Hands-on: Mirror's Edge

It’s nice to see original concepts in gaming and new takes on familiar genres. That’s what we have with Mirror’s Edge. And after getting my hands on the PS3 demo, I’m here tell you how DICE’s latest is shaping up.

The demo opens with a cartoon cutscene that introduces you to the story. I’m not sure this game wouldn’t have been better served with a Half-Life-esque story telling that kept you in first-person throughout the game, but I’ll hold off judgment on that part of the game until the full release. Now, I really want to focus on the actual gameplay. Mirror’s Edge is a game that you play from the first-person perspective, but it isn’t focused on shooting like most FP games. You play as Faith a female runner who has to make her way through the environment using different parkour and platforming moves. After a tutorial that teaches you the basic moves, you’ll be thrown into what is presumably the first level. Just like your typical FPS, the left stick strafes and the right stick looks. After that the most important buttons are L1 and L2. L1 jumps and generally moves upward (climbs up ledges, vaults over obstacles) while L2 generally moves down (slides, rolls when landing). You’ll use these commands along with a quick turn button (R1) and an interact button (X) to move around the levels. Chaining these moves together, you’ll be jumping from building to building, sliding under objects, climbing over fences, shimmying along ledges, balancing on pipes, and running on walls. Keeping your momentum is the key as you make your way over rooftops and through buildings to give a bag to your fellow runner Celeste. The controls are a bit odd at first, but once you get used to them the game becomes pretty addictive. It’s really fun to try and get through the level without having to slow down. There are some enemies in the demo, but the best way to handle confrontations is again not the norm. You’re better off avoiding or quickly disarming enemies (with triangle) and then just dropping the gun and moving on rather than shooting foes. The game uses a couple of things to help you get through the level. One thing is what they call runner-vision. This highlights objects in the environment in red to show you which way to go. I’m not sure this game won’t be more interesting with this feature turned off though. You can also hit the square button to activate slow-motion to help you navigate the environment.

Mirror’s Edge really has a pretty original look to it. The world the game is set in is very sharp and bright with tons of white and some vibrant blue and red accents amongst the tall skyscrapers. Things in the demo did look a bit jaggy, but nothing too bad. With focus on platforming in first-person, the game features some interesting animations where you see Faith’s limbs as you move about which DICE has a done a good job on. And it’s worth noting you stay in first-person when you roll which is quite strange when you first see it. If you’ve seen trailers of this game then you know that soundtrack is pretty catchy too especially the main theme.

Mirror’s Edge really is a breath of fresh air. As a big fan of platformers and parkour, it’s really interesting to see this type of game in first-person. Once I got used to the controls and perspective, I had a lot of fun trying to string together moves and find new routes through the level. Because of this the time trials that the full game will have should be great. If they can give you plenty of interesting scenarios and levels to work through in the full game, DICE could have a winner on its hands. Mirror’s Edge hits store shelves in the US this week for PS3 and Xbox 360.