Alone in the Dark PC and 360 Review

Mirror’s Edge, from DICE and EA, is one of the most hard-edged, demanding games I’ve played in a while. It also perfectly balances white-knuckle thrills with legitimate challenges that force you to get better at the game. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of old-school platforming action, or you just want to play something unlike anything else out there, get ready for a real treat.

Mirror’s Edge is the story of Faith, a “runner” in a futuristic city ruled by a corrupt government and policed by mercenaries. Runners are essentially underground postal workers, delivering messages between the last few free factions in the city. Faith’s sister is a cop for the city, and she gets framed for a murder she has nothing to do with. This act starts a plot that involves government conspiracies, guys in helicopters, and lots of exhilarating chase sequences. Mirror’s Edge is an action platforming game, centered mainly on traversing a number of interesting areas while the cops are on your tail. The one key difference from other platformers is that this game takes place entirely in the first- person perspective.

Faith is a master of the art of Parkour, which means she can run, jump, and flip off of objects with ease. Think of the Prince of Persia games, but played in first person. The game also has a relentless pace, meaning that it never lets up and really gets your blood flowing. The controls are the perfect mix of simplicity and responsiveness. You have one button for “down” and one button for “up” and these perform contextually based on where you press them and how good your timing is. Combat is present as well, and takes the form of mainly hand-to-hand melee moves, though Faith can use guns as well. If she uses a pistol, she can still do all of her neat jumping moves, but if she picks up anything heavier, it slows her down. This is to encourage you to use your jumping and running abilities rather than going toe-to-toe with each and every enemy. It’s a game unlike anything else that’s out there, and it rivals the challenge of the old NES platformers, but in a good way. The game doesn’t always demand perfect timing and precision, but it does reward it.

Graphically, Mirror’s Edge is one of the best uses of the Unreal Engine on the market. They gutted the lighting engine out and replaced it with an engine known as “Beast.” The entire game has a bright and colorful look to it that really makes the art stand out as unique as compared to other first-person games. The cutscenes in the game aren’t in-engine, but instead are hand-animated 2D cutscenes. They look great and fit well with the style of the game. The game runs equally well on both platforms. If you install the game on the 360, you’ll get slightly faster load times than on the PS3, which itself has a mandatory installation that doesn’t take too long. The PS3 version has trophies, and also some basic motion controls for things like balancing on beams, but I found it easier to play with those turned off. If you can wait until January of 09 and have a PC with an Nvidia 8800 or better, you might want to wait for the PC version of the game. It’s going to have extra PhysX accelerated elements that you can run with Nvidia’s cards. These look really cool, so expect a full report on that in January.

The sound is serviceable, but the visuals tend to outdo it. The one exception to that is the music. Every piece of music in the game is beautiful, a mix of traditional orchestral elements and a bit of a techno sound. The title track is called “Still Alive,” but it has nothing to do with Valve’s Portal.

The game doesn’t have any multiplayer to speak of, and it’s only about 6 hours long. However, the game is fun enough to warrant multiple playthroughs, and it also has a whole host of speedrun and time trial challenges to tackle once you finish the main game. This game is heaven if you’re at all interested in the idea of speedruns, or are generally a perfectionist when it comes to gaming. Even if you’re not, you can still have a good time with the content here, and it’s worth the full asking price.

Mirror’s Edge does thing that no other game has with the first-person perspective. The closest analogy I can come up with is playing the chase scenes from the Matrix movies in first-person. It’s a fast-paced game full of death-defying leaps and incredible vistas, and a must-play if you are looking for an action game unlike anything else. Recommended for action fans looking for something new. Also recommended if you’re someone who remembers the old Xbox game from Namco called Breakdown. That’s this game’s closest cousin. This game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, check out www.mirrorsedge.com.


	Mirror’s Edge 360/PS3 Review…5 out of 5 By Alex Rowe Mirror’s Edge, from DICE and EA, is one of the most hard-edged, demanding games I’ve played in a while. It also perfectly balances white-knuckle thrills with legitimate challenges that force you to get better at the game. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of old-school platforming action, or you just want to play something unlike anything else out there, get ready for a real treat. Mirror’s Edge is the story of Faith, a “runner” in a futuristic city ruled by a corrupt government and policed by mercenaries. Runners are essentially underground postal workers, delivering messages between the last few free factions in the city. Faith’s sister is a cop for the city, and she gets framed for a murder she has nothing to do with. This act starts a plot that involves government conspiracies, guys in helicopters, and lots of exhilarating chase sequences. Mirror’s Edge is an action platforming game, centered mainly on traversing a number of interesting areas while the cops are on your tail. The one key difference from other platformers is that this game takes place entirely in the first- person perspective. Faith is a master of the art of Parkour, which means she can run, jump, and flip off of objects with ease. Think of the Prince of Persia games, but played in first person. The game also has a relentless pace, meaning that it never lets up and really gets your blood flowing. The controls are the perfect mix of simplicity and responsiveness. You have one button for “down” and one button for “up” and these perform contextually based on where you press them and how good your timing is. Combat is present as well, and takes the form of mainly hand-to-hand melee moves, though Faith can use guns as well. If she uses a pistol, she can still do all of her neat jumping moves, but if she picks up anything heavier, it slows her down. This is to encourage you to use your jumping and running abilities rather than going toe-to-toe with each and every enemy. It’s a game unlike anything else that’s out there, and it rivals the challenge of the old NES platformers, but in a good way. The game doesn’t always demand perfect timing and precision, but it does reward it. Graphically, Mirror’s Edge is one of the best uses of the Unreal Engine on the market. They gutted the lighting engine out and replaced it with an engine known as “Beast.” The entire game has a bright and colorful look to it that really makes the art stand out as unique as compared to other first-person games. The cutscenes in the game aren’t in-engine, but instead are hand-animated 2D cutscenes. They look great and fit well with the style of the game. The game runs equally well on both platforms. If you install the game on the 360, you’ll get slightly faster load times than on the PS3, which itself has a mandatory installation that doesn’t take too long. The PS3 version has trophies, and also some basic motion controls for things like balancing on beams, but I found it easier to play with those turned off. If you can wait until January of 09 and have a PC with an Nvidia 8800 or better, you might want to wait for the PC version of the game. It’s going to have extra PhysX accelerated elements that you can run with Nvidia’s cards. These look really cool, so expect a full report on that in January. The sound is serviceable, but the visuals tend to outdo it. The one exception to that is the music. Every piece of music in the game is beautiful, a mix of traditional orchestral elements and a bit of a techno sound. The title track is called “Still Alive,” but it has nothing to do with Valve’s Portal. The game doesn’t have any multiplayer to speak of, and it’s only about 6 hours long. However, the game is fun enough to warrant multiple playthroughs, and it also has a whole host of speedrun and time trial challenges to tackle once you finish the main game. This game is heaven if you’re at all interested in the idea of speedruns, or are generally a perfectionist when it comes to gaming. Even if you’re not, you can still have a good time with the content here, and it’s worth the full asking price. Mirror’s Edge does thing that no other game has with the first-person perspective. The closest analogy I can come up with is playing the chase scenes from the Matrix movies in first-person. It’s a fast-paced game full of death-defying leaps and incredible vistas, and a must-play if you are looking for an action game unlike anything else. Recommended for action fans looking for something new. Also recommended if you’re someone who remembers the old Xbox game from Namco called Breakdown. That’s this game’s closest cousin. This game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, check out www.mirrorsedge.com.