The awesome gets interupted more than it should
When I first found out about Mirror's Edge I was incredibly excited for it. Finally a game where everything was about free running. I gobbled up every piece of information that I came across, and it was without a doubt a must have game for me. But then the game was released, and the reviews started pooring in. And the more I read about it, the more doubtful I became about buying it. My hype turned into uncertainty.
Fast forward several months, and I have finally decided to purchase the game. And now that I have played it to completion, I have to admit that I am still unsure just how I feel about it. Do I like it? Do I hate it? I would have to say that it's a bit of both, really. I absolutely love the free running aspect of the game, but as awesome as that is, it's frequently ruined by the inclusion of the pain-in-the-ass enemies you have to deal with in increasingly larger waves. It's almost as if the developers purposely wanted you to remind you that games can be incredibly frustrating.
But when I wasn't pulling my hair out in frustration because of the enemies, I was having an absolute blast with free running. Going as fast as I can while jumping over obstacles, sliding under them, and stringing them together in an almost constant fluid motion. That is just so incredibly fun to do. And in my opinion the first person perspective just makes it that much better. It didn't take long at all to get used to it, and once I did it really felt right. A lot of people would argue that this game would have been better in third person, but I strongly disagree as I think that would ruin the experience.
Of course it's not entirely perfect, even when you focus on just the running aspect. I more than once missed a jump to a pipe because of the heavy demand the game puts on precision. Doing a perfect run, ducking and weaving up, under and over any obstacles in your way; wall running accross a large gap, and seeing your vision blur as you go faster and faster. And then you jump to a pipe. You know you hit that jump perfectly, and there's no doubt about it that you're going to make it. But you're off by just an inch, and your perfect string abrubtly comes to an end. And this doesn't happen just once or twice either. As great as the main character Faith is, it seems like pipes are almost like a phobia to her. Yes she could easily grab onto it if she twisted her body just slightly, but appearantly that is expecting too much.
Speaking of Faith, I kind of wonder why they even bothered with giving her a story to begin with. I could've done without the story as a whole actually. And I am someone who is pretty easily satisfied with a cheesy story. But in Mirror's Edge all I wanted when a cut scene came up was for it to be over quickly so I could go back to just running. I honestly can't even tell you what the story was about, other than that there seems to be some group who wants to get rid of all the runners. Luckily the ending leaves enough room for a sequel, and hopefully if that comes around it will have a better story than this. Or just make a completely seperate game, and just let me run without being interupted by a lame story.
And while they're at it, they should do something about those damn enemies too. Is it really necesary to interupt my enjoyment of the game so often by throwing in a bunch of characters that mow me down with machine guns in ease? Without them the game would obviously be a lot shorter, and it isn't a long game to begin with, but I would much rather have a very short game that I fully enjoyed than to have a stuff thrown in there that feels like it's there to artificially lengthen the experience.
Overall the game looks and sounds great. I really dig the art style, even though it does feel a bit bland at times. But really, who cares about any of that when you're running like the wind? I never even noticed that there cars on the streets until I was sort of forced to look at them. The sound of Faith's breath becoming more hagard as she runs faster is just a fantastic touch. And then the sound she makes when you don't land a jump perfectly, with your vision temporarily blurring due to the impact. All those little touches the developers added just makes the running feel great. It's just too bad it gets interupted so many times.