Mirrors Edge

Parkour, as highlighted in the first of the recent and humorless James Bond movies, is the French urban art of running and climbing around rooftops in as smooth a combination of movements as possible. When done well, the experts (called traceurs) can be amazing to behold, combining a sense of kinetic speed with the best of Jackie Chan style physical prowess. In recent years Parkour has seen burgeoning interest as a cultural meme (perhaps displacing the popularity of other modern hobbies like Geocaching) and now there is a video game dedicated to Parkour simulation. Mirror’s Edge does indeed capture the speed, fluidity and danger of Parkour, but it also captures the frustration... after the hundredth time trying to get the fidgety controls to do what I wanted, I found myself thinking that actual Parkour in the RL would be much easier than this game.

Plotting Points by Tan(x)
Video Game Reviews by a Very Busy Math Teacher

Game: Mirror’s Edge
Platform: XBOX 360
Played For: 12 hours

In Mirror’s Edge you play Faith, a “runner” in a future dystopian city of authoritarian bent. Faith is part of an underground society of Parkour experts who deliver packages, in lieu of a normal postal service. The game never really goes into what kind of things are being delivered, or why we’re supposed to be upset at the authorities to begin with (other than a vague disapproval of conformity or surveillance or some such stuff… personally, I don’t know what they’re talking about… the city looks exceedingly clean and shiny, and the cops clearly don’t have to worry about murder or other serious crimes if they can spend all their time chasing parkour experts), but Faith and her crew are cast as heroes fighting the system with their cheap postal rates and fast delivery, I suppose. Actually, Faith only manages to deliver one package in the entire game, before being drawn into a personal matter that somehow focuses vast city resources on her and her little band of roof-hoppers.

In this way Mirror’s Edge is an unapologetic fan tribute to Parkour. Formed from the same kind of rebellious streak that characterized skateboarding in the 80s, the Parkour culture is all about dissatisfaction with the system, freedom, and a desperate need for attention. In “The City” parkour experts are treated as if they possess a super power… they are somehow the only thing that stands in the way of total domination by the powers that be. The best part of this is when Faith uncovers a hidden high-tech program within the police to produce super parkour-powered counter agents that work for the Man. Because, obviously, there is no way to fight parkour except with parkour.

Well, except for bullets. One of the ways that Mirror’s Edge falls a bit flat is in its heavy use of hand to hand combat with armed opponents. In the very first mission of the game you are given instructions on how to fight, and lectured that you should never try to take on more than one opponent at a time. But then, for the rest of the game, you find yourself facing large groups of police, often four or five, who cannot be bypassed without combat. Some levels have police chasing you, and this works well enough as it forces Faith to move fast and make quick decisions. But attempting fisticuffs with guards armed with sub-machine guns in an enclosed car park or other space was just annoying. Also, Faith is very slow in climbing up pipes, and a single hit from a guard’s gun knocks her down to the floor… you can’t get away at times unless you clear the area.

However, this issue pales in comparison to some of the awkward moments in Faith’s controls. While many parts of the game felt very smooth and easy to control, there were a few instances, often involving wall runs or leaping from pipes, which were unbelievably frustrating. In some cases Faith steadfastly refuses to grab at important ledges, falling to her death instead. In others, you have to get the angle and the launching point for a wall run so precisely that you’ll repeat the same jump twenty or thirty times before random chance allows you to get it right. Sometimes Faith jumps too far as well, and skids off of a tiny flat surface. Having to repeat a sequence over and over again is kind of like being repeatedly punched in the face, and having no way to respond. It is the same set of problems that used to plague the Tomb Raider franchise in the early days of 3D computer gaming.

Of course, this could just be a function of the control scheme being relatively new. In fact, Mirror’s Edge has been said to resemble more of a tech demo than an actual game, and in some ways I’m inclined to agree. Recently a set of time trial levels were released as downloadable content that do away with background, character and plot, and just have you jumping around a virtual course. This was apparently well received, because really that’s all there is to this game… the packaging around the basic parkour mechanism is wafer thin.

Mirror’s Edge is interesting to try out, but it probably won’t inspire most people to finish its story to the last level. As the duration of the whole game is pretty short, I leave my recommendation on the rental level… worth checking out for a few nights, and then pass it off for something more substantial.


Will I play it more: Does jumping over my cats count as Parkour? Guess not.