The ambitious and some might say unrealistic aims of Dice's Mirror's Edge aren't new, but have long been thought as unattainable: reinvent the first person shooter, a genre that has stagnated now for the better part of a decade. There has been a very good reason for this; there are few places you can go with a game that's primarily all about shooting things. Given this fact, Dice's solution is radical to say they least, as they've toned down the incessant shooting and focused on the one aspect that many action games seem to neglect - movement.

Events here take place amongst a nameless city under the oppressive control of an oppressive government. Whilst the security forces on the ground enforce their will, above street level on the rooftops, special couriers called Runners are free to pass on sensitive information between those groups seeking to undermine the current regime's control. You fill the well-worn shoes of a runner called Faith, who's thrown into the middle of a conspiracy when her cop sister is framed for the murder of an upcoming mayoral candidate who's seeking radical changes in how the city is run.

Without any weapons, you must rely solely on Faith's abilities as a runner to manipulate the environment and avoid the authorities who come after her, all whilst trying to rescue her sister. The movement is all handled through a succession of timed jumping, sliding, wall running and some occasional balancing acts, as the entire city becomes one giant glorified gymnasium for you utilise. This isn't the first game to bring the acrobatics of Parkour to our screens, but where Mirror's Edge takes a different path is in the amount of control it burdens you with; every single jump and interaction is something that you have to key in manually - it's a game where a lack of immediate razor sharp reflexes will see you kissing the pavement far below.

It's a daunting prospect to be faced with and it's here where Dice could have failed spectacularly, as without the controls being perfect it's doubtful the game would have survived past its opening level. Fortunately, the controls are the one thing that the developer has got spot on, so much so that, after a short training level, the actual act of chaining together a huge array of complex running moves becomes a doddle. This is especially apparent in the PC version too, which benefits from the added support of the mouse, a control method that manages to surpass its console counterparts. For a game all about speed and quick decision making, the console's analogue stick method for movement just never quite seemed quick enough. On console, there is a noticeable delay in the time it takes your character to move from when you nudge the controller, and while it may only be less than a second, it is a split second that can make the difference between you making a successful leap and falling to your death, again. The mouse has no such problems; look right and it's an almost instantaneous response, and as the mouse is used for directional control, timing jumps in conjunction with your running is no problem whatsoever.

The rest of the control method is just as responsive and nicely spaced along the keyboard. Using the traditional FPS control scheme of the WASD keys for movement, jumping and sliding are both handled via the space bar and left shift key respectively, while other actions such as turning 180 degrees and slowing down time are both placed within easy reach. Attack and disarm moves fit snugly with the mouse buttons, giving the whole game a more fluent and cohesive feel, resulting in a freer flowing game where the kinds of mistakes you'd make on the console version aren't often repeated here.

That's not to say that Mirror's Edge is easy though, because without good hand to eye coordination, no amount of finely tuned controls are going to see you through some of the trickier parts of the game. The levels aren't massive, open affairs but they do tend to be large enough for you to find your own path to your destination while the design certainly encourages such exploration. It doesn't take long for you to discover that practically every object in the game can be interacted with in some way; a stack of boxes can be used to launch yourself to previously unreachable ledges, a gaping chasm can be cleared by running along the wall separating it or a conveniently placed pipe that acts as a bridge you can use to cross from one building to another. Even with Dice providing assistance with Runner Vision, a feature that highlights the jumps you should be aiming for in bright red, you get so used to discovering new objects and obstacles to interact with that it almost becomes instinctive.

It's at this point that Mirror's Edge is at its best; those instances where you just know where to go and pelt it through a level, jumping and sliding your way over the rooftops without a second thought. It can be an exhilarating and adrenaline fuelled feeling, but it all comes to a crashing halt whenever you find yourself the unfortunate recipient of an unwanted fall or run into a piece of level design that has you stumped as to where to go next. Moments like this are inevitable but they hurt Mirror's Edge more than they would any other action game, simply because this game is all about the continuous momentum of your character; spoil it with a missed jump and the whole experience can be ruined, and it takes a small while before you can throw yourself back into the pace of running.

