I picked up a second hand copy of Mirror’s Edge for just a fiver about a month ago. Boy, am I glad I didn’t pay full price for this. I came very close to doing just that after playing the downloadable demo on XBox Live back in 2008.

Mirror’s Edge should be brilliant. A game that enables us pie-eating chuggers to experience the exquisite freedom enjoyed by the perpetrators of parkour should be an absolute revelation. So where did Mirror’s Edge go wrong?

Let’s start with the positives, the many things that Mirror’s Edge gets right. Most strikingly, the game is beautiful. Faith (our protagonist throughout the game) can say what she likes about the smothering homogeneity of corporate culture, but those fat-cats sure know how to build a city. The clinical white buildings splashed with the odd blue stair and orange billboard create a breath-taking vista.

The plot is divulged through series of animated cut-scenes which differ in style to the in-game visuals. Here, the art direction takes on a more hand-crafted style, and it is refreshing to see how the developers wanted to tell the story in a unique way: yes, they are just standard cut-scenes, but the style of animation here subtly changes the pace and feel of the storytelling, adding texture to the game as a whole. Faith’s narrative throughout is corny, but in a good way, like Sarah Connor’s in the two Terminator movies that weren’t eye-searing pain from start to finish.

The real innovation that Mirror’s Edge brings to the FPS table is how it manages to make you think that you are actually controlling a person and not just a floaty camera. Seeing Faith’s limbs in front of you interacting with the environment really adds to the immersive qualities of the first person perspective. If you run into a wall, Faith puts out her arms to stop herself. Slide under an obstacle, and her legs kick out in front. This doesn’t sound revolutionary, and it isn’t, but the sound of Faith’s breathing, the jolts of the viewpoint, the environmental sounds – footsteps, ricocheting bullets – and the fact that you can see your interaction gives the game a visceral quality that many other first person games would benefit from.

Oh, and it’s nice to be called ‘babe’ from time to time.

In a happy and contented world, this article would end here and I’d go back to my luxury yacht’s hot tub to finish dictating the concluding chapter to my second blockbuster novel. Unfortunately, this isn’t a happy and contented world, I only have housework to look forward to, and this article goes on to detail how Mirror’s Edge gets it horribly wrong.

The cracks start to appear almost immediately. By now I am more than used to the hand holding opening scenes of modern video games, and quite often I actually choose to play the tutorial in any given game, when offered the choice. I did so today, when playing the demo to EA’s more-of-the-same-please Skate 3. But Faith’s introduction to the world of running really takes the piss. “Press [LB] to crouch,” the game enlightens us, followed by “Now try to crouch.” Buh. This game assumes you’re a complete moron.

I’m reminded of how both Braid and Trials HD taught you the controls: a little bit of graffiti in the environment telling you the button and its corresponding action, and then an obstruction requiring you to use the new skill. Simple, unobtrusive, and certainly not insulting to anyone’s intelligence. This kind of tutorial would have fitted perfectly into Mirror’s Edge‘s ‘training ground’ premise. You then spend the rest of the compulsory tutorial following a girl called Celeste, and doing exactly as she does, like your in a incredibly dangerous but nevertheless tedious game of Follow The Leader. Wouldn’t it have been much more interesting to be given free rein, to explore Faith’s abilities and limitations as you explore the training grounds? This lack of freedom proves to be portentous of things to come.

In one of her corny monologues, Faith describes ‘The Flow’ of the rooftops as some kind of zen state of mind you reach when Running, suggestive of its fluidity of movement and intuitive route decisions. However,  you very rarely achieve anything approaching a ‘flow’ thanks to the linear nature of the levels and some obtuse design. Each scenario sees you making your way from point A to point B with very little choice of route to take. This wouldn’t be so bad if you could do so in a fluid, intuitive manner, but you cannot (at least, not on your first play through). Instead, you must stop and look for your next viable route (at this point there is often only one) or resort to the Flow-shattering press of the [B] button, which points you in the correct direction.

True parkour does involve meticulous planning of routes, jump distances, surface friction, wall heights etc. but Mirror’s Edge would be better off throwing out the old adage ‘look before you leap’ and just let go. Games are at their best when it is simply enjoyable to control the character. This is why Super Mario Bros. was a smash, and why its 64-bit younger brother successfully opened our eyes to 3D platforming; It’s just fun being Mario, regardless of what you are expected to do next. It isn’t fun being Faith; it’s a clunky, frustrating experience. A more open design, more freedom of movement and more route choice just might have made Mirror’s Edge spectacular. Opportunity missed.

Oh, by the way DICE, if you’re reading this, the illusion of chasing someone is shattered when you can see them just up ahead, waiting patiently for you to catch up as you bungle yet another attempt to jump over a waist high obstacle.