PS3 Recap: Mirror’s Edge
by: Oliver Layco
A recurring theme throughout my little list of PS3 greatest hits is that I didn’t hear about games until a year or so later. This holds true for the fourth title on my list which is Mirror’s Edge. While it did receive critical success, it didn’t receive great commercial success. When I first picked this one up, what drew me in was how they would weave a game around the concept of parkour, or free-running. That sort of activity has always peaked my interest and is still something I would like to get into at some point. As for how it’s executed in this game, it is done pretty perfectly; even just the running mechanics are done really well. The motions are fluid and the only hiccup that can mess up a players’ flow is the mistiming of a button press. However, that is one of the biggest achievements and annoyances throughout the game. While you’re running along you could pull of a successful combo of run, jump, turn, jump and be ecstatic that one second to frustrating yourself by tripping over something you overlooked. At the end of the day though, it’s a welcome challenge to the player to try and perfect their skills in this game. As for the story, it actually felt pretty decent. The players control a runner named Faith. She lives in a world where there is virtually no crime, but the government in charge watches everything and is in control of all communication. The main theme that I got from this game is questioning whether or not people would give up certain freedoms for safety. As for Faith, she is part of a rebel group that chooses to forego all forms of electronic communication to get in contact with other groups. The government catches and is constantly trying to bring these groups down; chaos ensues and while Faith is delivering packages she is always on the run from the government. It’s a pretty simple concept and unfortunately too short. I would have enjoyed running around more and being given more chances to explore the world. Hopefully when the sequel is out on the PS4 it’s a more expansive world. One other nice change they did was they had Faith be a girl. While this shouldn’t be that big of a deal, there are very few games where the main character could either be a girl or boy and they went with the former; so props to EA for that. As for the world this is set in, it’s a very monochromatic style. Just the overall art style is very shaded and it fits. Different sections in the game are usually color coded with the only other color present is a white background. While some may be put off by this plain style, I think it’s beautifully done and in some ways reflects the society that is present. After beating the main story, the only options are to play through the story again and there are some time trial stages; although, there honestly isn’t much else they could do with this. There’s no realistic way they could incorporate an online mode so this suffices and the perfectionist in players will have them returning and mastering the routes. I’m looking forward to the sequel of this one on the next generation of consoles and how they retain the simplistic look yet make it look better. Hopefully also it receives more commercial attention so that more players can experience this.