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Swedish developer DICE is best known for their Battlefield series, but apparently they’ve got more than military aspirations on their mind. With Mirror’s Edge, the company takes a complete departure and when the game works, it’s easily the most original and creative game since the Prince of Persia Sands of Time. Unfortunately, when it doesn’t work, the results are a little less impressive.

You Keep Me Running

Take the role of beautiful, petite, Asian runner, Faith. One of an oppressive, futuristic city’s runners—agile foot messengers who risk life and limb to deliver secret information—Faith finds herself embroiled in a race to save her sister and unravel a city-wide conspiracy. Runners stay away from the cameras and cops (or “blues” as they’re called), by sticking to the rooftops as much as possible. Leaping impossibly from building to building, climbing, strafing, and running, the core gameplay of Mirror’s Edge is one of the most exhilarating virtual experiences out there.

One of the very few games to use the Unreal engine and not look or feel like a clone of every other Unreal-based game, Mirror’s Edge is a joy to play when the gameplay is squarely focused on the act of running. The game provides a perfect illusion of being high atop skyscrapers, taking running jumps to span incredible gaps, landing safely by rolling at just the right moment, and then keep going to hop atop AC units, over barbed wire fences and carefully skirt across high-wires. Since it’s all from a first-person perspective, the feeling of being there is dead-on.

The visuals are impressive, even by current standards. The location textures look nearly photo-realistic, the character models are generally excellent, and the frame rate stays rock solid during the speediest action. The sound track is distinctive and surprising as well, with low key trance and ambient tunes fitting most of the levels.

Split Personality

Granted, a great presentation doesn’t mean much if the gameplay and controls aren’t there. Mirror’s Edge succeeds here, though not without some caveats. The running controls have to become second nature to succeed, and the use of the top buttons for jumping and turning around consistently feels strange—and makes it easy to accidentally hit the wrong button, which usually leads to a plunging death. That aside, controls are impeccably responsive once you get used to the timing needed to make the crazy jumps.

For two-thirds of the game, Mirror’s Edge is a nearly perfect game. The first six levels are entirely focused on running, and if the whole game had just stayed there, it would have been amazing. Unfortunately, it’s as if someone demanded that there was killin’ to be done, or else no one would play it. That’s where it all gets wonky.

Right from the start, combat was clearly not supposed to be a focus here. You’re taught to do basic martial arts attacks and disarms. This is important since the story has you fighting cops and security guards. You rush them, hit the slo-mo button to increase your reflexes, steal their gun, knock them out, and toss the gun. No other game on the market allows you to do this. Much like the older Thief games, killing and gunplay should be frowned upon and avoidable.

And for a while, it is. Then the game throws you into situations where while it might be technically possible for the most expert players to get through without using a gun, any other player is simply going to be frustrated. Part of the problem is that there’s really no stealth mechanic here. Faith can sort of hide and stay low, but the AI seems to have superhuman perception, and quickly mobs you. You can open doors, but not close them, and there’s no ability to trap enemies, and seldom even options to cleverly avoid them as you get closer to the end game.

Plot-Challenged

Given how gorgeous the game engine is, the use of incredibly primitive animated sequences between levels just breaks the mood. It’s hard to say what they were thinking going this route, but these animated scenes are doesn’t reflect the stunning visuals you run through in every level. The story is also disappointing. It seems to clearly be fractured, as if the game was supposed to be longer, and there are incredible leaps in logic and nonsensical plot turns. The game doesn’t focus on the delivery nature of Faith’s livelihood as well, instead obsessing over its main plot of rescuing her sister.

Had the game padded the content with missions not directly related to the main plot, it would have added a lot more value. As it is, there are only nine levels and at most about eight or so hours of gameplay. Once you beat a main level, it opens up a race version of that level, which is a nice addition, but the game is just incredibly short. The finale is disappointing, with no real resolve or feeling of accomplishment.

Keep Running

Mirror’s Edge spends most of its time being an awesome gaming experience. When there’s so little game here, having the last three levels focus more on middling combat than amazing agility, it really brings the whole experience down. The animated sequences are less than stellar, the plot is trite, and the game feels like it was pared down at the last minute. Despite all those flaws, the running-based gameplay makes you want to forgive everything else. No other game is quite as exhilarating and uniquely exciting, and it’s this part of the game you’ll remember most. 

Article written by: Jason D'Aprile