Review: Mirror's Edge (videogame)

"We call ourselves Runners. We exist on the edge between the gloss and the reality: the mirror's edge."

Current mood: CATALYST CATALYST CATALYST

Since Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be out on May 24th next year, I've decided to write a review on the game which caused me to frantically search every game store like a mad dog. I first heard about Mirror's Edge in a video about top 10 hottest video game gals (seriously don't judge) and the main character Faith was number 10. It piked my curiosity so I did research and that's how I found Mirror's Edge!

Mirror's Edge stars Faith Connors, a young runner who operates in the City of Glass aka "The City". Runners are an illegal underground courier group who operate independently from the City's legal security and surveillance measures. As such they are a popular option for people to transport private and sensitive documents and such across the city without the risk of being intruded by the police aka "Blues".

Faith tells the story of how the development of The City came. There were riots, but eventually people were subdued. The City may look perfect, but is just a cage for the people. Surveillance is tight, but as long as you follow the rules, you live comfortably. Those who refuse to abide the rules were outcasts, and they become the Runner's best clients.


Faith is back on the job after taking a break due to injuries. Soon after training she finds her sister, Kate in trouble. Kate is a dedicated cop, but someone was trying to frame her for the murder of a mayor candidate. Kate refuses any help from Faith, and surrenders to the police. Faith barely escapes the crime scene, and becomes the no.1 wanted criminal in The City. Since then Runners have been targeted by the Blues.

With the help of her Tracker, Mercury, she investigates further into the murder, only to realize that things are not what they seem. She meets former Runner Jacknife, who seems to know something, but she failed to get any details from him. While investigating Pirandello Kruger security corporation, she stumbles upon Project Icarus, an operation to bring down Runners. Faith escapes and tells Mercury to warn the other Runners about Project Icarus. After much investigation, Faith tracks down a mysterious figure who was lurking around. It turned out to be Celeste, her friend and colleague. She was the one who killed the candidate and made Kate her scapegoat; and Celeste didn't think it would be Faith's sister.


Kate's trial had come to a conclusion: her punishment was death. Faith saves Kate and tells her to go to Mercury, while she distracts the cops. Unfortunately when Faith gets back, the hideout was attacked and Kate was nowhere to be seen. Mercury was badly injured, and he will not survive the wounds. Using his last breath, Mercury tells Faith that Kate has been taken to the Shard.

Faith finds Kate on top of the Shard with Jacknife. He says there are 'bigger fish to fry' and escapes in a helicopter... or does he? Faith jumps onto the helicopter and saves Kate before it explodes, and that's the story, for now. Later we find out that Faith and Kate are on the run from cops. Now who's excited for Catalyst?

Mirror's Edge is BEAUTIFUL, I'm not even kidding. And I'm pretty sure the upcoming Catalyst will blow my mind too! By the way starting from this review (for games) I'll leave out the programming section because I suck at game mechanics so I'll just put everything in the gameplay section.

Gameplay: 10 minus 1 because of no free roaming. I would have gave it a full score if not for that. The concept of first-person free-running was refreshing to me, and the COLORS OH-AM-GEE!!! To be honest the colors were what made me so interested in Mirror's Edge. Bright, saturated palettes with white, lack of red, because that is the Runners color. Different from the parkour in AC was it needs the player to be alert and concentrate while playing. One small mistake with the controls and you're dead!

Story: 7 because the story was not my focus at all while paying this game. It was good, anyhow. The City was my kind of ideal city, with skyscrapers and highways all around! Politics are scary. Ugh... AND WHO GAVE DICE THE RIGHT TO KILL MERCURY HUH?! WHO?! The ending's a cliffhanger, and while we thought the newest ME game was a sequel... we were fooled.

Soundtrack: Don't get me started on the soundtrack. Solar Fields did an amazing job setting the whole atmosphere for the game. In fact, it got me into ambient music! A solid (snake) 10! If I could stroll in The City, this will be what's playing in my mind in loops.

Overall rating: Considering everything, a 7 would suffice. No free roaming was a downer, but the designs and music (ooohhh the music) made up for most of the game. Mirror's Edge is precious because no one really knows about this game and it was released in 2009 so it was hard for me to find it anywhere. If I hadn't scanned the back of the counter I would have never found this game!