When DICE announced last week that the release of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was being delayed – AGAIN – in order to facilitate updates based on feedback for the game’s beta, I was not a happy bunny. After all, I’ve been waiting for this game for nigh on eight years now, and even though the latest delay is only a couple of weeks, it also happens to fall right around E3, meaning I probably won’t have much time to play it. What’s more, now that I’ve played the beta, I’m even less happy – because, lemme tell ya, I’ve fallen in love with Faith all over again.
I’ve spoken at length on the podcast and on the site about my love for the Mirror’s Edge franchise, but I’ll admit, I’ve had clouds of doubt hovering overhead since the game was shown off last E3. Everything sounded perfect on paper, and looked great in the trailers DICE had cut together, but I couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that maybe they were aiming just a little too high. I wasn’t sure how well the game would actually translate to an open-world system. I was equally worried that the game would lose the vibrant, bright aesthetic of the original, and that it might shift tonally in a way that doesn’t jar with it’s own canon and identity.
Now that I’ve played the beta, I feel like the majority of my concerns can be allayed. The subtle tweaks to the movement system (holding the LB and LT buttons for longer jumps and slides) add much more depth to the free-running mechanics, and the improved combat system allows for much more natural and fluid encounters while you’re moving. Working in tandem with the extended movement, these improvements add a layer of depth to combat when you’re surrounded; a welcome change given how sheerly awful combat was in the original. Being able to bust out an attack mid-sprint is a totally welcome addition, and there’s something that’s just so satisfying about vaulting over a railing and nailing a rental cop square in the back before swinging around the next corner without losing any momentum.
I was also impressed with the game’s use of the open world – running around is a total blast. At first, unaware that several of Faith’s trademark moves were gated behind a progression system, I made some fairly costly mistakes. I’m used to falling from heights into a roll so as not to break momentum and turning mid-wallrun in order to springboard myself to a parallel ledge without having to stop; so initially, not having these moves felt a little weird. Sure, it only took me maybe twenty minutes to get them unlocked, but it’s never easy to do the exact opposite of what your instincts have trained you to do. I fell to my death a couple times purely because I was trying to do stuff Faith couldn’t yet manage, but once I unlocked them, it was as if my wings were unclipped. Unlocking said moves also allowed me to shave a good fifteen seconds off one of my run times and move into the top tier for that challenge. Boy, did that feel great.
The game looks absolutely gorgeous too. When I saw the beta watermark dancing around the screen from the get-go, alarm bells rang in my head. I figured this was going to be a mediocre experience at best, that maybe there was still a ton of optimization work to do, and that the game probably wouldn’t run brilliantly on my PC. I was wrong, however, as the game kept steady at 60fps, even on a higher setting. My PC is slightly weaker than the game’s “recommended” settings, but it still looked awesome.
It wasn’t all roses, though. Although it was rare, some textures took a little longer than you’d like to load in, and once I unlocked the game’s social features, my framerate took a huge dump for a minute or two while it connected to EA’s servers. I’m talking a ten-to-fifteen second delay between moving and seeing said movement replicated on screen, but I’m fairly confident that DICE’ll have that sorted out by launch. At least, I hope so.
The one other concern I have, however, is the story. Mirror’s Edge didn’t exactly have a great story, so while Catalyst’s will be better almost by default, it seems to be a little light on context. I’m hoping that’s just the opening, and that the full game will do a better job with exploring the world it’s created, because if it doesn’t, that’ll feel like a huge waste.
Overall though, I can’t say I’m disappointed with the beta. I’m totally hyped for the full game’s release in a little bit over a month – I just hope they’ll let me lug my PC tower onto the plane for E3.
