In some ways, Mirror’s Edge isn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Which wasn’t all bad, because Mirror’s constant motion and marvelous liquidity can give some players-like me-a bit of motion sickness.īut (cue witty segue) the game’s movement wasn’t the only thing that made me nauseous. There were game segments where I spent more time waiting to be resurrected (again!) than I actually spent playing the game. Survive the police? Oh, look, another jump to navigate.
Survive the fall? You gotta deal with the gun-wielding police. When Faith falls from a rooftop-which she did quite frequently when I was playing-you see the fall from her point of view, right until the moment of impact. Need to escape from police? Look for a red heating vent.īut none of these crimson calling cards will save most gamers from dying more virtual deaths than Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd combined. Though navigating the city’s antiseptic streets, rooftops and subway systems can be confusing, the game drops a few hints here and there: Trying to figure a way off a rooftop? A red drainpipe might show the way down. Indeed, the in-game action for Mirror’s Edge is, by design, far more realistic than its cutscenes, which are rendered in slick, flat anime. The fact that players can see Faith’s arms and legs when she’s running-and that the first-person camera bobs up and down in time with her movements-adds to the game’s realism. The key to gameplay is keeping Faith’s motion as fluid as possible, stringing together runs and leaps and rolls and shimmies with seamless precision.
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Faith must navigate a bewildering cityscape using techniques akin to parkour, or urban free running: She hurdles over some obstacles, slides under others, springboards off still others and, occasionally, bridges gaps with dexterous wall runs. Sure, she can pick up a stray police weapon and fire a few bullets, but for the most part, Faith’s more prey than predator. Mirror’s Edge is sometimes labeled a “first-person shooter” by news outlets, but Faith does precious little shooting. Now Faith must solve the murder, clear her sister’s name and evade the city’s oppressive police network-all without falling off obscenely tall buildings. But Faith’s career takes a dangerous detour when a mayoral candidate is found murdered and Faith’s sister, a policewoman, is found unconscious next to the body. You’d think this gig would be exciting enough. Forget “You May Already Be a Winner!” Most of the folks on her route are simply happy to be alive. She’s essentially a glorified postal worker, only she doesn’t cart around utility bills, grocery coupons and Publisher’s Clearinghouse envelopes. Rebels lurk underground, unable to communicate except through a system of human “runners” like Faith. Still, not everyone bought the government’s bill of goods. The city’s leaders found that spying on its citizens round the clock does wonders for the crime rate, so now they monitor every form of electronic communication imaginable: Not only are carjackings down, but so is that pesky sense of individuality that can cause such problems. This, in a nutshell, sums up the life of Faith: Not, mind you, “a life of faith,” as in Bible studies, prayer and possibly a stay in a monastery, but “ the life of Faith,” as in the lithe protagonist who dashes, flips and occasionally plummets headlong through the game Mirror’s Edge.įaith lives in a clean, crisp and creepily totalitarian city. Leap! Dodge! Slide! Flip! Run! RUN! Runrunrunfasterfasterfasteraaarrgghh.