Mirror's Edge isn't just a shooter. It's actually a sort of anti-shooter. Only with guns. It takes the basic shape and feel of an FPS, but then ditches the focus on destruction and fury and instead goes for elegance and style - and still does guns really well, when it feels like it.
You're Faith, resident of an ominously sanitised near-future city. But the arctic cleanliness masks political corruption and police brutality. Criminals and dissidents have been pushed underground, resulting in the foundation of a covert network of runners - couriers carrying sensitive packages of information out of sight from heavily monitored regular channels.
Faith is one of these couriers - impossibly athletic, sure-footed and fast - and she's about to get tangled up in the city's darker side because her city cop sister's been framed for murder.
All of which is really just an excuse to get you running, picking routes over rooftops, scurrying across walls and sliding secretly through the impeccable metropolis. The good news is that it works. It really feels like you're running - or jumping, or shimmying, or skidding.
The controls are as simple as up and down. Literally, in fact - they're context-sensitive so that any press of L1 makes you go up for jumps, wall runs, skipping over fences, and any press of L2 does the opposite, for sliding under obstacles, nailing smooth landings or dropping from ledges.
There's other stuff - like pressing 'X' to activate the odd switch or button, and R1 to whip around 180 degrees - but the key is the intuitive simplicity of the 'over and under' control mechanic. With such simple-to-master controls it lets you concentrate on the more important issue of going as fast as possible without stopping.
The whole deal is about momentum. Run uninterrupted for more than a few steps and Faith picks up speed, with her breath getting louder and her vision blurred at the periphery. The trick is keeping it this way, preserving your momentum as you duck pipes, scale crates and leap from rooftop to rooftop.
It's all in the timing - hitting L1 to vault for a handhold rather than knocking into a wall, or L2 to roll out of a high jump without a screen-reddening crunch. It's all about speed, agility and grace.
Stringing together a flat-out run with the wide-angled first person perspective is properly exhilarating. You experience both tension and relief with every upcoming obstacle neatly dealt with and vertigo-spinning gap safely crossed.
Mirror's Edge
Official trailer
1:36Cool-looking gameplay trailer
Mirror's Edge
Official trailer
1:36Cool-looking gameplay trailer
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The other thing about not having a thunder-clapping gun smacked centre-screen is that it gives you a chance to really take the world in. And in Mirror's Edge, there's a lot to appreciate. Like the echoing rooftop silence, broken only by the hum and throb of distance traffic and an occasional bird's flutter.
Or the game's stern, assured use of colour, breaking up the dystopic white with stark, single-tone themed levels - the grimy green of a chasmous storm drain, the deep polished blue of an illegally-entered office - and the streaking red of obstacles highlighted by Faith's heightened runner vision senses (which is a bit of a cheat, strictly speaking, but adds to rather than spoils the game's looks).
Maybe the most important thing of all is that the whole package - the controls, the responsiveness, the perspective - works together to the point that when you mess up, it feels like it's your own fault. When you fall it doesn't feel like you're struggling with a broken machine, it feels like you're too clumsy to control it.
The game's only real problems come when you slow down. You're chased constantly by either the cops or city's sinister private security, on foot and in the air by chopper. They fire at you all the time, which gives everything a zinging sense of danger and pace. Actually, more than just a sense - slow up in the open and they tear you to shreds.
Mostly this is fine because you can run through and past them, and you're pretty much untouchable at top speed. But on a couple of occasions - during one late-on descent down a series of stairways into a office block lobby in particular - it feels like you've no alternative but to take everyone out, which feels less fluid than the running and consequently properly hard.
Faith can disarm opponents with 'triangle' when their guns go red during melee attacks, but when the enemies get tougher it feels imprecise and unfair. And even though the gun firing itself is totally fine (and sounds brilliantly brash and loud) it feels awkward and wrong alongside what else is here.
These few moments aside, though, Mirror's Edge is an extraordinary and special game. It's beautiful and stylish like nothing else on PS3, and skews the over-worked mechanic of first person shooting into a new, daring and - when it clicks - brilliant direction.
