But, in practice, it does seem necessary to navigate around the world (and you can always turn back to ‘classic’ mode. In pre-release footage, I thought this was a terrible addition, and would make things too easy. An enhanced runner’s vision helps you out, not just highlighting your route in red (again, like the original) but also giving you an ethereal line floating in the direction you should go. The city is vast and varied, and finding your way around is a lot of fun. Outside of the story, you have an open world to explore as the City of Glass spans out in front of you. This is where some of the old magic resurfaces, as the traversal mechanics are by far the best part of the game.
And I have no idea how this can still be allowed to be a video game narrative in 2016, when developers have proved for nearly a decade that video games are capable of some much more. You wouldn’t be remiss for punching the skip button as hard as is humanly possible. Any emotional moments are telegraphed poorly, and the only thing that could be called a twist is revealed by someone talking in your ear, thus negating any emotional impact it could cause. Characters are one-dimensional mannequins, spouting trailer-worthy lines of dialogue that regularly don’t make sense when strung together. The narrative is put at the forefront of this game (as opposed to the original) whereas it should have been shoved way way way back. The story is absolutely terrible, and I really couldn’t bear to spend any more time on it. It is not long before she is involved in a city-wide conspiracy, as villainous Gabriel Kruger (the leader of a similarly villainous company) is out for her blood. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst offers up another look at Faith Connors, the hero of the original, who has just been released from prison and is looking to reconnect with her old runner friends. Unfortunately, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst captures some of the original’s charm, but utterly fails to offer up anything interesting of itself, giving fans a game that seems tired of it’s own existence. It’s still a lot of fun. In 2016, and after a cult following was established for the original, EA and Dice have released a sequel…no…prequel…no reboot in Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst. I have replayed Mirror’s Edge a lot over the years, chipping away at speedruns and challenges – earning a few more trophies every time.
Time, survival and exploration were the biggest parts of Mirror’s Edge – the story taking a much-needed back seat. Mirror’s Edge was something new and different – a first-person parkour game, where you were tasked with running across the rooftops of a bright, minimalist city. In 2008, when the original Mirror’s Edge released, the gaming landscape was different.
Mostly, it ran fine though, and the glitches didn’t impact the game too much.
I played through Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst on the PS4 and suffered a few glitches which I will talk about in the main body of the review.