Looks like some of you are getting in on the fun with beta codes today. I've had a few days to play it, and thought I'd share my experiences. There are no spoilers below.

I have nothing but positive things to say, with the exception of a few small negatives. Overall, I have no doubt the game is going to be fantastic.

Much has been said about the open world, but that is probably a misuse of the term. It's open in the same way that a game like Metroid or Zelda is open. There is a large expansive section of the city to explore, but story missions take you to specific and unique places, and give you things to open up more of the city to you. You're going to go around taking missions, dashes, deliveries, or whatever else seamlessly and without loading. You can unlock fast travel. If you thought the original was too linear, then your grievance is solved.

Mechanically, the game feels much smoother. This is in part because of the 60fps presentation, and partly because the timings of the moves and the moves themselves flow better. In the first, it felt like you were pressing a million buttons to do a bunch of different things, that more or less felt like separate steps. Now, you still have to input the commands, but it feels much more streamlined as a whole if that makes any sense. The game is less reliant upon rapid inputs, with moves requiring slightly fewer inputs, but also MASSIVELY more lenient on timing issues. The timing windows are downright huge.

The original had a lot of movement 'tricks', which are for the most part gone, or else rolled into official moves. For example, in the original sidestepping then whipping your view 90 degrees resulted in you instantly accelerating to top speed. Rather than have to do that, the game simply binds a step move to R2 which accomplishes the same thing but without all the steps. The wall run kick is gone, and so also the numerous exploits involving it. Coiling repeatedly no longer gains you speed in the same way as the original, so now you just use it to clear things.

Combat is also much better. You cannot use guns. The focus seems to be on getting and maintaining your speed. While in a flow, your attacks do more damage and are sometimes capable of one hit take downs. Running and navigating obstacles in an uninterrupted fashion builds a focus meter, which when full, makes all bullets miss you. Running is the way to go. If you have to fight, you can add directionality to your attacks to stagger enemies into one another, into obstacles, or off the roof to their deaths. A missive improvement in this department.

All of this, combined with the open world freedom and the fact that dashes have only an end point, means that your success is more largely determined by your creativity in deciding where to go, and less with your ability to execute timed moves. There are still execution requirements, but the focus is less. This is good in my opinion.

The story missions in the Beta have a tremendous amount of freedom. There's a mission where you must break into someone's apartment and steal something. When Chris101b came over to play, he did the mission in a completely different way than I did. He entered a different way, and exited a different way. I was hugely impressed. If you enter through the fan then you did not get in the way I did!

Dashes are essentially time trials with just and end point, which is cool because you are completely free to take any route you want rather than be limited to hitting the checkpoints. Time trials work the same way as they did in the original.

Delivery missions are I think the first misstep the game presents. Essentially, you will find people hanging out and they will ask you to make a delivery. So, let's say a woman wants you to deliver a statue to her ex-boyfriend. She hands it over, tells you not to break it, and you get a time limit to run it to him. There are several issues:

1. They are functionally identical to dashes, thus redundant.
2. They make the world feel 'small'. Delivery time limits are never more than 2 minutes. You wonder why they can;t deliver it themselves if they are so close.
3. The time limit is arbitrary. Why when time runs out would I suddenly fail (in terms of the game narrative?)
4. Everybody giving you these missions is already on the rooftops. So why again can;t they do it themselves?

A character makes the observation that "back in his day all we had were addresses", regarding how fortunate you are to have waypoints. This is how delivery missions should have worked. They should have not been timed, and required a bit of detective work to find the recipient to encourage exploration. They should also only have been given out from private residences, or some other place where non-runners would plausibly be. If they were more of a long term side mission, where the recipient is on the other end of the city, requiring you to do a bit of homework or exploring to figure out how to deliver it while you are free to do other things, then these missions would be great. As it is, they are just really hard dashes.

The second downside is the music. It is incredibly unmemorable, and the original had great music. Even the menu music was fantastic. Nothing here stands out at all.

There is probably much more story this time around, since we get actual cutscenes. I am assuming this is a prequel given the circumstance the game starts in. No way to know until the full game drops.