Not your average gaming experience - Mirror's Edge takes the FPS format and flips it on its head. A brilliant and unique experience, even if the small shooting parts aren't quite up to scratch.
i'm tired of reading reviews which mention some pretty big flaws that end up getting 9/10 scores. a game with that rating should click all of the time not some of the time. the amount of times i've bought a game with a 9/10 score and been hugely disapointed isn't funny
Is on my list... Got Bioshock and now LBP to finish first. Played the demo, like the demo so will probably get this next.. but then there's Resistance 2, Kill Zone 2 to look out for too... *Oomph* that's the sound of my wallet getting punched square in the balls... Its a good time to be a PS3 owner.. plus the wii is on ebay right now! Seeya wii!
After testing them both on my TV I will be purchasing the 360 version. (Can't beat a good bit of AA).
Yeah, Im still not sure which version to get. The PS3 looks sharper but can be slightly jerky and yet the 360 runs smoother but not as sharp. I shall wait and see if there any more differances before I splash out.
I must have been the only person to find the controls fiddly and awkward then. Well it's more the first person view that I find awkward to work with. When running towards a ledge for instance, it's easy to miss-time it. You think you're by the edge when it's actually a step or two more away. I'm sure you'd get used to it after a while, but it was damn frustrating for me.
"Yeah, Im still not sure which version to get. The PS3 looks sharper but can be slightly jerky and yet the 360 runs smoother but not as sharp. I shall wait and see if there any more differances before I splash out."
Have you played both versions? The ps3 version only upscales to 720p where as the 360 to 1080p.
"Yeah, Im still not sure which version to get. The PS3 looks sharper but can be slightly jerky and yet the 360 runs smoother but not as sharp. I shall wait and see if there any more differances before I splash out."
Have you played both versions? The ps3 version only upscales to 720p where as the 360 to 1080p.
AA beats horrid jaggies hands down!
360 it is then. Now I shall wait to see if Morrisons sell it for Ł29.99 like they did with gears 2.
"Yeah, Im still not sure which version to get. The PS3 looks sharper but can be slightly jerky and yet the 360 runs smoother but not as sharp. I shall wait and see if there any more differances before I splash out."
Have you played both versions? The ps3 version only upscales to 720p where as the 360 to 1080p.
AA beats horrid jaggies hands down!
erm sorry mate, 360 doesn't support 1080p... duno where you making up these stories from?
Interesting review... I played the demo through a couple of times, and while I found it interesting in the idea department, I didn't think it was all that absorbing - and I certainly had no desire to go back and try it again (or continue playing it, if it was the full version).
And then I watched Playr on Bravo yesterday. They said their fears regarding the title were realised, and that it was little more than a glorified tech demo, with a hugely predictable story (penned by the daughter of Terry Pratchet, apparently). They said it went through the cycle of try, die, retry way too much, and multiple enemies on the screen at once almost always spelt doom. They even found themselves wishing for a permanent firearm, and really, I can't see why they didn't include one.
Anyway, their overall score was 6/10, which I find much more realistic considering my experience of the game.
I suspect the innevitable Mirrors Edge 2 will be far better though.
Oh, and ^^, you are correct. No 1080 output for the 360.
Interesting review... I played the demo through a couple of times, and while I found it interesting in the idea department, I didn't think it was all that absorbing - and I certainly had no desire to go back and try it again (or continue playing it, if it was the full version).
And then I watched Playr on Bravo yesterday. They said their fears regarding the title were realised, and that it was little more than a glorified tech demo, with a hugely predictable story (penned by the daughter of Terry Pratchet, apparently). They said it went through the cycle of try, die, retry way too much, and multiple enemies on the screen at once almost always spelt doom. They even found themselves wishing for a permanent firearm, and really, I can't see why they didn't include one.
Anyway, their overall score was 6/10, which I find much more realistic considering my experience of the game.
I suspect the innevitable Mirrors Edge 2 will be far better though.
I watched the Playr review as well, and aside from confirming my fears for the game, more style over substance, that it can be completed in little over 5 hours with a very predictable plot look spot on.
And it seems that Terry got all the writing talent in the Pratchet family as well... I'll pass on this one.
erm sorry mate, 360 doesn't support 1080p... duno where you making up these stories from?
