I don't normally have ideas for new games, but one idea I had was a first-person platforming game. After stating this idea to my friends, it was quickly shot down as a stupid idea, since it would be very disorienting as you are running around and would probably be hard to judge platforms, leading to many frustrating deaths. It seems that someone at Dice also had this idea and managed to get their idea to market.
The background story to Mirror's Edge is a bit vague. What you do know, is that an oppressive government is in power, and a group of 'runners' use their parkour skills to deliver packages; evading government surveillance. You play as one of these runners called Faith. Her sister is a cop and has been framed for the murder of a mayoral candidate. Despite the two sisters having conflicting careers, Faith puts family first and goes on a quest to uncover the truth.
You move with the left stick and look around with the right. The Left Bumper performs jumping and climbing manoeuvres and the Left Trigger performs ducking and sliding. Right Trigger punches which is used in combat or to force doors open. Right Bumper quickly turns which is useful for more acrobatic manoeuvres such as running up a wall then jump-turning to reach an opposite platform.
You will be running along rooftops to travel through the city, then taking a detour through buildings. You will be climbing, wall-running, sliding, balancing and swinging your way through the environments.
When you are moving at pace and fluidly navigating the environment, the game is very fun and looks quite the spectacle. However, all too often, the pace is brought to a standstill as you are search for the next location.
The game usually highlights the points of interest in red. A wall will be red to highlight that you should wall run across it, a red plank suspended over the edge of the building will guide you for a running jump, a red box will prompt you to use it as a spring-board to new heights. However, this feature is really inconsistent. You may have performed a sequence of moves using several red objects then all of a sudden, there's no red in sight. You can also press the B button to make Faith turn in the direction she needs to go but this is inconsistent too. Sometimes it's the exact direction and it's obvious where you need to go, but sometimes it's a direction that you can't actually go to and you need to take a detour to get around it. There were moments where it even pointed me in the direction I came when it wasn't the correct way to go at all, or just plainly flat-out refused to work.
The art design is really cool, which mixes stark white environments with a contrast of bold and vivid colours. Sometimes the graphics were overly bright, with the white been so shiny it was blinding. Then you get indoors and are navigating through ventilation shafts which are too dark.
You will be dying plenty of times in the game. Some deaths are simply caused by slipping off the edge of a building, others come from feeling rushed to make a jump so you expect a platform to be there when it isn't, and many others come from Faith not grabbing onto ledges like you expected her to do (which happens an awful lot). The check-points are frequent, but it still doesn't stop you from raging when you are forced to replay sections which you blame the game's design or mechanics for. I've played many rage-inducing games before, but this one is right up there; frequently causing expletives to be launched at the TV.
The check-points are pretty dodgy, but work in your favour. Sometimes the game places you further than you were. There was one instance where you are overwhelmed by soldiers, after I finally got gunned down, I was placed in the scene but without the soldiers. One time I failed to make a rooftop jump, but it decided to place me on the rooftop after the reload. There's times when it places you in a different section (like a different part of the roof) which is disorienting to work out where you are when you previously haven't actually seen that particular location.
There's combat within the game, but Faith isn't a combat expert and has a significant disadvantage when the foes she is facing are armed police. You are guaranteed to fail if you try taking on more than one enemy at a time. You are encouraged to run past/around them, but there are situations where you are forced to fight, especially in the last few chapters. If Faith takes a few hits, then she will die. I found that fights usually involved me sliding as I approached so their mêlée attacks miss, then throw a few punches. If their weapon glows red, you can press the Y button to disarm them and knock them out. You can then use their gun but have limited ammunition before you have to discard it. Faith can slow down time by pressing X which makes the disarming easier. The AI is pretty simplistic, so often they are happy to stand still and take shots at you from afar rather than using any kind of smart swarming tactic.
The game is short, so the 9 chapters will only take you around 6.5 hours. You could play the Time Trial mode to extend this further, but most people will find the content lacking.
I thought that the high-density city was rather lacking in population. Apart from the cops that you fight, and the tiny people and cars you see when looking down from upon-high; you don't see anyone. Pass through a building; totally vacant. Running around on ground level; streets are empty. It would have been a nice touch to dodge crowds, or barge through a building to the shock of the residents/employees.
Each chapter features the same game-play. Run along the rooftops, run into a building, escape the cops. It can be exhilarating performing parkour to outrun the cops and helicopters under a tirade of gunfire, but it also can be very frustrating when it's not obvious where to go. You are put under a lot of pressure when the cops are gunning you down, so you have to keep moving and think fast.
That's basically the overall verdict. When the action is tense but flowing, Mirror's Edge is a brilliant experience. The problem when the action grinds to a halt when you wander round like a headless chicken, not comprehending what the game expects from you. Forcing you to fight during the game's final moments is another downer, since that's not what the game is all about. I think there's potential for a game like this, but this instalment misses the mark since it's more stressful than fun.