Lastly you can make your own time trials. This is super fun, and if you are out exploring and see any by D_P_Roberts, give them a try and try to beat my ghost.

P.S. Long time Bungie fans: there's a mission with a very strong Oni vibe. You'll know it when you see it :-p

As it is, they are just really hard dashes.

That's what they're designed to be. That's the point of the game.

When you say things "should have" been done a certain way, you're saying that in your fantasy game, they would be done. It's not your game. It's a completely different game. Please don't use this phrasing anymore unless it's an actual comment about the actual game, not something you would have liked to see.

As it is, they are just really hard dashes.

That's what they're designed to be. That's the point of the game.

When you say things "should have" been done a certain way, you're saying that in your fantasy game, they would be done. It's not your game. It's a completely different game. Please don't use this phrasing anymore unless it's an actual comment about the actual game, not something you would have liked to see.

Didn't read Cody's post, but I knew you'd have a nugget of wisdom to impart, and it's solid advice, really.

Please don't use this phrasing anymore unless it's an actual comment about the actual game, not something you would have liked to see.

Wow.

Seriously, why do so many people on this forum have such a hard-on for nitpicking every single thing Cody says?

Rather then just throw out a generic and unhelpful "This thing sucks", he took the time and effort to explain why he thought this thing was lame, and came up with a constructive replacement.

THIS IS NOT A SIN. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO THIS.

It is entirely up to a developer how they want to interpret/parse player feedback, whatever form it takes. STOP DISCOURAGING IT.

As it is, they are just really hard dashes.

That's what they're designed to be. That's the point of the game.

And if you understood my point, it would be that they should have just made some hard dashes because these missions have a negative affect on the game as I have explained. Harder dashes would NOT have these drawbacks.

Please don't use this phrasing anymore unless it's an actual comment about the actual game, not something you would have liked to see.

What's the difference? At some level aren't you just telling Cody to not engage in games criticism in general? And how did Cody's post elicit a reaction with this tone anyway?

I'm actually confused right now.

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I'm glad to hear this. I certainly don't agree with you on everything, but I know you "get" Mirror's Edge. And I don't mean to sound like some video game hipster, but only people who were into the original are really going to be able to tell me whether this new one is what I want it to be. Because whether it's a good game on its own isn't really the whole point for me - it needs to be worthy of the legacy, you know?

I never had concerns about the "open" aspect myself, but I'm still happy that you think it's an improvement. It always seemed to me like it would have to be - if they could keep the original feel more or less intact, and just have more alternate routes available, that alone would be worth a second game.

As far as it being a prequel, the developer's been hesitant to use that word for some reason, but they have said it definitely takes place at an earlier point in time than the first game. I'm not sure why they refuse to label it a prequel. Possibly they've changed something about the world or characters and don't want to be beholden to the canon? Or maybe it's something else, I dunno.

I say good. If they're pushing it back, it must mean there's more work to be done. And I definitely do not want to see this game released before it's done.

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Thanks for the write up. I was going to try and find a beta code, but now I think I'm content to just wait for release.

I was very concerned after the last round of preview coverage and videos. Maybe I misunderstood or maybe it wasn't presented correctly or maybe I just made stupid assumptions, but it very much seemed to me like Mirror's Edge was getting the Far Cry or Assassin's Creed Ubisoft treatment, and that is exactly what I wouldn't want from a Mirror's Edge.

You've made it sound pretty fantastic and have really alleviated my fears, so I can now return to being optimistic about this game.

If the beta allows streaming and anyone records one, throw up a link, I'd love to see some gameplay.

If the beta allows streaming and anyone records one, throw up a link, I'd love to see some gameplay.

I've got basically everything recorded if you want me to send you vids.

Also, is there a way to replay missions? I want to escape Elysium over and over again.

I remember signing up but no email.

I remember signing up but no email.

Zack was giving them out I think.

Just saw the other thread. I'm getting bad at DBO-ing!

I've made a post there, thanks

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If the beta allows streaming and anyone records one, throw up a link, I'd love to see some gameplay.

