Mirrors edge has a generic plot, forgettable characters, stock voice acting, and a story that will take first time players a little over a couple hours to beat.

But everything else within it is almost perfect. Your movements are seperated into the most basic actions; Up, down, and turn. Everything is accomplished with these three buttons (combined with WASD) and it feels perfectly intuitive. The time trials, the real challenge of the game, push your knowledge of these combinations and your observations. Half the challenge is making the route, the other half is actually doing it. Its a blend of ability and ingenuity; you cant brute force any course with just reactions or just scouting.

The combat is beautifully simple too. When you're not jumping around and high speeds kicking men harder than a horse, you're shooting them too. You punch a guy, pick up his gun, shoot another, run out of ammo, drop said gun. No interface, no ammo count, no realoding. Just use and lose.

The artstyle is impeccable, in that there barely is one. The game is set in a photo-realistic contemporary city, the only style is the strong use of large blocks of color. This creates an atmosphere of a beautiful city that isnt too futuristic to be real, that you could find somewhere in the world, which sucks the player in to the ambiance even more. You start listening to the AC units, the traffic, the planes overhead. Even little textures for notes and emergency shut off buttons are incredibly high rez, contributing to the feeling that nothing was overlooked, everything is as sharp as possible.

The music is done by Solar Fields, and its hard to say much more definitivley. The game switches from idle trapising to locked room gunfights and its hard to say where it changed. It makes you just want to sit and watch the poorly animated cars go by.

Mirrors Edge is a game that can be beaten in under half an hour, but I dont think Ill ever be done with it.

Mirrors edge has a generic plot, forgettable characters, stock voice acting, and a story that will take first time players a little over a couple hours to beat. But everything else within it is almost perfect. Your movements are seperated into the most basic actions; Up, down, and turn. Everything is accomplished with these three buttons (combined with WASD) and it feels perfectly intuitive. The time trials, the real challenge of the game, push your knowledge of these combinations and your observations. Half the challenge is making the route, the other half is actually doing it. Its a blend of ability and ingenuity; you cant brute force any course with just reactions or just scouting. The combat is beautifully simple too. When you're not jumping around and high speeds kicking men harder than a horse, you're shooting them too. You punch a guy, pick up his gun, shoot another, run out of ammo, drop said gun. No interface, no ammo count, no realoding. Just use and lose. The artstyle is impeccable, in that there barely is one. The game is set in a photo-realistic contemporary city, the only style is the strong use of large blocks of color. This creates an atmosphere of a beautiful city that isnt too futuristic to be real, that you could find somewhere in the world, which sucks the player in to the ambiance even more. You start listening to the AC units, the traffic, the planes overhead. Even little textures for notes and emergency shut off buttons are incredibly high rez, contributing to the feeling that nothing was overlooked, everything is as sharp as possible. The music is done by Solar Fields, and its hard to say much more definitivley. The game switches from idle trapising to locked room gunfights and its hard to say where it changed. It makes you just want to sit and watch the poorly animated cars go by. Mirrors Edge is a game that can be beaten in under half an hour, but I dont think Ill ever be done with it.