• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - new previews/videos - Closed Beta begins April 22-26th

Evilkazzz

Banned
I'm really excited for this. It's been so odd to me that they've showed so little gameplay up until this point.


Looks very fluid and I'm interested in the open world structure. Having looked at a bunch of gameplay video's now I'm not exactly liking how "tutorialized" it's gotten. There's both runner vision and this runner echo thing? I'm sure you can turn these off but thier inclusion (which assume is mandatory for the opening) bugs me a little. Honestly I wouldn't even want them in the optional time trials, but they're there. Which saps some of the fun out of finding the most efficient route for a trial/side quest (when there's no reason to not just follow the squiggly line to win).

Story and combat look fine, and I'm really glad to see momentum make more of a difference in combat.
 

Zackat

Member
The graphics look way worse than the first one, at least on this gameplay, also hate the new huge flashy orbs/pathfinder and all that, just takes away the realism...why is the red so saturated, that there are no shadows at all?

what a disapointment

Your nostalgia goggles are on too tight. These graphics are way better.
 

nynt9

Member
0UKE90s.gif

Ugh those animations look so stilted. Why EA? Just should have kept combat out of this game, especially third person "press A for awesome" takedowns...
 

Zackat

Member
Ugh those animations look so stilted. Why EA? Just should have kept combat out of this game, especially third person "press A for awesome" takedowns...

I would buy it without combat and third person stuff like that. Would Joe Public? Ehhh idk.
 

GavinUK86

Member
Ugh those animations look so stilted. Why EA? Just should have kept combat out of this game, especially third person "press A for awesome" takedowns...

You don't "press A for awesome" it triggers automatically at the end of combat
 
I'm a little lost on the need for a beta with a game like this.

Is it more than asynchronous challenges and leaderboards? That video on the social elements was pretty vague, mentioning only player geocaches as something really new, though not explaining what they're for, along with some airy mentions of an app and website.

Do these times flow into the world at all times or even blend into the single player ala DriveClub? Is there some realtime multiplayer or co-op elements?
 

Vuze

Member
Game looked absolutely terrible in the video I watched. Shitton of collectibles, tacked on skill system because y'know, all games need it, horrendous flow, subpar graphics...
Will watch some more previews but eh.

CKo7mXLUMAALiJG.png


I should replay the original with ENB after wrapping up DS3...
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Just look at them, they dont look nearly as polished as the first, probably due to the fact that the game is an open world game now.

No offense, but you might want to get your eyes checked. Mirror's Edge 2 looks way better than Mirror's Edge 1. You're probably thinking it looks "worse" due to the Frostbite Engine's lighting/etc. being completely different from Unreal Engine 3.

I'm a little lost on the need for a beta with a game like this.

You'll be able to play with others in drop-in/drop-out multiplayer if EatChildren's "leaked preview" over two years ago is still true. It's part of the reason why they went with the sandbox design. To let players test Parkour lines and/or create new obstacles to platform. Which frankly a lot of people wanted the ability to do since modding new levels into ME1 was nearly impossible.
 

Evilkazzz

Banned
Having seen even more gameplay I'm starting to get concerned. Does anyone have any footage of the options menu?

Maybe it was specific to the preview build (and journalists weren't allowed to cut it off), but the Squiggly line or runner vision is present in literally every video I've seen, most past the opening area as well. I just want to see what the game looks like without the line coming in every 5 seconds and if it's still easy to navigate just looking for red objects.
 

Arklite

Member
I find it odd that enemies have health bars :/

Yeah, it doesn't look right, and besides that they're adding superfluous visual aids to a game that originally set out to be as clean as possible. The combat looks super spammy as well, there doesn't seem to be a counter/parry anymore and now you get cinematic auto takedowns. It's looking fun, but they've lost some focus from the original.
 

hao chi

Member
I didn't try to sign up for the beta, but I'm excited to see what other people think of it. Definitely plan on getting this and TMNT next month.
 
Looks okay. Definitely one of my most hyped games of the year but I have a few little issues.

Third person take downs are jarring and really break the flow. I always liked how the original was first person regardless of what you were doing. It kept the flow.

