Acquiescence
Member
Having recently played and completed the latest (and probably last) entry chronicling Faiths parkour adventures, Ive got the insatiable urge to vent out and express some cold, hard dissatisfaction with the finalised product. Now Ill confess, I treat the first Mirrors Edge like a bonafide sacred cow. Yes it suffered from a cast of undercooked, paper-thin characters and a ho-hum story that ended on a frustrating cliffhanger, but its a game that took a gameplay concept that had rarely worked in the past (first-person platforming), fine-tuned it into something exhilarating, and then wrapped that up in a package of perfect visual presentation and audio design. Not only did it work as a sensory experience, it also delivered an abundance of arcade-type thrills via its time trial mode and chapter speed runs. So when the near impossible happened, and a sequel was announced six years later, I did a spontaneous backflip and assumed that a follow-up would build upon all those things that made the first game great, while utilising its larger budget to broaden the Mirrors Edge world into something bigger and more ambitious. And at the same time maybe contain something resembling an actual conclusive ending this time around.
Man, how did they manage to cock things up in nearly every regard?
For starters, Mirrors Edge Catalyst has to be one of the most graphically inconsistent games Ive ever laid eyes on. The dodgy close-up textures on Faiths hands aside, the original was an utter triumph in distinctive art direction and sharp visual fidelity, and it still holds up today. One of that games small joys was standing on a rooftop and admiring the sleek futuristic skyline that extended out into the horizon. The sense of ambiance generated from that alone was off the charts. By contrast, the skyline in Catalyst - in what I can only assume is a shortcoming caused by the adopting of an open-world structure - looks like ASS. The environments surrounding where you can move look downright unfinished, and buildings that arent even that far off in the distance have textures like something from a PS2 game. Theres also an abundance of texture pop-in. God I hate texture pop-in. And yet, many of the interior locations look spectacular, and manage to evoke the same sense of wonder and awe that the first game did. It almost made me wish the entire game took place inside.
Speaking of open-world, undoubtedly one of the biggest contributors to the failings of Catalyst is its open-world design, open-world presumably because the industry appears to deem it unbefitting to release a game in the AAA market now unless theres freedom to go where you want to go and social connectivity and a myriad of icons on the map that serve as an easy means of adding bloated content to make the campaign artificially longer in order to ensure the player doesnt sell off their copy of the game too soon because USED GAMES ARE THE DEVIL INCARNATE!. Forgoing the tight design of Mirrors Edge, theres too much time in Catalyst dedicated to running between mission destinations and familiarising yourself with the same destinations youll be traversing again and again. It made me hanker for the linear structure of the first game, when there was always a sense of progression and always something new to see. Mirrors Edge Catalyst is another reminder that too many developers are relying on open-world seemingly because its the fashionable thing to do, and not necessarily because its the right and suitable thing for their game.
The return of composer Solar Fields ought to be an automatic win, yet it feels like he phoned it in somewhat this time around? This is something thats a bit hard to articulate for me, but too many compositions in Catalyst seem to serve as background noise and little else. Unlike the first game, there isnt a whole lot I remember about Catalysts OST, and it seemed defined by lots of short ambient pieces placed on a loop more than anything else. Theres also the throwaway Chvrches song that just pales in comparison to what is unequivocally one of the all-time great video game theme songs.
And then youve got the combat. The combat element of the original was always a point of contention, but the beauty of it was that you could play the entire game without firing a single shot (well, with the one exception of that room near the end when you had to destroy the servers I think?). Catalyst removes guns entirely and introduces an entirely new combat system that revolves around cumbersome, clunky brawling thats about as much fun to engage in as dry humping a cheese grater. I mean, who gave this the green light? There are times when you can avoid it, and then there are times where you hit a brick wall because youre forced into yet another excruciating encounter with one of those Sentinel enemy types. And thats not even mentioning the ancient ragdoll physics that make a downed enemy look like this whenever he makes the slightest contact with a hard surface
Ill try to cap off this torrent of criticism on a somewhat positive note by saying that, in spite of all said above, I do feel like Mirrors Edge Catalyst managed to retain the same glossy-yet-sterile dystopian spirit of the original, while reminding me once again that first-person platforming can be fun and satisfying to control. Theres something undeniably special about Mirrors Edge, and its a franchise worthy of further attention. Id love to see Dice given a third shot at it, but I guess thats unlikely given how Catalyst has sold.
