Mirror's Edge

You have to clear your police officer sister from a murder she didn't commit. That sets the tone for how stock the characters and story are… and it doesn't even have resolution, it doesn't end, just… stop. After 6 hours(or less, for others) that feel too long.

This has you maneuvering corporate buildings, streets, alleys, and sometimes(so it remains fresh) rooftops, by jumping, wall-running, zip-lining and the like. Heck, you move down more than one active train tunnel! At its best, it's immersive and exhilarating. More often, it's annoying, worse, boring, at times even frustrating. Many have given up on this, and it's no wonder why. There are a number of glitches where you won't grab a ledge or the like even though you did it right. This grinds to a halt far too often, where you have to shimmy, crawl through a vent, or, worst of all, wait for an elevator. Sometimes both before it arrives and as it takes you to another floor. Why not have it as something that you have to run into, as it slides closed and/or travels whether you're on it or not? Opening regular doors in this is done on the move, heck, almost everything is. So why stop?

If you find this appealing, I would redirect you to UbiSoft's TMNT. That doesn't slow down your rush or break the tension, it actually has replayability, and it has more complex gameplay, in part because of more options in mêlée. Here, that feels "off", you have to wait a little too long and be overly close, and you're engaging in flying kicks and such from afar, and if you don't hit just right, as with everything else in this, it's awkward. You may have to run circles around the SWAT that hunt you for roughly a third of this, luring them apart and such, even if you make the mistake of engaging in the poor gun-play. You have to disarm an enemy, and even then have no extra clips, and whatever you wield, it will slow you down by a factor corresponding to how heavy the firearm is. The supposed tension of them trying to shoot you becomes white noise as you try to find out where you're even going.

This requires you to build and maintain momentum – if you don't have enough for a leap, you'll fall short. Why isn't there a version of this for the Wii? This keeps you moving and has you not slow down as you parkour around. There are 3 difficulty settings, and it's challenging even on Easy, and right from the start. This does feature some satisfying, hard won victories. Then again, too often, you accidentally go a little too far or short and fall off, in part because you cannot see your hands or feet, and thus don't know if you are at the edge, if you can grab on, etc. There's a reason this sort of thing is usually from a third, and not first, person perspective. It's made worse by the very Assassin's Creed traits of a key sometimes doing something you didn't expect it to, response times being an issue, and you failing without understanding why. There not being a HUD, outside of the reticle, is well-done, and health loss is shown by the few colors of the visually striking city losing saturation… so why not have subtle hints like that for when you're in position to do something unusual?

The animated cutscenes clash with the regular look. Why not stick purely with what your avatar can see? Half-Life and F.E.A.R. make that work well, and when this goes for that, it's great – if there wasn't the quick white fade to let you know, you might sit and wait for it to let you helm the controls again. This has a real Tokyo, Japan look and architecture – it is sometimes reminiscent of Aeon Flux the film, or UltraViolet, and comes off as a game of the original Matrix. This is full of trial and error, you try out the different paths until you find the right one. It gets tedious to try over and over, and doesn't save often enough. You only learn by dying, failing. It has been placed by some in the racing genre, which makes sense, but this is not capitalized on with obvious co-op or multiplayer. Instead, the only replayability lies in the one type of collectible(the lack of customization does mean you focus on getting further, not looking for something or assigning points), and the Time Attack Mode. 23 small levels, earned either by completing the chapter it's from or doing well on one of them. You can grind these with the online leaderboards.

The thankfully short and skippable tutorial is restrictive, unforgiving and doesn't tell you what you did wrong. It's of the type that only trains you to pass the test, rather than teaching you how to play the game. It starts and stops, constantly. Retrying doesn't put you very far back, in case you wanted to. Why not let the player follow the trainer while moving, since the rest of this, you're supposed to keep moving(worse even, they do that early on, anyway, so they did know how to do it!). You do not get what would actually help, which is an area where you can practice and learn at your own pace. This is one of those where Every step of the way, the guy on the radio is *talking*. Meaning, he doesn't just pitch in every so often with "head to x", no, he snarks at you constantly, even when you're making progress! This was so much better in Enter The Matrix, where the character is funny, likable, and isn't yelling at you like a scolding parent.

There is some disturbing and violent content in this. I recommend this to the very patient – otherwise, a Let's Play of it will be more enjoyable. 5/10

A good and highly original game nearly ruined by unforgiving controls and sparse checkpoints, resulting in frustrating trial and error gameplay.

Graphics are nice, and I liked their ultra clean urban vibe. Environments are well designed and look more realistic than in many other games. The music is minimalist and fits well. The story is fairly short, but well presented and I liked the stylised cutscenes. Most of the story has you running away from a police manhunt, and reminded me of some of the story in HalfLife2. Gun combat is basic, but not bad, and this game is not about combat anyway.

The first person view can make it difficult to keep your bearings, but is fairly well implemented and refreshing in a market saturated with 3rd person views. The controls are a good concept and quite nuanced, but difficult to master, and can feel very inconsistent. You are either someone who quickly "gets it" and then is free to enjoy the game, or like me, you are not quite able to master them. In my case this is also partly because the parkour is inconsistently realistic and arcade at the same time (only someone with a Crysis style Nano-Suit would be able to do those wall running jumps etc). I think many gamers with perfectly normal keyboard/controller talent will still struggle, like I did. I found some segments a bit too difficult and the scripted events were harsh, also resulting in many frustrating re-attempts. The checkpoint save system is a pain if you are struggling with a segment, and in that respect, it renders this game inferior to something like HalfLife2 which has an excellent manual save system. I had so much trouble at times, that I had to look up some youtube walkthroughs for help. It would have helped if there were more advanced training tutorials. Maybe the random loading screen tips could also have helped, but I have a fast SSD, so never got to read them. Parkour controls in Assassin's Creed may be a bit too simple and forgiving, but at least it is a lot less frustrating most of the time.

Annoyingly, there is no way to pause or reload cutscenes, as it is easy to accidentally skip them. This game is a fairly good port to PC, with no mouse accel or lag, and rebindable controls. Fortunately, no Origin account is needed with the steam version.

It is such a pity this game has serious flaws, as it is otherwise quite good and I would have really enjoyed it. I look forward to Mirror's Edge 2, hoping the devs will have ironed out the issues without dumbing the game down.

Conclusion: Whether you will enjoy this game depends entirely on how good you are with your keyboard/controller, and how much trial-and-error gameplay you can tolerate.

Okay so I've played this game for years, it's really nostalgic to play for me. Some people say it's bad, but in reality it was made in 2008. You wouldn't expect a fully realistic parkour game. Either way, I AM OBSESSED WITH IT!!! The fandom is so small though. But if you like old parkour games, and stuff such as a dystopian world I would suggest this game or the second one, Mirrors edge Catalyst. I love the art style with the cutscenes and the characters. Also the soundtrack is so unique and beautiful to listen too!! LOTS OF LOVE FOR THE GAME. The character development is also pretty good, and the story line itself is easy to follow along. Really recommend trying the game out!!

Its such a good game for people who like parkour and/or free running. Original Story and has good mechanics. The only problem is for console users, the controls sometimes are choppy and unresponsive.

I've heard complaints about the vertigo from the heights and that the controls are too hard. Even with minor complaints like these I still think this game kicks ass.

This game has style to spare and a feeling of accomplishment when an area or certain jump is completed. I found the game a little hard at first and the game play a little trial and error in places but that still doesn't diminish my love for this awesome game.

The first person view is going to cause people to either feel exhilarated or upchuck. I was personally thrilled.

If you give the game a REAL chance I think most people will come away feeling satisfied.