Mirror's Edge Catalyst

Featuring excellent gameplay, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is presented as an outstanding product that is only tempered by some poor sidequests. An excellent design of Glass and a decent story complete the offer.

The running and gameplay of Catalyst are top notch, and the game definitely benefits from the new locales. There are some minor graphical issues that kind of add up over time, but overall, this game has been worth waiting for.

Yes, it has some padding in its optional missions, some of which just aren't very fun, but when you are free to just run with nothing else on your mind, Mirror's Edge Catalyst reminds you why you fell in love with the concept in the first game, and illuminates why so many people have revered this series for so long.

It was so hard to acclimate to the changes and suffocating AAA mentality after the original was near perfect, but I think once people get over that initial shock, they'll come to adore it in spite of that.

Boring or irritating characters and ho-hum story, but the parkour action works. [Aug 2016]

Crap combat aside, this great open-world game finally builds on Mirror's Edge's potential. [Aug 2016, p.73]

For fans of the original, Mirrors Edge Catalyst offers a nostalgic return to a modern dystopian world, with massive improvements in gameplay mechanics. The franchise's fast-paced, fluid movement returns, combined with an immersive and engaging narrative. For gamers who aren't familiar with the first game, Mirror's Edge Catalyst's flaws are many, failing to obscure its biggest missteps.

While the story is nothing to write home about, the core gameplay of Mirror's Edge Catalyst is its biggest strength.

Despite clunky combat and an unremarkable story Mirror's Edge Catalyst star still shines thanks to excellent community features.

Despite its flaws, Catalyst is a worthy concept of the game, and the improvement from the last one to this shows that it can mature into a quality game franchise, beyond its concept. The sense of scale and the way the world has been designed for travel makes for a fantastic experience.

Games often reach for this kind of digital dopamine hit of course, and many succeed, but the reason Mirror’s Edge is so good at it is due to developer DICE’s knack of having you inhabit the body of your avatar so fully.

It is clearly a passion project for the team at DICE, and it finally feels like it lives up to its ambitious design. There is little like it out there, which makes it easy to recommend, but also it is not a game for everyone. It is never overly challenging, combat is simply not fun, and there is little variety to the mission design. Still, I couldn’t stop playing it until the credits rolled, and again there is simply nothing else like it currently on the new consoles.

Instead, I imagine most players will happily bounce from side mission to delivery to grid node and back again, content to do what Mirror's Edge has always been best at: constantly moving forward and up. And once you can focus on that, Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a flawed, but often great breath of something different and exciting in an open-world landscape full of the same old thing.

Not a bad game, but certainly not a perfect one. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is fun while you move and fight at full speed, but when not, it's not that great. The city is huge and full of activities, but the campaign is dull and ends abruptly.

DICE has made this game for and because of all the Mirror's Edge fans, but, even being a good game, sadly the transition to the open world and a few weak points (story, combat, AI) leave this sequel a step behind the original.

When allowed composure, Mirror's Edge Catalyst becomes the colossal free running daydream that never seemed tenable. When pushed into conflict, either with its own systems or the demand of "content" in 2016, Mirror's Edge feels anxious and frenzied. Separating wondrous substance from obliged distractions isn't a distinction the game is capable of making, leaving gratification to the will of the player.

Instead of just porting over the original with a few pieces of polish, DICE made sure to try to address every single aspect in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, from the plot changes to the upgrade system, and the heavy amount of attention given to balancing the fairly fluid gameplay with realistic and enjoyable controls.

Though it may not appeal to all players, those looking for something a bit different will enjoy one more go-round in Faith's shoes.

It’s not the sequel I expected, but it’s the one we deserve.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst can surely appeal to the hardcore fans of the original game, but a crappy AI, an automated skill tree (what's the point?) and a lame Frostbite Engine made us loose Faith in the game.