Man, how did they manage to cock things up in nearly every regard?
For starters, Mirrors Edge Catalyst has to be one of the most graphically inconsistent games Ive ever laid eyes on. The dodgy close-up textures on Faiths hands aside, the original was an utter triumph in distinctive art direction and sharp visual fidelity, and it still holds up today. One of that games small joys was standing on a rooftop and admiring the sleek futuristic skyline that extended out into the horizon. The sense of ambiance generated from that alone was off the charts. By contrast, the skyline in Catalyst - in what I can only assume is a shortcoming caused by the adopting of an open-world structure - looks like ASS. The environments surrounding where you can move look downright unfinished, and buildings that arent even that far off in the distance have textures like something from a PS2 game. Theres also an abundance of texture pop-in. God I hate texture pop-in. And yet, many of the interior locations look spectacular, and manage to evoke the same sense of wonder and awe that the first game did. It almost made me wish the entire game took place inside.
Speaking of open-world, undoubtedly one of the biggest contributors to the failings of Catalyst is its open-world design, open-world presumably because the industry appears to deem it unbefitting to release a game in the AAA market now unless theres freedom to go where you want to go and social connectivity and a myriad of icons on the map that serve as an easy means of adding bloated content to make the campaign artificially longer in order to ensure the player doesnt sell off their copy of the game too soon because USED GAMES ARE THE DEVIL INCARNATE!. Forgoing the tight design of Mirrors Edge, theres too much time in Catalyst dedicated to running between mission destinations and familiarising yourself with the same destinations youll be traversing again and again. It made me hanker for the linear structure of the first game, when there was always a sense of progression and always something new to see. Mirrors Edge Catalyst is another reminder that too many developers are relying on open-world seemingly because its the fashionable thing to do, and not necessarily because its the right and suitable thing for their game.
The return of composer Solar Fields ought to be an automatic win, yet it feels like he phoned it in somewhat this time around? This is something thats a bit hard to articulate for me, but too many compositions in Catalyst seem to serve as background noise and little else. Unlike the first game, there isnt a whole lot I remember about Catalysts OST, and it seemed defined by lots of short ambient pieces placed on a loop more than anything else. Theres also the throwaway Chvrches song that just pales in comparison to what is unequivocally one of the all-time great video game theme songs.
And then youve got the combat. The combat element of the original was always a point of contention, but the beauty of it was that you could play the entire game without firing a single shot (well, with the one exception of that room near the end when you had to destroy the servers I think?). Catalyst removes guns entirely and introduces an entirely new combat system that revolves around cumbersome, clunky brawling thats about as much fun to engage in as dry humping a cheese grater. I mean, who gave this the green light? There are times when you can avoid it, and then there are times where you hit a brick wall because youre forced into yet another excruciating encounter with one of those Sentinel enemy types. And thats not even mentioning the ancient ragdoll physics that make a downed enemy look like this whenever he makes the slightest contact with a hard surface
Ill try to cap off this torrent of criticism on a somewhat positive note by saying that, in spite of all said above, I do feel like Mirrors Edge Catalyst managed to retain the same glossy-yet-sterile dystopian spirit of the original, while reminding me once again that first-person platforming can be fun and satisfying to control. Theres something undeniably special about Mirrors Edge, and its a franchise worthy of further attention. Id love to see Dice given a third shot at it, but I guess thats unlikely given how Catalyst has sold.
