Mirror's Edge
Mirror's Edge is a video game that consists of 11 releases
Reviewed on Nov. 12, 2008
This first-person parkour game stumbles often, but it does it with style.
Read Ryan Davis's full review
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Mirror's Edge is a first-person platforming action game developed by DICE and published by EA. Players control Faith, a runner who physically transports sensitive information across a totalitarian government controlled city.
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 master runner. The game focuses on movement instead of the shooting gameplay found in most other first person games. The game released on PS3 and Xbox 360 on 11th November 2008, and January 13, 2009 on PC (the delay was becauseDICE wanted "to make an amazing PC game"). The PC version also had improved graphics with greater display and texture resolutions, and enhanced physics effects ( PhysX by Nvidia) technology to add clothing effects, fog effects, and wind.
The story was written by Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of Terry Pratchett.
The emphasis of the game is on acrobatic parkour style movement and to keep moving, and even though Faith can use guns, 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, which the main focus was parkour movements.
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 could be redeemed to access the time trial part of the prologue stage for the demo and the original 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 which you can skip, are told through stylized cutscenes. 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.
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 who 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.
Everything is performed from a first-person perspective.
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 bullet.
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.
Controls
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.
Default Controls
- L1 / LB / Space Bar: Jump / Grab onto Wires / Climb / Wallrun
- L2 / LT / Shift Key: Soft landing / Slide
- R2 / RT / Right Click: Fight / Shoot / Smash doors open
- Circle / B / Left Alt: Aim toward Objective / Hint
- Square / X / R key: Slow-Motion (Runner Vision)
- Triangle / Y / Right Click: Disarm (Only when enemy is facing away from Faith or their weapon turns red)
- X / A / E key: Action button (pressing buttons, etc.)
- Left Analog Stick / W A S D: Walk / Run
- Right Analog Stick / Mouse: Camera
Modes of Play
Time Trial Mode
You will see a series of red checkpoint markers that tell you where you're supposed to go and a red figure represents the ghost data that gives you an indication of how well you're doing in any given Time Trial level. Ghost data can also give you a chance to see how others managed to get their times and how they handled certain sections of a level, very useful for those trying to squeeze out the best time. Each Time Trial stage has a qualifying time, which if achieved, grants the player one star. If even faster times are achieved then two or even three stars are awarded for the level.
There is also a Speed Run mode, in which one is tasked with completing a whole chapter of the campaign under a stringent time limit. It usually requires a flawless run with no falls to finish them under par time.
Downloadable Content
Mirror's Edge downloadable content will be made available for purchase for all three version of the game. The new content was originally scheduled for release on January 29th, 2009, but later delayed until February. Players will be challenged to achieve the fastest times possible on nine races, across seven all new Time Trial maps with an all new, abstract design. There will be no guns, police or city. The pack will be available for US$9.99 or 800 Microsoft points, however all PlayStation 3 owners will be able to download an additional, exclusive map for free.Soundtrack
The Mirror's Edge soundtrack will consist of a remix album featuring the Mirror's Edge theme song Still Alive by Swedish musician Lisa Miskovsky and five remixes of the song by, Paul van Dyk, Benny Benassi, Teddybears, Armand Van Helden and Junkie XL. EA has announced that the album was released November 11, 2008. The theme song was made available as a free download on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live shortly thereafter.
Mirror's Edge Original Videogame Score
Mirror's Edge official game soundtrack was released May 19, 2009 and will feature music from the game by Magnus Birgersson (Solar Fields) and the original "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky.
Tracklist:
- 01 - Introduction - Solar Fields
- 02 - Edge & Flight - Solar Fields
- 03 - Jacknife - Solar Fields
- 04 - Heat - Solar Fields
- 05 - Ropeburn - Solar Fields
- 06 - New Eden - Solar Fields
- 07 - Pirandello Kruger - Solar Fields
- 08 - Boat - Solar Fields
- 09 - Kate - Solar Fields
- 10 - Shard - Solar Fields
- 11 - Still Alive - Lisa Miskovsky
- 12 - Still Alive (Instrumental) - Lisa Miskovsky
Comic Book
DICE announced during Comic Con 2008, that it would create a limited comic book, together with DC Comics division and WildStorm. The comic will be a adaptation of the Mirror's Edge story from the game and is is drawn by Matthew Dow Smith and written by Rhianna Pratchett.
Reception
So far the game has gotten reviews mostly in the 80 and above ranges, a few have been in the 70s. The game has been cited as being ambitious in design while the plot isn't anything too brilliant. Reviews have also stated that the graphics are stunning and the sound and music are superb as well. The controls have somewhat of a learning curve and levels can be easy to figure out even without the in-game guide system because you'll soon know where you have to go through the placement of certain objects. The game's hand-to-hand combat and shooting has been said to be fun but are one of the weakest parts of the game. The game is pretty linear while allowing you to make minor choices on how you arrive at the same destination. It seems the game has not met the hype but at the same time is not a failure, it's a solid game.PC System Requirements
- Operating System Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Vista
- Processor Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz or 100% compatible equivalent
- Memory 1GB RAM
- Video Card 256MB memory with Shader Model 3.0
- HDD Space 8GB
- DVD Drive 1x DVD Drive
- Soundcard Soundcard with DirectX 9.0c compatibility
- DirectX DirectX 9.0c
- Network An online connection is required for access to Leaderboards
Trivia
- The system used in Mirror's Edge for movement was originally developed to be in Battlefield 2. It was abandoned during development due to time constraints, but technicians at DICE continued playing with it and eventually came up with the idea for a first person game based entirely on speed and movement.
- The main character was originally designed to be male, with Faith just being a multi-player character that was created who the development team liked so much that they decided to design the whole game around her.
- The game is endorsed by free-running legend Sebastien Foucan, and players will be able to race against his time trial ghost in both the demo and the full game. Players are to look for the gamertag "CatchFoucan" on the leaderboards for the game to see if they can beat the parkour master's time
- During a visit to the DiCE offices in Stockholm, the guys that do the swedish gaming podcast Spelradion stated that it isn't hard to see where they got the inspiration for the futuristic design for Mirrors Edge since the office space had a similar feel to it.
Xbox 360 Game Installation
Mirror's Edge requires 5.7GB of space to install on an Xbox 360 HDD.External Links
| Game Name | Mirror's Edge |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes |
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| Original US Release |
Nov. 11, 2008
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release |
November
Q4 2008 know the real date? |
| Aliases | |
| OFLC |
OFLC: M
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| CERO |
CERO: C
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| ESRB |
ESRB: T
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| PEGI |
PEGI: 16+
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Mirror's Edge Video Guide
A Walkthrough guide for Mirror's Edge including speedrunning strategies, level walkthroughs, achievement guides, and Runner Bag locations
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