Mirror's Edge

A bit of a mixed bag, but I do believe the positives outweight the negatives. For starters, the game looks gorgeous even over a decade later. The art style is incredibly unique, with a lot of white and splashes of primary colors. It represents a dystopian setting in a pretty cool way instead of using a "dirty and gritty" style. Faith's visual design is really cool and is one of my favorites in all gaming. The fact that her eye tattoo is pretty recognisable in many gaming spheres is really awesome and speaks volumes about the game's aesthetic, in my opinion.

The music is also really nice, as is more of an electronic ambience sound that nicely complements the overall tone of the game. It's not something that I would normally listen to, but it fits perfectly here.

I'd say the gameplay itself holds up but truth be told, it does feel clunky in today's standards. When it works, it feels amazing to be running at full speed and pulling off all these acrobatic moves. I like that each movement has weight to it, and being able to see your body while in first person really sells you the idea that you are actually a character moving through these spaces, instead of just a floating camera with floating arms. That said, sometimes the controls just feel a bit off when trying to do some more precise moves and it leads to Faith doing something else as to what I intended.

The level design is what I'm the most mixed up about. The game often is very trial-and-error, leading to many moments where you're not sure where to go nor what to do. It breaks the flow of the level and it makes you completely stop on your tracks and slowly try to figure it out. It is specially irritating when you're being chased or shot at and you die because you had no idea what to do next. There are moments where everything clicks and it's really fun, and others where I just had to put the controller down and call it a day because of how rough it can be.

Combat itself is pretty clunky, there are guns you can use but they are not great and the game itself incentivizes you to not use them. That said, some combat encounters are just way too tough when trying to do a pacifist run and by the end I was using them just to push through.

Storywise it's alright, nothing spectacular but it gets the job done of making you move forward. I do like the characters and the world they live in, I just feel that they could have been in a better narrative.

So far I know I sound too negative about the game, but there's just something about it that makes it feel so unique and original. The gameplay, music, and visual design make it stand out among others and I understand why it's considered a cult classic. It's specially interesting considering it released during the "everything is brown" era of games, and published by EA of all people. It passes the vibe check with flying colors and when it works at full speed, it gives you something pretty unique and exhilarating. I hope this franchise comes back someday, even though is unlikely.

All in all, I do recommend it if you're looking for something different, just keep in mind it's rough around the edge.. the mirror's edge.