I've got basically everything recorded if you want me to send you vids.

Thanks for the offer. It looks like I'll just be playing it (although on Xbox One--I'd be curious to see how they two console versions compare), and I'm sure there will probably be vids all over YouTube.

It's a shame, I was planning on hitting up your time trials, but I'll end up getting the full game on PS4, so I'll just have to do it then.

Not just with frame rate... Pretty standard fare for Frostbite games on Xbone, apparently...

Loved the hint that there was an alternate way up to the apartment.

I do agree that deliveries shouldn't be timed. That just feels very silly. But I do like the idea of transporting important, critical information (and maybe supplies) across the rooftops. Just not dumb figurines that would be better left to FutureFedEx. Overall, though I think the deliveries are important if ionly because performing them makes me laugh:

Oh, and it'd be nice if the graphics on the Xbone looked significantly better than say the original Mirror's Edge on my 360... :/

.. is Cody is on PS4 so I can't try to beat his scores.

I found a challenge Insane had made and that was pretty interesting.

I'm okay with the open world. The last time I played a game that had an open world, it was Thief--and the game suffered for it. I do wish the open world was more of an open world than basically a spider web of linear rooftops.

Loading times are bad. I thought with the original game you could instantly restart a time trial of you messed up--here there is a LOT of waiting to try again.

All in all, I liked the original and this one feels fun to play too.

Haven't had much of a chance to play, but this sounds encouraging. I'm disappointed to hear about the music because that was a big part of what I loved about the first game.

To me Mirror's Edge has always had an Oni vibe.

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Haven't had much of a chance to play, but this sounds encouraging. I'm disappointed to hear about the music because that was a big part of what I loved about the first game.

To me Mirror's Edge has always had an Oni vibe.

The section where you follow the ninja hacker is pretty much straight from Oni.

Apparently I did sign up, and then forgot that I had.

The one thing I feel I need to say is that it feels like Mirror's Edge. Not just similar, but it feels like I've jumped back into the same world. Whatever issues I discover in the Beta, whatever weird moneymaking scheme reveals itself later on, this game was clearly made by people who understood what made the original special, and they were able to make it feel right. That is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Silly Sam Fischer...

There is probably much more story this time around, since we get actual cutscenes. I am assuming this is a prequel given the circumstance the game starts in. No way to know until the full game drops.

I thought that was confirmed. Maybe not, maybe it was just rumor, but I feel like I've known that it's a prequel for quite a while now.

Actually, did some googling and came up with a bunch of stories, but this is the first one I clicked on. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a full reboot. According the quotes, the first Mirror's Edge is basically wiped from the canon and Catalyst is a new beginning.

Edit: For the lazy, the game's design director said:

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is a reboot. We basically took the things we really liked about the first game. Faith, first and foremost, the first-person free-running gameplay, and also the aesthetics, which we’ve built on, of course. But it’s a reboot.

We’re telling Faith’s origin story, so the events of the first game actually don’t really exist. Maybe they will at one time in the future.

Anyway, on the to the game, just a few quick thoughts.

The game is gorgeous. After I downloaded it on Xbox One, a buddy of mine gave me an extra code for the PS4 version, which is the one I've played. I haven't fired up the Xbox One version, but I'm going to try and do it and see if there's any real noticeable difference, because I've read a few posts other places that say the Xbox One version is significantly worse. But this is the internet and people love to complain about tiny differences, so I'd like to see for myself.

The game controls like a dream. It's very fluid and satisfying.

Time will tell if it grows on me, but after about two hours, I'm still not sold on the open world design. It's not nearly as awful as I imagined, but I still don't necessarily like it right now. I feel like I spend more time lost and trying to figure out how to get to where I need to go, rather than looking for the best way through the obstacles. This will probably get better and easier as I play more in the full game and get more familiar with the city, but right now it sucks. Maybe I'm just dumb.

The missions seem good though, with cool environments. Hopefully we get some long missions throughout, in the style of the first Mirror's Edge. So far the ones I've done have been really short, but I've only done a few of them.

