When I first played the original Mirror’s Edge on the Xbox 360 years ago, the game itself wasn’t too impressive. I remember the story being crap and the areas I traversed being overly linear, almost on rails. The hand-to-hand combat was engaging and allowed a bit of freedom in how to attack enemies, but most people in the game felt pretty lifeless. But the running was spectacular, and I thoroughly loved being able to parkour over obstacles, trying to keep my movements fluid as I bounded from walls to ledges to overhead bars, sliding down slopes and under gates. The running hooked me to Mirror’s Edge, and I still love the game for it.
When I received my beta key for Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, the reboot of the original, I was quite excited at the chance to bounce around the city of Glass again as Faith Connors. Three hours of gameplay later, my excitement is only slightly tempered, but my curiosity is piqued.
First things first, running still feels great. The controls feel a bit over-sensitive in the beta, which means I sometimes ended up smashing into a wall when I meant to bash open a door. But it’s still satisfying to hit a series of jumps, slides, and grabs in sequence. The combat system is still pretty good, though the aforementioned twitchy controls mess you up when trying to smack someone.
The biggest change for this game is the open world layout of Glass. It’s a great departure from the original’s linear layout, but it makes traveling around the city more precarious. Oftentimes you jump off a ledge thinking you can reach a platform or rail, only to fall face-first on the street below. But exploring Glass, reaching quest givers and other points of interest, was satisfying during my play time.
All is not wine and roses, however. An upgrade system has been added to Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst that locks away basic attacks found in the original, like Quickturn. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s a bit annoying to have to unlock things that used to be available from the word go. The story also seems a little better than the original, but it still seems a bit weak. This is a beta, and I obviously wouldn’t have seen the whole story in my limited run, but I still smell the faintest hint of cheese with the story. Also, the open world layout does kill some of the flow.
These minor missteps don’t detract from the beta too much though. I got enough of a look at the game to say I’m ready for its release on June 7, 2016.
