Developer: DICE

Publisher: EA

Release Date: Nov. 12, 2008

Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3

ESRB Rating: T

Official Web site

0:00 I've been psyched about Mirror's Edge ever since I saw the HD trailer at this year's E3. I've been soaking up all the videos since, but the relatively low review scores are tempering my expectations. Also, I just ate, so I hope the first-person running doesn't make me lose my lunch.

0:01 The title appears in red over a cityscape in stark white and gentle blue. It's so clean and crisp ... makes Grand Theft Auto IV's burg look like crap.

0:02 Selectable difficulties are Easy and Normal, and Hard is unlockable. What, no "Insane"? No "Brutal"? No "Nightmare"? Boooring. I like the plain English explanation of the difficulties: "Normal difficulty is recommended for most players." "Easy difficulty will mainly affect the combat experience." Simple!

0:03 The game defaults to metric units. GO BACK TO FRANCE, FRENCHIE!

0:04 Overhead shot looking straight down at a city street. "Once the city used to pulse with energy. Dirty and dangerous, but alive and wonderful. Now it's something else." Most didn't notice or care about the slow changes. The ones that protested were "pushed to the sidelines ... criminalized. ... We exist on the edge between the gloss and the reality. The Mirror's Edge." Hey, that's the name of the game!

0:05 The manga-styled intro transitions into an almost photorealistic shot from a rooftop. "Training time, Faith," says a voice in my ear.

0:06 Interesting ... the left triggers are used to jump and duck. Usually it's a face button. Not sure what I think of this choice...

0:08 This first-person running is ... interesting. I love the way the camera sways back and forth with my gait, and the way my pumping arms just barely reach into my view as I run. The jumps are incredibly thrilling from this viewpoint, too.

0:09 I run into Celeste, who's also a runner. She shows me how to vault fences, wall-run, bust open doors, and stay balanced going across beams. Feels like Tony Hawk mixed with Prince of Persia, but a little more grounded in reality (just a little).


0:11 So far the controls are pretty effortless, but they don't really feel effortless, probably because of Faith's constant grunting and flailing limbs.

0:13 Walking on a narrow ledge, I look down and see my body. Day-umm ... I look GOOD!

0:14 I get hung up a little bit on the zipline. First I can't figure out how to get on, then I can't figure out when to get off for a soft enough landing. Oy.

0:15 Now I'm curling up in mid-air to avoid getting my feet chopped to confetti by barbed wire. I'm also rolling to avoid damage from long falls.

0:16 "Merc wants me to run you through some sparring. You know how he is." Um, he's sadistic?

0:17 Punch, low punch, jump kick, slide kick, etc. It's all impressively fluid, and all very odd to be doing from a first-person perspective.

0:18 I disarm Cel with a tap of the Y button. The game tells me not to hit Celeste with the gun, so I aim a good inch above her head. Apparently I hit her accidentally. "Failed!" Noooo!

0:19 You need good timing to disarm someone from the front, but the "Reaction Time" (read: Bullet Time) slows things down enough to make it easy.

0:20 The voice in my ear (Merc?) says that's enough training, and Drake has a job for me. Celeste runs off with a "See ya later, Faith." The loading screen shows an excellent red-and-white silhouette of Faith running in and disarming a guy. Hilarious!

0:21 "Electronic Arts presents a DICE production: Mirror's Edge." The words appear in white against the skyline. In cut scene mode, Faith runs and jumps in smooth, beautiful movements across rooftops with gentle piano music. It's like ballet. "Financial District, 1:58 p.m." "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure the birds are real impressed, Faith." Well, call me birdie, because I was impressed.

0:23 Well that was fast ... I forget that the jump button is not "A" and fall to my doom on the first possible jump. The skyscraper windows flying by and the slight flash of red as I land are a bit disturbing.

0:25 I get slowed down a little when I try to bust down a door that apparently doesn't want to get busted. Oh, I have to climb around it, not go through it. Some objects are highlighted in red to show me where to go, but not enough to stop me from getting lost.

0:26 I lose balance while crossing a narrow pipe and fall to my doom twice. On the third try I figure out that it's easier to regain my balance if I stop walking forward. "You're taking your sweet time," says the voice in my ear. Hey, I'm new at this!

0:28 Either this game needs more red highlights to show me where to go, or I need a better sense of direction. Probably the latter.

0:29 Apparently a news chopper tipped off some "blues" to my presence. I'm in a hallway now. Have to use the walls to jump up to an air duct escape.

