The Gentleman's Reticule

Here’s a review of Mirror’s Edge, in the incredible off-chance that you haven’t yet played it or read a better review on Eurogamer or something.

Mirror’s Edge - somehow it effectively advertises toothpaste.

Mirror’s Edge, EA’s first-person, free-running FPS cum 3D platformer, can be a simple joy yet DICE do their merry best to overcomplicate it.  On the whole, ‘clean’ would be the single word description.  Its essence is refreshingly simple: get from point A to point B using natty gymnastic abilities.  You play a ‘runner’ named Faith who couriers illicit material around a pristine dystopia, evading the authorities with rooftop parkour.  Except you don’t; that’s her day job and not nearly exciting enough for a computer game.  Soon an unfathomable story of assassination and double-dealing has you running about rooftops for this mad reason instead.  The fun is predicated upon speedy and efficient travel and when hopping fences, ducking pipe-work and leaping vast distances in skilled succession, the experience is gripping indeed.

Controls are minimal, allowing fluid movement with graceful jumping, wall-running and break-falls once you master the necessary timing.  The path you take is semi-linear, with objects coloured red to guide you in the right direction.  Visually, the city setting is depicted in glistening whites, blues and reds, with the crisp architecture and eastern flavour of a downtown Tokyo in glorious summer; the environments are engrossing and magnificent when you’re granted a quiet moment to enjoy them.

Along with the bewildering plot there are, sadly, other elements which sully the game’s tidy aesthetic.  Too often, you’re forced into the dull confines of a corridor or ventilation system which slows the smooth pace achievable outdoors.  You’re also continually harassed by the ‘blues’, the security sent to hunt you down.  With evasion hampering gunfire, interactions with the bad guys often amount to tricky disarming sequences which are near impossible without the slow-to-recharge burst of slow-motion that jabbing ‘R’ allows.  If successful, little Faith grabs their weapon and can mow down her assailants in jarringly typical FPS fashion.

The game lasts around five hours which may leave you feeling cheated if you paid more than budget price, or have some kind of superhuman stamina for constant, frantic running and jumping.  There’s the option to re-run levels in time-trial mode and, for those robotic completists out there, irrelevant bonuses to unlock by finding hidden stashes during the main game.

Mirror’s Edge’s shine is tarnished by overwrought extras.  Forget the daft story and shooting, I was happiest with nothing but the city, the ambience, somewhere I had to get to and several massive drops in between.