The combat too can be also quite tricky. It's mostly handled via hand-to-hand encounters, with combo moves allowing you to evade and kick pursuing cops before they have a chance to react to your presence. Get close enough and time yourself just right and you can disarm gun-wielding bad guys and escape. At first it's easy but then you only tend to deal with lightly armed cops who can be floored with little effort; in fact, they pose so little threat that they can be evaded altogether. Later in the game however, you find yourself up against large groups of heavily armoured cops with automatic weaponry and their presence very nearly derails the entire experience.

The problem is, your mightily impressive hand to hand fighting skills just don't work as well against cops wearing bullet-proof body armour and as the game only allows you to take a handful of hits from a weapon before you die, trying to get in close enough to disarm them can be deadly. Even if you do get close enough, timing becomes vastly important; miss the opportunity to steal their weapon outright and it's doubtful you'll get a second chance. The cops increase in numbers too as you progress and with little protection offered, you either have to try and outrun them (not easy when they all carry rapid firing rifles) or take one of their weapons and engage in some unsatisfactory gunplay. The worst thing about these encounters is that several of them feel forced; they're designed in a way where resorting to firearms becomes a necessity to getting through. It's a bizarre design decision, as the game just doesn't do shooting as well as a hundred other first person shooters, plus it's also a betrayal of the concept that Dice seem to be pushing here.

They do get massive kudos points for their art direction though; there are very few games that can make a near future, oppressed city look so attractive that you wouldn't mind living there yourself. The city is a huge, minimalist utopia covered in so much white paint that it almost looks like one giant art museum - and when colour is used, it's on a vast, bold scale. The graphics manage to be both smooth and attractive without pushing your 3D card to its limits, but this PC version does benefit from a few optional bells and whistles that aren't featured on the console version, which render realistic cloth and glass effects that react to damage - just don't expect these effects to do your frame rate any favours if you haven't got the hardware to take advantage of them.

It's also worth pointing out that the sound quality is just as on par; the voice cast do an excellent job of progressing the story while the music always seems to fit whichever situation you are in. It's a shame then that the voice talent feels largely wasted on a plot that never really engages you. It's all predictable plot twists and unsurprising revelations that have been seen many times before, with each level simply designed to get you from one point to another without much motivation. Worse still is the fact that this is yet another game that leaves you with a half finished conclusion that leaves too many questions unanswered, an obvious attempt to leave the door open for a sequel, but as the story just isn't that interesting, it's difficult to see anyone really caring about how certain plot threads are going to be tied up.

Mirror's Edge isn't a long game either; the single player campaign can be completed in one weekend of swift gaming and there's not a whole lot else to do once you do complete it. Disappointingly, Dice has failed to capitalise on their multiplayer roots and left Mirror's Edge as a single player only game. Considering the places they could have gone with online support, it's a bewildering omission that really does feel like a missed opportunity. Instead, you are simply given a variety of single level timed racing events where your fastest score can be uploaded online to compare against other people's, plus you can download and watch ghosts to see how the fastest player got that impossible seeming time. It's a nice addition that may prolong the game for a few hours but it's no substitute for a longer single player campaign and multiplayer support.

Mirror's Edge isn't quite the full reinvention that we or Dice were hoping for but it's a flawed thing of true beauty. For all the things that go wrong towards the end of the game and despite a lacklustre plot and short length, Mirror's Edge is a game that I can't help but enjoy. Where Dice do succeed, they succeed in the most important areas, and their use of Parkour will likely not be bettered for a very long time. There's hope that if Dice ever get the green light for a sequel, they can take what they've learnt from this first attempt and perhaps create a game that's closer to their ambitious goals - for now, Mirror's Edge still remains a brave experiment, and one that, if not reinvents, certainly reinvigorates a stale genre.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).