A Critique of Mirror's Edge: Just Keep Running

Mirror's Edge is arguably one of the most unique games I have played in a while. With smooth movement, memorable levels, and a different concept, it surprises me that the series never took off. So let's take a look at Mirror's Edge.
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- A Critique of Mirror's Edge: Just Keep Running Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Presentation: 3:14
Movement: 7:26
Combat: 9:51
Level Design: 12:01
Replayability: 15:31
Story Analysis & Summary: 18:14
Concluding Thoughts: 25:22
Post-Script: 27:11
As I’m sure a lot of you know. I love movement. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for movement based video games and that’s why you’ll notice that a lot of the glowing reviews I give on this channel, which, let’s be real, almost all of them are glowing, are on games that have movement as a core feature. All the assassin’s creed games that have their parkour systems, barring the newer ones, the insomniac spider-man games have the swinging which are a dream come true, and the infamous games have some of the most unique traversal abilities I’ve ever seen. Hell, even games like Solar Ash that are not even out yet are on my pre order list purely because they explicitly stated within their breakdown during the state of play that “Solar Ash is a movement based game”. Bottom line what I’m trying to say here is that if you want me to pitch a tent, show me some deep and buttery smooth traversal.
Now most of the games that I mentioned above all have a thing in common. Traversal and movement is not the core gameplay mechanic. In Spider-man and infamous the combat was center stage and for Assassin’s Creed the same is true for stealth. Solar Ash isn’t out yet so I can’t quite comment on it but the point is, I have yet to cover a game where movement is what the entire game is built around, and that’s where we get to Mirrors Edge.
For some context I played Mirror's Edge originally on the Xbox in early 2011 or so meaning I was 10 years old. It was one of the first games I had ever begged my parents to purchase off of the xbox live marketplace and it was a game I fell in love with from essentially the first time I laid eyes on it. The idea of a first person parkour based game had me borderline frothing at the mouth and it was a game I returned to quite frequently. As the years have gone by however I had forgotten about the game. That was until I saw Mirror's Edge Catalyst on sale. Because of that I decided to buy the first game and really sink my teeth into that before I jumped into Catalyst and now, here we are.
One thing we need to talk about before anything else when it comes to Mirrors Edge is the type of game it is. I believe that Mirrors Edge is more akin to a racing game than anything else. It was released in 2008 and while there were some games like Assassin’s Creed that had an open world with deep parkour mechanics, a first person parkour game like this was quite new and in order to focus on what was center stage, being the mechanics, the game opted for 8 tight knit levels with replayability rather than an open world.
Mirrors Edge is in almost every way designed to be replayed and remastered time and time again. With a loose story, and little to keep you engaged outside of it’s core gameplay it still surprises me how replayable this game is and how enjoyable it still is to this day.
mirror's edge is a game all about speed. I plan to also cover mirror's edge catalyst and compare it to the original mirrors edge. while catalyst, or more often referred to as mirror's edge 2 is controversial, I plan to talk about it primarily in my upcoming mirror's edge catalyst critique, not this critique. mirror's edge gameplay is primitive compared to mirrors edge catalyst and while mirror's edge (video game) isn't the best, It is still quite good. it also has nothing to do with actual mirror's. I highly recommend that you watch some mirror's edge speedrun, as they showcase the peak of the free running in this mirror's edge critique. While I hope we get a mirror's edge 3, I doubt we will see the series up and running again. mirror's edge catalyst gameplay is mentioned here in this mirror's edge review but it is not center stage and will be again saved for the mirror's edge catalyst review. mirror's edge faith and the history of mirrors edge was mostly left out of this review because I had little to say on it. mirrors edge catalyst and mirrors edge™ are very similar yet very different games though I do prefer catalyst. stay tuned for the mirror’s edge catalyst critique!