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Mirror's Edge Catalyst - Review Thread

Genio88

Member
After i trying the beta i had already lost faith into this game, too repetitive and boring, open world really doesn't fit this game, at least not like they did it, perhaps i'll pick it up for cheap on PC this summer, if there won't be anything else to play
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
For me its the opposite. The running loses its novelty on its own. Mirror's Edge is fun when WHAT you're climbing has meaningful context. I don't know if Catayst has it, but avoiding the train for example or jumping on a helicopter were great moments.

Of course there are those who seem to just love running around. In that case, if anything, the open world isn't open enough haha.
I like that stuff too. I'm literally talking about the actual elevators where you just sit and wait for the game to load. That was awful.
 
Average score for an average game that will be forgotten in 6 months,just like the first...

I'd say the first has a small but loyal fan base, a cult classic. Just because the press and top 10 lists don't acknowledge a game doesn't it mean it doesn't have fans.
 
I'd say the first has a small but loyal fan base, a cult classic. Just because the press and top 10 lists don't acknowledge a game doesn't it mean it doesn't have fans.

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ReaperXL7

Member
Average score for an average game that will be forgotten in 6 months,just like the first...

Pretty much, The first game bombed commercially and I don't this one is going to do any better.

I'd say the first has a small but loyal fan base, a cult classic. Just because the press and top 10 lists don't acknowledge a game doesn't it mean it doesn't have fans.

True to some degree but no one should expect EA to sink more money into the franchise if it's DOA every time they do.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
I'm a bit conflicted on this one, I loved the original but am getting sick of openworld filler. Won't be day 1 anyway, maybe I'll wait for a sale.

Average score for an average game that will be forgotten in 6 months,just like the first...

If the original had been forgotten in 6 months then we would never have gotten a sequel.
 

nynt9

Member
Pretty much, The first game bombed commercially and I don't this one is going to do any better.



True to some degree but no one should expect EA to sink more money into the franchise if it's DOA every time they do.

I mean, whether it's DOA or not is entirely dependent on EA. It's not like the franchise name is cursed. It's that they've failed to deliver a great game.
 

Garlador

Member
Average score for an average game that will be forgotten in 6 months,just like the first...

Yeah, and Deadly Premonition, Spec Ops: The Line, Psychonauts, and Zone of the Enders were totally forgotten as well after 6 months...

... C'mon. I still adore Mirror's Edge and appreciate it for what it brought to the table, and I'm probably going to enjoy Catalyst as well. It's a cult game and there's nothing shameful about that.

Some of my favorite games are "average" games that got "average" scores. I still fire up Alice: Madness Returns from time to time, and its got a community that loves it too.

True to some degree but no one should expect EA to sink more money into the franchise if it's DOA every time they do.
Or keep budgets in-check, iterate and improve, and hone in on what works.

The Souls franchise has only grown - not but trying to cater to everyone - but by ignoring all the AAA padding and fluff a company like EA would surely stuff into it and just focusing on the things it does well.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
I mean, whether it's DOA or not is entirely dependent on EA. It's not like the franchise name is cursed. It's that they've failed to deliver a great game.

If you think EA is going to take responsibility your out of your mind, I'd sooner see them saying it didn't sell because female leads don't sell games.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
I mean, whether it's DOA or not is entirely dependent on EA. It's not like the franchise name is cursed. It's that they've failed to deliver a great game.

It's not cursed but it seems like the series just doesn't sell, it's a niche series, and I can see that being the end of Mirrors Edge, hell I'd go so far to say it IS the end of Mirrors Edge for new games. Sad for the fans but at least I'll have this one to play, obviously I can't say it's a great game as I only played the beta but I loved the shit out of it and I loved the open world etc. I expect the story to be dogshit (as seems to be the case) but the time trials and running about shall keep me very happy for a long time :)

I'm glad it exists and I'm happy EA let DICE make another Mirrors Edge game, even if it was just as much a chance for them to test the open world waters with Frostbite as well as making an ME game. Hell it's probably the first EA game in a long time that doesn't have some sort of season pass, I wonder how well it'll do even with their lowered expectations.
 
After all the woes and bad talk in the early access thread, I was starting to feel a bit.. worried. I had the game paid off in trade so figured I'd still give it a chance. Thaqnk goodness too. I really dont get what the problem is and why people set some amazingly high bar to jump over. This game has been super fantasic and reminds me of all the reason I loved Mirrors Edge but takes it a step further. I would have been super disappointed had I listened to everybody in the Early Access thread and not grabbed this.
 

prag16

Banned
This is what I was afraid of, with regard to the unnecessary open world baggage and its impact according to many of the reviewers. Oh well. Will wait for steep steam sale.
 
