Considering the impending financial crisis, the proliferation of high-profile sequels and, of course, the company’s own reputation, it’s been an unusual year for Electronic Arts. Once the most cynical arm of the games industry, now a pioneer in the funding of new IP and putting quality over quantity.

With Dead Space, Spore and Army Of Two, EA has already launched three high-profile ‘first games’ this year, and it’s set to complete an impressive quartet with DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, the much-hyped first-person freerunner with the crystal-clean visuals and stark colour palette. You probably think you already know everything there is to know about it, and we wouldn’t blame you. But in truth, Mirror’s Edge is a game of contradictions, a fascinating and frustrating mix of the old and the new, and not quite the sure-fire hit many had figured it would be.

As you’re most probably aware, Mirror’s Edge tells the story of Faith, a ‘runner’ in a dystopian future society where all communication is monitored and any word against the corporate regime that runs the city is outlawed. The only way to get sensitive information across the city is to use these runners, highly trained parkour experts who physically take the packages from A to B, dodging the police and the government on the way.

It’s a great premise, and one that matches the gameplay superbly. You never leave Faith’s eyes, controlling the whole game from her viewpoint, living every leap, bound and fall in one of the most engrossing and immersive uses of the first-person viewpoint ever seen. It’s all a question of acrobatics, you see. The left trigger and bumper allow you to jump and crouch respectively, so play is largely limited to negotiating the rooftops of the city, leaping ledges and ducking under vents as you sprint from A to B.

And it works. Timing is crucial, and if you jump at the correct moments and don’t slide too late, you can build a real sense of flow and momentum to your movement, one akin to a classic two-dimension platformer. At its best, Mirror’s Edge feels like a bleeding-edge interpretation of Mario or Sonic. At its worse, though, this pace breaks down, and the game’s over-reliance on trial and error starts to rear its ugly red head.

As your best route through the level is picked out in red – with pipes, ledges and handholds changing colour in real time as you sprint forwards – the times where there’s no red to see can prove jarring indeed, and they’re far too frequent, almost as if the game can’t quite catch up to the speed it wants to run at. The first time through a level is quite often a stop-start affair. Occasionally it works well, with some of the game’s sprints and climbs becoming puzzles of logical and spatial awareness. Other times, though, when you’re being hounded by the trigger-happy police force or a gun-turreted helicopter, it can become a nightmare. Expect to see Faith’s ‘death’ animation time and time again.

It almost feels like Mirror’s Edge needed a few more months in the pot to truly live up to its potential. It looks superb in parts, despite some ugly interiors, and the mechanics and the engine are immense. But a couple of ludicrous difficulty spikes and tremendously inconsistent signposting force it away from classic status. This niggling sense of doubt is compounded by a dreadfully told story, which makes little sense, is paced dreadfully and is told in strangely stilted animated cut-scenes, which cheapen the brilliant world DICE has strived to create in the first place.

When it works, though, there’s little better. The thrill of completing a mission without slowing down, with bullets flying, sirens wailing and Faith’s ever-quickening footsteps and intakes of breath adding to the drama… well, it’s quite the spectacle. Gears 2 aside, there’s no more exciting action game on 360 this year. Each of Mirror’s Edge’s levels are packed with brilliant set pieces and moments that will have eyes bulging and jaws agape. The first-person camera is utterly convincing, you always feel like you’re moving a human being – the weight and perspective are superbly well realised.

It bodes well for the inevitable sequel. Now that the engine is in place – and surely it was more than half the battle with Mirror’s Edge – DICE can work on the game’s pacing, plotting and signposting. There’s a lot to love in Mirror’s Edge, times when it reaches potential game of the year material, times when mind, body and control come together to create something almost euphoric on screen. But when that transcendence is shattered by a poorly designed combat section or a moment of utter confusion, it leaves a bitter taste. Kudos, then, for EA’s commitment to new IP, but it’s one that ironically, leaves us wanting a sequel.