Mirrors Edge is placed in the near future, the city has changed into a totalitarian metropolis, where the city people no longer care as they have allowed for a heavy handed police force that has wiped out crime but at a horrible cost. People are docile and ignorant to the rest of the world around them and the power of the authority and its masters, but there are others, people who live on the fringes, away from the prying eyes of all of the cameras. You play Faith, a Runner, a courier of the future who helps these people communicate with each other, the only way to do this is to use the rooftops of the city as their roads, navigating huge drops and perilous walkways to help these people live their lives.

Faith is not the only Runner, Celeste is another who will help you get back on track at the start of the game, Mercury is the voice on the radio who also trains and assists the runners during their missions. Faith also has a sister, Kate who is her polar opposite, whilst Faith is living on the edges of the law, Kate is the Law, she see’s good in the city and decides to protect it her way.

All this changes early on though as a politician who wants to move away from the big-brother style of living is murdered and Kate is framed, Faith arrives at the scene and finds a vital clue “Icarus”, with this simple word Faith begins to try and clear her sisters name and starts to unravel a deep and sinister plot.

Whilst the story is something Alan Moore would think of, the looks are not, the city itself is a gleaming pristine monument to modern architecture, each building pierces the sky with its own unique look and the police have a stormtrooper look to them, all clean and powerful and ready to use it.

EA and DICE have taken a classic FPS formula and turned it completely around, no longer is the aim to kill and cause blood to splatter everywhere (though you can do this if you wish), no the aim is evasion and survival, and most importantly, momentum. The longer you run unabated, the faster you will go, allowing for better jumps. Control is slightly confusing at first but you will get the hang of it after a few goes. The LS moves you around and the RS is your camera, L1 makes you jump and L2 crouches. Its with these buttons that you can pull off a great range of moves and combos and wall jumps, jumping and crouching makes Faith pull her legs up, allowing her to clear some treacherous barbed wire, crouch near the end of a jump will make you do a combat roll, helping you break a high jump. The crouch whilst running will make you slide under objects, mix this with the attack button (R2) and you will pull off jump kicks, punches and sliding kicks.

You can also disarm enemies with the Triangle button, press it at the right time and you will steal the weapon from the enemy and use it for your own purposes or just throw it away, though should you grab a weapon you only have what ammo is left in the gun so if you use it, be careful. There are a few weapons available including a handgun, machine gun, shotgun and a sniper rifle with a nifty little scope. The weapons do tend to slow the pace of the levels down, I preferred to disarm, drop the gun and leg it. Whilst disarming it is always wise to do this with an isolated enemy, if you do it in a group you will get shot down very quickly.

There are 9 levels in total, each one usually starts on the rooftops and works its way around the city office buildings, shopping precincts and the underground train stations where you jump from moving trains. Whilst the rooftops give you an impression of an open world, each level is quite linear, on the roofs there are a few different ways to choose from to get to your objective, however when inside it’s a lot more claustrophobic and there s just one way out (even though this exit is not obvious at first). In the game you have a Runners sight which will make certain items glow bright red, these items allow you to pull off moves like vaults, shimmying up pipes and using zip lines to traverse large areas. All these items are seamlessly integrated into the environment and allow you to keep your momentum up. With only a handful of levels to play through this is a surprisingly short game, you do have packages to find in each level which unlock a few extras plus a time attack mode which supports online leader boards and you can also upload other players ghosts which is a great idea, but what is missing is a multiplayer race over the rooftops.

This game is all eye candy, the smooth transition from outside to indoors is swift and changes your perspective and thought process immediately, the outdoors offer loads of cover and walkways, whereas indoors it’s all corridors and ventilation shafts, allowing you to get trapped easily, though both areas work well in unison. Each level is separated by a little story cut scene, these have a slightly different look to the main game as they are animated, but again they have a unique look that is unlike anything else in the mainstream market.

From controls to looks Mirror’s Edge is another triumph for EA who don’t seem to be able to make any mistakes this year. This is a game well worth putting into your collection, it’s just a pity there isn’t a bit more too it.

Overall Rating: 8.9/10