Mirror's Edge™

It's a classic. Most people are aware of what Mirror's Edge is: a parkour game, one of the only -- besides Dying Light 2. It's hard to explain the experience it was playing this game for the first time. It's a game where every movement is satisfying and the lighting and character designs are well done, and hold up especially well to these day standards. I consider Mirror's Edge a hack because of the ingenious design choices that went into making this game and props to whoever came up with the idea for this game in the first place. As an independent game developer, its been a game that's inspired me with ideas for my current game. The soundtrack is quality as well. Solar Fields (the musician) did a good job. It's also interesting the history of this game. It was a bit of rushed project by DICE, which used to be a demoscene group, and they ended up including the map editor in the final release, almost like a nudge to hackers to make custom maps. You rarely see games these days from big companies where the developers make mods easy or encourage them. I know this as someone who's worked on romhacks. My main critique of this game would be the weak and paper thin story and the cel-shaded graphics which look unappealing to me -- but that's not why you play this game. You play it for the parkour and intense running, not the story. If you're reading reviews because you're deciding whether to buy it or not, just buy it. 20$ might be a bit much for an old game, but it's really a gem. The steam one has DRM too. Don't play the sequel though, that wasn't good at all, but you may enjoy it a bit.

One of the best games ever made and I don't exaggerate. From the first trailor I knew it would be something unique and it delivered, in an era where EA pumped out solid games one after another, believe it or not. Parkour, first person, totalitarian government, murder, and one girl out to prove her sisters innocence in an age where information is regulated and only the runners can get the truth out. I'm trying not to make it sound like an official advert but I want everyone to play this. Beautiful, intuitive, easy for beginners and challenging for seasoned players, the ability to run up a wall, twist, and jump again in first person never gets old. Sprinkled through the map are paths highlighted in red but its up to you how you want to traverse those paths. Straightforward, from the side, from above or wherever you think works best but with a little tweaking the same path can be used in multiple ways to shave off time and increase and max out your "flow" or top speed. Some combat is mixed in with police trying to stop you but its not necessary, is clunky in a way that a runner not a fighter would be, and can even be bypassed in stylish ways most times and is encouraged. I can't gush about this game enough. If possible, get the extra time trials mode too, which take the aesthetic even further, boil down the city to a 3D first person platforming obstacle course, and challenge you to shave seconds off your time. buy it, enjoy it, get immersed in the city, and find a new path through the air ducts and soler panels while making it look as smooth as possible.

I first played this as a kid, back when it released, and between the freezes on my unstable hardward was a game that captured my attention like no other. Mirror's Edge's strong suit isn't its story, or even its gameplay (unique though it is); it's the atmosphere and presentation. The game is almost two decades old, and yet, booting it up today, you'd be forgiven for thinking it looks and feels a lot younger. It's beautiful, and for that reason alone I'd recommend it to anyone with some change to throw around.

Excellent game, very enjoyable from beginning to end, the gameplay was very fluid and really cool, I really enjoyed this game, but it was way too short, I got a bit sad when I beat it, I expected longer gameplay. At less than a dollar is a wonderful experience, but I wouldn't pay the full price it had at launch time.

The story is too basic, but the first person parkour action is awesome. Just keep in mind this is the kind of game where you'll die a lot until you find (and yes, memorize) a route across the level. Also, the PC version on GOG supports a controller although the listing doesn't mention it. Why you'll love it: First person action for all gameplay makes the running experience shine -you'll wonder why other games taking place in rooftops (Batman, Spider-Man) don't have it. The visual style is minimalistic and color-coded -red things show the way, and it's effective. If you're a perfectionist, there's a lot to challenge yourself in time trials, and even within normal gameplay, where time is not a factor, embracing the parkour mindset will change the way you navigate a level. The bad? Minimal story. Combat is discouraged by design but sometimes you just have to fight, and then it feels somewhat limited. I wish it had a bit more stealth, but this is a running game at heart. Sometimes is easy to get lost. You don't get to explore the streets -again by design. Sometimes you just have to die a lot before you find a way to pass the level, although there's usually more than one. Since you are jumping between rooftops there's little room for error, although autosave is frequent -having to figure out what to do while being shot at is different, you can die real quick. As an example of how to play: at some point you have to reach the roof from inside the building. You could just climb the spiral stairs normally -or you could wall jump between floors raising yourself by the rail guards in a fraction of the time. Sometimes that's the only way to go. This applies within normal levels but even more in time trials -you can easily cut your time in half by creating an alternate route using parkour moves, which is very satisfying when you pull it off. On Xbox there was DLC with "floating in the sky" courses; these don't seem to exist in the PC version. Great game but get it on sale.