360 has supported 1080p for ages now thanks to an update ages ago. This is why you'll see some games stating 1080p on the back on their box.
Well, colour me educated then. When I set my system up back in December, the option to output in 1080 wasn't there, so I've never bother to look since.
Posted by liveswired "Yeah, Im still not sure which version to get. The PS3 looks sharper but can be slightly jerky and yet the 360 runs smoother but not as sharp. I shall wait and see if there any more differances before I splash out."
Have you played both versions? The ps3 version only upscales to 720p where as the 360 to 1080p.
AA beats horrid jaggies hands down!
DOnt be stupid, everyone knows that PS3 beats 360 hands down , And i cant see how they can send a patch to give you 1080p its built in the processor
Just more tripe spouting out of 360 mouths, ebryone knows that Mirrrors Edge was designed on ps3 hardware and it will surpass 360 for looks!!
You 360 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your inferior console!
yes guys - read the hands on review by Play magazine (Nov Issue)... Quoted PS3 version as running much smoother, so much so that he stated he would be surprised if they could get the 360 version to run nearly as smooth. He also mentioned the same thing on Tomb Raider Underworld - that the games thrives on the PS3 hardware. Folks- i too owned a 360, after my second unit died (Red ring of death) i had finished the original gears of war (only game i really liked) anyway - so i tossed it in the trash! (this is for real people). Bought a PS3 and have been happy since. I am no fanboy either... having owner every system out there, including the Wii. Later
"And then I watched Playr on Bravo yesterday. They said their fears regarding the title were realised, and that it was little more than a glorified tech demo, with a hugely predictable story (penned by the daughter of Terry Pratchet, apparently). They said it went through the cycle of try, die, retry way too much, and multiple enemies on the screen at once almost always spelt doom. They even found themselves wishing for a permanent firearm, and really, I can't see why they didn't include one.
Anyway, their overall score was 6/10, which I find much more realistic considering my experience of the game."
I cannot believe you listen to that rubbish program, they dont know anything about games, Sam Delaney was a clueless w*nker and wasn't funny at all although he believed he was, and the same can be sr the new guy who's just a scrotum.
Quoted PS3 version as running much smoother, so much so that he stated he would be surprised if they could get the 360 version to run nearly as smooth.
I seriously doubt that the graphics in this game (complete with aliasing problems) should challenge either system. It looks like the Wii should be able to handle it too. I have a PS3 and 360 and so far the 360 has impressed me more. The potential is there in the PS3, but it seems to be difficult to unlock. Anyway, I'd like to give this game a go, but suspect it has little replay value. A sequel will probably flesh it out a little more, and offer a longer experience.
Dickieshort: 360 DOES do 1080p. it has done for ages. if you owned one you would know. I own ps3 wii and 360 by the way so a fanboy I am not.
The reason why you cant see how a system can be updated to support a different resolution is because you have no idea how technology works.
Being an I.T technician, I can reassure it is perfectly feasible. Its possible to make an SD reader an SDHC reader with a firmware update. its possible to make a PC support higher resolutions with updates.
and it's not the processor that does the resolution, its the graphics card. as long as any hardware is powerful enough to output what its asked to do, a firmware update can make any hardware change.
take a PC graphics card for example. the card can only display up to 1280 x 1024. using a firmware update, you can make the card display a widescreen res 1280 x 720. a firmware is just a language hardware can understand.
if i say to you "kjeu ekn uut flaaj" means nothing? if i then say k = go up J = 2 steps left u = forward on a z axis, etc, you can they understand what it means. without that "language" you wouldn't know what to do with your youself AKA your hardware.
so if the 360 sez 1080p wtf!? a firmware then sez, "no stupid, THIS is what you need to do"
360: "oooh i get it now, yeah no prob, be dead easy with my graphics card"
Posted by liveswired DOnt be stupid, everyone knows that PS3 beats 360 hands down , And i cant see how they can send a patch to give you 1080p its built in the processor
Just more tripe spouting out of 360 mouths, ebryone knows that Mirrrors Edge was designed on ps3 hardware and it will surpass 360 for looks!!
