Customer Reviews

Mirror's Edge

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I'll start by saying, I'm not including anything about the SecureROM thing. As much as I hate the reasoning behind it, it hasn't caused me any harm so far so consider it off the table with this review.

Mirror's Edge puts you in the trendy running shoes of a Runner, Faith, who gets sucked into a plot to (essentially) overthrown the government of a city in the not-so-distant future. The Runners are couriers that transport packages from point to point using Parkour (sometimes referred to as Freerunning though there is often debate about the similarities). Parkour is about getting between two points in the most efficient way possible. So, say you're on the rooftop of a building. A sane human would take the elevator down and take another elevator (or stairs) up to the other rooftop to get there. A Parkour runner would find a way (on the fly) to leap to the building.

The game makes it easy for you to get used to this idea by providing you with hints on Easy and Normal difficulties (Hard needs to be unlocked by finishing the game in one of the other difficulties and removes those hints). Also, the maps tend to be laid out in a way that makes it pretty intuitive to figure out where you need to go, though at times you're left scratching your head trying to figure out exactly how to get to that little air duct four stories up. There's another hint function that points you in the direction you're supposed to go but of course that doesn't tell you much about how to get there. To make matters worse, you're often being chased by police or Blues as they're referred to, especially as the game progresses.

The look and feel of the game is beautiful (to me at least). From the menu with it's abstract view of the city and great music to the sites and sounds of the cityscape (even the end sequence has a great panning view of the nighttime city). The city is often painted in brilliant colors which breaks sections of the map up.

Combat is generally avoided but there are times when you have no choice but to fight. This is one of the lowpoints of the game. Not so much because of the combat itself, if you pull off a disarm, it's beautiful. But, because disarming is a Dragon's Lair type of game. You have a very small window during which you have to hit the disarm key at the right time to enable the action...and the time you do it isn't the most intuitive if you'd played shooters. As you get to the later parts of the game, the enemies you go up against get much harder to the point where if you don't have the disarm timing thing down right, you might as well just run and take your chances. It even seems like this was intentional at places because at one stage of a map, I was up against two "easier" cops with guns that enabled me to shoot the "untouchable" cops. Only way to survive that one. Ultimately, it seems like they could've made this a lot better and more fun (given how much time you spend on rooftops I'm surprised there isn't a mechanic that lets you grab and toss people off).

Another issue was the PhysX support. It causes hard freezes (I have a Quad Core 2.4Ghz box with a 8800 GT which should've handled it just fine). A patch came out just recently to address PhysX freezes but that didn't seem to change anything. Once disabled, the game runs fine (you can still notice a quick freeze during the same sequences that froze under PhysX...and they're not even areas where there should be a lot of physics being used).

Yet another issue (though minor) I had was with some of the game mechanics. Towards the end of the game, you're required to turn a lot of valve wheels (your opponents can just spin the damned things, you've got to slowly turn them) and you will often find you've really only got a single path to an objective. Not unusual for a game but a game about "free" running, it seems silly that they couldn't have designed the maps to offer a few options rather than one or two.

The last issue, though, is the clincher. And is the reason I dinged the score for this game. I was able to run through the entire game on Normal difficulty in six hours. The game offers a type of multiplayer which is really you running against other people's ghosts which isn't really much of a multiplayer so overall replayability is severly limited. If this game were sold for $20, I'd be fine with it but at full price ($50), it's ridiculous. And it sucks too since I really want to be able to play more of this game.

All in all, if you're an FPS type who wants to have fun trying something new, this game is definitely for you...if it's discounted to the $30's. Also, if you're not an FPS type and wanted to try something, it's definitely worth trying (at $30-35) especially given the fact that you don't have to tote guns (and in a way are penalized for using guns for any long period of time).

[...]

Mirror's Edge is a first person running game developed by DICE. You play as Faith, a free runner. The story is set in a modern utopian society with a totalitarian government. Invasive surveillance is a part of life in this city and runners help exchange information between parties without getting caught.