Also, game seems a lot more arcadey. There seems to be less impact and everything looked unnaturally fast to me. I'm sure it's fine but I always loved Mirror's Edge for how accurately it portrayed real life parkour.

Also, maybe I just didn't watch enough of the clips but is there no more rolling? Every soft landing just seems to look like a normal landing. Minor gripe but I always loved the rolling in first person regardless of how motion sickness inducing it was.

Either way, still hyped. Games based around freeflowing movement are always high on my list of wants.
 

A-V-B

Member
Looks okay. Definitely one of my most hyped games of the year but I have a few little issues.

Third person take downs are jarring and really break the flow. I always liked how the original was first person regardless of what you were doing. It kept the flow.

Yup.

Also, game seems a lot more arcadey. There seems to be less impact and everything looked unnaturally fast to me. I'm sure it's fine but I always loved Mirror's Edge for how accurately it portrayed real life parkour.

In the original, it always felt like there was a limitation of you being this nimble bag of meat and bone, and then there was a high you'd hit when you found the perfect place to surpass that and become... one with the wind or some shit. It's hard to describe, but creating more of a feeling of vulnerability creates a bigger feeling of power when you hit onto it.

Also, maybe I just didn't watch enough of the clips but is there no more rolling? Every soft landing just seems to look like a normal landing. Minor gripe but I always loved the rolling in first person regardless of how motion sickness inducing it was.

It's in the exploration video, but they've tweaked it. Now instead of feeling the world roll around you, it's like Faith "edits" the full roll out. It's a little disorienting because it messes with perception. I know they did it to cut down on motion sickness, but...

Also, please for the love of god let us completely turn off the HUD. That just needs to get out of the way.
 

rashbeep

Banned
The graphics look way worse than the first one, at least on this gameplay, also hate the new huge flashy orbs/pathfinder and all that, just takes away the realism...why is the red so saturated, that there are no shadows at all?

what a disapointment

Lol yea stuff like this is why I have a hard time taking graphics talk here seriously..
 

A-V-B

Member
Also, yeah, whose idea was it to lock her skills behind EXP? The whole appeal of making Mirror's Edge open world is to take Faith's arsenal of moves out onto the streets and rooftops and use them all at once to solve puzzles and get around terrain, whenever and wherever you want. I understand things like a grappling hook being unlocked later ala Castlevania or Metroid, but if you have to unlock half her natural movement set through grinding, the reason to even have open world in a game like Mirror's Edge is defeated.
 
Pieces of the parkour are now in an upgrade tree? I saw someone even mention on twitter that the rolling is locked behind this skill tree? This seems really strange
 

A-V-B

Member
Pieces of the parkour are now in an upgrade tree? I saw someone even mention on twitter that the rolling is locked behind this skill tree? This seems really strange

Yeah, seems like Cheat Engine is the way to go out of the gate to get all that back. I hope we don't have to edit hidden variables to take away the HUD, too.
 
Yeah correct. But i believe its a early unlock tho.

That's still really damn weird though :/ Early unlock or not, why do I have to unlock her natural parkour moves?

I can understand if you were unlocking fight moves/takedowns/combos but the basic parkour? That's dumb

Yeah, seems like Cheat Engine is the way to go out of the gate to get all that back. I hope we don't have to edit hidden variables to take away the HUD, too.

Such an odd base design choice though. not every game you make needs skill trees and unlocks DICE
 

A-V-B

Member
That's still really damn weird though :/ Early unlock or not, why do I have to unlock her natural parkour moves?

I can understand if you were unlocking fight moves/takedowns/combos but the basic parkour? That's dumb

My main worry now is that the world will be full of easy puzzles so people who don't unlock all of her skills can still solve everything.

:/
 
My main worry now is that the world will be full of easy puzzles so people who don't unlock all of her skills can still solve everything.

:/

Yeah it seems like the world might be gated off until you get certain perks. Not something I'm into but hey, who knows? Might not be as bad as I'm thinking.

At least the game is visually gorgeous
 
That's still really damn weird though :/ Early unlock or not, why do I have to unlock her natural parkour moves?

