It's a pity Mirror's Edge turned out to be so forgettable. After seeing trailer after parkour-laden trailer, I was as ready as anyone to believe the hype and be pulled into a clean, shiny, yet dystopian future. I was ready to leap gleefully from building to building, run along walls and scale towers. But it was not to be. Mirror's Edge, unfortunately, succumbs to its flaws, and goes from fun to merely playable.

It's disappointing, really. Below the surface I can see the game that Mirror's Edge wants to be, that it should be. I can see the kind of game that grabs your attention, and doesn't let go. The kind that demands that you play it, because it's not like anything else on the market. It's new, it's refreshing - but it's not meant to be. Below a pile of small issues is an absolute gem of a game, struggling to get out. Struggling valiantly, but failing.

My first impressions of the game were heartening. I'd grabbed the demo off the PlayStation Store about a week out from launch to see if Mirror's Edge is worth picking up. The quick tutorial level got me hooked, the full level sealed the deal. The controls are tight and well-mapped to the controller, though they do take a bit of getting used to. Jump being a shoulder button threw me off a little bit, but I appreciated being able to keep both thumbs on both thumbsticks at all times.

The story, too, intrigued me. A dystopian future where information is heavily regulated? Why, what a fantastic setup for a political statement! (PATRIOT Act, much?) It's a topic that hits close to home for many Americans, and addressing it could have done much for the advancement of gaming as a respected media.

It seems, however, that the developers have a bad case of the chicken shits. I picked up the game on its release date, and was upset to find that none of that initial promise made it into the final game. Instead, the second level takes an abrupt turn and has you... Solving a murder? Wait, what? I thought Faith was a messenger, not a detective? What on earth is going on here? It's not just the second level either - every level after the first one has you uncovering pieces of a conspiracy. There's no message running at all, and it feels distinctly like the setting has been cast aside by the plot.

I'm sure that this has had an effect on the level design as well, because they all play out the same. You get a tip about some evidence or someone who might know something being at your destination. Using your parkour skills you arrive just in time to nab who or whatever it is that you needed to, but then - Oh shit! It's the fuzz! Bail! There is the occasional boss fight or chase sequence, but it does little to shake the feeling of deja vu.

I mentioned earlier that I liked the controls. They're as effective as they were in the demo, and I was pleased to see that that at least, passed over from the demo. However, it takes a lot to compensate for Faith being completely fucking retarded. Unless you're looking directly at a pipe or ladder, she will refuse to grab it. Often she won't grab hold of them anyway, leaving you to plummet to your death. Occasionally she made weak little jumps, moving about a foot forward, causing high-velocity pavement-impact again.

She's inconsistent about what she can do, and where she can do it. Some walls cannot be run up, yet others of the exact same shape and material will be scaled in an instant. Some ledges cannot be grabbed onto, yet move a foot or two to the left and you'll grab hold fine. It's confusing, annoying, and did a lot to lower my opinion of the game.

My biggest gripe is with the combat. I understand that Faith isn't a fighter, and that trying to take an enemy head-on is a bad idea. In fact, that's one of the things that I really enjoyed. I was forced to change my mindset from years of playing FPS games. But I needn't really have bothered, however, as towards the end of the game Mirror's Edge seems to forget that it's not an FPS. Often are the times when you'll be stuck in a room filled with enemies who are armed to the teeth, and a puzzle to solve. To the game's credit you're never implicitly required to fight them, but you try opening a valve while four cops fill your arse with lead. The only solution is to create some peace and quiet - usually with an assault rifle.

The taste is all the more bitter because there is at least one fantastic combat moment in the game. I distinctly remember one sequence wherein I had to sneak up on a sniper, using Faith's parkour skills to move from cover to cover. Every time I popped my head up to check my heading, a bullet whistled unnervingly close to my head. It was terrifying, and that made it all the more sweeter when I finally disarmed the bastard.

These are just a few of Mirror's Edge's more obvious flaws. There are others, but they're really just an issue in story mode. They make you wish for a mode without those pesky combat or puzzle interruptions. And it's there. In Race Mode you can string move after beautifully simplistic parkour move together. You can also just forget the clock, and go exploring. Finding the shortest route to your destination, with or without Runner Vision is a hell of a lot of fun, and it's the part of the game that I'll be coming back to.

Race Mode is what I mean when I talk of the game the Mirror's Edge wants, and deserves to be. It's fun, as opposed to the story that's really just one frustration after another. It feels as if somewhere along the development path, the focus moved from gameplay to story, and the finished product has suffered because of it. I don't know anyone who bought the game because of its story, and I'm willing to bet that the number of people who did is very low. The main draw is the parkour, and a little more time spent on that, and a little less on the story would have allowed some more of that potential to shine through. It's a pity Mirror's Edge turned out to be so forgettable.

Bottom Line: There's a good game in there, somewhere. It pokes its head out sometimes, but not nearly enough to matter in the end.