You 360 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your inferior console!
Hate to break it to you the xbox 360 can upscale every game to 1080i/p and it uses software to do so, if the PS3 is so great then why are a majority of its games 720p only with no AA.
As for it being designed on PS3 hardware you are just making you look like a clueless tool, everyone knows that a majority of developers use the 360 as the main development platform because its much easier to develop and code games for the Xenon cpu than it is the Cell cpu in the PS3.
As for it being designed on PS3 hardware you are just making you look like a clueless tool, everyone knows that a majority of developers use the 360 as the main development platform because its much easier to develop and code games for the Xenon cpu than it is the Cell cpu in the PS3.
Go do some research before you spout nonsense.
Yeah, about that...
We're already seeing multi-format titles being lead on PS3, including the great looking Mirror's Edge from DICE
I'm awaiting evidence to the contrary, or an apology to that fanboy.
Actually... Don't bother yourself with the latter.
dickieshort81 wrote: Posted by liveswired DOnt be stupid, everyone knows that PS3 beats 360 hands down , And i cant see how they can send a patch to give you 1080p its built in the processor
Just more tripe spouting out of 360 mouths, ebryone knows that Mirrrors Edge was designed on ps3 hardware and it will surpass 360 for looks!!
You 360 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your inferior console!
Hate to break it to you but my xbox can do it and we've been able to do it since this time last year.
the last one has been out for 2 years in the spring. this is just to name a few but all came out last year and all new games (good games btw) are all 1080p upscale.
don't know where you get your information?? you ps3 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your overpriced rip-off of a console (blu-ray player by another name)! sell it on ebay and use the profit to buy a 360.
if you don't believe me look on the backs of those boxes in game or morrisons or wal-mart if u live in america
dickieshort81 wrote: Posted by liveswired DOnt be stupid, everyone knows that PS3 beats 360 hands down , And i cant see how they can send a patch to give you 1080p its built in the processor
Just more tripe spouting out of 360 mouths, ebryone knows that Mirrrors Edge was designed on ps3 hardware and it will surpass 360 for looks!!
You 360 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your inferior console!
the last one has been out for 2 years in the spring. this is just to name a few but all came out last year and all new games (good games btw) are all 1080p upscale.
don't know where you get your information?? you ps3 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your overpriced rip-off of a console (blu-ray player by another name)! sell it on ebay and use the profit to buy a 360.
if you don't believe me look on the backs of those boxes in game or morrisons or wal-mart if u live in america
Hate to break it to you but my xbox can do it and we've been able to do it since this time last year.
Simpy put, 360 games are NOT native 1080p. They advertise it on the back of the retail case but the game resolution is not native 1080p. Its upscaled artificially by the 360 which can result in some graphics problems. The back of the PS3 cases say 720p and if, only when the game is native ike CODWAW or GT prologue 5, it will then say 1080p. To some degree saying 1080p when it isn't is false advertising (even GTA4 on PS3 - Naughty Sony). For example, Colin Mcrae looks better on the PS3 even with the 360 upscaling it.
Oh, and btw. Halo 3 is NOT 1080p. Its native res is less than 720p. Well known fact. GTA4 is only 720p. Well known fact. 360 fanboys just love to talk themselves up don't they? Pathetic.
Oh, quick comment on the 25 million predicted milestone - knowing professional con artists like MS this will include all the replacement consoles sent out to cover the RROD travesty.
im gona have nightmares after reading all that. Got my ps3 version of mirrors edge today and its awesome. Every problem everyone says Is there but they all add to the realisim I recon, I just wish you could hit pedestrians on the way down from a fall . The gun fights I find are made harder than your normal FPS and have me running for cover or having to work my way round the room mid air which is something I've never had to do so surley its worth 9/10 simply for finally smashing the glass of the (in my opinion) very dry and very boring FPS genre.
OOO btw yea the ps3 rules because I have one...and cant afford a 360...yea suck on that...
