Mirror's Edge Review (PC)

Mirror's Edge - Unadulterated



Faith in Mirror's Edge.

Today I’ll be reviewing the PC version of Mirror’s Edge, a first person shooter developed by Swedish developers DICE and published by our beloved Electronic Arts (SECUROM and all).

As a game, Mirror’s Edge is definitely a mixed bag: at its high points it’s probably the most thrilling game you’ll have ever played, while at it’s low points it might leave you cursing in frustration or breaking the nearest fragile object.

First off: the story. The game is based in a fictional modern city governed by a totalitarian authority, which is, of course, a BAD thing. So enters our heroine Faith, one of many rebels living under the radar and doing all the ultra-cool things that rebels fighting the system usually do in video games. The details are left to the player’s imagination: details of how the current system of government came to be and what they are exactly doing that is evil and what people were smoking when they allowed themselves to be subjugated (think of it as the Bush administration). Faith is a Runner, which is exactly what it sounds like. In the game the player will spend 90% of his time running, which leads to the confusion of whether it can be called a First Person Shooter in the first place. As a protagonist, Faith is an Asian (probably to appeal to Asians) and a girl (probably to appeal to concupiscent 13-year olds). Faith is on a quest to clear her sister’s name in a murder of some important dude (who dies in a business suit, so he’s gotta be important). And so ensue all the trials and tribulations she endures in this quest for justice, and so ends this bored reviewer’s synopsis. The story isn’t bad by any means, and will in fact, interest players fascinated by cyberpunk culture (you know, computer hackers, high tech ninjas, electronic music etc.); the same demographic that movies like The Matrix catered to. The only problem is that the player can get lost with the storyline as it isn’t too clear, but in a weird way, this fits right in with the atmosphere that Mirror’s Edge is trying to create. The cut scenes are all animated and look like a 90's cartoon at best, but this doesn’t really detract from the overall sense of immersion the game creates.