In my estimation, there's about 10-15 hours of story, 50 hours of collectible bullshit, and endless amounts of free-running to be had. Multiple times in the past few days I've popped it in just to mess around and find new routes, and I can foresee plenty of rainy evenings doing just that.
But it's been quite the journey, as Mirror's Edge Catalyst is one of the toughest reviews I've tackled in some time. It was so hard to acclimate to the changes and suffocating AAA mentality 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.
The staples of Mirror’s Edge remain refreshing and unique in the first-person genre in 2016, but Catalyst’s attempts to keep up with the open-world Joneses don’t always jive with its design strengths of movement and momentum. On top of that, muddy-looking console versions and a lame story filled with unlikable characters doom Mirror’s Edge’s return to fall short. I was so happy this game was being made, but in the end I’m just as disappointed in how it turned out.
Catalyst does some interesting stuff but doesn’t add enough to the mix. It’s a game I enjoyed but one that also left me feeling partly frustrated and sad. While it has good ideas and mechanics, they peak early and, in such a sparse and minimalist space, struggle to carry the whole game.
Catalyst contains several exciting platforming moments, but most of them are buried under repetitive world traversal and a mundane metropolis. The original Mirror’s Edge is an overlooked gem from last generation, but even diehard fans will have trouble finding the diamonds in this rough.
But once the story is done, Mirror's Edge Catalyst still has all the stuff left to do that makes it unique. This is a review-unique scenario — I have to play the critical path, and most people will never finish the game. Instead, I imagine most players will happily bounce from side mission to delivery to grid node and back again, content to do what Mirror's Edge has always been best at: constantly moving forward and up. And once you can focus on that, Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a flawed, but often great breath of something different and exciting in an open-world landscape full of the same old thing.
And really, being able to focus on and enjoy the gameplay is what matters. Yes, certain portions of the game are deeply unimpressive, but I rarely (if ever) found them frustrating, painful, or unavoidable, which allowed me to overlook those elements and enjoy the unique pleasures Catalyst provides. I was consistently wowed by the movement and everything that comes with it, so while it's a disappointing action game, it works wonderfully as a platformer, puzzler, and racing game. And for that reason, I can't wait to keep playing.
irst-person parkour is just as much fun in Catalyst as it was in the original. The new combat is a noticeable improvement, and the open world makes this a much longer experience than its predecessor.
The story just doesn’t live up to the exhilarating gameplay, and a weak, unresolved ending gives a poor final impression. Thankfully, the game can re-enter your good graces once you’re done with the plot, and you can just spend hours running across rooftops for fun. The occasional death-inducing fall will frustrate you, but Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s first-person platforming feels so good when it works that you won’t easily give up.
That’s why, despite the missteps with combat, and another storyline that is just too dry to get invested in even with well-produced cutscenes, I still recommend Catalyst. It’s annoyingly close to being the ideal Mirror’s Edge game, but retains a few of its predecessors’ issues, even if those problems have manifested in different forms. If you loved the first game as much as I did, there’s so much to enjoy about running around this big, gorgeous playground—I just wish DICE had stuck the landing.
When you’re flat-out sprinting, Catalyst feels wonderful. When standing still, in the Grid Nodes, it’s great too. It’s only in that mid-region, either gaining or losing momentum, that you end up clumsy and infuriated. An unusually tricky jump or a forced combat section can lead to countless restarts and frustration, a terrible 20 minutes of play, and then when you finally break free it’s like hitting fresh air. You run as fast as you can just for the hell of it, exulting in every leap and tumble, almost feeling the wind whip past as you crest this city’s heights.
Almost 10 years on, and there’s still nothing like it. Faith never really needed rebooting. But Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, warts and all, finally delivers the world she deserves.