Gameplay is the most admirable aspect, its not perfect but its very innovative and first of its kind. I was skeptical of how the game is going on handle, and it seemed baffling that DICE would not go the Prince of Persia route and make this a third person game. I remember there being a lot of talk in the press wondering why DICE are not making this a third person game. I am glad that DICE persisted with the first person perspective because Mirror's Edge is very unique.

Graphics can be stunning, some of the views from the tall buildings are beautiful and vertigo inducing. During the frantic chase sequences when there is a real rush to escape, vision tends to get a little blurry by the edges when leapt over rooftops and I could feel my stomach lurch forward at times. Playing this on my 24 inch monitor at 1920x1200 at highest settings with PhysX enabled is real treat. PhysX are supposed to be the selling point for PC version, but I did not find anything special about them - not that they are bad, but we have seen this in games all the way back to Max Payne 2.

I absolutely loved the soundtrack in this game. This ranks right up there with Halo for me. The theme song "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky is now one of my favorite songs. Rest of the soundtrack includes some fast techno music which is perfect during free running segments. Voice acting is quite good as well. Sound is a very impressive aspect of this game.

On the flip side, Mirror's Edge can be frustrating in spite of DICE getting all the hard parts right. They made a game that handles free running extremely well. I never found the camera to be a problem and the controls on the PC are great. I loved the the chase sequences and getting the stunts right is not very difficult. The is hurt mainly by some intentional bad design choices - the scourge of all games. Weapons are extremely weak, it reminded me of Tomb Raider Legend and not in a good way - those of you who played it would know the reference, and melee combat is frustrating and unsatisfying. This only serves to break the momentum needlessly and seemed like an after thought. DICE have developed Battlefield games, so its not as if they are inexperienced in first person shooters, yet the gunplay in Mirror's Edge is very inadequate. I would recommend playing the game on Easy setting to avoid the frustration of combat.

Also, the game is quite short. On Easy I finished the game in about 7 hours. For a free running game to be truly effective, it must have the feel of an open city where the gameplay is not restrictive. Mirror's Edge in this case is like a modern version of the old school platform adventures because most often, there is one and only one way of proceeding. I can understand that at times this might be necessary, but throughout the game, you will be in a huge city, which you cannot explore and the path is very linear - just like an old platformer. I also get the feeling that it could benefited from the no-death mechanic of Prey, Bioshock and Prince of Persia.

Puzzles in the game are fairly intuitive but there are places where the player can get stuck without a clue. I remember a couple of such instances. Thankfully, Xfire's in-game browser supports this game, and I could quickly log into Youtube for the video walkthrough. That said, the free running part is very well done, but there are always some needless breaks in the free flowing gameplay, and the linearity would impede this too.

My biggest complaint is the lack of realizing the full potential, reminds of Quake 4 in a way for not capitalizing on key moments.

I bought this game for $7.22 with shipping on Amazon and I also got an audio CD with the soundtrack, and for that money, it is well worth it. If I paid the full price though, I would be very disappointed. Anything around $15-$20 would be a good price. So if you can find it around that price, this is a must buy.

+ Free running is very well done
+ Visuals
+ Brilliant soundtrack
+ Decent story telling
+ Some segments are truly breathtaking
+ Tight controls

- Very weak combat
- Some puzzles break the momentum
- Short

. Requires online activation

Verdict: Buy it for around $20

Love the inertial preservation mechanics, cartoon cutscenes were incredibly lame. Beautifully lightmapped environments, was definitely worth the $11 I paid for it here on Amazon. Steam wanted twice that, seemed a little steep.

Amazon's proprietary multimedia download software is a terrible idea, I grabbed it on BitTorrent then used a legit serial # to activate.

Game was quite difficult until I figured out how to rebound off a walljump for extra height. I finished it in one session.