Recommendation: Leave it. There's simply too much wrong with this game to consider opening your wallet for it. You could rent it just for the race mode, but that's about the kindest I can be.

I've asked my friend to rent it; I've heard many good things and bad things about M.E., but I remember that the demo was kickass.
Although...I did think the same thing about Sw:TFU.

I hope I can disagree with you.

I played it over at my friend's house. As I expected, there was nothing wrong with the core platforming part of the gameplay, but everything else was rather disappointing.

I agree to 90%, you are so right in what you say, especially this:

they make you wish for a mode without those pesky combat or puzzle interruptions.

however bashing it's combat is unfair, I had only 3 places where I really needed to clean the room, one of which was the very last thing I did in the game, the other two were pretty easy.

Chemicks:

It seems, however, that the developers have a bad case of the chicken shits. I picked up the game on its release date, and was upset to find that none of that initial promise made it into the final game. Instead, the second level takes an abrupt turn and has you... Solving a murder? Wait, what? I thought Faith was a messenger, not a detective? What on earth is going on here? It's not just the second level either - every level after the first one has you uncovering pieces of a conspiracy. There's no message running at all, and it feels distinctly like the setting has been cast aside by the plot.

Oh I hate that. Here's the window dressing, the life, the personality - everything that supposedly sets this apart from everything else.
And then they throw it out the window.
Thanks for the review. I'll certainly give a rent a try next year.

Very nice review. The only improvements I could offer would be taking the last sentence of the first paragraph out and then merging the first two paragraphs together, and putting the bit about the Patriot act in brackets.

I'm beginning to think EA's marketing department is under the impression that a game won't sell unless it has guns, a pair of boobs or is Need for Speed.

Novajam:
Very nice review. The only improvements I could offer would be taking the last sentence of the first paragraph out and then merging the first two paragraphs together, and putting the bit about the Patriot act in brackets.

I'm beginning to think EA's marketing department is under the impression that a game won't sell unless it has guns, a pair of boobs or is Need for Speed.

You don't think it'll be too wall-of-textish if I merge those paragraphs? That's good advice on the brackets, though. Should have thought of that myself.

You know, as much as I agree games should be all about fun, you can have fun whilst still conveying something meaningful. South Park does it better than anyone - it's funny as hell watching the "Nigger Guy" episode, but there's also a really serious message underneath all the piss-taking.

Seems game designers don't agree. Just about everyone in the civilized world hates these 'for your own protection' measures, and yet Mirror's Edge shit themselves when they realised they were straying close to something that reflects reality. Thanks very much, now we're stuck with the only political commentary in the videogame world being Hideo Kojima, who tells us all via a war-simulation game that war-simulation games are EVIL and turning us all into EVIL SOLDIERS OF CAPITALIST AMERICA!

So sad, the game has such promise...

Chemicks:

Novajam:
Very nice review. The only improvements I could offer would be taking the last sentence of the first paragraph out and then merging the first two paragraphs together, and putting the bit about the Patriot act in brackets.

I'm beginning to think EA's marketing department is under the impression that a game won't sell unless it has guns, a pair of boobs or is Need for Speed.

You don't think it'll be too wall-of-textish if I merge those paragraphs? That's good advice on the brackets, though. Should have thought of that myself.

I dunno. I think it would have (more) impact like that. But what do I know; It's your review after all.

Well done, once again.

Impressive review. I happen to think at this point that Mirror's Edge is probably going to be remembered more for contributions to first-person gameplay than it will be as a stand-alone experience.

That, and I don't like Faith as a protagonist anyway. OK, she's a step in the right direction, but that didn't stop me throwing her off the side of a building during my only experience with the game for that horrid eye tattoo and the fact that she has a poor person's name. Enclosed or not, the tabi shoes still creep me out as well.

I had only played the demo, and i thought it was a creative, well presented addition to the very few good FPS platformers, but i see that isn't the case.

feralfenix:
I had only played the demo, and i thought it was a creative, well presented addition to the very few good FPS platformers, but i see that isn't the case.

I loved the demo. It's everything the finished game should have been.

RAKtheUndead:
Impressive review. I happen to think at this point that Mirror's Edge is probably going to be remembered more for contributions to first-person gameplay than it will be as a stand-alone experience.

That, and I don't like Faith as a protagonist anyway. OK, she's a step in the right direction, but that didn't stop me throwing her off the side of a building during my only experience with the game for that horrid eye tattoo and the fact that she has a poor person's name. Enclosed or not, the tabi shoes still creep me out as well.

As a proof of concept, Mirror's Edge certainly does stand out. It'll be interesting to see what developers do with the idea from here. I hope someone implements it in a free-roaming game. That was one of the things that surprised me about Mirror's Edge - how much it actually restricts exploration.

I agree, it could the start of something interesting but as for the game itself; Chemicks is correct, forgettable is the word, my brother forked out £40 for it and he was left feeling as hollow as me, the game feels very simulated, it's far, far too smooth and I felt there was no real difficulty curve.. ah well...