sterile city. In my opinion it is one of the best looking games for a next gen console to date. Oddly enough the cutscenes are not quite so great. The devleopers opted for a weird cel shaded 2d approach. This really took me out of the game. After running in a super realistic environment the cartoony Esurance-esque cutsecnes felt like a totally diffferent game. It doesn't work. The animation seems lackluster making me wonder what the developers were thinking. After making the actual game look so good why opt for some low quality cel shaded cutscenes?
The main story mode of Mirror's Edge can be completed in a day running about 6-8 hours. After completion you unlock a harder dffculty and some conceptual art, music,etc. Nothing spectacular. There are some time runs where you can upload your time online to compare with others. But for the most part the replay value is nil for me at least.
At the end of the day Mirror's Edge is definitely like nothing you have every played before. But after an hour or two the novelty wears off and the game simply becomes a frustrating series of trial and error jumps. I give credit to DICE for trying something new but besides the parkour elements and graphics everything else seems lackluster. The story is not compelling. My only motivation to finish the game was to simply be done with it. Near the end the game was more frustrating than fun. Not to mention the playstation 3 version of the game will freeze at certain portions requiring you to restart the console and the level. Mirror's Edge is not for everyone. If you're looking for something new then rent it. Otherwise skip it. Once again again another game that does not live up to the hype but to be fair few ever do.
I guess since game reviews usually have numbers I would give Mirror's Edge a 5 out of 10. That includes a point for the revolutionary aspect of the game.
My review is based on the PS3 version of the game.
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