So, Mirrors Edge Catalyst is completed. I’m not sure whether
I really like the game or really loathe the game. It’s probably a bit of both.
I never played the original so I missed out on probably most
of the backstory of the original. The heroine Faith, comes across as a rather
bland cardboard cut-out. One aspect of movies and games in general is that if
there are flashbacks to the charactors childhood, then one part of the past believed
to be the truth is in fact false. I half guessed early on what the twist was
and from then on it played out as expected. Faith’s rather blasé reaction to it
only reinforced my view of it.
The story is rather boring. The parkour element of the game
is easily the highpoint. The fun of running around a rather lifeless
environment is the only really redeeming feature of the game.
The biggest problem is quite simply the appalling melee combat
system and the stick men that you fight. Maybe I’m just old and useless but the
amount of time I completely lost sight of who I was meant to be fighting or
zoomed past them was really horrific. There are no boss fights, the best fight
in the game is a cut scene at the end and by the time the final chapters start
its far easier to just run away from them instead of fighting them.
All in all, Mirrors Edge Catalyst is an average experience
and I’m glad that I only got the game on Origin Access as I wouldn’t have liked
to have dumped the full price on it.