Mirror's Edge™

A bit of a janky mess that will either leave you fundamentally changed by what little it does perfectly, or wholly indifferent for everything else it does halfheartedly. Mirrors edge, if nothing else, is still an entirely unique experience 18 years later even if it doesn't always click for the full 5 or so hours it'll take to beat it. The good: The environments are absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack is a perfect 10, the game's 9 levels are quality over quantity playgrounds that give you a lot of room to shave off time, and Faith handles traversal with so much finesse and feedback the game makes you feel amazing for stringing together a good set of moves, although it's not very hard once you get the hang of it and the game is very forgiving skill wise. The meh: The story isn't bad, but it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger that was never really properly followed up on, as originally Mirror's Edge was intended to be a trilogy but the whole thing was put into development hell and the next game in the franchise was a reboot rather then a sequel; it's extremely unlikely we'll ever get an actual continuation of the narrative, if that kind of thing matters to you. The ugly: The combat encounters feels like a weird contradiction to the game's entire philosophy of avoiding and evading enemies, because so many areas in the game feel like they're heavily restricting your options of traversal if not outright forcing you to turn the game into a cover shooter for a bit to clear enemies blocking the only path forward. Sometimes the game will have snipers over an area that you're forced to run through out in the open with very loosely scattered cover that makes you sit and wait for your health to regen in a game that's supposed to be about conserving your momentum and staying in the flow of things. Even when you DO pick up a gun, all the weapons in the game aside from the pistol stop you from doing the games ONE CORE MECHANIC of parkour while you're holding them and force you to a walking pace, which would be a somewhat understandable tradeoff if the game gave you a realistic alternative. To top it all off the guns in this game handle and aim like you're blowing golf balls through a pool noodle in the general direction of the bad guys you intend to hit, you basically have to be standing still with the shotgun and politely ask the enemy you're shooting at for permission to do any damage to him; don't even consider taking on more then one or two people at a time with anything that isn't the LMG. Guns should have never been a part of the game design the player interacted with, and extensive use of snipers is beyond anti-fun in areas where you have to take a far more boring and safer route to avoid their line of sight. Overall: A one of a kind freerunner's passion project wrapped with genuine soul. I was born a few years to late to be swept up in the Parkour craze's golden era, but my developing mind got a copy of Mirror's Edge and Mirror's Edge Catalyst at the ripe age of 13 and the call to action to run and jump off ♥♥♥♥ that would make my mother disavow me was a major part of my teenage years, fast forward to me as an adult and I'm climbing around in buildings I have no business being at hours I have no reason to be awake for. I've met the most amazing people through the last decade and some change doing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ several stories off the ground, and I don't think I ever would've crossed paths with them if not for this video game. Thank you Mirror's Edge.