VG Review: Mirror’s Edge [Xbox 360]

It’s hard to look at a new IP and a least not give it a chance. So when it was announced, like everyone else Mirror’s Edge immediately caught my attention. Stressing an unusual gameplay mechanic with stunning eye-candy could catch anyones attention. When the demo released on October 31, it turned into a whole new ballgame. Some of my friends lost interest, while I immediately soaked it all up and became an insomniac pro at the time trials, losing sleep just to gain those six stars (to increase your skill level) by shaving off fractions of a second by finding alternate paths through the courses.

Well, after playing the demo, my intuition served me right and just re-affirmed my decision to pre-order the game. Of course I got my bag from Gamestop, the pre-order freebies are always the best. So I went and picked up yesterday along with my other pro-order for the day Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and got back to my dorm room as soon as possible, and powered it up. For the next 3-4 hours I just sat back and relaxed.

The gameplay in short, if you like the demo, you will probably like the game. I think the demo’s level (which happens to be the first mission) interaction with the “blues” or police is a little disproportional to the difficulty to other encounters later in the game. In fact, there is somewhat of a bigger difficulty curve. The path’s to run in several of the later maps aren’t as clear as well as seen in the demo, which means lots of repeating certain chunks of missions, or lots of stop and go times in order to get your bearings straight again.

Switching gears to some good things about the title. The running is fantastic. The controls and the motion after awhile feel completely natural and are extremely easy to pick up, yet complexed enough to leave hours of practice to master. The UI, thank God there isn’t one, it leaves more space for you to soak up the stunning city landscape. The city, it’s gorgeous. Just like Fallout 3, it is extremely surprising how the lack of color or landscape can be so beautiful. The white glossy city is simply beautiful, and somewhat puzzling at times, like when you see a white tree. Lastly, the story style. The 2D animated story, I will admit, seems a little out of place, but it is actually likable. It is an interesting concept to play in 3D and have the story presented in 2D but whatever. The story is actually somewhat enticing, though a little short, probably around 6-8 hours, depending on how many times you mess up. The beginning of the story is very well done, while the middle gets a little dry, but picks up after a plot twist that leads to a kick ass ending. Unfortunately, I will have to agree with Kotaku’s review, that at certain parts you have completely forgotten why you are going here, or why you are doing X, Y, or Z.

Again, if you liked the demo, I’m pretty sure you would like the game. A play through is definitely warranted, while purchasing may be questionable due to the short length, unless you are an addict to the time trials like myself, I might actually have advise passing on purchasing this title.

SCORE: 8.75/10

-Tim