I've enjoyed the beta. It seems harder to me than I remember the old game being, but it's probably because I haven't become one with the controller yet.

That's for clarifying that it's a reboot. They said that a long time ago, but sites [cough, Giant Bomb, cough] keep getting it wrong.

The loading screens are boring and take way too long. They look and act a lot like Quantum Break loading screens, and I hate those, too. I don't mind that they take that long when you're first loading a map, but it should be much quicker if you're reloading a checkpoint after failure. This seems especially problematic in games that often require perfect execution of complex moves.

The music, as Cody said, is underwhelming.

I like the new fighting moves, but the NPCs don't handle collisions with geometry very well. If they're knocked into things or onto things and remain upright, they can look like they're having some kind of fit.

Maybe some of these things will improve in the release version.

The loading screens are boring and take way too long. They look and act a lot like Quantum Break loading screens, and I hate those, too. I don't mind that they take that long when you're first loading a map, but it should be much quicker if you're reloading a checkpoint after failure. This seems especially problematic in games that often require perfect execution of complex moves.

Yeah, it's annoying to do a dash trying to beat your score and have to wait on that loading screen after each attempt.

The music, as Cody said, is underwhelming.

Agreed.

I like the new fighting moves, but the NPCs don't handle collisions with geometry very well. If they're knocked into things or onto things and remain upright, they can look like they're having some kind of fit.

I found the best way to defeat the NPCs is to shove them into an object that causes them to fall over. They will immediately be defeated regardless of how much health they have left. It would be nice if the damage was more minor so they could get back up.

Maybe some of these things will improve in the release version.

Yep, this is definitely a beta. I'd expect things to be improved significantly by the team the game is released.

There is probably much more story this time around, since we get actual cutscenes. I am assuming this is a prequel given the circumstance the game starts in. No way to know until the full game drops.

I thought that was confirmed. Maybe not, maybe it was just rumor, but I feel like I've known that it's a prequel for quite a while now.

Actually, did some googling and came up with a bunch of stories, but this is the first one I clicked on. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a full reboot. According the quotes, the first Mirror's Edge is basically wiped from the canon and Catalyst is a new beginning.

Edit: For the lazy, the game's design director said:

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is a reboot. We basically took the things we really liked about the first game. Faith, first and foremost, the first-person free-running gameplay, and also the aesthetics, which we’ve built on, of course. But it’s a reboot.

We’re telling Faith’s origin story, so the events of the first game actually don’t really exist. Maybe they will at one time in the future.

Holy crap.

Why in blazes does a game franchise with a single entry need to be rebooted? Why would anyone rationally want to become a fan of a franchise that reboots itself after a single entry? This seems like the worst example of film industry envy we've seen yet, especially the origin story boner.

Here's the thing: the origin story of a character is something you care about AFTER you care about the character. A fan of Mirror's Edge who liked that game, and liked Faith, might wonder, "hey, I wonder what happened-- how did Faith become a runner, and how did this world she is in get the way it is?"

Of course, now the Faith you knew and the world she lived in and the events you witnessed with her are gone, replaced by a new world with some of the elements the devs liked, but none of that pesky continuity.

Unbefreakinglievable.

It is weird, that's for sure.

On the other hand, I could not tell you a single thing that happens in the story of the first Mirror's Edge, and I loved that game and played it quite a bit. So a reboot doesn't bother me on a personal level.

Holy crap.

Why in blazes does a game franchise with a single entry need to be rebooted? Why would anyone rationally want to become a fan of a franchise that reboots itself after a single entry? This seems like the worst example of film industry envy we've seen yet, especially the origin story boner.

Here's the thing: the origin story of a character is something you care about AFTER you care about the character. A fan of Mirror's Edge who liked that game, and liked Faith, might wonder, "hey, I wonder what happened-- how did Faith become a runner, and how did this world she is in get the way it is?"

Of course, now the Faith you knew and the world she lived in and the events you witnessed with her are gone, replaced by a new world with some of the elements the devs liked, but none of that pesky continuity.

Unbefreakinglievable.

