Eh, I have recently played ME:C but lost interest in it for several reasons. I loved the first one, mostly because the entire drive of the game, was non-violent. I recall seeing some interview footage of the dev, how they said that your main "weapon" in the game was your speed and mobility, and while you could pick up weapons, it seriously hampered your parkour abilities. So it was advantageous to just avoid conflict with the guards, by finding creative paths around them, and just moving on. And I really enjoyed that personally. Faith isn't a fighter/killer, she's a runner.
Catalyst, didn't seem to embrace that stance as much. You are forced, very often, to fight dudes to progress. Which just annoyed me to no end, as it felt antithetical to original mood of the first game.
I also disliked Smugs McGee, or whatever his name was. The arrogant male character they introduce right away, who says nothing but condescending insults to Faith, over...and over...and over. Every interaction with him was like pulling teeth, and genuinely frustrated me. I also didn't like how they gated several of the parkour moves you have in Edge1, behind skill levels that you have to unlock. I found that very frustrating, as I'm trying to pull off moves I know you could do in the old one, but nope....no amount of button pressing is going to pull it off, because I haven't unlocked the wall climb double jump thingy, sorry.
As for the plot, I found the plot of Edge1 to be perfectly fine. It was a standard, serviceable motivation, and I don't really have any issues with it. Catalyst though, I just, I didn't really care. I found myself kind of zoning out when they tried to engage me with what was going on, and I just didn't care.
It just felt like a hollow shell of the first game overall. Which I hate, because I REALLY enjoyed Edge1.
It's one reason, I think, that I fell in love with Ghostrunner so much. It felt a lot like a spiritual successor to Edge1, in that mobility and speed are the primary focus. Yeah it's got hyperviolence that you have to engage in sometimes, so that part doesn't remind me of Edge (more of Hotline Miami). But the "keep moving, keep jumping, keep dodging" feel of it, REALLY reminded me of Edge. So much so, that I bought Catalyst thinking "man I really want some parkour goodness! Let me give this one a try!! " sadly, it failed to keep my interest.