Courier game delivers top action

Occasionally, a video game will reshape the way gamers see virtual worlds. Much like Wolfenstein 3D, Super Mario 64 and Half-Life before it, the stunning first-person action-adventure game Mirror's Edge (Electronic Arts, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), smashes the conventions of its predecessors.

As a superagile courier named Faith – who is usually being chased by bad guys – players can run, walk, leap, hop and slide across rooftops, within warehouses, through sewers and inside office buildings. Faith's goals are never more complicated than getting from Point A to Point B. How she accomplishes that is where Mirror's Edge comes alive.

Created by Swedish video game developer DICE, the game mimics real-life running – complete with panting sounds. And while you can acrobatically parlay a series of manoeuvers into an impromptu ballet or lunge towards a helicopter, the fear of going splat or being shot to death by your pursuers is omnipresent.

To keep the action moving, objects and surfaces that Faith can bounce off or use to her advantage, glow a distinct shade of candy apple red and are easy to spot within her sterile urban environment, which resembles what it might look like if Ikea erected a city in Japan. Once you get the hang of the light-footed game play, it's strangely blissful.

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