There was always going to be a danger with any sequel to Mirror’s Edge that the commercial performance of the original might prompt DICE and EA to try and reinvent the wheel. You know, throw in guns and make it Battlefield with parkour. That honestly wouldn’t have surprised me one bit. Thankfully, having spent some hands-on time with Mirror's Edge Catalyst at E3, I’m glad to report that nightmare scenario couldn’t be any further from the reality.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is an origin story, mapping out Faith’s rise from troubled street punk to almost freedom fighter. Set in the same sprawling city as the original, the main difference between the two titles of course being that Catalyst’s troubled city – one controlled purely by fear – is open-world. And by open-world we mean seamless with no load screens. That’s not to say it’s all rooftops and what not either. You’ll find yourself in buildings, on rooftops, in tunnels, climbing towers and more, and the original’s trademark slick, minimalistic look is perfectly carried across for the prequel.
Getting lost and finding routes in Catalyst’s open–world can be somewhat tricky too, with trial and error being more of a key pillar of play this time around. You find yourself sometimes jumping blindly off edges, hoping that there’s a building below to catch your fall, just because you don’t want to break momentum. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is all about momentum, after all. Somewhat more than the original, in fact. Trusting in your ‘Runner’s Vision’ – that visual representation of red edges and points of interest – and instinct becomes a large part of the navigational process, one that you will either love or curse for hours.
In terms of feel, Catalyst feels and controls much like the original. The high and low free-running contextual buttons (mapped to the left bumper and the left trigger in this instance) do most of your free-running, and there’s one button for combat. You won’t be picking weapons up off the floor or knocking them out of enemy's hands this time either. Faith can no longer pick-up a gun, something Mirror's Edge purists will welcome with open arms.
Faith is equipped with a few cool new moves as well, with her now able to jump on foes and take them out, use pipes to traverse around corners and more we’ve yet to discover. DICE has promised the inclusion of gadgets too, something the Swedish dev will talk more about at a later date.
In terms of the world, it seems like you won’t be short of things to do during your time free-running across the city skyline, so completists beware. Apart from the obvious story missions, there’ll be a ton of other activities to try, three of which were available for our hands-on time at E3.
First up was what DICE called a ‘Dash,’ which yes, you guessed it, is a race. A race against the clock. Like the original, players will be rated by a 3-star scoring system as it tasks you from getting from A-to-B-via-C as quickly as possible, making sure you hit all of the checkpoints.
From the off it’s clear that there’s an easy route and the classic trickier route that players will have to master if they want the quickest time. Fortunately it maintains that crack-like one-more-go addiction in its gameplay, with us missing out on 3-stars by a fraction of a second. Thankfully there are no load screens between new runs either, meaning you can keep trying to smash your time until your heart’s content without having to tap your foot through irritating waits for loading.
As well as Dash, DICE showed off the ‘Billboard Hack’ mode and also the ‘Delivery’ mode. The former is what's being billed as an environmental puzzle, tasking the player with getting to a high point on their map and tagging a billboard. The latter mode is quite simply a more combat-orientated mode, pitting Faith up against a series of guards as she delivers a sensitive package. The combat felt familiar, with us sliding, kicking and wall-run kicking our way through with relative ease, and like the free-running, the combat is about momentum. Incidentally, this is the reason that DICE opted to remove gunplay from the proceedings, believing it broke momentum. It did.
That was only a sample of things to come, but it was gratifying to actually get our hands-on Mirror's Edge Catalyst and see if it carried the lure that the original did. It does. It did seem like the sense of speed had been zapped somewhat compared to the original – or what I remember of it – but that’s only a mild concern. Otherwise, we’re just grateful that the original’s free-running formula was left intact… and now with a much bigger playbox. Yay.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is scheduled for a February 23rd 2016 and February 26th 2016 release in North America and Europe respectively.
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