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Mirror's Edge Catalyst - Review Thread
- Thread starter orthodoxy1095
- Start date
The combat is way better than the original. It mixes parkour and combat much better than the original. IMO, and from the 3 hours of the beta.
That looks more fun that what they've got in Catalyst. It's got an almost SuperHot quality to it.
QuantumZebra
Member
The fact that this is probably the first and lasting reaction to solid 7 and 8/10 reviews makes me nauseous.
Aztechnology
Member
https://youtu.be/Z7qpHflaIvo
Ok I'll admit this doesn't look any better, but hopefully it's been improved since beta. Wtf is with all the enemies, they just sit there and take the beating.
It seems like a combination of bad AI and bad enounter design.
The footage I've seen from the early access livestreams hasn't looked much improved. Enemies staring off into the distance, and just getting kicked into walls. It looks really bad, imo.
Admiral Snackbar
Member
Disarming, yes, but I'm glad using the guns isn't an option.
You can defeat enemies in a single counter hit.
That alone makes it better than the awfulness in Catalyst.
BronsonLee
Member
7-8/10 works just fine for me.
Eh the combat is better, but it still not good. Human enemies are best when you can simply pass them or knock them aside with enough momentum (but course there still some forced encounters).
Man, can you imagine if instead of the combat we have now, they ignored all the whining about "using guns oh no" and made super polished combat encounters with parkour shootouts, Max Payne--esque shootdodging and copious amounts of wallrun shooting ala Titanfall? They could even using the original Mirror's Edge concept as an excuse.
Although, thinking about it, if they just made really deep and kinetic first person melee combat, this all wouldn't be an issue.
Karak
Member
For me it was like this. The original had structure and polish in many places and though lacking in others it was able to direct you to specific places to do cool things.
Open world, absolutely unrealistic level design means that the one thing they want you to do, which is buy into this being a real world with story and characters that you should give a shit about, falls apart the first time you realize that some dude has to parkour to get a fucking sandwich. Or when you deliver an item less than 300 feet away. And it repeats...basically forever. And that's also a gateway for the other stuff to creep in and be noticed easier like the combat.
It allows for you to overstay your welcome and without direction the parts that are weak can be seen at a leisurely pace and become jarring and you have to actively search for the good parts. Its just completely odd to be honest.
Open world, absolutely unrealistic level design means that the one thing they want you to do, which is buy into this being a real world with story and characters that you should give a shit about, falls apart the first time you realize that some dude has to parkour to get a fucking sandwich. Or when you deliver an item less than 300 feet away. And it repeats...basically forever. And that's also a gateway for the other stuff to creep in and be noticed easier like the combat.
It allows for you to overstay your welcome and without direction the parts that are weak can be seen at a leisurely pace and become jarring and you have to actively search for the good parts. Its just completely odd to be honest.
littlegrasshopper
Member
Has anyone purchased this game from cdkeys.net and received their key already? I see they have the EU release date posted and I don't want to wait. If that's the case i'll end up buying it from Origin.
Did you get a review copy? I purchased it and have EA Access and they still put a limit to the campaign missions I can play in my early access.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Wait, they knew that everyone hated the combat in the first game so they added more combat?
Got an early copy from a local shop. Played on the PS4 and there was constant frame drops which was noticeable and quite annoying. After playing Uncharted 4 and then this, sad to see the massive difference in visuals. I know this is open world but so was MGS5
QuantumSquid
Member
No... the combat in the first game had extremely shitty feeling shooting mechanics. You cannot fire or even pick up guns in Catalyst, it's all melee. But apparently it's still not great.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I honestly figured they'd just base the entire game on those DLC platforming puzzles they released later on. Oh well.
This definitely sounds like a wait for a sale game.
Wowfunhappy
Member
Is the OT going up soon?
I'm trying to unlock the game and my Australian VPN isn't working.
I'm trying to unlock the game and my Australian VPN isn't working.
Man that's... Shorter than the original game.
I came to the original years after it came out. I didn't love it but I thought it was a cool risk that I wish I'd been in a position to support when it came out.
Playing the sequel, I find the missions to be challenging and fun, running around and exploring the open world is very relaxing and even on the Xbox One where the presentation is muddiest, I still find myself at times stopping and admiring the scenery. I don't love it, but I think it's a cool risk that I am in a position to support this time around, so I will.
Playing the sequel, I find the missions to be challenging and fun, running around and exploring the open world is very relaxing and even on the Xbox One where the presentation is muddiest, I still find myself at times stopping and admiring the scenery. I don't love it, but I think it's a cool risk that I am in a position to support this time around, so I will.
