History VideoGame / MirrorsEdge

* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: The game takes place in the height of summer, so it's not immediately apparent that many of the levels take place during very early morning or late evening when most people would still be sleeping or have finished work several hours ago. The mall is closed for some reasons (though there are comercials in the game claiming it's open 24/7) and another level is a construction site. However, it's all deliberate, as the complete desolation in the middle of a major city is a large part of the games dystoian theme.

* AwesomeYetPractical: Yes, if you were a suicidal adrenaline junkie, you too could learn to do ''almost'' everything that Faith does. You'd also learn why JackieChan hasn't been doing as many movies lately. Running along perpendicular walls works with the proper shoes and circumstances, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfARFDH9oU as shown here]]. It takes a lot of training, but we can assume that Faith has completed that training. There is also a point in the game where she jumps off an eighty foot building and lands on her feet to escape from the "anti-runners". Ouch. On that note, we can easily conclude that well over half the "runners" ended up killing themselves with these stunts fairly quickly.

An [[IOSGames iPhone/iPad]] remake was released in 2010. The gameplay was changed to a 2D ''{{Canabalt}}''-style platformer, and the plot involves Mayor Callaghan's attempt to turn the public against the police so she[[hottip:*:She was male in the original game, but either the creators accidentally changed her gender or [[{{Transsexual}} she changed it herself]].]] can replace them with her private military, something that was only hinted at in the original game.

An [[IOSGames iPhone/iPad]] remake was released in 2010. The gameplay was changed to a 2D ''{{Canabalt}}''-style platformer, and the plot involves Mayor Callaghan's attempt to turn the public against the police so she[[hottip:*:She was male in the original game, but either this version changed her gender, or [[{{Transsexual}} she did]].]] can replace them with her private military, something that was only hinted at in the original game.

* BreatherLevel: One could consider the elevators in the game as this. Also, Faith takes a few breaths, literally as well while in them or when you stop.

* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: The many buildings you go into throughout the game, even the parking garages and malls, contain nobody at all. Averted if you go outside and look down at the streets, you will see people walking.
** In some cases it is justified since some buildings are under construction and an alarm is triggered as soon as Faith enters Pirandello Kruger so tons of Employees are evacuated.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Faith scrambling up, along then off a crane doesn't recall a certain scene in a movie perhaps? No? [[CasinoRoyale Here's a hint.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: 40% of Rhianna Pratchett's script was cut from the finished product, mostly in-level dialogue from Faith herself, which was considered too big of a distraction from the gameplay. Given the atmosphere of the game, it's unclear if it was a bad idea or actually improved the game. A vestige of the cut in-level dialogue can be heard in the final level, [[spoiler:the Shard, in the air ducts where "Where is November???" is scrawled on the wall]].
--> '''Faith:''' [[spoiler:I was too young to remember exactly how it started. The authorities said the changes were for the greater good... but good isn't the same as right.]]

* OneOfUs: TerryPratchett's daughter wrote the game's story.

* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Averted. ''Everything'' Faith does in cutscenes can be executed with precisely timed inputs (except the hugs). In the opening, for example, Faith does a wall run, turns, ''triggers reaction time'', then jumps onto the head of a crane. The only thing keeping players from doing it is a shortage of cranes ([[CrowningMomentOfAwesome initially, anyway]]).

* CutsceneBoss: Faith's "fight" with the minor villain Ropeburn, which consists of a cutscene and one quick time event before [[spoiler:he's shot by your EvilCounterpart]].

*** [[spoiler:And then also gets killed by him.]]

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Many gamers squirm at the thought of throwing trigger-happy Blues off rooftops [[HeroicSociopath for some reason.]]

* [[{{ItsPersonal}} It'sPersonal]]: Faith happily zips past the cops, and the police department don't dispatch a small platoon to deal with one runner. That is, [[spoiler:until they take her sister]].

* ItsPersonal: Faith happily ignores cops and cops ignores runner. Until they take her sister.

** TruthInTelevision: most people(including a number of experienced ''cops'') sincerely believe that MoreDakka will instantly reduce targets to hamburger. Inexperienced and/or overconfident law enforcement officers regularly empty their badge-granted leadspitters at unarmored targets at less than five meters, and don't put a scratch on them because they forget to ''aim''. Burning off too much ammo at once blows accuracy to hell. And police forces that rely too heavily on intimidation never really get enough weapons practice. Add all that up, then order the poor, doomed mooks to hunt down a human hamster. HilarityEnsues.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: What the whole job of the Runners is about, kind of...

''Mirror's Edge'' is a first-person action video game, set in a conformist, [[PoliceState police-state]], [[{{Utopia}} big, shiny city]]. You are cast as Faith, an illegal courier or "runner", whose job it is to hand-deliver messages and data [[LeParkour across rooftops and skyways]] to avoid ubiquitous government monitoring of movement and communications.

-->--Tagline

''"On the edge of the city, you find out who you really are."''

** CareerKillers: The "white guy".

** PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler:Celleste still hangs out with the other Runners and hints to them to give up that life, as her other job is training a new unit of mercenaries that will capture or eliminate all Runners in The City.]]

* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: The many buildings you go into throughout the game, even the parking garages and malls, contain nobody at all. Averted if you go outside and look down at the streets, you will see people walking.

** Also the runners appear to be the public enemy number one, yet all they ever do is trespassing and possibly not paying taxes for their courier service.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The storm-drain level, though it's justified as a storm drain designed to deal with ''tsunami flooding'', possibly modelled on the [[http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/edogawa/project/g-cans/frame_index.html G-Cans Project]] located just outside of Saitama, Japan.