14 DAY TRIAL // Mirror's Edge is a game created by DICE, but it's not a shooter and guns are peripheral to the experience. It is all about moving as fast and as smooth as possible in the environment and the demo promises a really innovative and interesting game.
You start by going through a tutorial which teaches you the basic moves under the presence of testing your capabilities as you are recovering from a serious injury. Initially, things look simple, with jumping and sliding being the main moves. You have a button which is used especially for Runner vision, which means that it basically shows you where you need to go next. There are also attacks which you can perform with your hands and feet to disarm enemies. Even though it seems simple, some things are hard, like landing a big jump using rolling when you’re close to the jump, and there are some things which are frustratingly hard, like balancing yourself while walking across a street on a narrow pipe.
After you learn the basics, you get to see a part of the first level of the game. It involves some tricky jumps, another walk on a narrow pipe, disarming some enemies and using a bit of firepower and then a short chase to a jump which ends with your character, Faith, hanging from the skids of a helicopter. I died a few times, especially when trying to disarm the enemies but, by the end of the demo, I was pretty proficient in moving around. You don't need to follow the exact path that the game shows you, although some elements must be executed in a very precise way. I really hope that balanced walking will be rare in the full game, as it is by far the worst element of Mirror's Edge judging by what I've seen.
Overall, the experience of the demo should convince all those who were doubtful about Mirror's Edge that this is a fully fleshed game which can stand on its own, despite making some big departures from the standard genres of the videogaming world.