Platform racers are a niche but incredibly fun subgenre of multiplayer party games that I enjoy. Some like Speedrunners have you running around looped circuits, others like CD-Run are narrow corridor runs, and many are intentionally difficult to catch you out. Hyper Mirror Run splits the screen in half for 1v1 races, ascending levels that mirror each other. There are no powerups, and it’s all about skill, precision, and speed. Oh, and it’s under £2 on Steam, and on sale for under £3 on consoles. Interesting…
Whilst the game has a basic graphical palette and wooden character movement, everything plays out consistently. Movement is responsive, and collision detection with enemies is obvious and consistent. Jumping on enemy heads kills them, and you can equip some bombs and throwable shurikens to clear a path whilst moving. Killing enemies is optional, though, as is collecting gems (100 gives an extra life), but the main goal is always to collect the key to unlock the door and reach the flag behind it first.
There are 55 levels in Hyper Mirror Run across 5 environments. Each environment brings a new mechanic such as moving spike chains, moving platforms, or bounce pads. The levels are incredibly simple for the vast majority of the game, and I’m conflicted about this design decision. On one hand, everyone has a chance to feel competent and look good. If there are two players with similar or strong platforming skills, runs come down to the tiniest of hesitations or mistakes. It requires a fluidity to win that emulates the buzz of games like Speedrunners. The flipside is that all too often, there isn’t anything to differentiate player skill or challenge anyone. The exception to this may come from the 5 boss battles, but that’s often a one-trick pony. Bosses follow one simple attack pattern, and once you’ve identified how to jump on their heads, it’s a race to trigger your attack the quickest.
I worry that whilst Hyper Mirror Run delivers value for money, most of it may be too simple and bore players rather than wrap them up in competition. This will be a very personal decision, and if you think you’ll be bored of basic platforming races, I’d knock the review score down 1-2 points. I’ve given it the benefit of the doubt. Elsewhere, it is lovely to see 3 levels of AI for single-player racing to take place. Easy and normal are very slow, so I’d recommend starting on the hardest difficulty for any single-player fun to be had.
Hyper Mirror Run is a tentative recommendation for an interesting, budget spin on the platform racer. It isn’t near the heights of Speedrunners, and there is a sequel coming out later this year, which looks like being a best of class. I’d only play this in short bursts, with friends of a similar skill level. Otherwise, I think this would not land well in a local multiplayer tournament setting. Not bad, but not compelling either.
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