Mirror's Edge

Mirror’s Edge

Rating T

Score  8.5/10

             The only games made from a first person perspective are usually shooting games.  There are few to no first person adventure games out there.  Well, here’s one for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but will it revive its kind in the genre or put the final nail in its coffin?

             Going into it, gamers don’t know what to expect.  How could a first person adventure game happen?  Well, think of it as a first person racing game, only on your feet.  You get the character, Faith, from point A to point B by sprinting across a vividly coloured city, running on walls and jumping over any obstacles and from building to building.  You’re running because the police are after you, most of the time.

             I’m not going to talk about the story much; mainly because it’s weak and not that interesting.  A quick summary:  You’re Faith, a normal person turned runner after a riot in which your parents were killed.  After some politicians were assassinated, you and your friends get caught in a blame game with the cops.  Now you must run from them and find the real killers.  Well, I warned you it was weak and not that interesting.

             The gameplay, though, is very interesting.  In first person perspective, you feel more connected to what’s going on when you jump from building to building.  Don’t worry, there’s more to the game then jumping and running, there are enemies.  The game frowns upon you fighting enemies, since they have guns and you have nothing but running shoes.  A few kicks or punches can bring down a cop, or you can disarm them and use their weapon on other cops.  Good luck with that, though, since the clip is usually half gone and you have no extra ammo.  You can just run right past them though.

             You also have some nice challenges where you must build momentum to leap across to safety or wall jump off a wall and onto the top of a building.  All of these tricks add to the excitement of actually running across all these buildings.  The sad reality is that nobody could do all this, but it’s nice to think you could, virtually, once in a while.

             After you master the game, what’s next?  You take down time trial mode!  Afterwards, compare times with your friends.  You get nice bragging rights if you’re faster.  After your bragging rights are done, there’s little to do.  Going back and discovering some of the secrets hidden across the city is one option, but there’s little reward for such a tedious task.  More bragging rights, but that’s about it. 

             If you’re up for some great, fast paced first person fun, this game is worth a go.  It looks great, plays great, and the innovative new first person adventure style just sucks you right into the experience.  It’s a great leap for the genre, but it doesn’t quite make a perfect landing.