Overview

Mirror's Edge is a first person action-adventure game developed by DICE, in which the player take on the role of Faith, a runner. The game focuses on movement and parkour style tricks instead of the shooting gameplay found in most other first person games. The game released on PS3 and Xbox 360 on 11th November 2008. The emphasis of the game is on acrobatic parkour style movement, and though Faith can use weapons, they are not a major aspect of the game. Mirror's Edge is one of the few first person games without combat as the main focus.

A demo was released on the PlayStation Network on the October 30, 2008, and on the October, 31, 2008 on Xbox Live. If you pre-ordered the game, a code can be redeemed to access the time trial part of the prologue stage for the demo. The PC release will follow this winter, as the developer want to spend more time and make it an “amazing PC game”.

While much of the game's story is told in-engine by radio broadcasts and first-person scenes where control is taken from the player, actual story cutscenes will be told through stylized animated shorts. The reason that cutscenes are not done with the in-game engine, according to developer DICE is that the cost would be prohibitively high to have rendered all the cutscenes in the game engine.

Plot

Faith, the protagonist of Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge takes place in a dystopian future filled with tall buildings, clean streets, and lots of police. The people of this time have given up many of their freedoms to attain this state of peace and comfort. More specifically, since the flow of information is mainly technological, it is easily monitored by the governing body. That's where Faith, the main character, and the other Runners come in.

A certain group of people didn't like the way things were changing in the city and were pushed to the fringe of society. Instead of communicating by normal means they hire Runners. These Runners are used  by people to get information from one place to another without big brother seeing what's being passed along. Runners are usually left alone, but at the beginning of the story the government begins criminalizing the runners and hunting them down.

The story arc begins when Faith's sister, Kate, is framed for the murder of a mayoral candidate and she takes it upon herself to track down those who framed Kate and find out why the government, so suddenly, has felt the need to hunt the Runners and their web of shady clients.

Gameplay

Despite taking place in the first-person, Mirror's Edge takes the emphasis off gun wielding and focuses more on movement and momentum. As Faith runs she continually picks up speed. This speed allows her to pull of some of the more difficult acrobatic maneuvers as well as perform the simpler ones without losing much momentum. Finding ways to retain that momentum is one the main challenges of the game.

The game is controlled by a combination of three button and the left stick, making the controls rather simple, although there are layers of complexity. Jumping and climbing over objects is done with the left bumper (L1 on PS3), while ducking and sliding under objects is done with the left trigger. The right bumper (R1 on PS3) allows you to perform a 180 degree spin, for quick turnaround. Supposedly, those three buttons in combination with the left thumbstick will control the entire game, most of the other buttons are related to combat and Reaction(bullet-time).

The game's producer, Nick Channon, said, in an interview with Gametrailers.com, that each level of the game will present the player with a few ways to get through any given area and it's up to the player to find his/her own fastest way over/under/around each obstacle laid before him. 

To aid in this decision making process, the game uses a color coding system, which has been explained as "runner vision" on a few separate occasions. The system will apparently paint objects that can be used to quickly maneuver through an obstacle red. Other colors seem to appear in demos given but no explanation for the other colors has been given.

There are guns in the game and they all belong to your enemies, but it is possible to disarm and/or incapacitate them if you so choose. Weapons hinder your movement and acrobatic ability greatly so they play the part of power ups more than anything else. It was said in a demonstration during E3 that it would be possible to go through the entire game without firing a single fire arm.

The Melee combat system in the game is based on momentum as well. The more speed you have going at an enemy the more effectively you'll be able to disarm and remove the enemy from your list of troubles.

The normal first-person controls are mostly intact, but there is one major difference. The left bumper and left trigger (or L1 and L2 on the PS3) are designated as up and down, respectively. These buttons will control most or all of your acrobatics. This control structure is supposed to give the player ease of control while still leaving skill in the mix, mostly in terms of timed button presses. For example: When taking a leap over a gap to a lower platform you will have to press down right when you hit the ground to do a roll to maintain momentum and save your knees.

Mirror's Edge also takes advantage of the PS3 Sixaxis controls, with various motions corresponding with actions. Rolling the controller can be used to roll after a long fall, and twisting the controller can take an enemy weapon.

When faced with a waist-high obstruction you can press up to vault over it or, in the case of there being a hole in the bottom, down to slide under.

Trivia