GamerNode: Reviews - Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge

Category: PC, Posted: 02/06/2009 at 12:12PM EST by Thomas Beekers, Contributor

Mirror's Edge
PC
DICE Stockholm
Electronic Arts
January 14th, 2009

A lot of what was said on GamerNode's review for Mirror's Edge on console is true for the PC port on a 1:1 basis; DICE's idea of a first-person platformer based on speed and nimbleness hasn't become any less brilliant, and the stark visuals of the game are still as stark and beautiful. So instead of discussing the game as a whole, I'll take out some key points to look at in this review.

First and foremost, the PC port of Mirror's Edge is a triumph, especially in a period where PC gamers have been terrorized by games with horrid technical issues (GTA IV) or games with mindbogglingly bad UI issues (Fallout 3). DICE is a PC developer, and purely from playing the PC version of Mirror's Edge, I feel fairly safe in saying this was a PC title.

I don't know if it was actually built on multiple consoles from the ground up or if this is just a matter of excellent porting, but the PC version runs fluidly, looks beautiful, and has an intuitive, logical interface. It's not for me to say which version plays best, but the WASD + mouse interface feels natural and adopts to the gameplay extremely well.

So here we have a brilliant gameplay concept with a fascinating visual style playing great on all its platforms. Yet the popular response is all over the place, which doesn't surprise me at all. Brilliant as it is at its core, Mirror's Edge is burdened by a few key flaws that keep it down.

The first I'd like to mention is a pet peeve of mine: the story is horrible, and the cutscenes are boring while the voice acting is disinterested. So what, you say? This is a puzzling game, not a story-driven RPG. To which I reply: true -- but I think Portal has shown how much a game that is driven by a strong core gameplay concept can be helped by keeping the storyline simple and attractive. Mirror's Edge fails to do either. The story is simple in nature, but much too expansive in quantity, while in quality it is as boring as it gets.

The biggest problem with it is that it is halfway between everything. The cutscenes use an interesting visual style but are not interesting in content. The dystopic future painted in the game sounds good in theory but it is never explained. What exactly have the bad guys done to make them bad? Why are they so interested in you? Why are you killing cops that are for all intents and purposes just doing their job? The game takes much too long to explain much too little.

A second flaw is the promise of an open world. This won't bother everyone, but I doubt I'm the only one that looked at the expanse of rooftops in the game and thought "Wow, imagine the possibilities!" Well, imagine very few possibilities, as the story mode plots you through a linear course with only a handful of different options to go through the same par course.

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Posted by Lopez on 02/11/2009 at 12:17PM

I really liked this game. The idea was brilliant and it looked great but as you said, what let it down was the story and the combat. Combat was always the hardest thing in this game for me because I never really got the hang of disarming the guards and then when I actually got one you never know how much ammo its going to have. It would have been far better if you didn't have to beat each guard to a pulp before they stay down but rather if you can do one swift blow whilst passing them. Also the storyline does seem to throw you in the deep end without even knowing why. If it had been a free-running delivering parcel game where every so often an unfortunate copper stands in your way I think it would have turned out better.

Gameplay & Design: The core gameplay concept is brilliant and the PC's control scheme works perfectly, but the game does not stick well to its own core concept.
Graphics & Sound: Stark visuals will hurt your eyes with bloom but are undeniably attractive despite that fact. Mirror's Edge opts not to rely on sounds too much, and as long as Faith's panting does not bother you, you should find no extra value or detriment in it.
8.0	Final Word: A great game at its core, marred by a bevy of minor and major annoyances. A lot of potential, but to truly work this game has to be refocused and partially reworked from the ground up.