0:31 "HINT: You should always try to get away from hostiles." Timely advice: As I drop from the air duct, the cops see me. "Hey, drop the bag and put your hand where we can see them." Um ... No! I run down the hall and up the stairs, with bullets whizzing by my head as I do. A driving bass line kicks in in the background.

0:33 I just disarmed a guy by running up to him, grabbing his head and forcing it down into my knee. NICE! Then I use his gun to take out a guy firing at me from afar. Standing and shooting is not nearly as exciting as running.

0:34 I get to Celeste and throw her the bag just in time for more coppers to start firing at me. "They're playing rough, Cel." Goes without saying, given the bullets, eh?

0:35 "You gotta get off that roof, Faith. I don't care how you do it, just do it!" Well whaddaya know, a convenient chopper hovering just off the roof. I jump and grab the landing pipes. As the helicopter flies away, I see myself in the mirror of a building, then drop to another rooftop. 20 Gamerscore points for "Prologue Complete."

0:37 During the loading, another manga-fied cut scene shows a helicopter shining a bright light on rooftops in the dead of night. Faith's making a house of cards in a secret base when she intercepts a police message broadcast by her sister, Kate. Merc calls in and says not to chuck the pizza. "I like the toppings mature." Ewww. Suddenly, another message: a shooting at Robert Pope's office. Kate's in trouble! Merc walks in as Faith climbs out into the night.

0:39 "West Arlington, 5:21 a.m." Ooh, electric fence. Not a good idea to try and climb those.

0:40 After a minute of looking around, I figure out that I have to keep climbing on ductwork to get to a slightly higher section of roof. Then I can make it over the fence. I'm gonna have to get used to this kind of indirect thinking.

0:42 It's really hard to judge distances and jumps from this first-person perspective. It wouldn't be so bad if the game were more forgiving, but I've died three times on what looks like it should be a simple jump and hang. On the plus side, repeating the same sections over and over makes it much smoother and nicer looking. The second playthrough's gonna be the key here, I can tell.

0:45 Merc tells me about Pope, who's running for mayor. "Finally, someone who could make a difference in this place." Meanwhile, I'm having trouble getting around smoothly. I can see the red pipe I need to swing on, but it takes a few tries to actually make the jump.

0:47 A few more sloppy deaths make me realize why normal people don't do this kind of thing in real life.

0:49 I just found an alternate way around the electric fence here ... wall-running on a billboard on the side of the building. Neat!

0:50 Ah, now I see why I kept missing the jump ... I was supposed to get more height and come in from an angle. Tricky!

0:51 Inside the Robert Pope building now, with a dull green light everywhere. The visual design is outstanding ... stark, bright colors and hard angles.

0:52 In the elevator, a voice plays an ad for a restaurant while a news crawl includes the headline: "Avian flu, here to stay?" Also, there's an editorial by Robert Pope. Hey, if this guy can really make a difference in the city, why does he have an editorial in state-run media?

0:53 Out of the elevator, up a small stairway and into a cut scene. In Pope's office, Kate is there in full police getup. Pope is dead. Apparently he was a friend of our dad. Kate insists Pope was alive when she got here, then everything went black and when she came to, he'd been shot with her gun. I tell her to come away with me. "Running will just make me look guilty!" "You think this was an accident? There are no accidents in this city." I tell Kate I'll investigate the killing. Merc talks in my ear, tells me to get out of there. Kate tells me to bring anything I get to Lieutenant Miller. This is some fast-paced dialogue. A little too clinical, but well-spoken.

0:54 Kate finds it in her heart to thank me before I leave. I go over and give her a first-person hug. Aww!

0:55 "Find a way out of there, Faith." I try, holding down B the entire time to point me in the right direction. This points me to a raised floor with a railing that I can't seem to get past. I get gunned down trying to figure out what to do.

0:59 I get gunned down five more times trying to "find a way out of there," before I figure it out. Apparently there was a stairway to get me around that raised railing that the B button look totally pointed me away from. I don't want the game to hold my hand, but I don't want it to actively mislead me either!

1:01 Anyway, "there should be an exit through accounting." I break through a plate glass window with my arm, but get shot down trying to climb up a ledge. Guess I wasn't far enough ahead of the "blues."

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes.


Why? I'm still getting used to the odd perspective and somewhat unforgiving controls, but I'm loving the style and the thrill of speed when everything comes together.

This column is based on a retail copy of the game purchased by the columnist.

Don't miss Gus Mastrapa's full review of Mirror's Edge.

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