Mirror's Edge

I've never clenched my buttocks so much! The sense of momentum, height and terminal velocity induced death are second to none. Each time you attempt to jump between tower blocks you'll look down, take a sharp intake of breath and grip those buns so tightly you could pick up peanuts. If you are successful, you'll exhale, whoop and then do a little wee with excitement. If you are not, you'll turn away and grimace at the sound of your bones breaking and internal organs spreading out over the asphalt.
The problem is that it is all over far too quickly. The game starts on a high, you jump, swing and slide with glee for the first hour and then they start introducing the combat element. While the combat isn't that bad it breaks up the flow of the Parkour genius.
You find that the race part of the game that you unlock through the story mode is far more enjoyable. For this I give it four stars because without it the game is over in six hours and not worth the money.

It's a great, fresh and innovative game without a doubt. The first person action really draws you in and makes you feel part of the game. Controls are easy to grasp and fluid, you'll pick it up pretty quickly. The puzzles are nice and varied, none of them are too difficult or too easy... You'll not spend more than a couple of minutes figuring out how to get somewhere, which is good because it would really drag the pace of the game down. It looks fantastic! And running on the Unreal engine it's very well optimized, and a very good port from consoles.

Downsides are, the story is lacking depth. You don't really feel any sympathy towards any of the characters. The combat is clunky and difficult, the best tactic is to avoid it all together and run away. There is no developer kit for the modding community to make custom maps which really brings the replay value down. Lack of multiplayer also contributes towards this.

Overall, it's a great game but I personally don't think it's worth the money for less than 10 hours worth of gameplay before you run out of things to do, but it's an enjoyable single player experiance.

Don't get me wrong, this is a very good game. But it has a lot of flaws.

Firstly, it is short; I completed it on the day I bought it after only perhaps 6-7 hours. The cut scenes are horrendous and the story itself is non-engaging. The game is more linear than I expected and although the developers claim there is more than one way to pregress through a level these are actually just slight variations on the same path.

Good points; the actual parkour is amazing, the controls are smooth and easy and the graphics are out-of-this-world.

5 hours 25 mins game complete.
Not a boast as anyone could, just stunned that I wasted so much money on such a short game.
Would I recommend it?
No unless it sold for £9.99.
If someone gives you it as a present then it will be a nice afternoon for you but there are better ways to spend this much money

This game is one of the most polished, stylised and atmospheric games I've ever played. Truely epic in it's acheivements given the usual "run-of-the-mill" (no pun intended) games that are churned out by software houses these days.

Played this first on the Xbox 360, and it took a while to master the controls but the game rewards you immensly as you jump, slide and climb your way to poetry in motion.

The PC version has improved visuals (especially with regards to physics) that the Xbox version simply cannot deal with.

Visually, its a work of art using ambient lighting effects (albiet static) to give such a "reach in a touch it" feel to the game thats a breath a fresh air from the usual, cram so much detail in as possible, attidude. Less is indeed more.

Then theres the soundtrack from master compose Solar Fields (solarfields.com) which immerses you in a crystal clear soundscape capturing precisely the atmosphere of standing high up on the roof tops in the clean air.

The cut scenes, also stylised (though some rendered in the engine) in a cartoon fashion, are good and the voice acting is way better than most.

Then theres the end. Which is awesome enough to have a tingle run up your spine.

I loved everything about this game and would even consider buying it on the PC to play it again with the added physics.