Mirror's Edge Catalyst Reviews
The staples of Mirror's Edge remain refreshing and unique in the first-person genre in 2016, but Catalyst's attempts to keep up with the open-world Joneses don't always jive with its design strengths of movement and momentum. On top of that, muddy-looking console versions and a lame story filled with unlikable characters doom Mirror's Edge's return to fall short. I was so happy this game was being made, but in the end I'm just as disappointed in how it turned out.
DICE's reboot of a flawed modern classic fixes old problems while introducing new ones all of its own.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst has some exciting and refined free-running mechanics, but the missions and modes that support the gameplay are content-thin and generic.
Catalyst is as close to a definitive version of a Mirror's Edge game as we're likely to get, despite retaining some of the first game's issues.
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is an interesting game with some strong ideas but not enough variety.
This genre-blender experiments with the traditional sandbox formula, but fails to encapsulate the fun elements of an open world
Catalyst's combat stumbles, but the fluid freerunning and enticing open-world challenges overshadow most of its shortcomings.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a flawed, but often great breath of something different and exciting in an open-world landscape full of the same old thing.
Catalyst is at its fleet-footed best when it barrels forward and sticks to the rooftops, but it never manages to fully shake the cookie-cutter corporate nonsense its rebellious heroes claim to despise.
For hardcore Mirror's Edge fans, Catalyst is a wonderful love letter from DICE that rewards the passion of this relatively small group.
So I'll end in the spirit of the game, with a refined version of what I said last time: Mirror's Edge Catalyst is good and you should probably play it, but damn, it could have been superb.
First person parkour is just as much fun in Catalyst as it was in the original. The new combat is a noticeable improvement, and the open world makes this a much longer experience than its predecessor.
If you can look past the weak story and the dull characters, Mirror's Edge Catalyst has some of the best gameplay mechanics on the current gen by far.
Unfortunately, the open world of Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is a sad and disappointing one and if it weren't for the exciting parkour and constant running it would have been absolutely barren. A superficial story, weak characters, and okay visuals make Catalyst is less than stellar continuation of Faith's story.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
There's a clear set-up for more stories to be told with Faith and the runners of Glass with Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and while it isn't quite as shiny and perfect as the city of Glass, hopefully in due time we'll get to see more from Mirror's Edge and experience the series at its full, untapped potential. Though it trips itself up occasionally with combat and a lackluster story, at a full run few games can catch up to Mirror's Edge for pure exhilaration and Catalyst is more than ready for the race.
At its best, Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a joyous flight across the rooftops of a gorgeous city, with a grace that belies the weight to Faith's movement, but DICE seem to forget this on a few occasions, dragging it down with combat that brings the free running to a halt. It's a fantastic game at times, but just as with the utopian setting, there are problems that lie breath the surface.
Having more missions like that to look forward to ever since finishing the story and those frustrating 13 hours is a reward of sorts, right? If you're a fan of the original Mirrors' Edge, this will probably be a no-brainer, but Catalyst would be an easier recommend even with the clunky controls if it had been sold cheaper, perhaps as episodic content. As it stands, this is mostly for fans, and even then, I caution the inevitable frustration that will surely come from running through a city literally made of glass.
A flawed but effective take on parkour
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst still has fun parkour, but fails as a compelling open-world game.