Mirror's Edge Mirror's Edge Mirror's Edge by EA DICE Genre FPS + Platform + Chase Platforms PS3, XBox 360, PC Input methods gamepad or mouse and keyboard Dominant mode Single player Released 2008 (consoles), 2009 (PC) Grade A- Mirror's Edge is a genre-redefining example of a first-person shooter, mixed up with a modern platform game and a chase game. The game is characterized by a significantly different approach to both the visual interface of the game, world presentation and character control. The basic story line is relatively simple. Mirror's Edge takes place in an unnamed city, ruled by a totalitarian regime controlling its citizens thru a very invasive surveillance, including also electronic communication. To circumvent the government's invigilation a network of independent Runners, people highly trained in parkour is set up to carry the physical messages between both the revolutionary groups within the city and more ordinary citizens. The user takes on the role of one of the runners called Faith and tries to save her sister, framed into a murder of mayoral candidate. The subgoals itself consist mostly of running through the city and from time to time, fighting the City Police forces trying to stop you. The game was tested on a PC and Playstation 3, although there is also a version available for Xbox 360. The common, and perhaps most important feature of all of the editions is an absolute lack of the HUD during the gameplay. The decrease in health (for example, after being hit or shot) is marked by desaturation of the environment and heavier breathing of Faith. Also, unlike in other FPS games, various parts of Faith's body are visible on the screen during the game, depending on what acrobatic trick is she doing (e.g. in wall running one can see her feet and hands catching the walls, while when sliding down the escalator even her torso is visible. Furthermore, Faith does not carry a weapon by default. She can obtain one from her police opponents (by disarming an officer), but holding it will decrease her climbing and running abilities. As such a negative loop is present, trying to discourage player from using any weapons during the game and it is stated, that one can actually win the whole game without firing a single bullet (this mode is called Test of Faith) The game features also a positive loop known as the Runner Vision. As the game is very fast paced and heavily relies on NVidia PhysX physical calculation system (for jumps, flybys, wind effects and wall scaling), at higher levels it becomes increasingly hard to find the proper path through the level. The city is presented mostly in very contrast combinations of industrial colors, as well as bright green and orange. The Runner Vision colors the objects that shall be used for climbing, catching in bright red, distinguishing them from environment and allowing to keep a fast pace of the game without annoying stops to look around. Thanks to this loop, a gameplay is very smooth and exciting, as one can focus on making tricks and scaling the walls instead of the path to follow. Furthermore, the controls are redefined. Unlike in other FPS games, they are heavily narrowed down to context-sensitive spacebar, control and shift (along with standard WASD+QE and camera and attack/disarm control by mouse). These three keys intuitively adapt to the situation in which the Runner is, and for example, a spacebar, being usually jump, close to the wall will cause the runner to jump and engage in wall run, while pressed in front of the pipes will make Runner start scaling them. Control will always cause the runner to curl, but depending on situation it may effect in rolling after a high jump or sliding under an object, while shift will always cause the Reaction Time effect, another positive loop, in which the time of action slows down many times to allow the player to react quickly and attack or disarm the opponent. The action combos are very intuitive (eg. jumping away from the wall is easily guessable Q (for 180 degrees rotation) and Spacebar), while attack combos are even easier as user has to use the standard actions (like jump or slide) in combination with just an attack button. Similarly, the buttonology for consoles is fairly well made. What really makes the game fun, is the fact that the graphics is incredibly well done (e.g. light effects), but also not distracting at the slightest. The music always enters the action in proper moments (as a matter of fact, there are even triggers for it) and, as claimed by developers, is paced accordingly to the screen pace. The hardness level is balanced and the game can be won over in a day or two (if the player is dedicated) or left for a few weeks of sporadic gameplay. The game takes care of catching things (e.g. windowsills or bars) and does almost everything to make your Runner not to die, saving a lot of frustration. The game itself is challenging and makes you play just to see the story unfold (the ending is very open, however) and wonder with what beautiful places the graphic designers came up. Also, the high realism of the game (although the presentation is rather iconic) in the field of Faith's health (direct shot - death, jump from to high - death, bad punch - blurred vision) makes one want to play it more. The replay factor is very dependent on the player. The game does not have the de-facto multiplayer mode, instead just building on the user-exchangeable ghosts of their Runners in the level (Race mode). While fun, it gets weary quickly, but the game is saved by the fact one can download new levels for free (or, in case of PS3/Xbox, low price) from the developer. No new stories or campaigns can be introduced, but there are also unlockable levels by replaying parts of the standard game. I rather disliked the fact, that the game relies on anime-styled cutscenes to carry most of the plot, making it feel slightly disconnected from the game. Also, some levels had misplaced savepoints (causing you to revert way back in case you are killed), although it was not nearly as annoying as Call of Duty's run- thru-me-though-you-can't-see-me save points, which could cause one to revert to the beginning of the level, even though one theoretically passed the savepoint. At the same time, the fact that sometimes a Mirror's Edge level had to be played a few times to fully understand how to pass it properly and one quickly attained muscle memory for the game was very appealing. I definitely liked a new approach to the FPS gaming (no weapons? I want more like this!), which made game feel like a highly advanced adventure game with beautiful graphics. AEGIA/NVidia PhysX makes game beautiful and really natural, while the detail level is high and one rarely runs into the wall, steps in place or does something else equally stupid--very important factor here, may be that the pace of the game does not really make one to stop and admire walking in air, as is the case in other FPS games. Such a different way of seeing the game (nothing but the movie-like action on screen, realistic behaviors) is definitely something I would like to see in my game, and without doubt will influence the way other FPS games are created. The gameplay can be seen here. A few screenshots (property of IGN): .