Mega Man's Electric Sheep
Member
That seems a bit fast, considering I was at 42% of the story after 3.5 hours of the trial (I only did like 2 sidequests too).
Xaero Gravity
NEXT LEVEL lame™
After going back and forth, I think I'll just return the game to Best Buy when it arrives tomorrow.
boredandlazy
Member
As long as this has an awesome time trial mode like the first one I'm still in.
TheAdmiester
Member
The sequel is brand new and also looks shit so I don't see how this is about age. The only reason I myself brought it up is because everyone seems to be looking back at it with rose tinted goggles.
mullet2000
Member
I haven't. I'm also wondering when I should expect to get it.
jediyoshi
Member
I think this assumption only holds up if you imagine the combat is identical. They also knew everyone hated there being usable guns so they removed those.
And yet, probably more to do by virtue of open world mechanics. The comparable feature set at that point to ME1 are the time trials.
MR ARCADE FOREVER
Member
I played the beta and it was so freaking boring I could not even finish it
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
As someone who loves the first game, I don't...understand who asked for or wanted the series to go open world?
mullet2000
Member
Everything has to be open world these days. It's mandated by the U.N.
The source for their key for this game is "authorised distributor" and not actually EA so it might be close to/after release. Whenever their distributors get their keys and send them to GMG and then GMG send them to you.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Kind of surprised more reviews didn't pop out this evening.
I just saw a thread on Reddit that pointed out that GMG is now showing the release date as June 9th, so we might be waiting until Thursday.
mullet2000
Member
Ugh
GHG
Member
Nobody. And what's funny is we had people defending that decision in the pre-release threads. Most of those people defending it weren't even fans of the first game and their logic was that by it being open world it might have wider appeal as a result. They told us we only liked the first game so much because of "nostalgia" and that the game in its original state wouldn't hold up today. The great irony is that after these shitty reviews I doubt many of them will even buy it still.
By making it open world they not only alienated most of the fans who really wanted a sequel, but they also made the game worse overall.
Good job EA.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
Still going to get this but my plan all along was to wait... Not necessarily to save money though or because of review scores. I'm sort of saving a few 'sci fi' games all until Deus Ex Mankind Divided nears release... I'm doing the same for Invisible, Inc. Just sort of want to play Mirror's Edge, Invisible Inc, Deus Ex all in concession just to sort of enjoy the whole sci-fi theme and mood more.
The review scores are about what I expected though, notably what early impressions said about the open world exploring. Sometimes it's a hit, especially maybe on replays, but otherwise can detract from the focused experience of the original. So I'm all good with that.
The review scores are about what I expected though, notably what early impressions said about the open world exploring. Sometimes it's a hit, especially maybe on replays, but otherwise can detract from the focused experience of the original. So I'm all good with that.
SneakyStephan
Banned
I don't understand why they insist on putting combat into either game.
It doesn't belong , it was the worst part of mirror's edge 1 by miles and it was just poorly executed alltogether
NullPointer
Member
Not true. This series was begging for it.
Open worlds are first and foremost about traversal. Mirror's Edge, more than anything else, is about traversal through the rooftops and alleyways on a cyberpunk metropolis. An open world takes that idea and runs with it. You can still have well designed linear runs placed within a non-linear open city environment, and the missions in this seem to work that way.
And the open world doesn't seem to be the issue here. In fact, in the reviews I've read that open world is one of the game's saving graces.
Open worlds are quantity over quality. The reason I (and many others) loved ME so much was because of the tight level design and how that played with the mechanics. Open level design a la Dishonored, sure. But pure open world design is a net negative for people who loved ME because of how singular of an experience it was.
NullPointer
Member
They certainly don't have to be, especially, once again, when the game is all about traversal. Her movement across the city's rooftops is what makes the game tick.
Its a natural fit, but that doesn't mean the ball can't get dropped. But again, its the missions and the combat focus that seems to have the most misgivings in the reviews I've checked out, with the open world offered up as a way for the player to focus on time trials and the pure fun of that movement set. The worst things I've read about the open world is that its unnecessary. Thats better than a focus on bad combat and a finicky mag-rope that you get as the missions progress.
RSB
Banned
Yep. From what I played in the beta, it's obvious the awesome parkour gameplay is still there, so even if it's lacking in other aspects, I know I'll still have lots of fun with the game. I probably won't like it as much as the first, but considering the original Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games of all time, I think that's fine.