Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Preview – E3 2015

June 25, 2015

It came as a surprise when it was leaked that a sequel to 2008’s Mirror’s Edge was in the works at DICE. EA had been open about the fact that the game had not sold enough copies for them to justify a sequel and so no further games were expected. But, with new management comes new strategies, and a sequel, titled Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, was born.

Set before the original Mirror’s Edge, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst serves as both a reboot and an origin story for Faith. The game begins with Faith being released from a prison on a conditional release. She quickly goes back to her old ways, rebelling against the government. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with her character.

featuredImage.img (2)

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst takes place in a new city called Glass, which takes a lot of visual cues from the unnamed ‘Utopian City’ of the first game. However, unlike that unnamed city, Glass is completely open for you to explore, with no loading screens. Instead of the walled-in stages of the original, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst allows you to roam the city, setting waypoints and taking missions as you please.

While traversing the new city and performing missions, you will come across enemies that do their best to take you down. DICE stressed that your enemy’s main objective is to break your movement, slowing you down and making you more vulnerable to attack. Your best strategy against this is to go fast and not stop moving.

featuredImage.img (1)

One of the main complaints about Mirror’s Edge was the combat, in particular, the use of guns. While we tried out the new combat system, DICE confirmed that Faith will not use any guns during combat and will rely solely on her martial arts prowess and speed. The controls during combat felt easier than in the original game, but granted, we only played a small demo.

Other controls stay true to the original, and this made us feel right at home during our time trial and path navigation demos. Left bumper/L1 is used for all upward movements, such as vaulting and jumping, and left trigger/L2 is for downward movements, such as sliding. This meant that we were able to jump straight into the demo and spend as much time as possible playing the game.

Time trials were one of the biggest time sinks in the original, so it’s great to see them back again in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. Your optimal path will still be shown by highlighting certain objects in red, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy-going.

featuredImage.img

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has been built on DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine, so it should come as no surprise that it looks amazing. Whether you’re roaming across the city or just stopping to take in the sights, you won’t be disappointed.

It’s safe to say that Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is shaping up to be a great game and with a release on PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 23rd, there’s not too long to wait.