T
here’s a decommissioned nuclear bunker
just outside York where the walls are
painted in calming tones—designed to
help its occupants keep their heads as
they carried out essential logistics in the
days and weeks after a hypothetical strike.It seems like wishful thinking to hope that a nice shade of
paint might make the difference against the weight of the
world’s end. Then again, color associations are strong and
laden with meaning. When I think of Mirror’s Edge, I tend
to remember the gleaming whites and deep blues—the
aspects of its palette I associate with serenity and freedom
under an open sky. Now
that I’m playing through it
again as a killer, I’m
noticing a whole other part
of the color wheel—the
angry oranges and block
reds that kick in with
greater frequency as I
punch my way through to
the middle of the
campaign.
As Faith, I’m a runner
who lives in the gaps left by The City’s surveillance
society, making highways of its roofspaces and
maintenance shafts. But the cop gauntlet of our last
instalment made it clear that something has changed—
power in The City is shifting, and Faith’s outsider status is
in flux.
In fact, right now I’m about as inside as it’s possible to
be, in the offices of Robert Pope & Associates. Pope is a
mayoral candidate running on an anti-surveillance
platform, which might be why his building is full of
frosted glass windows, as opposed to the transparent
panes found everywhere else. I’m on the 26th floor,
Marketing. The carpets are thin and the walls are adorned
with TVs, in places nobody would stop to watch them.FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
I’m here because police chatter suggests Faith’s sister
Kate—a cop—has been involved in a violent incident. Sure
enough, we find her in Pope’s corner office. The would-be
mayor sits at his desk overlooking the whole city, but he’s
not enjoying the view. Blood pours from his head, and
Kate stands over him. Apparently this sort of thing runs in
the family. Kate says she’s been set up, and a piece of
paper on Pope’s desk points to an “Icarus”, but there’s
nothing to be done about it right now. Sis is going to jail,
and I need to get out of here. As I make my way out,SWAT boots flatten the carpet thinner still. “You are
surrounded,” a voice bellows. “Do not attempt to exit the
building.” My new philosophy dictates a third way,
however: Before I leave, I have to try and fight them.
A dozen militarized policemen have the entire floor
covered with assault rifles. If I’m going to stand a chance
of beating them, I have to get at their weapons.
Thankfully, the influence of The Matrix lies heavy over
Mirror’s Edge, like an oversized trench coat. Running
generates ‘reaction time’—and when I press X, I can cash
it in for a few seconds of slo-mo. That’ll make it far easier
to exploit the tiny window of opportunity I get to grab a
gun at close range before it makes contact with my face.
After several attempts, I
perfect the combo—sliding
beneath the bullets of the
nearest cop, straightening
up to receive a rifle butt to
the chin, then wrenching
the weapon away at the last
possible moment. I turn
the gun triumphantly on its
owners, and—click. Click,
click, click. Nothing
happens. Other people’s
bullets fill the air. My slo-mo is spent, I can’t arm myself,
and there’s absolutely no way I can confiscate 11 more
rifles in a row. It’s time to turn to my third rule and run.
Luckily, this is an office built to impress—lots of light,
and lots of openings. I slip through an indoor window into
Accounting, and take the mezzanine floor up to the vents.
The cops fill those with light, too, opening new holes in
the metal beneath my feet. It’s a hurried retreat—my
escape is accompanied by a soundtrack of dinging lifts, the
thud of doors barged open, and once I make it to the
building’s exterior, the wop-wop-wop of a helicopter’s
propeller.
After an eternity of fire escape chicanery, I drop down
into an enclosed urban garden. In the stark color scheme,
even the plants are painted an artificial white, like a
reverse Alice in Wonderland. I take the nearest door into
the City Eye news station, and spot three SWAT cops
standing at the far end of a corridor. I can’t use their rifles,
but I do prefer these odds. The chopper’s guns can’t hit
me here, and nobody else is following. The corridor
glistens with red paint. I veer right, pushing Faith’s light
frame over a chain link fence into the parallel
maintenance area. Here I can close the gap between me
and the cops without eating all their bullets.
I slide-kick the cop at the rear, transferring all my
momentum into his legs and taking his weapon when hePOWER IN THE CITY IS
SHIFTING, AND
FAITH’S OUTSIDER
STATUS IS IN FLUX
THE RULES
1
Whenever
somebody attacks
Faith, fight back.
2
Take every possible
opportunity to use
the guns.
3
Only run once all
other options have
been exhausted.
You never want to be
somebody highlighted in red.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING (^) I UPDATE I GUIDE I DIARY (^) I REINSTALL I WHY I LOVE I MUS T P L A Y