Mirror’s Edge looked cool in the previews, and trailers, and gameplay videos; unsurprisingly enough, it looks cool in the demo as well.

I don’t really like the way I have to hold the gamepad in order to play (is anyone used to pressing the Xbox’s triggers with the middle finger?) but they make sense — left bumper means “up” and left trigger means “down,” and maybe you couldn’t have as precise control if you had to keep your right thumb on the face buttons instead of the stick… or maybe you could. It feels like I would have cramps after half an hour of play, and I wonder if it’s more or less comfortable on the PS3’s pad.

Regardless of the unfamiliar controls, this isn’t an easy game: I did break a sweat during the short demo, and felt the sense of urgency and helplessness when chased by the bad guys. The “runner vision” is unobtrusive (if not insufficient — I wouldn’t have minded having access to some kind of map so I knew for sure where I was supposed to be going, but then I guess that’s an integral part of the game design), and the most elaborate maneuvers are definitely not dumbed down (I know I’d have a hard time pulling the “wall run, turn around, jump” stunt during the course of the game) but the feeling of controlling a free-running character is very real.

An unqualified success, that I’d really like to experience more. And reserving the time-trials section of the demo for people who pre-ordered the game is really lame.