Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta Preview, Performance, And Impressions

The general gameplay is mostly unchanged from the original. You again play as Faith Connors, parkour expert. You traverse the city using your slick moves which include vaulting, wall-running, sliding, rolling and zip-lining. Timing and environmental awareness are key to shaving off valuable seconds to quickly and most efficiently get from point to point.

Core control of the character is fundamentally identical to the original game. Old players will feel right at home. Also, it feels intuitive for new players to quickly feel adept at something as dizzying as first-person parkour. Honestly the beta felt like an expansion to the original and not a full sequel. That’s good, as ME Catalyst solves many of the original's problems. For instance, the gun combat always seemed disjointed in the original, tacked-on and out of character for the parkour protagonist. Unlike the original, Faith cannot use guns in ME Catalyst. Instead the combat mechanics haven been overhauled to better make use of -- and mesh with Faith’s parkour skills. So, landing blows while dropping from extreme heights will add more damage, as do blows landed while on the move. Score one for momentum!

Other new features include, a large map with a laundry list of points to reach or unlock, hopefully insuring a longer and more interesting adventure than the original. The world is also more open, with a variety of paths players can take to get to a given objective, thereby alleviating the trial-and-error monotony of the original. Additionally, Time Trials are getting a more dynamic overhaul. Players can now create their own time trials by simply marking beginning and ending points of their runs. Then save them them for friends to compete against.