Mirror's Edge Catalyst
Main game
3.18 average rating based on 911 ratings
- Developers
- EA Digital Illusions CE
- Publishers
- Electronic Arts
- Series
- Mirror's Edge
- Events
- PlayStation E3 Experience 2015 Press Conference, EA E3 2015 Press Conference, +2 morePlayStation E3 Experience 2015 Press Conference, EA E3 2015 Press Conference, EA World Premiere: E3 2014 Preview, The Download: EA 2013 Preview (EA E3 2013 Press Conference) less
- Platforms
- PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genres
- Adventure, Platform
- Themes
- Action, Open world, Thriller
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Mirror's Edge Catalyst?
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deepdoop's review of Mirror's Edge Catalyst
7.5/10
The parkour in Catalyst is better than the first one, feeling smoother and more fleshed out, so in that way Catalyst is a resounding success. It's never been more fun to run, jump, slide and grappling hook your way across a city. I can't stress just how much fun the moment to moment action is. I
I'm also a fan of the music and art style, which is reminiscent of the first game in a lot of ways. I think the style has aged well and strangely enough, the music makes a lot of the platforming rather soothing.
Unfortunately, there are two things that really bring the game down: the combat and the open world.
The combat is a problem that has returned from the first game, except the first one didn't put such an emphasis on it. It still feels incredibly unsatisfying most of the time, resulting in a bunch of kicks over and over, maybe disarming a guard. If you're lucky, you can pull of a neat trick attack where you run off a wall and land a dropkick, but a lot of the environments are so open that it's not always possible to do so. So …
7.5/10
The parkour in Catalyst is better than the first one, feeling smoother and more fleshed out, so in that way Catalyst is a resounding success. It's never been more fun to run, jump, slide and grappling hook your way across a city. I can't stress just how much fun the moment to moment action is. I
I'm also a fan of the music and art style, which is reminiscent of the first game in a lot of ways. I think the style has aged well and strangely enough, the music makes a lot of the platforming rather soothing.
Unfortunately, there are two things that really bring the game down: the combat and the open world.
The combat is a problem that has returned from the first game, except the first one didn't put such an emphasis on it. It still feels incredibly unsatisfying most of the time, resulting in a bunch of kicks over and over, maybe disarming a guard. If you're lucky, you can pull of a neat trick attack where you run off a wall and land a dropkick, but a lot of the environments are so open that it's not always possible to do so. So that means you are stuck running around like a moron in one of the fighting scenes; some of which go on way too long and made me want to quit playing the game.
Catalyst follows the trend of incorporating more free roam elements into the fold. You can now run around the city and do side missions for people -- but these get boring quickly since there's not a lot of variety to them. You end up seeing a lot of the same areas, which takes the excitement out of the running. You can unlock fast travel but I don't feel like I should want to fast travel in Mirror's Edge. This is just one of those cases where a more linear experience would be welcome.
People have criticized the story and characters, but I think they're fine. The plot isn't anything revolutionary, but conspiracies involving corporations and other authorities never gets old. I cared a little about Faith, and I think the voice acting was good. For the most part it all gels and I don't think it's an aspect of the game that is deserving of condemnation.
So Catalyst isn't what it could have been, but I still enjoyed myself.
Doesn't feel fluid
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
The game has a leveling system where you can choose wich branch to prioritize (movement, combat or improvements). The thing is that you need to lvl up to unlock basic stuff on the movement part wich is super anticlimatic. Protagonist already knew how to do the things that you will be unlocking in the first game, so literally no sense.
Also the running doesn't feel fluid. I found my self spamming Alt key to trigger the red line to know which direction should I go because the default visual helpers are too scarce and the red line that shows the way appears at high interval (maybe each 2 seconds? Doesn't actually matter but I felt it was too much. For example, when you turn a corner and have several paths ahead and the line hasn't appeared you have 2 options, press Alt key to trigger the red line or wait until the red line appears and shows you the correct path).
Also the combat against the hardest enemies felt super bad. Only kicks and dodging are effective but for some reason, some of their attacks are automatically targetted to you even if you dodge, to the point that while they …
The game has a leveling system where you can choose wich branch to prioritize (movement, combat or improvements). The thing is that you need to lvl up to unlock basic stuff on the movement part wich is super anticlimatic. Protagonist already knew how to do the things that you will be unlocking in the first game, so literally no sense.
Also the running doesn't feel fluid. I found my self spamming Alt key to trigger the red line to know which direction should I go because the default visual helpers are too scarce and the red line that shows the way appears at high interval (maybe each 2 seconds? Doesn't actually matter but I felt it was too much. For example, when you turn a corner and have several paths ahead and the line hasn't appeared you have 2 options, press Alt key to trigger the red line or wait until the red line appears and shows you the correct path).
Also the combat against the hardest enemies felt super bad. Only kicks and dodging are effective but for some reason, some of their attacks are automatically targetted to you even if you dodge, to the point that while they are in the middle of a throwing kick, (that is, standing in one leg and the other one streched or getting to it) if you dodge to their left or right, their leg literally turns 90º to you as if they had a robotic coxis?? xD
History and visuals where nice as the first game.
Overall, felt mediocre, would recommend it but don't play it with any expectations.
Anticlimactic
Of course, we got an anticlimactic ending that just proved we changed absolutely nothing, family ties are precarious and do not mean shit and to remember that sometimes, all you can appreciate about MEC is the gameplay, which I agree is pretty fluid and fun to maintain. Not a terrible game, but mediocre in some aspects. Combat was somehow more enjoyable without any HUD elements. What I will appreciate forever is the sterile look of the game and the sense of complete emptiness that you have throughout. Concept art slaps
Скучновато после Dying Light. Я фризит почему то. Решил не проходить. Время жалко
Well, I wanted to really like this game and I am trying to give it the benefit of the doubt but, boy is this game just wrongheaded from the get go. So many problems in every moment of gameplay, but I think they all are born from the cursed seed of the open world.
