The original Mirror's Edge was a game built purely on potential. The developers at DICE knew they had a special concept in this first-person/platformer/parkour hybrid, but the end result showed us just that: potential. There was something there that could have been groundbreaking, but the linear movement, loose controls and undercooked combat mechanics failed to reach the lofty goals set by the game's premise.
Now with a new generation of consoles and seven years of waiting, EA is bringing Mirror's Edge Catalyst, a prequel to the original game, to systems this February. It looks to improve on the first installment in every aspect, and at a recent EA event in Manhattan, I sat down with the game for a 13-minute demo, where I learned the basics of traveling through the futuristic city where Catalyst takes place and got my first taste of the title's combat.
The first half of the demo consisted of the very basics of the gameplay. Here my objective was to escape from my captors and use my parkour skills to run, climb, shimmy and wall-sprint to safety, all from the first-person perspective.
Sounds like an adrenaline rush, right? Not when you spend the opening moments of the game repeatedly bouncing off dumpsters and tumbling to the streets below. But once I got the hang of the timing and the controls (thanks to some quick tutelage from someone at EA) I soon found myself treating the cityscape like my own personal jungle gym.
Roofs, pipes, windows, railings, stairs were but mere props that helped me navigate the city with just a few well-timed button commands. Whereas the first Mirror's Edge used the first-person perspective to simulate the thrill of Faith's movements, Catalyst goes one step further, by emphasizing the fluidity of the player's abilities. Traveling is all about quick reaction times and pure instinct, and while it's difficult to handle at first, it becomes natural after a few tries.
Now Faith's parkour skills aren't just a rush, they're a thing of beauty. And when you add in the metrical timing of the jumps, flips and other acrobatics Faith can pull off, this new Mirror's Edge plays more like you're conducting an orchestra than barrelling through an action game.
The mission selection in the demo consisted of points on a map that opened to objectives. There was a race, a combat section and one mission that required that I hack into a propaganda billboard and change the oppressive government's message. Obviously I was most interested in the combat, which was touted as being much improved over the last installment.
This mission began as I slid down a wire, kicking some poor unsuspecting soldier to the ground as I landed. I was immediately surrounded and had to take down a group of enemies using only my fists, my wits and, of course, the helpful folks at EA talking me through the whole ordeal.
EA's decision to remove the guns from Faith's repertoire paid off, because combat in Mirror's Edge Catalyst now flows just as beautifully as the parkour. It's not as much about brute force or slinging lead; now you have to rely on pressing the X button on the Xbox One to attack an enemy, which, if successful, leads to a third-person animated takedown that looks straight out of a Bourne movie. Each fight had a grace to it that was only enhanced by the tremendous animation behind each blow and finishing move. First-person melee combat is nearly impossible to pull off well, but DICE seems to be on to something with Catalyst.
That being said, the combat I experienced was also pretty simple, using, really, only one button. As it stands, the melee moves are quick and responsive, but it might be too much of an overcorrection from the needlessly difficult combat of the original. Still, there are a lot of promising ideas here that will likely be expanded upon outside of a 13-minute demo.
In my short time with Mirror's Edge Catalyst, I saw glimpses of a singular first-person experience. In a gaming landscape filled with dour, linear shooters and online military combat (ironically led by DICE), Catalyst takes the first-person perspective and flips it on its head. There's vibrant color, lyrical movement and most importantly: freedom.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst hits February 23, 2016 on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
