Mirror’s Edge
Parkour life Every month we celebrate the most important, innovative, or just plain great games from PlayStation’s past. This month, it’s time to stretch our virtual legs, take a run up, and enjoy the sunshine with some ferocious freerunning
While EA is painted as the bad guy of the industry at least once a year for some reason or other, including for playing it safe, let’s not forget that it’s been responsible for greenlighting some unique, memorable titles over nearly four decades. Games such as Dead Space, Unravel, Titanfall… and this. Mirror’s Edge is a game we’ll never forget for all the right reasons.
Mirror’s Edge defied convention in several ways. The story concerns a city some time in the future, where everything is clean, peaceful, and comfortable – but all this luxury comes at the price of a brutal, totalitarian government. Your character, Faith, is a ‘runner’ who delivers info in person to avoid the ubiquitous communication monitoring. Dystopias were nothing new in games even in the noughties, but this dystopia was bright and shiny. Purposefully eschewing the browns and greys that were in vogue in videogames at the time (and arguably are even now), yours is a playground of pure whites, vibrant reds, and sharp blues that leap from the screen.
Although it uses a first-person perspective, this is no first-person shooter. There are enemies, and there are guns, but those aren’t ultimately the important bit. What you’re really doing is clambering up, running along, sliding under, and bounding over pieces of that clean, crisp environment in as fast and stylish a manner as possible. Oddly, perhaps, the developer, Swedish studio DICE, was (and still is) best known for the Battlefield games. Released in the same year as titles such as Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, and Resistance 2, a game like this was a revelation.
To return to the guns, though: Faith can disarm enemies and then use their weapons against other opponents, but this is generally best used as a last resort. You only get whatever ammo is left in the gun, and larger weapons actually provide a significant disadvantage, severely limiting your allimportant movement. Get your hands on a monster like the Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifle and Faith won’t even be able to run. A ‘no guns’ run isn’t just possible in this game, it’s positively
A ‘NO GUNS’ RUN ISN’T JUST POSSIBLE, IT’S POSITIVELY ENCOURAGED.
encouraged. The odds are intentionally stacked against you, constantly pushing you to show your parkour prowess.
LEAP OF FAITH
While wallruns and death-defying leaps are standard for getting from A to B, the game’s true magic makes itself known during each of the many chase sequences. Even with the aid of the optional ‘runner vision’, which highlights the next preferred handhold or object to jump from in red, a flawless run is immensely satisfying. Hurling yourself over a fence to avoid a group of armed guards, bullets singing past as you leap from rooftop to rooftop, bouncing from one obstacle to the next as a helicopter starts to chase you, and then bursting through a door to safety – all done on the first attempt – remains a genuine thrill to this day.
To make the most of the joy of rapid movement through the staggered environments, Mirror’s Edge also included time trials with online leaderboards (which still remain live at time of writing, though the top spots sadly appear to have been hacked). The controls are a little rough around the edges by today’s standards, truth be told – especially when compared with the refined system in the PS4 sequel, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst – but things never feel unfair.
There are no whispers of a new Mirror’s Edge, but the time feels right for another, and we’d love to see it. Dying Light is the only game series that took up the first-person parkour mantle, and Faith should return to show the kids how it’s done.