Hint: It’s good.
Awwww shit son here we go again! GlotheMuthaFuckinLegend returns from the fucking grave to review a game he’s been looking forward to since 2000-fuckin-8. Mirror’s Edge is the SOLE REASON why I purchased an XBOX 360. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is the 2ND REASON why I purchased a Playstation 4 (Uncharted Series is the other reason).
First we need to discuss the issues that were present with the 1st Mirror’s Edge:
- Too Fucking Short
- Sometimes you would do something like jump and Faith would do some fucking stupid other shit instead.
- Too Fucking Short
I really enjoyed everything about the game. The atmosphere, the music, the design, the controls….. It was a great fucking game, but too fucking short. I didn’t even mind the guns or the linear gameplay to be honest. Well guess what? Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, which I will refer to now as MEC, had all of that good shit and more. I’ll try and keep it short to a few important talking points. First,
The Good
1.) The City
Well NO FUCKING SHIT the city is going to kick ass. It kicked a hell of a lot of ass in the first one and now after 80 bajillion years of development you better believe that this city is going to be a beacon of art. However, the sheer size and of the city, as well as the different areas, are what really shine. There’s a ton of room to run around, from vents to high rooftops, to people’s fucking apartments to underground to anywhere else you can think of, there’s almost an infinite of possibilities in a given place of where you can run, jump, or swing to. In other words, it is intricate as fuck. It is also beautiful as fuck. There’s several different sections that all have a different appearance yet similar feel of “damn this is a modern city like none can imagine.” And what else is great about the size?
2.) Open World I Love You
I enjoyed the linear game play of the first ME, but the open world of MEC is OUTSTANDING. You can run to a mission to accept it, and then it becomes similar to the Mirror’s Edge linear game play of old, but you can also…. you know… not do that, and instead go find shit like Secret Bags (yeah we still have the bags stored all over the city), steal electronic shit, hit up some gold balls or some shit like that, do runs for people who are too lazy to do runs themselves so they stand in one spot on a rooftop all day and night for their whole lives until you help them, or do some cool ass side missions. But the best part are the main missions. VERY awesome visually and DEFINITELY re-playable. Just like the first one, there are some really cool cut scenes filled with adrenaline pumping action. In fact, I wish there were more.
One of the most awesome things about this set up is that you can place Beats for other people to find online, create your own time trials for the world and you friends to try, and do a whole bunch of other cool shit that rules. Hell, you can even create your own gamer-tag and name and colors and stuff with things that you get from completing missions and side-stuff. Of course, I don’t have any friends, so I didn’t do much of this. I’m a FUCKING LOSER.
Anyway, it really is addicting finding stuff and searching for new ways to get around. You may also run into some Kruger-Sec guards, both guys and girls which is cool, that you need to fight. Of course…
3.) No Guns
This guy is a little bitch. Two kicks to the face and he’s done. Oh, you can kick people in the face.
Let me rephrase. YOU can’t use guns, but THEY can. There are several different types of guards that can do different shit.Like some just get their asses kicked, others get there asses kicked but can fight back slightly, others shoot at you, some dudes have like a power Helloboy arm thing which is cool, and others are actually okay at fighting and taking a punch. Overall, it’s more challenging and WAY more fluid. Flying wall kick your way to freedom and smack enemies into each other. Something I go out looking for trouble. AWESOME.
4.) Upgradddeeesss
She looks like such a pouty bitch. That’s a negative of this version. And her voice was different. Meh.
EVERY GAME SHOULD HAVE UPGRADES. This game has some AWESOME things added from the previous ME. LIST:
- Magrope – I thought it sounded stupid. How is this free running? Wow I’m dumb. I was 100$ WRONG. IT IS AWESOME. You can upgrade based on points to different abilities (using it to pull walls down, swinging, or jacking yourself up a big wall). It’s a new dynamic to the original game that I loved.
- Disrupter – Basically an EMP in your hand it’s fun as hell ruining every security camera in the city. Like I beat the game and now I’m just going around finding stuff and ruining everything. It’s a great time I think everyone can agree. This thang right here can also make the Kruger-Sec fools get a blast of noise in their ears then puts them down for the count while you GTFO of there.
- Movement and Fighting – You also get upgrades for different moves you can do like wall runs and double wall runs as well as fighting abilities. Nice.
I’ve said if before, having upgradable anythings in video games keeps people hooked. Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider… there’s hundred of examples. It works for MEC, but I wish there were MORE things to upgrade and get. Faith’s outfits, more abilities for your glove things, types of grip for shoes and gloves maybe, speed attributes… there’s a lot more that could’ve been done, but in order to spend time building up these abilities, it would have helped to actually HAVE more time, which bring us too……..
The Bad
1.) Length of the Main Mission
Is that… the end of the game? Already? Well then.
The same thing that plagued the first version also is true with Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. The Main Mission is SHORT. Literally almost the same length as the first Mirror’s Edge. For a comparison, Uncharted 4 (awesome game) was about 4 or 5 times as long. At least it seemed like it. Not to say that the story wasn’t good or entertaining, because it was. Just… fuck man make it twice as long and I’d be happy.
The saving grace here is that when you add in all of the side missions, it ends up being a large amount of time spent beating it. Though still not as long as an Uncharted game or a Tomb Raider (good games). I WANT MORE.
2.) Story
GENERIC. NEXT.
3.) Faith
Faith was AWESOME in the original Mirror’s Edge. I got used to the look of the character and the voice and the personality. Though to be fair, I also have beaten it so many times that I have it all memorized. OBVIOUSLY we get a younger, more immature Faint in MEC (it’s a prequel/reboot after all and she’s younger), but I felt like Faith… kinda sucked. She was just in a shitty mood all game. Never smiled. In fact, EVERYONE was in a shitty mood. What a bunch of fucking DOWNERS. Throw some kind of jokes in there! OH YOU TRIED TO DO THAT WITH PLASTIC. IT SORT OF WORKED, EXCEPT IT DIDN’T. Sure you throw a great “twist” in the story, but the reveal is done so boringly that it doesn’t even matter. UGH. Faith sounded dumb too should’ve kept the first voice actor.
END RESULT
Listen. I love to talk shit about stuff. It’s EASIER. But all flaws considered, I can keep playing MEC all year and not buy another game and be fine with it. It’s a pretty sick ass game all things considered. I would have been better if I wrote it but what can you do we aren’t all geniuses. Anyway, as generic as the story was (most origin stories are pretty generic anyway), a sequel would be INSANELY AWESOME. Just like the first Mirror’s Edge. Here’s hoping they actually make a sequel to this one instead of rebooting it again.Fucking reboots man just stop doing them.
FINAL GRADE = 5*
I almost forgot my fucking stupid grading system.
Eye Sedso 