NYCC 2015: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst feels like a second chance for a good idea

If you've been keeping up on high profile game releases for the last couple of years (especially lately) then the idea of Mirror's Edge going open world may have you cringing a little. However, after playing it, I think the open world transition (and some other smart changes) could solve most of the original game's major issues.

In the demo I played for Mirror's Edge Catalyst, I was given free reign in an open area after a brief cutscene and intro. We see series' protagonist Faith being released from jail, and then meeting up with another runner to presumably get back to work rebelling against the man and jumping on rooftops. From there, the demo jumped to a point later in the game, where Faith is back in action and you're free to take on a selection of missions.

Catalyst is a shockingly similar game to the original Mirror's Edge, especially in terms of the things that were good about that experimental original. For one, the controls are nearly identical, retaining concepts like pressing the left bumper button to traverse up, and left trigger to traverse down. I was rusty, but I quickly remembered how to jump, wallrun, catch myself after a long drop, and even bounce between walls using the 180 degree turn. The traversal gameplay at the heart of Mirror's Edge was really good, so I'm glad that Catalyst feels like a second chance on a strong concept.

New additions come in the form of a combat system that I only got to play with briefly, but seemed very promising. The idea is simple — rather than stopping the parkour to shoot at enemies or fist-fight, enemies become another piece in your chain of momentum as you run through the environment. Run along a wall towards an enemy and press attack to launch a devastating jump kick their way, or slide under a pipe and trip enemies as you come out the other side. In one instance, I had catapulted myself through the air and came down on an enemy, using them to cushion my fall and take them out in the process. I’ll be curious to see how this evolves, as Mirror’s Edge was less fun the tougher the enemies were, but what I saw was solid.

Beyond that there’s the open world concept. What I saw offered up three different objectives — a race/time trial mission with leaderboards, a billboard hacking mission that involved a bit of tricky climbing, and a delivery mission where I engaged in the aforementioned combat.

It was clear from these three missions how the open world makes Mirror’s Edge a better game. For one, time trials ended up being the best part of the original game, despite being cordoned off into a secondary menu. Now, these time trials are built directly into the main game, allowing you to mix and match racing with other mission types.

The billboard hacking mission asks players to reach a billboard and hack it to remove propaganda. The one I was aiming for required me to observe the environment and figure out how I could climb to it. There were no time constraints, so it was a chance to observe and explore, without any real punishment for falling or screwing up.

Lastly, the delivery mission was closer to the original concept of Mirror’s Edge, where runners would take sensitive info and deliver it out of the eyes of an oppressive police force. This mission was where I learned to string together my parkour jumps with attacks, taking out rooftop guards and delivering the package safely.

It’s unclear how much more variety there will be to the mission structure here, but the three I played offered up distinct “moods” that I really appreciated. I could see myself trying to top a friend’s time trial as a palette cleanser between more action-oriented story mission, or just wasting time exploring the environment for out of reach billboards and other collectibles.

Another issue with the original game was how easy it was to completely lose your momentum, either because you didn’t know where to go next, or a bunch of armed goons were constantly shooting at you. The new combat system aims to alleviate the latter issue, while the former will be solved through the open world (and hopefully better level design). Backtracking may be a bad word, but with Mirror’s Edge, the parkour becomes more fun and fluid the more familiar you are with the levels. That’s why an open world design seems to make so much sense.

I’m really glad that Mirror’s Edge is getting a second shot. There was a long time where it didn’t seem like it was ever going to happen, and the reason is obvious: for all intents and purposes, Mirror’s Edge was a failed experiment. It was a novel idea with poor execution — a subpar game with somethin potentially great at the core. Catalyst seems like a chance to let that core shine, and I desperately hope they can pull it off.