I have nowhere else to go. Two days of clawing and scratching at the seeming underbelly of The City has led me all the way here, to this point of no return. “Live a little”, he says, “You can’t stay on the edge forever. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to jump!” The irony is clear enough from where I’m standing, the center of my gravity poised precariously at the edge of a thousand foot glass citadel. Straight down below, cars and people hurry about their business as if everything is normal – tiny flecks scurrying about without realizing that their mundane existence has already changed, thanks to me. I know what needs to be done. Already I see a way from where I stand to where I need to be, synapses in my brain firing – measuring, calculating and plotting my course as my body breaks out into a full sprint. Feet don’t fail me now!

Adrenaline rushing through my veins, I climb and vault over a chainlink fence, sliding under air-conditioning ducts, leaping over pipes, swinging from struts and exploiting every bit of juice that the law of conservation of momentum can offer me. Suddenly, the three pound pathfinder in my head figures out that there’s only one way to go – a sure-fire suicide run beyond the limits of human capability. Unfortunately, I’m already doing it and whether it likes it or not, my brain’s along for the ride – my sheer momentum mocking the laws of gravity momentarily as I run across the nearest wall and jump the fifty foot wide chasm separating the two rooftops. Any moment now, I should see the ground rushing up to meet me, the condescending little voice inside my head going “Told you so!” 4.2 microseconds before making a splotchy mess on the pavement far down below.

Call it years of training, guardian angels or just plain dumb luck, but I feel the bone jarring impact of my feet hitting the adjacent rooftop as I roll head over heels, still running. I can hear the SWAT teams now, sounds of footsteps and radio chatter that will soon be followed by the obscenely rude clatter of automatic gunfire. Two of them wind up in front of me, surprised as I run at them head-on instead of stopping dead in my tracks. Hmph, fatal mistake. A solid roundhouse kick spins one of the blues around as I yank his rifle out of his hands and slam the butt into his throat, crushing his windpipe before bringing the weapon up and turning his partner’s brain matter into mush. I’m still running as I toss the rifle away, ending the deadly ballet and hightailing to the exit. And finally, I am not running anymore. Or at least for now. I put the controller down, slowly becoming aware of the throbbing pain in my hands and gasping out a long overdue breath that I’ve been holding for God knows how long.

TRANSLATE

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By N2H

• Ravi Sinha Says:
  December 29th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

  You should be able to toggle the SixAxis controls off. I played Mirror’s Edge for the PS3 as well, and all maneuvers such as swinging from a rail and balancing on a beam could be done with the left analog stick. For example, moving the stick backward and forward to build up momentum for leaping off a rail.

• Krishnan Rajagopal Says:
  December 29th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

  Absolutely, in fact, after trying the stupid SixAxis controls for some time, I gave up and stuck to the face buttons and the LS, but what I was trying to say was that this shouldn’t even have been there in the first place, wasting time which could have better spent on some other aspect of the game. The idea’s nice, but the implementation isn’t exactly helpful to players in the thick of it all.

• Parag Says:
  December 31st, 2008 at 4:52 am

  Hey man, awesome job as usual on the review. And i especially like the compartmentalization system you used for this review. This always makes the review much more spiffy to read.

• Ravi Sinha Says:
  January 1st, 2009 at 11:55 am

  Developers must still think their users expect SixAxis support for their PS3 games. Or at least Sony must be pressuring them enough to include it, lest it simply dies out on it’s own (as if the long-standing beating it’s getting is better). It wouldn’t have been possible to spruce up many other aspects of Mirror’s Edge PS3, since both versions were developed and released simultaneously. Perhaps more significant tweaks will be seen in the PC version, perhaps not. “If wishes were fishes” and all that jazz…