Hardcore parkour.
First person platforming. Those three words usually leave a sour taste in the mouths of gamers everywhere. After all, it’s a concept that has been tried many times, and has failed almost as many. Even back when Mirror’s Edge was first released people knew to never touch first person platforming, even with a ten foot pole. Yet here we are with a game that doesn’t just embrace it, but completely runs with it. Pardon the pun…
Does Mirror’s Edge nail the first person platformer? Did it set a high bar for these types of games? Well…no. I can certainly appreciate the attempt, and as first person platforming attempts go this is one of the better games I’ve seen. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s clunky in some places, and I think a lot of that could’ve been vastly improved had the developers focused exclusively on the parkour mechanics in Mirror’s Edge. Instead, we get a game that is mostly about running and parkour, but occasionally seems distracted with other things.
You play as Faith, and she is what is known in this world as a runner. In this world, information is monitored and heavily controlled and it’s up to runners to actually get the information to where it needs to be. For a while, these runners were not considered much of a problem, as the police force had bigger issues to deal with. But lately they’ve been putting runners in their crosshairs more frequently. Not only that, but Faith’s sister Kate has been framed for the murder of Robert Pope, a man who was running for mayor. Now, if I’m honest (and I am), I often found myself paying little attention to the story. I knew the main plot was to prove that Kate was not the murderer, and that was it.
The cutscenes to break up the levels may not have helped much. I’ve heard them described as “looking like they could have been scrapped Esurance commercials” and I think I’m in agreement. I’m all for stylized cutscenes, but something about the scenes in Mirror’s Edge feel half-baked. I also feel that a larger story might have helped keep me interested in what’s happening. There’s certainly some praise to be had for keeping the story small instead of going for something too large in scope, but I think this is one case where the scope of the story could have been increased. You have this world that is dominated by a totalitarian military regime, that monitors all communications, and spies on citizens among other things. Yet Mirror’s Edge never seems to go anywhere with those ideas and it feels like such a missed opportunity.
Much more well executed is the game’s art style, at least when you’re in game. I already mentioned that the stylized cutscenes, while unique, feel half-baked. But the visuals you’re given while you’re actually playing the game is very nice and gives the game much of its identity. Most of the world of Mirror’s Edge is a clean white with mostly bright colors mixing it up. While the story didn’t do anything with some of the themes the world presents, the game’s presentation tries to make up for it and does a good job. The various sounds help keep the player immersed into their activities, and the music is great at making the player feel like they are a runner in this world.
Gameplay is, and forever shall be, the most important aspect of a game though, and this is where Mirror’s Edge both exceeds and fails. That’s a curious thing to say, so allow me to explain. When Mirror’s Edge is focused on letting you run and jump through the world, the game is great. It plays very much like a platformer but from a first person perspective. Historically, first person platforming is a fast way to ruin your game, but Mirror’s Edge generally does well in making you platform around the world from Faith’s point of view. Helping this is the game’s various red objects, which are used to show the player which way to go and what objects to use to get from point A to point B. In some ways, this game has done what many have failed to do. But only sometimes.
When Mirror’s Edge asks you to be more precise with your running and jumping is when the game’s primary strength works against it. It leans into the platforming parts of itself a little too much in numerous places, resulting in multiple deaths that aren’t your fault. Had it allowed more flexibility in how you approach many situations, the game’s parkour mechanics would be near perfect throughout the entire game. It also doesn’t help that there were many times where it felt like I’d tell the game to do something but it wouldn’t register my input, resulting in me running off the ledge or simply delaying my arrival to the destination.
But without a doubt the weakest part of this game is the combat. It’s like Mirror’s Edge was doing a great job of being a parkour game but also wanted to be an action game. So it occasionally steers off course and forces you to fight dudes with guns. Word of advice: use the guns. For whatever reason I had this impression while playing that killing people in Mirror’s Edge could lead towards a bad ending, kind of like the Dishonored games. This is not actually the case, as far as I can tell, and you’re free to shoot up as many enemies as possible. Do it, you’ll save yourself a lot of suffering. But even ignoring my own ignorance, combat is not satisfying and feels like it was ducktaped together.
When not holding a gun, you’re limited to a few punches and a kick. Right away, there’s a problem. Everyone else has guns, you don’t. And you’re not given anything to compensate for this. So be prepared to die a lot until you finally neutralize an enemy or two. And when you do, it won’t feel like you accomplished anything. It will just feel like dumb luck. I say you’re not given anything to compensate for your lack of weaponry, but that’s only half true. Runner vision slows down time but doesn’t really help that much in the grand scheme of things, and I found myself ignoring it as the game went on. There’s these quick time events (QTEs) you can use to defeat an enemy and steal their weapon. What you’re supposed to do is press a button after an enemy’s weapon turns red. But the timing is all weird. I’ll press the button when the weapon turns red and still fail, and I’ll press it before it turns red and inevitably fail that too, but maybe occasionally actually get it. Make no mistake, actually pulling off this move requires pure freaking magic. I don’t understand it and I don’t think the game does either. Once I realized that trying to use this QTE would most likely result in my death, I just stopped using it. So when I said you have nothing to compensate for the lack of weapons and tools you have, I mean that. Oh sure, you have a couple things but they’re pretty useless.
I can only imagine how much better this game would be without the pointless combat mechanics. As it stands now, what we have here is a good parkour game that actually does some aspects of first person platforming well. The game is well presented too, with an unmistakable art style. And while I feel the story could have been more interesting, what’s there works fine. Ultimately the main item holding Mirror’s Edge back is its lack of focus in the gameplay department. It wants to be both an action game and a parkour game, and it really needed to just stick with one or the other. But because it couldn’t always make up its mind on what it wanted to be, the result is parkour mechanics that could have used fleshing out, and a combat system that is clearly tacked on. I appreciate the game trying to do something different and even succeeding somewhat. But I also wish it had stuck with being different, instead of occasionally trying to be something that it is clearly not.
Rating: C+
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