It seems strange to think that a first person parkour game would be much fun. On the most part, Mirror's Edge manages to be exactly that. While still flawed, it's still a solid game with a lot of promise. A sequel/reboot is on the horizon after nearly a decade, and it's great to see since the original showed promise.
It's become a little more common to see first person games that don't exclusively deal with shooting enemies and engaging in war-driven combat. Sure, a quick search would yield things like Portal or some of those "walking simulators" like The Stanley Parable. Mirror's Edge was one of the first to really try and do an action first person game where combat and gun play was not the focal point.
That, of course, shows. It's a bit hard to fully explain, but the shooting mechanics feel rather clunky. Aiming is more difficult than it usually is in games, you don't take many hits before you die, and you can't pick up more ammo - instead you have to ditch the gun when empty and hope to find another one. All of these contribute to that. On the other hand, shooting isn't the primary mechanic of the game, and making it more awkward to control creates incentive to find alternative routes. Most of the time, you can discover better pathways to escaping a level, but there still are some occasions in which it certainly seems like you have little choice but to engage.
Hand-to-hand combat is also slightly off. While it can be more reliable than using firearms, precision seems just as important in that area as it is with your parkour. So if parkour were the primary mechanic, those controls should be pretty tight, right? Certainly, that element of the gameplay is a lot more established. It can be frustratingly unforgiving at times, requiring very precise movement and aim of your character. Once you get the hang of running, it's actually pretty easy to see where you mess up. There are only a few areas in which it doesn't take much of an error to send you flailing to your death.
Levels are pretty well designed, although there are a few that can be confusing. Those moments are extremely frustrating, however, given how well the game uses colors to direct the player's focus. Though objects take on realistic shapes, the designers play a lot with colors. See something red? That's where you want to go to. Often, blue objects indicate dead ends or dangerous areas. Obviously, this plays to the idea of fleeing police (regularly referred to as "blues" by the characters). On a more basic color theory level, blues are generally "cool" colors - not particularly inviting - while red is considered a "warm" color. Reds stand out in contrast to general whiteness that makes up most of the backdrops, but also against the colder blues around. This is a neat trick that you see great level designers utilize. (Think Naughty Dog and the way that they use yellow to indicate where to move in both Uncharted and The Last of Us.)
It is a bit strange that the cutscenes interspersed between the levels are done in a totally different art style than the gameplay. What makes this different than, say, Final Fantasy X, is that the reason cutscenes look better in that game is they didn't have strong enough hardware to make an entire 30+ hour game look that good. Here, it's an artistic decision to make the game look realistic while the cutscenes are altered to a more animated and very stylized look. While I liked it, personally, I can understand why these two distinctly different styles may be a bit jarring for some players to transition between.
While the gameplay focuses on running - complete with added camera blur that coincides with your increased speed and momentum - the story focuses on more Orwellian themes. The plot is ultimately rather small and personal: it's the story of Faith (the player) trying to rescue her sister from the clutches of a corrupt individual fulfilling the villain role. What's neat about the story though is how it builds the world around this tale that is more personal and smaller in scope. The game clearly touches on the themes of what we are willing to give up in the name of "security." (The only colors found in the levels are also the colors of threat warning levels, if you needed more connection.) It maybe doesn't delve too much into those themes on any particularly deep level, but it's still an interesting backdrop to pin the story against.
All in all, it's a pretty solid, fun game. It can be a bit challenging and frustrating with some of its clunky gun controls and unforgiving precision for some jumps, but it never feels impossible. It's also on the shorter side, which might disappoint some. (I clocked in around seven hours, but ya know, it's nice to have a game you can beat in a week! I don't personally feel shorter game length is inherently bad, although the story here could have maybe used one more chapter.) It's great to see a new Mirror's Edge around the corner, because this game did show a lot of promise. And I agree with Cheech in Ghostbsuters II, "Better late than never."
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