E3 2015 Preview: Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst

Before it was announced at EA’s press conference in 2013, nobody believed it would come back. Fans hoped, whispered in the shadows in fear of jinxing whatever possibility there was, but nobody truly believed that Faith would get her deserved sequel. But now, Catalyst (though not technically a sequel) is set to deliver the game fans have been clamoring for. And so far it. Is. Glorious.

I was given fifteen minutes with Faith and I wasn’t going to waste a second. Dropped into the newly open world setting of the City of Glass, I was given several mission markers designed to tease and give just a taste of what DICE is attempting with current-gen Mirror’s Edge. The section of the City of Glass I was in was large, but not the full experience promised when the title launches February. Even so, its openness and freedom is readily apparent compared to the linear levels of the original. More obvious though is the tuned and refined free-running.

In the original Mirror’s Edge movement was no slouch and it was definitely a lot of fun to get around the levels, but there was only ever one real way to reach your goal. Mess it up and you’d have to start time after frustrating time. Thanks to Catalyst’s open world the free-running system has been given an overhaul. Now, each and every objective can be reached in a number of ways, however you choose; the world truly is yours (and Faith’s) oyster. It took me a few minutes to re-adjust to the controls having not played Mirror’s Edge in years, but after only a few moments I was running, jumping, bouncing off walls and diving through gaps like a pro.

The three missions available during the demo were a race, a time trial and a free-running puzzle. The race and time-trial were by nature quite similar, but were nonetheless equally engaging. Racing against the clock comes with its own set of challenges and to set the best possible time you need to figure out the perfect path with which to run and then ensure you pull of the button-presses with precision.

Whereas racing against an AI means you’re not your own enemy, but have someone to direct your competitive nature at, even if it is just a digital avatar. You’re also able to watch them and figure out their path and then decipher ways to improve it. It’s amazing how quickly I began to visualise paths and runs over the rooftops of the City of Glass once I started to settle in Faith’s body.

Something retained from the original is the sense of weight and inertia Faith has. She’s not a floating camera in space, but a real person. Moving forward generates momentum and stopping isn’t as simple as pulling up when you let go of the stick. Momentum must be accounted for and also relied upon. Many jumps and lines would be impossible from a standing start, but get Faith up to speed and she is a free-running machine. Like any of the great moments in games when you achieve something that actually makes you proud, nailing a perfect line in Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is definitely one of them. To solve the free-running puzzles in Catalyst – if the one in my demo is anything to go by – is going to require impeccable free-running skills.

Scattered around the City of Glass are billboards which can be hacked by Faith to display the symbol of the runners as an act of defiance. To access the billboards though, Faith will need to scale buildings and do so with precision. One wrong move and she’ll plunge to the street below, which won’t be pretty…This was the toughest challenge I faced in the demo and unwisely I’d saved it until last when I only had 5-minutes remaining. Luckily the practice I’d had from the time-trial and race got me through and I was able to hack the billboard with seconds to spare.

Actually, thinking back, I only managed to complete each mission by the skin of my teeth and it was utterly thrilling. Whether this was down to my skills (or lack thereof) or just excellent design by DICE remains to be seen when I get my hands on the complete game next year, but if it was intentional it’s going to maker Catalyst a pulse pounding thriller from start to finish.

It’s been a long time coming and after playing, the wait until February seems even longer, but Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has jumped to the upper tier of my most wanted games. It plays and looks like a dream and is the sequel we all wanted but never thought we’d get. If what I played is an example the quality, tension and polish of the finished product then Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is going to blow us all away.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst will be available for Windows PC, PS4 and Xbox One from 25 February 2016.