We’ve received a whole lotta Mirror’s Edge-related goodies straight from the halls of EA and being the nice people we are we figured we’d share it all with you. We’ve got stacks of hi-res screenshots, a couple of trailers and a hefty load of facts all lined up in this whopper of a news post.

Chocks away then. Your Mirror’s Edge info blowout awaits after the jump.

The story of Mirror’s Edge goes a little like this: in the not-too-distant future, a city has become an apparently Utopian (yet oddly sterile) society where information is constantly monitored; imagine 1984 about 60 years later and you’ll be onto something. For those who want to spread free information Runners are their only option: agile couriers who take to the rooftops to carry precious cargo in their messenger bags, avoiding prying eyes below.

One such Runner is Faith, ME’s main character. Her sister has been framed for a crime and Faith gets caught up in the mess while running favors for the criminal underworld, leading to the totalitarian authorities attempting to track her down. Faith’s only option is to head for the roofs and make a run for it, with her whole story told through slick animated cutscenes (”Story” trailer showing this off here).

What’s crucial to understanding how Mirror’s Edge works is realizing that the game is not an FPS but rather a “first person action-adventure”. Certainly Faith can use guns should the need arise but, much like Assassin’s Creed’s Altaïr she prefers to keep moving and evade rather than take on obstacles head-on. Thus, much like the aforementioned assassin, she indulges in a spot of free-running to leap from roof to roof and across massive heights.

The art of free-running is the core element in the gameplay of Mirror’s Edge and you’ll be spending an awful lot of time leaping across gaps, pouncing over fences and running up walls. Watching this in action is breathtaking as it’s one of the only first-person games out there that lets you see your entire body as you run.

Look down and you’ll see your feet darting across the ground; look to the sides and you can see your arms swooping back and forth, or your hands grasping a railing as you vault over, legs and all. It’s a little dizzying to watch and so DICE, the developers of the game, have inserted a crosshair in the middle of the screen so you have something to focus on and don’t start feeling ill after a few minutes of playing the game.

With no other form of HUD on screen except this crosshair the environment acts as your health display, the colors of the sterile buildings fading as your life ebbs away. Certain segments of the environment glow red to indicate where you’re to go next, in case you’re not quite sure where your hands and feet can take you.

Videos and new screenshots, on page 2.

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