Mirror's Edge Catalyst Preview: Have a Little Faith

[s0osleepie]

Mirror's Edge Catalyst Preview: Have a Little Faith

Could DICE recapture the spark of the original parkour-filled adventure, while delivering a game that the original?s promise suggested it could be?

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[Silence]

Thankfully, the controls have been simplified from its predecessor, allowing them to aid you in your pursuit of flow, instead of hindering.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I hope it doesn't get too bad, but the more complicated controls were what made the game feel like you actually controlled a character, and not just playing another random game.
It's why the game is good, even though the story was not.

No. Just no. What I feared has come true.

Shit.

 

[Zhukov]

Wait, they had a functioning, playable build available but only showed a two minute, mostly cinematic preview.

I am officially a bit miffed.

Oh well.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I hope it doesn't get too bad, but the more complicated controls were what made the game feel like you actually controlled a character, and not just playing another random game.
It's why the game is good, even though the story was not.

No. Just no. What I feared has come true.

Shit.

What confuses me is that the controls are described here as "simplified", but also described as identical to the first game. One button for upwards movement (jump/climb/vault), one for downwards movement (drop, roll, slide). Plus standard directional controls I assume. That's exactly how the first game worked.

The combat controls sound a little different, but in a good way. Being able to attack while maintaining speed was sorely missing in the first game.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

The important question is...can we not run up behind a bad guy, kick their shotgun over their head, catch it and shoot them in the back anymore? That was the highlight of the whole bleeding game! For me at least.

 

[s0osleepie]

Wait, they had a functioning, playable build available but only showed a two minute, mostly cinematic preview.

I am officially a bit miffed.

Oh well.

No, the game was playable for about 15 minutes.

 

[s0osleepie]

What confuses me is that the controls are described here as "simplified", but also described as identical to the first game. One button for upwards movement (jump/climb/vault), one for downwards movement (drop, roll, slide). Plus standard directional controls I assume. That's exactly how the first game worked.

The combat controls sound a little different, but in a good way. Being able to attack while maintaining speed was sorely missing in the first game.

Sorry, I think the way I wrote that was unclear. The combat controls were simplified. The movement controls are the same.

 

[Zhukov]

Wait, they had a functioning, playable build available but only showed a two minute, mostly cinematic preview.

I am officially a bit miffed.

Oh well.

No, the game was playable for about 15 minutes.

I have not expressed myself clearly.

What I meant was that they had the build you played, with at least 15 minutes of content, but only showed a tiny, disjointed bite of the game in their big stage presentation. This thing. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJidzGAnaeM]

...

Which is in turn is basically just a needlessly convoluted way of saying that I'm terribly envious that other people got to see more of the game than me. A moral outrage of the highest order!

Sorry, I think the way I wrote that was unclear. The combat controls were simplified. The movement controls are the same.

Ah, okay. That makes more sense.

Thank you for the clarification

 

[Neonsilver]

I hope that it's really much harder for the opponents to hit you with their guns. I remember a few points in the first game where I always got hit by the enemies, no matter how fast I ran. With Faith made of glass, those points were very frustrating.

 

[Silence]

What confuses me is that the controls are described here as "simplified", but also described as identical to the first game. One button for upwards movement (jump/climb/vault), one for downwards movement (drop, roll, slide). Plus standard directional controls I assume. That's exactly how the first game worked.

The combat controls sound a little different, but in a good way. Being able to attack while maintaining speed was sorely missing in the first game.

Sorry, I think the way I wrote that was unclear. The combat controls were simplified. The movement controls are the same.

Oh. Well, that's cool then. Thanks.

It was really my biggest fear for that game.

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

 

[Pinky's Brain]

"unintentionally removing getting in the way of immersion and flow in favor for trial and error style gameplay, which was antithesis to the game itself."

The game as it exists right now is a first person platformer with jumping puzzles ... less antithesis and more the thing in itself.

 

[Binturung]

The important question is...can we not run up behind a bad guy, kick their shotgun over their head, catch it and shoot them in the back anymore? That was the highlight of the whole bleeding game! For me at least.

Doesn't seem like it. I don't get why they went this route. If I had any complaints about the first game I could sum it up in level design, plot, and those free running cops. The gunplay was fine for the type of game it was.

I get making controls slick. But I can't get behind removing options like that. A deal breaker for me, IMO.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Glad the gun toting is out the window. If I'm going to be a character who is trained in parkour and martial arts I'm going to use it. Haven't seen any footage myself yet, but I'm hoping they also ditch the excessive amount of drainpipe climbing.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm not actually that pleased about "improved combat controls".

How about REMOVING them, seeing as the first game was best if you ignored them entirely?

 

[Batou667]

Sounds good, although I'm cagey about the line "you can't pick up guns".

Now, I get that the game is best played fast-paced and more flight than fight - I got the achievement for not firing a gun or killing a single enemy in the original game - but taking away options is the kind of thing that I'm opposed to just on principle. So what if stomping through a level with a machine gun isn't the "right" way to play the game, it's nice to have the option to do so just to get past a difficult section. The no-death pacifist speedrun can wait for the second playthrough.

Oh well; they're game designers, I'm not, end of story. Guess I just have to have a little more faith (b'dum tish).

 

[Metalrocks]

sounds challenging not to pick up guns. but if i think about it, i was pretty much able to play the first game without picking up a gun. there were only two places i had to because once you climb up the drainpipe, you are under fire and never make it up to the top.
from what i have seen and heard, i feel pretty tempted to pre order the game. even when the pre order stuff like combat kit is nothing special, but could be useful afterwards.

 

[vallorn]

Thanks for the clarification about the movement controls, I was worried that it would be something like a one button movement system for a second (Don't judge me it's too common nowadays).

Glad the gun toting is out the window. If I'm going to be a character who is trained in parkour and martial arts I'm going to use it. Haven't seen any footage myself yet, but I'm hoping they also ditch the excessive amount of drainpipe climbing.

I hope for one, and only one, giant drainpipe climb in the late game just after a boss battle. Climbing for about 5 solid minutes as the theme music slowly swells in the background

Or did I just get confused?

 

[loa]

I don't know how they can possibly claim to "stay true" to the original when turning it into an open world.
An arcadey linear game with converging alternative routes would have been much more along the lines of what the original was about.
When thinking mirrors edge, I think "speedrun". I don't think "dawdle around doing missions and sidequests skyrim style".
That also doesn't fit the theme of being hunted.

Also how exactly was the original "complicated"?
Did that "turn 180°" button really blow your mind that hard?
Cause all I see is that they changed that "grab weapon" button to a "heavy punch" one, how does that make things more approachable exactly?

 

[BeerTent]

I... Actually really liked the combat in the 1st one. The option to bring out a firearm provided a nice break from the running now and then. I'm a bit down about that. Open world though? Fuckin' nope.

Nothing to see here, folks. Just what's gonna get Dice offed.

 

[Darkness665]

The biggest failure in the original was the tendency of the NPCs to shoot an unarmed messenger girl in the back. While it is obviously a preferred style of interacting with their customers EA cannot seem to comprehend that fighting should be optional. Possibly even rewarded for avoiding it at all. Now, it is better. Because the unarmed messenger girl cannot even pick up a weapon to shoot back with. Perfect! See it's better already. Easy pickings, you EA scum.

I got the iOS game, but stopped playing when I had to evade a freaking attack helicopter. Again EA gunning down unarmed girls. They love shooting girls in the back. The victim being unarmed just makes it so much more like real life for EA producers. Removing all hope for small developer studios is like a treat to them, speaking of Prey 2. When it is coming out?