You do know that DICE made frostbite, right? The engine that pretty much everything at EA is now using.

I'd say that alone makes them top tier - and their games are utterly gorgeous, too.

Battlefront had a flawless network launch, evidencing that they've learned from BF4, and the only complaint was the nebulous "content" one.

You and I disagree about what makes a good developer considering your first three sentences are solely about the engine and not about the games they make.


Also 1) the content for BF3 was a problem and 2) I can't believe you're being willfully ignorant to all the other complaints about the game that you're actually saying that was the ONLY complaint about the game.
 
I'd disagree with the idea that the open world isn't interesting. Some of the earlier sections are fairly simplistic but later areas introduce a lot of different options in how to get from point A to B. It's not quite as deep as the missions but I think it's still good enough that it can provide a tonne more content.

Fair enough if you'd rather have more linear content but I'd argue there's far more room for replayablility with the open world.

That said, my initial comment was directed at those who were saying the game has been ruined by introducing an open world. From what you're saying it seems like you think the game is still good but could have been better without the open world which is fair enough. However, I want to read why people think the game is much worse because of the open world.


The thing about "open world" design is that it is the largest of all the scopes when it comes to game development. You have, what essentially is a working prototype from the previous generation to be realized in a genre that consumes the largest amount of time and resources to implement. So naturally, the seams of the open world in this game are going to crush under the weight a lot easier than a Far Cry or a GTA game. You can clearly tell the "suits" definitely had an influence on this as it gives leeway for an open world design but not giving the resources to fully realize it.

Any game can go open-world but unless they are given the budget of Bethesda/GTA, you can't extrapolate the full advantages that come with it.
 
I loved the original game and even got the platinum trophy for it(which is known to be extremely difficult). It's sad that this probably the last Mirror's Edge game that will ever come out. I expected a better game from the developers, but it seems that not enough effort was put into it. It might be budget reasons, or the lack of imagination to make it better than the original. But, the game was never going to meet the hype anyway.

I will definitely get it at some point down the line, but not at full price.
 
You do know that DICE made frostbite, right? The engine that pretty much everything at EA is now using.

I'd say that alone makes them top tier - and their games are utterly gorgeous, too.

Battlefront had a flawless network launch, evidencing that they've learned from BF4, and the only complaint was the nebulous "content" one.

By this metric, Epic is the best game developer ever in the entire world.

Good scores, but the game just doesn't appeal to me the same way the first one did. I'll wait for a sale down the road and pick it up.
 

golem

Member
I played the beta and it just made me want to play the original. Just looked and felt too much like the first game to me. Although I haven't played the original in a long time so I might be wrong.


I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe it's not the reviewers but the game itself isn't all that interesting

I like that Catalyst is essentially more of the same. Besides tacking on some open world stuff that you can mostly ignore, it really doesn't do all that much to cater to potential new audiences. The core of the game is still Mirror's Edge through and through. I appreciate that.
 

nynt9

Member
so, the people that enjoyed the first, will they also enjoy this one?

I'll just quote myself again:

I think it depends on what one liked/disliked about the first. If you thought "I love these mechanics just give me an open world to collect shit in and do time trials" then this is exactly what you wanted from a sequel to the first. If you thought "I love these mechanics and the tight design of the game, but I wish combat was just not even in the mix and I hope the sequel doesn't dilute the focus by adding open world padding" then this sequel is probably not what you wanted.
 

thumb

Banned
I'll just quote myself again:

I disagree to an extent. I don't consider the open world to be padding, and the tight design is still present: you enter closed-off levels for story missions.

Really ME is about flow, and giving you opportunities to flow between in-world objectives is freaking grand. The existence of optional collectibles does nothing to diminish this, IMHO.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Still keeping my £140 Collectors Edition pre-order, I'm keeping Faith.
 
I disagree to an extent. I don't consider the open world to be padding, and the tight design is still present: you enter closed-off levels for story missions.

Really ME is about flow, and giving you opportunities to flow between in-world objectives is freaking grand. The existence of optional collectibles does nothing to diminish this, IMHO.
The open world is also exactly what allows for user created runs, which I look forward to testing out.
 
Nothing buttersmooth about 30 fps tho.

Totally untrue - Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Driveclub, and UC4 are all great examples of perfectly solid 30fps with rare to no dips where you don't think about framerate. 30fps can be a perfectly smooth experience.

30fps destroys any sort of "razorsharp"IQ as it turns the entire screen into a blurry mess as soon as anything is moving. They probably could've hidden a lot of stuff that way but that's not what IQ is about.

I think you're a bit confused about what image quality is.

Digital Foundry on Uncharted 4:
Uncharted 4 delivers the best image quality we've seen in a console game to date.
... which, just to be totally clear, is a 30fps game.