I can understand if you were unlocking fight moves/takedowns/combos but the basic parkour? That's dumb



Such an odd base design choice though. not every game you make needs skill trees and unlocks DICE

That sounds horrible. Coupled with that free roaming gameplay video... i was expecting... more maybe? IDK... doesn't impress like i had imagined. Will be in the Beta hopefully and able to play before i decide. Was really looking forward to this but i have to admit that games like BOIII, Titanfall and Dying Light seem to have much more fluid movement systems... which is shocking and disappointing :/
 
Yup.



In the original, it always felt like there was a limitation of you being this nimble bag of meat and bone, and then there was a high you'd hit when you found the perfect place to surpass that and become... one with the wind or some shit. It's hard to describe, but creating more of a feeling of vulnerability creates a bigger feeling of power when you hit onto it.



It's in the exploration video, but they've tweaked it. Now instead of feeling the world roll around you, it's like Faith "edits" the full roll out. It's a little disorienting because it messes with perception. I know they did it to cut down on motion sickness, but...

Exactly, you put it in words a lot better than I could. Cool to see the roll is still there but yeah it looks a bit off to me.
 

NeoRaider

Member
I have to say that i am not a fan of the combat. That's the only thing that really bothers me.

I disliked it in ME but sadly it looks even worse here. On every gameplay that i watched ppl are missing so much, and it just looks boring and repetitive. Also i don't like how enemies are just standing and watching while you are fighting with one guy, it looks boring and not challenging.
 

A-V-B

Member
Incredible... not only is rolling locked behind EXP, but so is quick turn, coiling, hanging on pipes and wires...

I might understand if we started the game with Faith as a little kid or something, but this? What IS this? Gotta grind side missions and do what I can only assume is the MrE equivalent of finding chests and collecting feathers, just to play the game the way it's meant to be played. So the game world's gotta be designed around unlocks now, right?! The fuck!?
 

Nielm

Member
mecat3erp2.png


Health bars above their heads? A detection meter? I don't know why either of these things are necessary.

So far I'm not really liking the visual direction either. Instead of being a near futuristic setting that's closer to reality, it's gone a little over the top and become almost Sci-Fi.

I have no idea why they would lock Faith's movement abilities behind a Skill Tree. I'm pretty disappointed from what I've seen.
 

RSB

Banned
Pieces of the parkour are now in an upgrade tree? I saw someone even mention on twitter that the rolling is locked behind this skill tree? This seems really strange
Fucking RPG systems infecting everything as usual. Ugh.

Oh well, hopefully you'll have everything unlocked before the end of the game, so it won't be that big of a deal when geting into the best part of the game (speedrunning levels and time trials)
 

NeoRaider

Member
Incredible... not only is rolling locked behind EXP, but so is quick turn, coiling, hanging on pipes and wires...

I might understand if we started the game with Faith as a little kid or something, but this? What IS this? Gotta grind side missions and do what I can only assume is the MrE equivalent of finding chests and collecting feathers, just to play the game the way it's meant to be played. So the game world's gotta be designed around unlocks now, right?! The fuck!?

Well this is reboot. They say it's telling Faith's origin story so i can understand this.
 

A-V-B

Member
Now I'm beginning to understand why they've hidden the actual gameplay loop for so long.

Was this really the only way to get this game made? Really?

Well this is reboot. They say it's telling Faith's origin story so i can understand this.

Except at the very beginning of the game, they're already calling her a legend.
 

Arklite

Member
Excitement has gone wayyyy down. What the fuck is this skill tree shit.

I want to be enthusiastic about it, but it's hard not to feel some disappointment. Instead of doubling down on the clean aesthetics, full first person animations, and weighty combat they've instead gone through unnecessary compromises, visual cues, and gated skills. The first game wasn't overly complicated to require any of this.
 
I could understand the unlocks if the campaign was a short tutorial for some larger end-game, or if you unlock everything in the very early going.

The question I have to ask for all of these games with unlocks in single player: Is there a new game+ mode so you can replay the campaign with all skills unlocked?
 
The social stuff sounds surprisingly awesome, but I worry about how much of it requires the app / website. Hopefully you can handle most things within the game itself.
 
Top Bottom