Right, I know before I said it was all awesome, and it is...but...I just finished it the day after purchase and I am NOT a fast gamer. I'd recomend renting this instead of buying it much as I hate to say it. Ł40 is not worth 2 nights of pleasure...at least not with a video game.
dickieshort81 wrote: Posted by liveswired DOnt be stupid, everyone knows that PS3 beats 360 hands down , And i cant see how they can send a patch to give you 1080p its built in the processor
Just more tripe spouting out of 360 mouths, ebryone knows that Mirrrors Edge was designed on ps3 hardware and it will surpass 360 for looks!!
You 360 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your inferior console!
the last one has been out for 2 years in the spring. this is just to name a few but all came out last year and all new games (good games btw) are all 1080p upscale.
don't know where you get your information?? you ps3 fanboys make me laugh with exagerrations of your overpriced rip-off of a console (blu-ray player by another name)! sell it on ebay and use the profit to buy a 360.
if you don't believe me look on the backs of those boxes in game or morrisons or wal-mart if u live in america
Hate to break it to you but my xbox can do it and we've been able to do it since this time last year.
Simpy put, 360 games are NOT native 1080p. They advertise it on the back of the retail case but the game resolution is not native 1080p. Its upscaled artificially by the 360 which can result in some graphics problems. The back of the PS3 cases say 720p and if, only when the game is native ike CODWAW or GT prologue 5, it will then say 1080p. To some degree saying 1080p when it isn't is false advertising (even GTA4 on PS3 - Naughty Sony). For example, Colin Mcrae looks better on the PS3 even with the 360 upscaling it.
Oh, and btw. Halo 3 is NOT 1080p. Its native res is less than 720p. Well known fact. GTA4 is only 720p. Well known fact. 360 fanboys just love to talk themselves up don't they? Pathetic.
Oh, quick comment on the 25 million predicted milestone - knowing professional con artists like MS this will include all the replacement consoles sent out to cover the RROD travesty.
Not this whining f****t again? The 360 has some games that render natively in 1080p and the 360's scaler is superior to that of the PS3 which upscales to dumb resolutions like 960x1080. How many other games could you list that look better on PS3 apart from Colin McRae? That's your long list of 1 game right. LOL. Virtually all cross-platform games are better on the 360 and it'll always be that way so you better get used to it. Mirror's Edge renders at 1280x720 on the PS3 and 360, but the PS3 version has no anti-aliasing so it's jaggie city. Better than being blurred to s**t like some other PS3 games though eh?
MS don't include RROD replacements in sales figures, just like Sony don't include the many PS3s that suddenly stop reading discs (PS2 DREs all over again?) in their sales figures. It's just that the PS3 has been a flop, that's all, and the saviour of the PS3, LittleBigFlop, has been yet another in a long line of damp squibs that haven't sold for s**t. Hahahaha. Keep crying those tears of bitterness c**k smoker.
Read the reviews and got the demo. It might be short (say the reviews) but there is nothing else like it as far as I know. Its trying something new and from what I have played so far (demo) i think i'll have this one...mainly because i'm fricking bored of all the generic crap thats out there. LBP and this are atleast giving us something a little different.
"But this week, Microsoft announced that even that advantage has been nullified. It turns out that the Xbox 360 hardware has always supported true 1080p, and beginning this fall, the software giant will enable that functionality by shipping a free software patch to Xbox 360 users over the Internet. This patch will let Xbox 360 users display all Xbox 360 games and DVD movies at true 1080p; currently, the Xbox 360's firmware limits the device to 720p and 1080i HD output, with downsampling for standard definition. Suddenly, the Xbox 360 appears to have no serious technical limitations when compared with Sony's overpriced and repeatedly delayed PlayStation 3, although the Xbox 360 still lacks a HDMI connection. (However, you could conceivably add an HDMI connection by using a new cable connection kit, should one be made available.)"
I myself am a 49 year old gamer with all the presnt gen machines,including ds psp even a gizmondo for good measure. playing on a hdtv at 1080i both the ps3 and 360 look amazing. having shopped around looking at 1080p I find to little a difference to justify changing my tv..however in the far distant past I have happily played with systems with little more than dots and lines.. lnsome cases black and white...So cool it both ps3 and 360 are great and the wii as its moment too... take care all
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AA beats horrid jaggies hands down!
im gona have nightmares after reading all that. 
