I consider myself one of the original Mirror’s Edge’s biggest fans. The 2008 first-person parkour platformer struck me as bold as it was beautiful, and it remains a game I revisit every year or so. In fact, I was so excited for its revival I actually cheered when Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

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Fight the Power

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Foggy Glass

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Running is supposed to release endorphins that make people happy, but Faith Connors and her friends don’t seem to take any joy in being off-the-grid mailmen in the city of Glass’ Big Brother-ruled future. Literally everyone in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is sullen at best or angry at worst, and without a shred of humor or levity it becomes a huge downer. Fun fact: you won’t see a single smile in this entire eight to 10-hour story campaign (more if you fill it out with sidequests) until Faith finally cracks a grin in the post-credits scene. Character development is nonexistent, and worse, everyone – including Faith herself – is completely unlikable.The main story arc is both thin and predictable, and Faith’s own flashback-fueled backstory is lifted almost directly out of the Bruce Wayne playbook. You may not have liked the animated, eSurance-looking cutscenes that told the story of the original Mirror’s Edge, but the first game’s simpler plot did a lot more with a lot less than Catalyst does with its convoluted, pointless mess. Given that this is a prequel, it’s not surprising (or a spoiler) when Catalyst more or less comes right out and says, “Welp, you’d expect things to have changed after all this, but nope, everything’s the same” at the end of the campaign, but it is disappointing. It only reinforced the apathy I felt toward the characters the entire time.So let’s ignore the story and focus on what made Mirror’s Edge unique and exciting in the first place. Locomotion in Catalyst still feels as fresh and empowering as it did in 2008, with our viewpoint firmly fixed inside Faith’s noggin for every jump, slide, wallrun, and skill roll (save for the occasional finishing move that pulls the camera out to third-person). That perspective makes the simple act of running a thrill, just like in the original. The crunch of gravel or the squeak of a glass floor under Faith’s feet, the heavy breaths she draws as she runs faster and longer – it’s practically exhilarating to string moves together successfully as you move from one area of Glass to another across its rooftops. The grappling hook you’ll pick up partway through the campaign helps sell the idea that Faith can traverse a city like you can tie your shoes. Perhaps no other game utilizes the LB/L1 button more than Catalyst – it’s your jump button that leads into momentum jumps, mid-air attacks, and ziplines – but it feels perfectly natural as you run and jump around Glass.Speed and momentum are encouraged by the game design, in that Faith has both a health meter and a “shield” of sorts that’s fueled by her continuous movement. This makes it difficult for weapon-wielding enemies to hit her, and when you can dash around an area keeping your shield up, you can scan your environment relative to each bad guy’s location and plot each one’s own unique, aggressive takedown: a chest-kick from above, a wallrun-fueled kick to the side of the head, etc. Slow down or stop, however, and you’ll be more vulnerable to the attacks – both melee and ranged – of K-Sec guards.Catalyst, like its predecessor, subtly but effectively guides you in the direction of your objective by turning a nearby interactable object red, indicating that you should jump, slide, mantle, or climb it in order to progress. Contrasted against the city’s appealing use of primary colors – a welcome reprieve from the grays and browns that drape many modern first-person games – it’s a laudable substitute for the usual giant “GO HERE” arrow that points to the next goal.Unlike the original Mirror’s Edge, Catalyst’s version of the gleaming white city of Glass is an open world, and it offers a couple of advantages. First, it lets you challenge yourself to put together epic-length, perfect runs that span the entire city. In fact, a built-in tool lets you easily create your own time trials (a fan-favorite feature from the original that’s put to better use in this freeform city), which will automatically show up as optional events in your friends’ games. And while some sidequest events are fetch quests good for little more than building up your XP so you can unlock more traversal moves, combat abilities, or Faith’s take-it-or-leave-it gear (such as the Disrupt attack from her grappling hook that stuns enemies with an EMP-type blast), other missions like the Billboard Hacks and Secret Messenger Bag retrievals become enjoyably challenging little parkour puzzles unto themselves. And when you inevitably miss a precise jump, checkpoints are mercifully liberal and reload times are fairly speedy, making your parkour failure easier to digest and reckless experimentation more fun.Combat has also been revamped since the first Mirror’s Edge, and the new system is hit and miss. Unlike the original, Faith never even gets the option to wield a gun in Catalyst, which focuses the fights on fast and furious beatings (though sadly, that means you can no longer earn an Achievement for finishing the campaign without picking up a firearm). I welcome this, as guns never fit her character anyway and, and use of them subjected you to the original game’s most difficult-to-use controls; stripping them out makes everything flow better. So does Catalyst’s new HUD indicator, which lets you not only know if bad guys are around, but also which general direction your enemies are in, removing the clunky and confusing guesswork that marked the fights in Faith’s first outing.Punches and kicks can be varied by mixing in directions, allowing you to throw a Holly Holm-on-Ronda-Rousey kick to the side of a helmeted foe’s skull. Landing one of those makes me feel powerful as his protective facemask shatters and he stumbles into one of his buddies, injuring the bad-guy bystander as well. The same feeling of strength comes from attacking an enemy with a parkour move, i.e. wallrunning and then punching a K-Sec guard in the face or speeding down a zipline, letting go, and planting both feet straight into a target’s chest.Combat becomes a bit awkward when you’re not running, however (a condition that is sometimes forced by the story missions). When that happens it’s too easy to cheese enemies when standing toe to toe by alternating directional kicks, particularly when you’re near a rooftop edge or railing, as stumbling guards will practically throw themselves over the edge like they’re extras in a Rambo parody.Mirror’s Edge’s move to an open world also comes at a cost, however. Catalyst prioritizes a high framerate, but as a result, texture quality suffers, particularly on the console versions. It gives Catalyst a bland look rather than the boldness brought by the primary colors of the original, which are still on display here but are literally muddled. Even then, it’s far from a steady 60 frames a second on consoles, with frequent noticeable dips. Playing on PC with your input method of choice is highly recommended.Gameplay-wise, Glass is full of an endless pile of sidequests that mean you’ll always have something to do, but most simply involve running from Point A to Point B. Even the joy of Mirror’s Edge’s parkour movement can’t endure this kind of shameless repetition for long, especially in a city as bland and devoid of unique and interesting landmarks and hazards as this one. Without the setpiece-focused design of the original, Catalyst feels barren of memorable spots like the first game’s crane or construction yard.Beyond those, we’re expected to track down the inevitable truckload of collectibles stashed around the city, but that concept is a complete mismatch for a game built on constant movement and momentum. Most of these items are hidden in such a way that you’re forced to stop in your tracks, defying the central design principle Catalyst is built upon. Looking for them is the worst way to spend time in this game.