Mirror's Edge™

No 4:3/5:4 support. If you still play on older monitors, you'll get a smaller screen and black bars at the top/bottom.

This is quite a beautiful game. The graphics are wonderful, even ten years later. I am sure that that's primarily due to its simplistic art style and the wonderfully crafted cuscuses in between. The story is engaging, and the FPS platforming with badass melee skills is an awesome concept. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work out very well in its execution. The combat and even the platforming controls are extremely clunky. It is very hard to get Faith to actually do what you want her to do most of the time, and ultimately the platforming sometimes takes a dive as you get stuck in a room and left wondering how on earth to get out of it numerous times. And most of the time when you die in this title, it just feels like it's for a ******** reason. Yes, there are color-coded directions and the ability to press a button which centers Faith on her goal, but neither of these just actually works all that well, and the fact that the game tries to make the player depend on them despite the fact that these mechanics don't actually work out so well just makes it even worse that they exist. They seemingly just go away when you most need them. The combat is pretty awful. You are given all these cool-looking moves to experiment around with, but in the end none of them really work. Except for hoping that the disarm will work and then shooting all enemies in sight, here really isn't much elegance and diversity to the combat. A similar thing happens with the platforming. Oftentimes, you just jump, and then press the button continuously while Faith is airborne in the hopes that she will actually cling on to something. In addition, there are many sections of this game in which a wall-run is required, and to be honest, it just doesn't really work out that well. It's a novel experience, and that's why I think this game is so popular, but it's just too frustrating for me to really recommend it as a game. It can be fun, however, to play around with for a while.

I love this game and I hate both FPPs and running. It looks so good I forgot completely I was playing a 'gog': yes, not AAA-level, lacks in effects, but it simply does not need them. The style they went for is a sterile, lifeless metropolis of white concrete and glass, on the noon of a very sunny day, and it delivers on this feeling 100%. The only thing distinguishing it from a today's indie are character models, but of yourself you get to see only body parts (and you do see them!) and your shadow, while everyone you meet is masked, at least partially armoured police you don't stop to chat with. Cutscenes are 2D, a sign of cost cutting, but here it compltes the ilusion. I really noticed this only in the tutorial and promptly forgot. The platforming is second to none and quite challenging, especially that you need to perform it at high speed, and while the first person perspective makes it in places more difficult it would be otherwise, it means you won't suffer from an aweful camera implementation, a common feature of the platformers from the 2000's. This is more than made up for in the realism of the experience, which is such I almost felt the wind on my face - something that few games can boast. It got overlooked, because it was just so out of the box, a genre on its own, and nobody knew they (would) like it. It was criticised for linear levels, but that's true for most platformers. Everyone complained about boring combat, but you aren't supposed to fight, and the extremely cool disarms and takedowns are hard and rewarding; nobody complains about dating sims that 'combat could be better'. The story ... is there, better than in early Dooms, but just like them, you play it for the gameplay. The campaign is short (about 10h), but there is also a race mode if you want it, and I know I will occassionally boot it just to play a random level. In the day of games trying to be everything to everyone, this level of focus does feel refreshing. Heartily recommended.

Running atop a city of glass, on one side a shiny facade and the other an unseen darkness. The citizens live on one side of the mirror, perceiving depth but never living deeply. The runners border the underworld and the surface world, delivering unknown packages on the principle that their contents are no-one's business except for the sender and receiver. Their services afford them a way to live in a city they cannot adapt themselves to, despite the main character's sister being an enigmatic example of a well-adjusted citizen that has not entirely lost herself. An event drives the main character out of her simple delivery jobs and into the preservation of her psyche and morality through an unspoken loyalty to her sister. Her sister is the one who most closely shares in her plight, despite their different strategies of adaptation to the world of total surveillance and clean deception. In protecting her remaining family, she conserves her origins, which means she can continue to walk in both worlds, and see herself beyond reflections of light.

Strictly as a game, Mirror's Edge is fun and memorable but imperfect and definitely flawed. The combat is clunky and awkward, the collision detection can be insanely frustrating and the story ends abruptly and in a manner that feels decidely rushed. However, this game is more than just a product and is far more of an experience. It's one of the few video games that genuinely deserves to be called art. Not merely because of the striking and timeless art style that will live rent-free in your head for decades, but due to the fusion of soundtrack, aesthetics and purity of vision that it achieves. This game is about flow, speed and movement. Everything else is just there to facilitate it. The sense of speed and momentum imparted in this game along with the aesthetics flow over your brain in a way that's particularly satisfying. Moreover, as most of us lead unfortunately sedentary lives, this game gives you a vision of freedom and adrenaline that we lack in our lives. It may even inspire you to get up any move more! TL;DR, this isn't a game, it's a VIBE. BUY IT. Note: at time of review I had already beaten this game twice on console but just finished my first PC playthrough in a little under 4 hours. The game is short but offers decent replay experience.