I don't know if I'm going to keep playing. It's such a shame.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst has 4 (!!) different overlays:
- Shift + Tab to open Steam overlay
- Shift + F1 to turn on EA overlay
- Alt + Z to open the Nvidia overlay
- Super + G to open the windows game overlay.
I hate everything about this.
I tried to play this a few year ago but my PC at the time couldn't handle it, so I'm trying again now. I loved the first game and know that this one is not well regarded, but still.
Now, I don't know if my memory is distorted by nostalgia but, doesn't the the first game look graphically better than the first one? I remember the city looking incredible, full of bright, contrasting colours and strong lighting. This one looks... dull? Gray? I don't know what it is.
I think it might have to do with the baked-in lighting of the original that allowed the designers to have high-quality lights and shadows. Catalyst has dynamic shadows which don't look nearly as good, I think.
me literally every time I play a freerunning/parkour game: oh right, I absolutely despise freerunning/parkour games
Here's the rub.
This isn't a bad game, as I said. In fact, it's not a bad game at all. It's perfectly fine. Daresay, it's the definition of adequate. But therein lies one issue that spoils it, and that is the fact that EA, in their grandest of wisdoms, decided to make it open world. On the whole, you'd think this wouldn't be a problem, until you realize that this franchise works BECAUSE of its linearity. Now you've removed the rush, the exhilaration and replaced it with time trials and 500 (not even kidding) collectibles. What once was based on the concept of fast paced movement has now become nothing more than another bland, boring set of "well, guess I gotta do this" checkpoints to mark off.
And somehow, despite this, the world feels even emptier than the first. The first game, with all its straight forwardness and linearity, somehow felt more real and more full and like a real city and setting...than this. This is so empty that it feels like a Holodeck simulation. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Yes, you've expanded the size, but you forgot to put anything in it. You can have a cornucopia of ideas, …
Here's the rub.
This isn't a bad game, as I said. In fact, it's not a bad game at all. It's perfectly fine. Daresay, it's the definition of adequate. But therein lies one issue that spoils it, and that is the fact that EA, in their grandest of wisdoms, decided to make it open world. On the whole, you'd think this wouldn't be a problem, until you realize that this franchise works BECAUSE of its linearity. Now you've removed the rush, the exhilaration and replaced it with time trials and 500 (not even kidding) collectibles. What once was based on the concept of fast paced movement has now become nothing more than another bland, boring set of "well, guess I gotta do this" checkpoints to mark off.
And somehow, despite this, the world feels even emptier than the first. The first game, with all its straight forwardness and linearity, somehow felt more real and more full and like a real city and setting...than this. This is so empty that it feels like a Holodeck simulation. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Yes, you've expanded the size, but you forgot to put anything in it. You can have a cornucopia of ideas, but unless you make those ideas work, it's still just a cornucopia of ideas, nothing more.
It's a weird dichotomy. This is a game with a serious identity crisis. On the one hand, it's exactly the same as its predecessor. It's got the same stark but pleasing visuals, the same basic but enjoyable storyline, and the same smooth gameplay. And yet, it's nothing like its predecessor because it's crammed to the gills with completely unnecessary aspects that often bog down open world titles. This isn't Assassins' Creed, EA, it's Mirror's Edge. It's a niche title with a very specific gametype, and here you are once again turning into a mess.
And it could've worked, that's the kicker. There was a way to make this work. Dying Light did it. Dying Light is all parkour, but also open world. They somehow found a way to make the two co-mingle in a way that doesn't feel forced. But EA didn't do that. This game feels like the equivalent of a sequel released 10 years after the fact that's got nothing to do with its prior incarnation outside of IP recognition. Brand name alone. That's what drove it.
It's playable. It's perfectly playable. Hell, it's even kinda enjoyable, but only, and ONLY, if you ignore all the completely unnecessary open world elements and instead stick primarily to the plot. Even then, the setpieces aren't nearly as memorable or as fun to traverse, but it's still essentially the same as the first. I'd like to think EA would see this as an example of why open world doesn't work for every title (it actually doesn't work most of the time in general but that's a whole other discussion nobody is ready to have yet), but I know they'll instead pin their failings on the consumer, and not the industry. Why would they ever blame themselves.
EA has gone from being a really ahead of their time developer to playing catchup, existing primarily off milking long since dead IP's based purely on recognition and brand name alone. The fact that they chopped out entire segments of crucial plot points from Mass Effect 3 and then released them as DLC after the fact, kinda proves how awful they've become. In fact, so much of EA titles now are just "here's the base, and we'll release all the content later in the year for 15 dollars a pop, because fuck you."
EA. It's in the game. You just have to pay more to access it.
This isn't bad, like people say, but it definitely lacks something that the original has and the thing is I can't exactly place what it is precisely that's missing. It's literally the same game just with a bigger world and more content, and yet...
...there's something missing, isn't there?
I liked the original Mirror’s Edge so I want this one. Judging from the average, it isn’t of the same quality, but if it keeps the gameplay, then sure.
I deleted the game without finishing so I'm not gonna give a rating. But this is a huge disappointment. I loved the original game, it was really unique. This one though... Very weak and non-believable atmosphere, boring combat and broken runner vision. Don't want to waste time anymore with this when I have great games (you know, like Witcher 3 for instance!!!) to be played.
Something deeply unsettling about the world...no human traces other than a few humans standing on sterile roofs. So strange.