The game has a very interesting premise, which I'm sure you've read about already. I was hoping that it wouldn't be the sum total of the game, but it pretty much is. Sure there is a paper thin story to explain why you are hoping and jumping all over the place, but at its heart this is just a 3d platforming game. The thing about platformers that I don't like is they are just repetition until you get the sequence of moves and the timing down. Figuring out how to jump over things just isn't that interesting to me. & the same jumps and stuff you did at the very beginning are the same ones you're doing at the end. And in between is the constant frustration of trying to figure out the game's physics and right combination of button presses to get your character from point a to point b, then from point b to point c, then from point c to point d, etc etc.

So if you're into platformers, then give it a go. If you aren't, then skip this one.

I really love this game and have been playing it quite frequently for a couple of months now. I think everything about it is unique. The graphics are very detailed in some respects and rather crude in others but the overall effect is quite captivating for what this game is trying to capture which is geometry, neon-like colors, spatial perspective, and surface texture. It can quite literally scare the ___ out of me at times with vertigo. This game is all about navigating the angular terrain and, sporadically, combating enemies. At first I found this game incredibly frustrating and it literally took me a solid month of playing to complete it the first time. I had to rely on others' You Tube videos to figure out where to go and how to execute certain moves. Each level had at least two points that I thought I would never get through. But eventually I figured it out and now I can pretty much run through every level at whatever pace I choose with whatever mishaps occurring being due to sloppiness and not anything aggravating. Don't misunderstand, this game might very well frustrate the heck out of you until you solve its peculiarities but once you do I'll bet you'll find it a ton of fun. The story line is actually pretty cogent and the action also quite logical but to be honest I didn't pay attention to either until I got through the game the first time through. Anyway, I have never encountered a game quite like this one and I am very pleased with it (especially since it cost all of $14) although, again, it required a bit of time to understand it. One last thing. I ultimately discovered that one of this game's great gems is that it's fairly open ended; i.e., there are multiple ways of navigating through each level. I started to figure this out from the You Tube videos I watched to get through this the first time (they were different) but imagine my surprise when nothing I watched worked for me and I ultimately stumbled on a completely different approach on my own! I hesitate to call this game "sandbox" in that respect but it is refreshingly unrestricted which means even after you have completed it multiple times there are still fresh routes to take. I would buy it again.

This review is for the PC version of this game, running on a high-end nVidia card (and thus with full "PhysX" support). If you're running a different system, or don't have a higher-end nVidia card or a dedicated Aegia card (sp?), you won't have the same experience.

First off, I bought this on STEAM initially... and it wouldn't run on my (prior) machine. I've had bad luck with some STEAM versions recently, so I went ahead and bought the CD version here on Amazon (if nothing else, I'd get a slick music CD out of the bargain!). I had the same problem with the CD version, but was able to figure out the bug, and so I now have both, though I prefer the CD version because it allows me to run the added-content pack I downloaded (a non-story "race track" environment, not even really intended to be realistic, with no combat), something you can't do with the STEAM version.

The trick with my older card (also nVidia) was a single item in one of the config files. Do a web search to find it...

With my new card (and whole new computer, really), I can run it with maxed-out settings, however, and it's spectacular.

The game is VERY challenging, and it's occasionally frustrating when you have to repeat the same action multiple times (after reloads) to get the timing of a particular action "just so." (I'm taking about hitting keys on the keyboard at exactly the right number of milliseconds apart... my fingers aren't that accurate, dammit!)

But the beauty of the game... the style... the unadulterated FUN of doing things that, I'm certain, would result in me becoming "one with the asphalt" if I ever tried it in real life... that's hard to beat. It's a game I've already replayed, and it doesn't lose the "fun level."

It also doesn't lose the frustration level. I've got good reflexes and good coordination, both on the computer and in real life. Yet it's almost... ALMOST... too challenging for me.

The PhysX support does make the experience a lot better, too... or rather, makes it feel a lot more real. Helicopter blades stirring up debris, glass shattering in believable fashion, tarps blowing in the wind... all of that makes it so immersive I almost believe I'm really up there on the rooftops. The game is good without that, but it's better with it.

