Over the weekend, I had a chance to download and try the Mirror's Edge demo. I've been very interested in this game perhaps more because of who is making it, then the actual concept. Game developer Dice, makers of the long running Battlefield franchise, including the most recent Battlefield: Bad Company release, made a choice to start branching out. Initially, the company focused on creating online experiences where anywhere up to 64 players can duke it out on foot, in vehicles, and in the air. Personally, I have invested hundreds of hours playing their products, and I am always impressed with the high replay value of their games. That's why I have really been interested to see how some of their new products start to turn out, especially Mirror's Edge.

Some may argue about the validity of reviewing a demo, but I beg to differ. A demo is a first impression, it's the game putting its best foot forward, and although you may not get the full picture, you'd be surprised at how telling it really is. Here are my impressions:

It's going to be a decent game, but some fundamental flaws will keep it from living up to its ambitious concept. Mainly, this game will struggle with one concept: first person perspective. The idea of using the first person element in the game is to really give the player the experience of being in the moment. It's the difference of making real time choices in the first person, instead of trailing over the character's shoulder and telling the character what to do in the third person. This is a bold decision for Mirror's Edge, but ultimately, the payoff won't cover the shortcomings. The game falls short as a concept for it's first person choice, and because of that main reason, it sets off a couple of other issues that at times, make the game feel like a chore to play.

Comparatively, Mirror's Edge is the first person equivalent of Assassin's Creed, at least in the rooftop running genre. Both games feature similar rooftop clinging gameplay, where the player can run, jump, and slide, through just about anything in their way. This is one of Assassin's Creed's strongest features. The problem with Mirror's Edge is that it is in the first person perspective and because of that, there is no peripheral vision. This means that it is really hard to plan a path, it's very difficult to see alternative routes, and it's far too easy to be confused and disoriented. Try running up a wall, turning around in midair, and double jumping off the opposing wall a la Jackie Chan. In Assassin's Creed, it's intuitive. In Mirror's Edge, without peripheral vision, it looks like someone dropped a COPS camera man into a pinball machine. There is certainly a heightened feeling because of the choice of perspective, but it's also the very same reason why most racing games are not in the first person perspective. The view is more realistic, but you can't see any of the vantages that are needed to be an effective driver.

Because of the first-person issues, the game's obvious crescendos never take your breath away. Jumping between two buildings is fairly mundane when there is no way to look down, or feel how far you could fall. Consider, you are running away from a group of gun blasting cops on the top of a building. To get away, you make a snap decision to jump off the rooftop and clutch onto a helicopter just close enough to carry you to safety. This should feel like the peak moment of the game, and it is. It's the one moment that captures the essence of the entire game and should seal the deal, but it doesn't. The majority of the game feels linear and it never really reaches past the point of a pre-sequenced obstacle course littered with quick time events. Because of this, most moments feel like the game is pushing you to do something, instead of letting the player figure it out.

This leads to the second problem with the choice of perspective. There is a tricky balance that exists in directing a player toward a goal. On one end, the player should follow a preset path, but on the other end, the player shouldn't feel too restricted. Mirror's Edge will tip towards the too restrictive scale. Most of the level confines the player with small decisions that in no way shape the outcome. It doesn't matter if you slide under the pipes or jump off a wall, in the end they both lead to the same place. And at its worst moments, there are actually no such choices to make. Moments like this are reminiscent of some of the previous James Bond games where they added those corny "Bond Moves" that basically rewarded the player only if they did everything the game told them to do (can you tell I have a problem with authority). It's never been an effective model; a good game should reward the player for being creative. Even the use of color in the game, which seemed like a possible feature that would give the player some creativity while having to make short term decisions, only adds to the linear confinement of the experience.

In the game, colored objects are useful to know where the player can go, but in a game where the story is all about freedom in a tech-driven dystopia, couldn't they use a less noticable color than red? Its ironic that by the end of the game I began to associate the colored objects with conformity and oppression. I would want to go a way that didn't use a red object so as to be a clever gamer, but sometimes, this was not even an option. At some points, the color red began to piss me off, especially when it was pointing to something I should do, but couldn't, or didn't want to. For instance, you punch in a door, only to be surrounded with other doors that are not punchable and red walls that force you to the next egress. I assume it's something like being a mouse in a labyrinth. This game philosophy is starkly apparent even from the very beginning. As soon as the game starts, the player is encased in barbed wires, on a rooftop, and told to press a specific button to cross over to the next building. Granted, it's a tutorial, but barbed wire? It's a little excessive, and the design philosophy trails through the entire demo.

Over all, the game succeeds as a departure from Dice's usual fare, and although visually stunning and like nothing else out this season, it still feels unconfident and unsure of itself.