huge against the game’s empty HUD, a weighty presence
in Faith’s hands. And so it proves. Once I’ve dispatched
the snipers positioned on the opposite side of the drain, I
make to jump to the next platform, but the rifle won’t let
me. With this albatross pulling me down, I can’t even
mount the first springboard. I’ll have to leave it here.
Exeunt through the
emergency overflow gate,
pursued by police.
I make my way up the
drain to ground level, by
pipe and by crane. It’s the
only place the game’s
platforming rhythm has
matched the stuttering,
fumbling one I’ve chosen
for myself by embracing
combat. So when I emerge
on the surface and find a riot squad waiting for me, it feels
like a natural part of the game’s flow.
Armed with shotguns and wearing shoulder pads that
suggest their mums have dressed them for roller skating,
the riot cops strike less terrifying figures than the SWAT. I
I EMERGE ON THE
SURFACE AND FIND A
RIOT SQUAD WAITING
FOR ME
can take them. But I’ll need to pick them off—and more
importantly, pick the guns from their unconscious bodies.
Finally, something with a kick. There’s no Doom-style
boom here—instead the shotgun comes over like a
stapler produced by Skrillex. But it sends the riot guys
flying backward, and it’s a relief to see somebody other
than me getting some
serious air for once.
Afterwards, though,
lugging the gun around
reduces Faith to a goofy
plod. And my very next
move requires a four part
jump across parked lorries
over a barbed wire fence.
Then I realize: That’s no
coincidence. Like the
platform in the storm
drain, this sequence is designed to disarm me, just as I’ve
been disarming cops all over town.
At last, Mirror’s Edge is letting me at the big guns. But
it’s still trying to control where and how I use its weapons,
and it remains to be seen whether I can break free.Lovely weather for an
armed interception.The sniper rifle is as long
as its appearance is short.