Nobody liked Mirror's Edge for the story. You're not throwing much away.

I sort of agree with both of you. I agree with Narc in principle, that rebooting a world this far in seems a bit silly. But in practical terms, Cody's not wrong exactly. Unlike most people, I didn't hate the cutscenes in the original, but even I will admit there wasn't a ton going on story-wise. I can't say I even remember most of it now.

In the end what I do remember about Mirror's Edge is the way it felt to play, the art style, and feeling like a badass when things were flowing just right. And they appear to have nailed those things.

I wanted to know more about Faith and her sister, and the stuff going on in the last game.

The world in this one seems much less interesting.

However, this is a unique type of game. Mirror's Edge was all about the game play. The game play is a nice evolution on the original, and nothing is like it, seriously. If they rebooted every subsequent game, I wouldn't be too upset. It's the game play we're there for. Plus, better to do it after one game and make a set of sequels than to try to force in a prequel or sequel story into a story meant to have one installment. Then we get Halo 4, in a bad way.

Holy crap.

Why in blazes does a game franchise with a single entry need to be rebooted? Why would anyone rationally want to become a fan of a franchise that reboots itself after a single entry? This seems like the worst example of film industry envy we've seen yet, especially the origin story boner.

Here's the thing: the origin story of a character is something you care about AFTER you care about the character. A fan of Mirror's Edge who liked that game, and liked Faith, might wonder, "hey, I wonder what happened-- how did Faith become a runner, and how did this world she is in get the way it is?"

Of course, now the Faith you knew and the world she lived in and the events you witnessed with her are gone, replaced by a new world with some of the elements the devs liked, but none of that pesky continuity.

Unbefreakinglievable.

Nobody liked Mirror's Edge for the story. You're not throwing much away.

I liked the story. If this game we're coming out two years after the original instead of eight years, I'd be more sympathetic with narc's argument. At this point, however, there is a logic to what they've chosen to do. Many gamers don't know the original story and never will.

The setting, the art, the movement. They were fantastic, but the story made me cringe a lot. This was the right move. Keep the character and the ethos, but rewrite her into a story worth telling.

If this game we're coming out two years after the original instead of eight years, I'd be more sympathetic with narc's argument. At this point, however, there is a logic to what they've chosen to do. Many gamers don't know the original story and never will.

Good point, I hadn't considered that.

I liked the story. If this game we're coming out two years after the original instead of eight years, I'd be more sympathetic with narc's argument. At this point, however, there is a logic to what they've chosen to do. Many gamers don't know the original story and never will.

Yeah, I might pick this game up and I've never played the original. So Yeah. I only care about what they have done for this game.

I liked the story. If this game we're coming out two years after the original instead of eight years, I'd be more sympathetic with narc's argument. At this point, however, there is a logic to what they've chosen to do. Many gamers don't know the original story and never will.

Yeah, I might pick this game up and I've never played the original. So Yeah. I only care about what they have done for this game.

You'll miss out on some great music/atmosphere, then...

01. Introduction 0:00
02. Edge & Flight 5:35
03. Jacknife 12:33
04. Heat 19:00
05. Ropeburn 26:03
06. New Eden 33:19
07. Pirandello Kruger 41:13
08. Boat 48:23
09. Kate 55:55
10. Shard 1:03:13
11. Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive 1:10:30
12. Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive (Instrumental) 1:15:06

I liked the story. If this game we're coming out two years after the original instead of eight years, I'd be more sympathetic with narc's argument. At this point, however, there is a logic to what they've chosen to do. Many gamers don't know the original story and never will.

Yeah, I might pick this game up and I've never played the original. So Yeah. I only care about what they have done for this game.

You'll miss out on some great music/atmosphere, then...

I feel like I'm missing out on both unless they are combined.

You can probably pick up the original very cheap somewhere. It's an old game by now but I think it's worth the experience, there's really nothing else like it until Catalyst releases. And, much like Halo 1, the art style keeps it from aging too much.

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And, much like Halo 1, the art style keeps it from aging too much.

Great comparison. It's one of those rare timeless games that I play through again all these years later just because.