History VideoGame / MirrorsEdge

The game is set in a [[{{Utopia}} big, shiny city]] in a conformist [[PoliceState police-state]]. 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. The story follows Faith in her struggle to free her sister, who has been framed for the murder of the opposition candidate for Mayor of the city. While running her clients' illegal messages, she gets caught up in a series of events which lead to her being ruthlessly pursued by the totalitarian government herself. Mercury, Faith's trainer and mentor, acts as her guide, helping her outwit, outrun, and overcome the sinister agents out to eliminate her.

''Mirror's Edge'' is a first-person action video game by Creator/{{DICE}} and published by Creator/ElectronicArts in 2006 for UsefulNotes/Playstation3 and UsefulNotes/Xbox360 in 2008 and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames Microsoft Windows]] in 2009. The game utilizes the [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine Unreal Engine 3]].

** And really, [[RealityEnsues is it so unrealistic]] that even cops and mercenaries can rarely hit a trained runner [[LeParkour moving both horizontally and vertically with a changing silhouette]] at a dead sprint?

''Mirror's Edge'' is a first-person action video game by Creator/{{DICE}} (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment), set in a [[{{Utopia}} big, shiny city]] in a conformist [[PoliceState police-state]]. 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.

The story follows Faith in her struggle to free her sister, who has been framed for the murder of the opposition candidate for Mayor of the city. While running her clients' illegal messages, she gets caught up in a series of events which lead to her being ruthlessly pursued by the totalitarian government herself. Mercury, Faith's trainer and mentor, acts as her guide, helping her outwit, outrun, and overcome the sinister agents out to eliminate her.

* ThirdPersonSeductress: Averted in an admirable fashion. Faith is a truly attractive woman, but she is also just as slender and athletic as a marathon-running acrobat should be, and her practical tank-top, cargo-pants and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jika-tabi jika-tabi]]'' shoes are clothes a ''traçeuse'' might actually wear. {{Stripperific}}, no. [[RuleOfCool Cool]], ''definitely.'' Of course, the game's also played from a first-person perspective, so Faith's appearance is only really apparent in the 2D animated cutscenes.

* DiegeticInterface: In that there ''is'' no interface- you have no health bar, ammo counter, Reaction Time meter, or anything. For instance, to find out where you need to go in a level, you press a button and Faith automatically looks right at it.

* RedOniBlueOni:On a large scale, the City is divided between the TotalitarianUtilitarian government (which is associated with the color blue through their police force and Jackknife. The police force are even called "Blues" by runners) and the runners, the defiant, passionate young couriers who evade their control (who specifically associate with red via "runner vision" and their personal effects).

* ManInWhite: Lieutenant Miller, with white hair and mustache to match. He's a cop, after all. [[spoiler: He's actually an ally for basically all of the game.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The City's location is ambiguous. Clocks throughout the game depict the letters "E.T.", as in "eastern time", which would make you think it's on the East Coast of North America. Not so fast though, because the City's coastline matches Shenzhen Bay near Hong Kong, much of the City's architecture bears a decidedly Asian vibe to it and traffic is on the left side of the road. Then there's two official languages, English and Chinese. All of this adds up to confusing the hell out of anyone trying to figure out where the City is beyond "somewhere in southeastern Asia", and that's probably intentional.

* GoombaStomp: Just landing on people isn't necessarily deadly, but it can be turned into one of the faster and safer one-hit takedowns in the game... [[DifficultButAwesome if you can pull it off]]. Pulling it off also nets the [[CosmeticAward achievement]] [[SuperMarioBros "It's-A Me!"]].

** Faith too; she "keeps the faith" regarding her sister's innocence and her own profession.

** In the [[IOSGames iOS]] version, these kill you faster than getting shot, and appear fairly often in levels that take place indoors.

An [[IOSGames iPhone/iPad]] prequel was released in 2010. The gameplay was changed to a 2D ''VideoGame/{{Canabalt}}''-style platformer, and the plot involves Mayor Callaghan's attempt to turn the public against the police so she[[note]]She was male in the original game[[/note]] can replace them with her private military, something that was only hinted at in the original game.

* AirVentPassageway: Features prominently throughout the game.
** Lampshaded on the penultimate level, when a voice overheard when moving noisily through the vents says, "Jesus, the rats are getting huge!". [[spoiler:This comment is possibly lampshaded when one takes the below-mentioned EasterEgg into account.]]

