Mirrors Edge Work

Let me make one thing absolutely straight. Mirror's Edge is one of the best new IPs of the decade hands down. It truly shames me how terribly this game was received in the market.

Back in the magical year that was 2008 EA kicked off their new campaign to attract gamers toward their products. It was called the "at least we aren't as evil as Activision" campaign and mostly consisted of bringing a plethora of new IPs for gamers to salivate over. Most notable being Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. They also rescued some popular ideas from the brink of death, such as Brutal Legend (a decision that I will forever love EA for). The initial trailer for Mirror's Edge blew my, and the collective game playing communities, socks right off. It was absurd to show a launch trailer composed entirely of in-game footage, especially when it looked this pretty. In a world filled with increasingly brown shooters Mirror's Edge dominated the screen with its simple palette of vivid contrast. This is what the Portal generation of shooters could create, and the future never looked brighter.

Then the game actually came out. It was greeted by mediocre reviews and a scathing review by Zero Punctuation (who is the source of more lost sales than any other reviewer on the market). The strange part is, the game delivered on everything promised on the original launch trailer and more but it was missing one key element, fun. No matter how revolutionizing Mirror's Edge was for first person movement or for visual design the fact remains that it was not a fun game. None of the elements that the game promised really fit together with the actual game. The promise of fast flowing non-gun orientated combat was bogged down by inescapable shootouts. The promise of intense muti-branching chase sequences was lost to slow puzzles with convoluted solutions. Don't even get me started on the Esurance style cutscenes. The game quickly drifted into bargain bins and obscurity alike and has not risen since.

Now in the sequel riddled brown world of 2010 we can really appreciate what this game was and what could have become of it. Before we complain about another Call of Duty or Resistance game or Nintendo making the same damn Mario game that they have been making for the past half decade remember the promise of Mirror's Edge. The promise of triple-A titles made by small development teams with unique ideas. Sure Mirror's Edge wasn't any fun, but it was unique. In an age where "fun" can be generated with specific formulas and sequels and remakes are considered "bold and inventive", isn't uniqueness what really matters?