Mirror's Edge: Reviewing the Experience

Mirror's Edge is an awesome game.  However, it is not for everyone.  It is frustrating, challenging and if you are the type that gets motion sickness or is afraid of heights..... you may want to avoid it.  Which is unfortunate, because it really is a fun game to play.

Numerous reviews have gone into great detail about the graphics, sound, etc and there's a demo available for download, so I'm not going to talk much about those.

The core of the gameplay is running.  You are almost constantly on the move.  The controls handle beautifully and with just a short tutorial, you can learn all of the tricks of the trade to get you going.  You'll start out botching simple jumps and wall runs, failing disarms and falling to your death numerous times..... but soon you'll start to learn and master the techniques and by the time you get through the game, you'll be pulling off amazing acrobatics with ease and wonder how you had so much trouble with some of the moves.

The game flows beautifully from level to level, rooftop to subway, vents to open environments.  Everything blends well together and the use of color in the game gives subtle clues (and sometimes in your face clues) about what you should be doing and where you should be going.  There are few times where you'll feel lost and when you do, it's typically a matter of using some of the moves that you had avoided up to that point.

The story is fairly typical and obvious, maybe a little too short..... but it's not bad and it drives you along.  It would've been nice to see more work done fleshing out the characters and how they became involved, but it's not bad.  The ending left a little to be desired and feels almost incomplete.... though not as bad as some other recent titles (such as Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, etc).

The story falls a little short, especially considering it is predominantly a single player experience.  Some reviews clocked in at only 4-6 hours.  However, that seems a bit optimistic to me and I can only assume they were playing through on easy without going for anything extra other than completion.  For me, it's hard to say how long my first playthrough took.  It was probably closer to 8-10 hours.  That was playing on Normal difficulty trying for the "Test of Faith" achievement (don't shoot enemies).  Even still, I've already begun a second playthrough on Hard and I anticipate that it will take about 8-10 more hours. 

If you need a break from the story, Time Trials are a great way to practice moves and compete against friends.  Being able to load a ghost of friends or top leaderboard times is a great feature.  It would've been nice to see a full fledged race multiplayer mode, but the leaderboards are a good alternative.

Ultimately I found the game frustrating, but in a good way.  I had to take many breaks between sections because it got a bit too frustrating or instense.  When you are running, jumping and sliding around the environment with heavily armed guards shooting at you, the adrenaline builds up and it can become a bit much to handle.  It's similiar to the feeling I had when playing through Call of Duty's campaign and trying to just plain survive a section.

It's disapointing that the game hasn't done well in sales.  It really is a unique title that is worth playing.  If nothing else, everyone should at least rent the game and give it a try.  Hopefully EA/Dice will follow-up with a sequel or at least support it with additional DLC (aside from the first pack announced for 1/29/09).  Some additional story related missions would be a great addition.

So if you're on the fence about this one.... rent it.... give it a try.  If you really don't want to rent it.... download the demo, you have nothing to lose.  The demo gives a good idea of what the gameplay is like, but doesn't really do the game justice as far as intensity and environment diversity.  You may find yourself too frustrated to get through it, but it's worth it when you do.  If you can find it for $30, it's definitely worth picking up (in my opinion).  For $60, it's hit or miss depending on your preferences.

[Mr Fancy Pants]

In my opinion Mirror Edge is one of the best games of this gen.

[Highatus]

Mirror's Edge is fantastic, and a shame it hasn't done well.

I played through the game on Normal first, took maybe 6-8hrs.

I then played through the Speed Runs until i had them all aced. Speed Runs are probably the most frustrating part in the game IMO.

After the Speed Runs and having the levels memorized, I played through the game on Hard which took me about 4-6 hrs, But, was a lot funner to run through, knowing where to go and how to do it but without the help of the 'Hey I'm RED, Follow me'

After that was the time trial and was extremely fun, competing against ghosts and finding faster routes.

Good Read Alymon, and i agree.

[Alymon]

I've just begun working on Time Trials and Hard but haven't touched Speed Runs yet.

My friend and I were going back and forth on times for Playground 1. I've managed to drop down to 57 seconds, but I'm sure he'll beat that soon and I'll feel compelled to go back and race his ghost over and over again until I beat him.

Its great fun and I've never really enjoyed leaderboards before. But I find myself drawn to the game and the challenge.

[orakga]

Excellent review. I wholeheartedly agree.
But if I may add something to this...

The whole "parkour" gameplay concept was doomed to be frustrating during the first-time playthrough. You noted this as well: "Ultimately I found the game frustrating, but in a good way". Just like street skating, the experience is meant to be based on trial-and-error until you find the best path for the best experience.

The flipside of this is that the SECOND time you play through the game, the game is incredibly more entertaining. I also beat it the first time on Normal while going for the "Test of Faith" Trophy, so I know what you mean by the failed disarms.

But the second time around, knowing all the right jumps and having the freedom to shoot the cops will turns this game experience into what it was really meant to be: a run-and-gun rollercoaster.

I highly recommend playing that Hard Mode game ASAP. You'll appreciate it immensely.

FYI, normal took me 8hrs. (with Test of Faith)
Then, hard only took me 4hrs. (using weapons)
A flawless speedrun is meant to take only around 90 minutes.

[Alymon]

Unfortunately, I failed the Test of Faith the first time through. There was one section with guards that I became frustrated at and disarmed and shot the next guard. I died shortly after and it reloaded prior to that, but apparently that was enough to prevent the achievement.

So I have to do a second playthrough for Test of Faith still. I'm going to try going through it on Hard without shooting (which I hear is really tough). If I have to, I'll do a playthrough on easy without shooting.

Definitely going to keep playing through it regularly though and not putting it away any time soon.

[orakga]

Yeah, I accidentally pressed the trigger at one point (but it was a random shot into air), and I was nervous the rest of the way through because I wasn't sure if that could interfere with the Trophy.

I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST doing Test of Faith on Hard.
Playing through it the second time on Hard, I was really glad that I had gotten it out of the way on normal, because a) the bullets hurt much more and b) the guards wear more armor (I think, I could be wrong).

If anything, just beat it on hard, then do the speedrun on easy. Then you'll have TWO highly enjoyable experiences, as opposed to having one really painful experience.

[Dakinggamer87]

I enjoyed it as well a unique, innovative title. I rented it from GameFly and enjoyed it even with the length being short about 6 hrs. or less. I will pick it up along with Dead Space once they hit $30/each.