Is this my favorite game? No. But I have to admit, I've played this one more than almost anything else in the past four months or so... (Arkham Asylum might have taken a LITTLE more of my time). And for the price... you can't lose. GET IT.

The biggest difference between Mirror's Edge for the PS3 and the PC is that the PC can support Phys-X. This is a relatively new technology that adds a layer of realism by dropping real-world behavior into the game using complex real physics formulae. Believe me, this makes a big difference: shattering glass, blowing smoke, billowing curtains and more are substantially different. Unfortunately, if you don't bring some hefty hardware to the table, you'll run into serious problems that make the game unplayable. Even substantially powerful machines may still have this issue. Patches have been released to address this issue, but even that success will vary depending on the system and the configuration.

If you are experiencing performance problems, the first thing to do is turn Phys-X support off. Next, disable anti-aliasing: the way the world of Mirror's Edge is designed, AA does not add enough to the experience to make it worthwhile for gameplay to suffer.

Mirror's Edge is the first immersive game experience that can truly capture the high-speed acrobatics of Parkour and fuse it with an action game that, in defiance of years of shooters, actually demands that you think of your own survival first. The beauty of it is that there are times when you start thinking like a Runner and suddenly you're doing combination moves that you figured out an instant before you pulled them off: the acrobatics are fluid and seamless and the environment does a good job of guiding you by sparse colors that light the next object you need in neon red.

This game was originally written for the console. While many console ports are very frustrating on the PC, with Mirror's Edge you get a mixed bag. On the one hand, it seems like the keyboard is more responsive (and faster) than the PS3's controller. Aiming is a thousand times easier when you have the pinpoint precision of a mouse instead of the sluggish jerkiness of a thumb stick. On the other hand, PC gamers know the ropes when it comes to games: performance can drop at any time, and for any reason--and when it does, in a fast-paced action game like Mirror's Edge you are screwed.

When those beautiful moves don't work, it can be very, very frustrating. Sometimes the combination you need to work to get out of somewhere isn't obvious, or worse yet, it's extremely hard. You may land on a surface, only to have Faith keep moving and slide off the other side, unable to backpedal under the impetus of your jump. And of course there are also "duh" moments where the "wall-run" key (space bar) being the same as the "jump" key means if you're not spot-on, Faith does the wrong thing, and away you go into space.

Which is the scary part: knuckle-biting adrenaline moments where you just sealed your doom play out all the way to the crunch of hitting the pavement. Being shot to pieces leaves you with a slow-mo falling sensation that will give you amusement-park vertigo and near-death-experience chills. I put this down to simple "oops" mistakes, but one larger complaint that looms is that you are a skinny twenty-something in a roomful of heavily armored SWAT and police soldiers, some of whom are carrying belt-fed miniguns. You are supposed to get a reward for making it all the way through the game without killing anyone, and I find it extremely unlikely, especially on the last level, that this is possible to do. Even more so, you get a trophy if you can avoid getting shot--I simply do not believe that is possible.

This game has been agony and ecstasy for me, and when I beat it I felt exhilarated. If you are a high-energy gamer who has the patience to try and try again, you will find yourself rewarded. If not, you should know ahead of time that there's no cathartic blasting your way out of trouble in this game. Mirror's Edge marks the beginning of a new genre: the First-Person Runner.

mirror's edge, set in a clean, spotless modern city with futuristic architectures. the use of strong contrast colors and city filled with tall buildings makes this the Best-Scenery game.

storyline is boring and not emotional at all.
battle is realistic and had to fight with fists and feet the most time.

Buy this game if you wanna enjoy urban scenery. For hardcore shooting, look for something else.

Simply put, this game is AWESOME, and to me, one of the best ever --- right up there with HL2. The graphics are beautiful, the OST is fantastic and the gameplay is unique and fun. However, because you have to activate it, it loses a star (why don't console gamers have to activate their game?). For the price that it goes for now, you can't pass it up --- I HIGHLY recommend it!!!

This is a good game. I thought to pick this up because I had an amazon gift card. I had to activate the key from amazon, through origin, though. Thanks!