From what I played of the beta, the controls feel great, it was immediately noticeable. Jumping, wall running and so on felt smooth, lot smoother than the original

It does feel great I agree. But it's hugely disappointing to see such piss poor distance textures and such badly masked texture load in in a game defined by it's striking art. The first game was a great game at 30fps, and we got a sequel off that great game. I'm not sure why people feel the sequel NEEDED to be 60, at the cost of visual fidelity. Personally, I'd love it if DICE enabled a 30fps, 1080p, high res texture mode.. I would use that in a heartbeat.
 
I still want the game but these scores are very disappointing. I thought the game was sure to get 8s and 9s as a major release from EA. It's getting hammered instead. Ah well - I'll still be picking up the game as a massive fan of the original which I adored so I guess I'll form my own opinion. Hoped this game would have scored better however.
 

sono

Member
Destructoid said:
.. after the original was near perfect, but I think once people get over that initial shock, they'll come to adore it in spite of that.

I wanted to read a review of someone like me who loved the original.

That will do..
 

Blizzard

Banned
I wanted to read a review of someone like me who loved the original.

That will do..
I also loved the original, one of my favorite games ever, and bought a bunch of copies for Steam friends.

I think if you liked movement and time trials in the original, Catalyst has a lot to enjoy. If you're only in it for the story and you don't like lots of running, you're gonna have a mediocre time. There are improvements from the original (goodbye UE3 loading elevators) but also annoyances (delivery missions with slow reloads and voice lines that play EVERY FREAKING TIME).
 

SomTervo

Member
I wanted to read a review of someone like me who loved the original.

That will do..

My impressions from the OT:

The controls are as good as Mirror's Edge 1. They feel slightly more floaty but they actually perfectly blend with Faith's body and movements, so it feels good. Very, very well designed. Check out her shadow or reflection whenever you're running - looks perfect and 1:1 with your actions.

There are a couple of new moves that are really well implemented. The rope-swing gadget (maglev) is awesome, but not very well signposted so sometimes you fall to your death because the game doesn't let you punch into a hook-point.

Falling to your death is still horrifying.

The upgrade system is a non-issue. Definitely nothing metroidvania-ey here (well, one thing, but it takes very little time to get the key unlocks).

The level design on missions is very nice, but there aren't many of them.

The open world level design for traversal/exploration is OK, I'm finding it a bit fiddly/unintuitive - but then again I'm playing with all the 'runner vision' off, so it's easy to get lost (no red markings as your waypoint).

The open world level design for races/time trials is fucking amazing and has surpassed Mirror's Edge 1 for me. There is a thick abundance of deliveries, special challenges, and time trials with fast leaderboards - as well as an infinite amount of player-made trials so you can keep finding new content. You can go for hours doing this stuff.

Combat is fucking great once you learn to use jumps/leaps/slides to do special heavy-hits on enemies, and you learn to manage the crowds. If you try to play it just walking up to enemies and punching/kicking, you'll find it dull, janky, and probably unfun. The AI is a bit wobbly sometimes and can get stuck standing still doing nothing. When it works it works brilliantly.

Story is by the numbers, pretty dull. I like Faith's VA, though.

Worth noting that I'm encountering more amounts of jank as I continue. Not huge, but like every area has at least one or two dead-ends or poorly placed geometry and the AI has a bit of a funk from time to time.

Still loving it, though.
 
Average score for an average game that will be forgotten in 6 months,just like the first...

The original is hardly forgotten.

Missed by the press while they were wooed by the latest and greatest AAA games no one remembers, but time has looked back very kindly on the original Mirror's Edge.
 
Yep exactly what I thought this be after all that preview coverage.

So many potentially good games getting bogged down by tedious unlockable skills and open worlds.
 

Dead Man

Member
Actually expected a lot worse from EA, might have to give this one a go in spite of my dislike of them. Need to support their baby steps :)
 

Nowise10

Member
It is frustrating to me how DICE really really "noobified" the entire game. I shut runners vision off from the get go because I liked trying to solve the parkour puzzles in the first Mirrors Edge without the correct paths being highlighted in red. Unfortunately in this game, even with runners vision disabled, the paths are still highlighted with black footstep marks everything, or different colors pieces of geometry that easily highlight that you need to go their. Not a single puzzle in the entire game has made me pause and think. I've just being running through room after room, following black footstep marks after black footstep marks, with the occasional janky combat (which is its own topic to discuss...).

Dice created an amazing atmosphere and world in the game, and beautiful scenery just like the first game. Unfortunately they lost their touch with gameplay, and it is a shame. This game is in no means a "bad game", but it just isn't the sequel I was hoping for.
 
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