I don't know if my subconscious has something against writing reviews at are relevant to people because these last few have been some really old games. I'm not to bothered about it I guess, since I'm mostly writing these as an exercise and a log of my own gaming experiences. Then again this might be relevant since a sequel for this game was actually announced for release on the PS4, Xbox One and Windows.
I keep hating on platforms and then I keep getting blown away by platformers. Its like the videogame industry is making games to specifically make my opinion seem stupid. Leaving my angst about the whole issue behind though, lets actually get to talking about the game. Mirror's Edge was developed by EA owned developer DICE and was not surprisingly publish by EA on consoles, PC's and mobile phones.
One of the greatest things that I loved about Mirror's Edge was its art style a huge importance of design as a core element of the game. I could go on for days about the use of color in this game and I'll try not to but one of the biggest reasons I liked this game. Almost since their inception videos have always denoted the color red as the color of danger and evil with blue or green being the color of good and safety. In Mirror's Edge this entire concept is flipped on its head with red and that entire spectrum of colors around it being use to denote safety and blue, green and white being used to denote evil or danger. The reason this was done is because in the game's narrative you play as Hope a member of an underground group attempting to take down the and fight against the current establishment in their city. So, aside from being totally in line with the narrative it took an established trope in the medium of videogames and just flipped it around causing me more than a few instances of death due to subconscious reactions that caused me to run away from anything that was colored red and I just loved that, it broke the norm and forced you to have to deal with the fact that everything that videogames had taught you for the past decade and all your gut reactions were just wrong. To top that off the game's design is just beautiful, the use of solid colors to outline shape and just a strict adherence to a minimalist design for the game make its just a joy to look at and is a big reason that even now in 2014 the game still look amazing and will most likely stay looking amazing for the next few years.
Mirror's Edge is also equally strong in the department of mechanics as it is in its art design. Regardless of what anyone tells you, Mirror's Edge is a platformer, yes it has first person shooter and action adventure elements but at the end of the day at its core Mirror's Edge is a platformer, a really fucking amazing first person parkour platformer but a platformer none the less. The main focus for you as a player is to find the fastest and least dangerous path to get from point A to B in every section and you can go through the entire game without having to kill a single enemy character. This strong focus on movement is reinforced by the fact that if you chain jumps and landings together you pick up speed and if you focus you can go from a state of mind where you playing the game to a state of mind where you are just responding to things as they happen and enter a beautiful state of mind that I'd like call the "happy fun time zone". This state of mind is encouraged by the game as well once you get used to seeing the color red as something good as you begin to think and see multiple moves ahead as yourself as you blaze across the rooftops. Yes, there will be some instances where you will jump into the abyss but even that is compelling experience as its once of the most terrifying deaths I've ever experience in a videogame that is equal parts disorienting and exciting. The entire of experience of dying and having to figure some section of the game out is normal for platforms its just that here the slow segments and fast segments balance each other out quite well and make you appreciate them both.
With those two elements alone Mirror's Edge would be pretty easy for me to recommend, Mirror's Edge strengths don't end there though. It actually has a somewhat interesting narrative to top it all off. At first glance the story look like your standard rebel vs. the system story, but its much more than that. There are issues such family, friendship, freedom, security and much more that are explore. They are explored in a very subtle ways though giving the story that same touch of excellence that both the its game mechanics and design have. The narrative itself is fairly interesting though, it has some decent twists and surprises and some fairly interesting characters to actually keep you engaged.
Mirror's Edge is a game I can't recommend enough to be honest. I'm just so in love with its design I can't believe that a game like that actually managed to make it out into the world without being ravaged by EA executives. Its a must buy for anyone who like platformers and a must try for anyone who likes playing good games. The creative design, solid mechanics and fairly interesting narrative just make it a good all around good time. I would go so far as to call it a modern classic and I'm fairly sure that its going to age fairly well compared to other modern games.
One of the greatest things that I loved about Mirror's Edge was its art style a huge importance of design as a core element of the game. I could go on for days about the use of color in this game and I'll try not to but one of the biggest reasons I liked this game. Almost since their inception videos have always denoted the color red as the color of danger and evil with blue or green being the color of good and safety. In Mirror's Edge this entire concept is flipped on its head with red and that entire spectrum of colors around it being use to denote safety and blue, green and white being used to denote evil or danger. The reason this was done is because in the game's narrative you play as Hope a member of an underground group attempting to take down the and fight against the current establishment in their city. So, aside from being totally in line with the narrative it took an established trope in the medium of videogames and just flipped it around causing me more than a few instances of death due to subconscious reactions that caused me to run away from anything that was colored red and I just loved that, it broke the norm and forced you to have to deal with the fact that everything that videogames had taught you for the past decade and all your gut reactions were just wrong. To top that off the game's design is just beautiful, the use of solid colors to outline shape and just a strict adherence to a minimalist design for the game make its just a joy to look at and is a big reason that even now in 2014 the game still look amazing and will most likely stay looking amazing for the next few years.
Mirror's Edge is also equally strong in the department of mechanics as it is in its art design. Regardless of what anyone tells you, Mirror's Edge is a platformer, yes it has first person shooter and action adventure elements but at the end of the day at its core Mirror's Edge is a platformer, a really fucking amazing first person parkour platformer but a platformer none the less. The main focus for you as a player is to find the fastest and least dangerous path to get from point A to B in every section and you can go through the entire game without having to kill a single enemy character. This strong focus on movement is reinforced by the fact that if you chain jumps and landings together you pick up speed and if you focus you can go from a state of mind where you playing the game to a state of mind where you are just responding to things as they happen and enter a beautiful state of mind that I'd like call the "happy fun time zone". This state of mind is encouraged by the game as well once you get used to seeing the color red as something good as you begin to think and see multiple moves ahead as yourself as you blaze across the rooftops. Yes, there will be some instances where you will jump into the abyss but even that is compelling experience as its once of the most terrifying deaths I've ever experience in a videogame that is equal parts disorienting and exciting. The entire of experience of dying and having to figure some section of the game out is normal for platforms its just that here the slow segments and fast segments balance each other out quite well and make you appreciate them both.
With those two elements alone Mirror's Edge would be pretty easy for me to recommend, Mirror's Edge strengths don't end there though. It actually has a somewhat interesting narrative to top it all off. At first glance the story look like your standard rebel vs. the system story, but its much more than that. There are issues such family, friendship, freedom, security and much more that are explore. They are explored in a very subtle ways though giving the story that same touch of excellence that both the its game mechanics and design have. The narrative itself is fairly interesting though, it has some decent twists and surprises and some fairly interesting characters to actually keep you engaged.
Mirror's Edge is a game I can't recommend enough to be honest. I'm just so in love with its design I can't believe that a game like that actually managed to make it out into the world without being ravaged by EA executives. Its a must buy for anyone who like platformers and a must try for anyone who likes playing good games. The creative design, solid mechanics and fairly interesting narrative just make it a good all around good time. I would go so far as to call it a modern classic and I'm fairly sure that its going to age fairly well compared to other modern games.
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