Mirror's Edge Catalyst
About
Mirror's Edge Catalyst is the second part in the Mirror's Edge series. Like its predecessor, it is based around parkour simulation.
Plot
The game is set in the near future that is depicted as a cyberpunk dystopia. The story takes place in the city of Glass that is ruled by mega-corporations. Faith, the protagonist of the original game, returns in Catalyst. She is a Runner, a person who specializes in illegal delivery. Early in the game, Faith steals a valuable hard drive from a corporation. After reading its data, she learns about the Reflection project that will allow the corporations to control every resident in Glass.
Gameplay
The game combines platforming, parkour, and puzzles in the vein of Portal series. The player controls Faith from the first person view as she runs and leaps across the rooftops of Glass. Puzzle-like level design requires her to use pipes, wires, and ledges to get to her destination. Precision timing is important to perform jumps, slides, and rushes in a seamless flow.
The combat system in Catalyst changed dramatically. Unlike in the original game, Faith cannot use guns. She can fight in hand-to-hand combat but usually has to avoid enemies.
Style
Like its predecessor, Catalyst is notable for its minimalist use of colors. Glass is mostly shining white and dark blue, while the occasional use of other colors signifies something important. The game is accompanied by the cold, atmospheric electronic soundtrack by Solar Fields.
System requirements for PlayStation 4
System requirements for PC
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit (use the latest Service Pack)
- Processor: Intel i3-3250 / AMD FX-6350. (Note: Mirror's Edge Catalyst requires at least 4 logical cores to run)
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 650 Ti 2GB or better / AMD Radeon™ R9 270x or better
- Storage: 25 GB available space
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64-Bit (use the latest Service Pack)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 at 3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 at 4.0 GHz
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 4GB or better / AMD Radeon™ R9 280x 3GB or better
- Storage: 25 GB available space
System requirements for Xbox One
Where to buy
Top contributors
Mirror's Edge Catalyst reviews and comments
+ Gameplay (game feel, linear level design)
+ Aesthetics (visuals, audio, presentation, character design, ui)
Cons:
- Poor script
- Open world (barren, uninteresting collectibles that break flow, level design suffers)
- Skill tree
I also was really hoping the gameplay would evolve and get more challenging, like more challenging platforming areas, maybe having to wall run more twisted corridors requiring greater coordination and knowledge of the controls? But that never really happens. The closest to that is the gridnode side missions, of which there are only three. Would’ve gone a long way in providing more replay value for me.
Pros: Beautiful set and character designs, relatively easy controls, fast-paced action, compelling set pieces, and a pretty cool female lead. Also there's a major supporting character who is strongly coded to be autistic so that was nice to see.
Cons: The combat is terrible. Faith is limited to punching and kicking. She can use her environment to make her attacks stronger but she has to be constantly moving in order to not take damage. The camera is also extremely finicky a lot of the time and I got stuck on one level for a long time because I kept falling to my death for not being precise.
Overall: check it out when it goes on sale and see if it's worth it.
Open World. Better visuals. Combat system. Slight change to the story.
Combat and Story are mediocre but there are other things that are really good about this game. Shouldn't skip at least.