Mirror’s Edge

Mirror’s Edge is a side-scroller with parkour inspired gameplay. Parkour is an international discipline that challenges runners to adapt their movement to overcome various obstacles along their path. Parkour in itself is a really cool concept, but could you actually create a compelling game around this concept?

Mirror’s Edge takes place in an utopian city, where crime is almost nonexistent, but these lower crime rates came at a great cost. The government tracks all forms of communication within the city, allowing them to stamp out any potential threats to their power.

At least this was the case until a network of runners was formed. These specialized runners have the ability to travel across the city overcoming numerous obstacles to deliver their message.

I was slightly disappointed when I received news that Mirror’s Edge on the iPad would be a side-scroller as opposed to first-person as seen on the Xbox 360. But after playing Mirror’s Edge for a few minutes most of my worries vanished.

Even though the game is a side-scroller the graphics are all 3D, and very well done. But more importantly than graphics was the fluid motion of gameplay. You get a real sense of speed as you travel through each level.

The first level is essentially a tutorial to help players learn the controls. Nearly all the controls are touchscreen based. To run left or right swipe left or right anywhere on the screen, to jump swipe upward and so on. The touchscreen controls were easy to use, I didn’t have any real issues with them.

The tilt controls on the other hand put my nerd arms to the test. There’s areas in each level where you’ll need to tilt your iPad to help your character Faith keep her balance or streamline her body to travel faster down a zipline.

I wasn’t all too fond of this feature, I mean it’s nice on the iPhone, but the iPad well, it’s a bit large I wouldn’t want to hold it up for too long. Luckily there wasn’t many parts in the game that required you to tilt your iPad to progress through the stage, so I was able to play most of the game with my iPad comfortably positioned on my lap.

Normally music in games are very much like elevator music, it’s there but no one cares. I really enjoyed the music in Mirror’s Edge, but of course that’s just my taste in music, it may not strike a cord with everyone. I especially liked the intro song of Mirror’s Edge, “Still Alive” by Swedish singer Lisa Miskovsky.

As far as content goes, Mirror’s Edge packs 14 levels and two multiplayer game modes.  I loved everything about Mirror’s Edge up until the game ended abruptly. After the 14th stage I was a little shocked, I kept thinking to myself, it can’t be over already!

I was having such a great time with Mirror’s Edge, shame it had to end so quickly. I was able to complete the game in roughly 2-hours.

But on the bright side, the two multiplayer modes do add to the game’s replay value. Multiplayer mode is played from a single iPad in the portrait orientation. You can either race your friend through levels or compete with each other to collect the most secret packages.

Overall I was very happy with the way Mirror’s Edge played on the iPad, very entertaining game. Mirror’s Edge has high production value written all over it. I highly recommend this game to people looking for an action packed side-scroller.

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