%%* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler: Mercury]].

* FollowTheLeader: This game inspired First Person Shooters to emphasize movement. Games like ''VideoGame/{{Brink}}'' and the sequel to ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' quickly referenced this game as inspiration.
** VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}, also by DICE Studios also takes a very minor inspiration from this game by introducing similar movements for jumping over obstacles. ''VideoGame/DyingLight'', contrary to what the developer says, also took cues from Mirror's Edge as well.

** [[WordOfGod The creators]] cared so much about how they went out of their way to make her design attractive but not {{Stripperific}}, that when someone released a Photoshopped image, they expressed considerable disappointment that their athletic heroine had been transformed into [[http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/11/25/mirrors-edge-producer-depressed-by-sexy-fan-verision-of-faith/ "twelve-year-old with a boob job."]]

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Many gamers squirm at the thought of throwing trigger-happy Blues off rooftops.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: In the tutorial, you can shoot your best friend. Despite the tutorial saying, "[[CaptainObvious Don't shoot your best friend]]."
** As said in Caring Potential, you have a few opportunities to throw enemies off of high places, if you're feeling sadistic. The most noticable option for it is when a shotgun-wielding PK comes out from a construction building as you parkour through it, your most likely reaction is to jumpkick him head-on.

** This one is really subtle, but during New Eden, if you try to use the elevators again onve you're in the mall, [[spoiler:you get a special error message saying the elevator controls have been siezed by Pirandello-Kruger; the same error screen that appeared on the elevators in Robert Pope's building before it was raided by PK officers. Some players might brush this off, but to attentive players it's an early warning that you're walking into a trap.]]

* PacifistRun: The only person Faith ''must'' kill is her EvilCounterpart, which she does [[CutsceneBoss automatically]] by [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome jumping from the roof of the hundred-and-ten-story Shard onto a helicopter]], booting him '''''[[DisneyVillainDeath right out the other side in the process.]]''''' Of course he fires his SMG all the way down and kills the rotors, meaning Faith and Kate are stuck on a falling helicopter...]] In fact, you earn a special achievement, "Test of Faith", if you complete the game without shooting anyone with a firearm (except the convoy). Funnily enough, the achievement is strictly for not ''shooting'' anyone; you can throw Blues into the path of an oncoming train or off skyscrapers and still [[TechnicalPacifist be considered a pacifist]]. However, if you don't shoot anyone, then you will have to deal with at least a couple of enemies in other ways, if only because even Faith isn't fast enough to dodge a heavy machine gunner camped right by the door she needs to use.

* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Averted. ''Everything'' Faith does in the 3D 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]]).

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: [[spoiler: {{Face Heel Turn}}ing aned training SuperpoweredMooks pays better than an illegal courier service and the cops don't shoot at you.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The City's location is ambiguous. Clocks throughout the game depict the letters "E.T.", as in "eastern time", which would make you think it's on the East Coast of North America. Not so fast though, because the City's coastline matches Shenzhen Bay, which is near Hong Kong. Of course, it's likely not in North America since much of the City's architecture bears a decidedly Asian vibe to it, news stories reference the United States as a foreign country and traffic is on the left side of the road. Then there's two official languages, English and Chinese. All of this adds up to confusing the hell out of anyone trying to figure out where the City is beyond "somewhere in sountheastern Asia", and that's probably intentional.

* ActionGirl: Faith, but most of the main girls are as well, are capable of fighting security guards and roofhoping.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The City's location is ambiguous. Clocks throughout the game depict the letters "E.T.", as in "eastern time", which would make you think it's on the East Coast of North America. Not so fast though, because the city's coastline matches Seattle's, which is on the West Coast. Of course, it's likely not in North America since news stories reference the United States as a foreign country, and traffic is on the left side of the road. Then there's two official languages, English and Chinese. All of this adds up to confusing the hell out of anyone trying to figure out where the City is, and that's probably intentional.

* SceneryPorn: The game's artstyle and primarily rooftop based levels natually lend themselves well to fantastic views of the expansive skyscraper-dotted cityscape.

* SceneryPorn: The game's artstyle and primarily rooftop based levels provide fantastic views on the shiny skyscraper-dotted cityscape.
%%* SceneShiftCaption:

%%* AsceticAesthetic: The city.

* SceneryPorn: The creative and ubiquitous use of bold, saturated colors for the City's appearance is certainly among the game's strongest selling points.