Mirror's Edge Catalyst: 5 Years Later
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Become drip itself at www.whitelight.... It helps! Mirror's Edge Catalyst is the sequel no one talks about for anything but the sake of argument. Does it deserve it's disappointing reputation? Should it really be shunned? Or has it been overlooked, unfairly judged in the light of it's predecessor? 5 years later, it's time to find out.
Thanks to editor and thumbnail artist David Blom
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Become drippier than a monsoon at www.whitelight.store/. Back again. Sorry about the wait. Been working on a lot of videos since June, this is the first of them. I really hope you enjoy it, Catalyst is a interesting beast.
It's fine, especially since you were working on more stuff for us. Take your time when you need it
i like that you're looking at all my favourite games. i give a like
I’m looking forward to your eventual watchdogs legion review I loved it but I got a feeling you may not have
you're my favorite essay writing longoid cuck on UA-cam. Please never stop being you. Also the shirts are epic
I hope shadow Mordor is one of those videos, I'll pretty much watch anything you make, keep up the amazing work
Feels like Dad finally came back, and he actually had the damn cigarettes.
Got the milk too if you want cornflakes tomorrow morning
@@Whitelight I prefer Frosties😐
@@Whitelight C-can we play catch afterward?
@@Whitelight Can we play Halo and pass the controller back and forth after each death? I miss that.
@@Whitelight I want it
This was a franchise that they threw to the wind. It deserved better.
Even Chef PK cannot resist the allure of Whitelight's sexy voice.
@@RAMAR713 I want to bathe in it.
Well at least EA didn't milk it for everything it's worth.
So I played Catalyst, what did people not like about it? I loved it.
@@mrplayfulshade Ill take any mirrors edge I can get, I love all of it
Whitelight videos have that feeling like a man who has made peace with god talking to you on a bus ride through North Hampton in the middle of the night.
Damn you should be a writer
North Hampton? Man you talkin about gta?
You are SO absolutely spot on with that description, nice one :D
he could be talking about bananas and it would still be interesting
Alright pal, that’s plenty
I always found "Still Alive" a rather odd choice of words to promote a game, more so as gamers associated the phrase far more with Portal.
I played the crap out of that game and Idk why they’d use it
I always saw it as them trying to create the feeling that the runners are continually attacked, yet they just can't be stomped out. Kinda living in a beautiful way. But it didn't really do that
I assume they mean it in the feeling of being alive. You can very much be "alive" in a room, locked in, not allowed out to live and feel free.
Funnily enough i always considered the original mirror's edge as a parallel successor to portal (without even realizing the similar song titles lol). Making catalyst more like mass effect meets assassin's creed kindof erased the magic and simplicity that the original had tho
@@BonzerMrT TBF Mirror's Edge and Portal 1 are extremely similar. Like fucking almost twins. Both are very short games focused on showcasing a well thought out mechanic to the gaming industry but in what is really a lack of a sandbox instead of the expansion of one. Both with very subtle stories but with a lot of implications. Both with a minimalistic presentation.
Catalysts's ambiance, music, and immersing story and environment completely enveloped me in a weird calm that feels inescapable in an expanse of serenity even I can't begin to comprehend or explain.
Ehhh I wouldn't call the story immersive, the script's like word salad, with the foodDome and the loCaste and the gridNode and the metaLeak and the blahBlah. Everything else definitely is though
Well said, I feel largely the same.
I often find myself wanting to replay it. And I hate it. I’ve done everything in that game. Everything. And yet I want more. Such a shame we won’t see anything from Mirrors Edge again
Agree. It's more the ambience and fluid running feel that keeps me playing Catalyst, the only thing I hate is Runner's vision but once you turn it off it's so freeing being able to find your own routes. And the soundtrack is something else
you actually took the words out my brain
In my experience Catalyst becomes instantly more enjoyable when you switch Runners Vision to "Classic" mode. It still gives you enough guidance to navigate with the red objects, but it removes the line that tells you EXACTLY which route to take, so you feel more free to experiment.
While I somewhat agree, unfortunately you can't compensate for lack of interesting level design (reason for which imo is due to the game's open world commitment) with a slight hud change :/
Today I finally took this advice I’ve heard over and over from the community. It has made all the difference in my playthrough this time around.
I played through it with Runners Vision completely turned off. Made for a neat experience
or dont always follow it lol
12:00 "Two-tone billboards are replaced by vast, fully-rendered William-boards"
is probably the dumbest joke that made me laugh out loud this much
same lmao
Mine was "I'm a big fan" at 23:08 lmao
@@bakatsugu Commented about that as well at the same time :D ua-cam.com/video/P7yb1Dv6jtE/v-deo.html&lc=Ugx_ydCNGlhxGr7m5VB4AaABAg
What I love about Catalyst is the lore. I know a lot of people may have skipped over it, but I collected all the documents found throughout the game which details the rise of Glass City, the history, the politics, the class system, the technology, etc. there’s also a map of Cascadia and you find out it’s located in the region of Australia. The history with Omni Stat and Cascadia was pretty interesting. This game takes place centuries in the future to the point where remnants of the old world were all but forgotten. Anything outside of Cascadia and Omni-Stat is heavily irradiated. Which implies the whole planet suffered a nuclear fallout in the past and the only region not to get hit was Australia..
you shouldn’t compliment a game for forgetting to add the worldbuilding then throwing in tedious collectibles that you need to watch walkthroughs to find
@@vaudeville-villain what?
@@vaudeville-villain What. I had no problems finding all collectibles without googling them. You literally find them if you just look around when playing the game, they're everywhere.
yeah me too. i remember back in 2016 discussing them with an online friend and them pointing out that it was somewhere near australia.
The Night Aesthetic of the city is what makes me sometimes comeback to Catalyst. It's just so beautiful to look at.
When I played it and saw the night time for the first time i thought: "I could really switch the real world for this one".
Which is such a shame since it’s trying so hard to sell this as a dystopia, when it *really* doesn’t look like it. Maybe they could have shitty areas for the Lowcaste so you could actually, you know, *see what the hell they’re complaining about the whole time?
The "Gaming Ambience" youtube channel has plenty of nice environments shot and ME OST going along with it.
Bro, Watch "Gaming Ambience" he has a lot of ambients with looks on city :)
i personally prefer the daytime. you see plenty of cyberpunky neon-lit nighttime cities in other media but rarely do you see a city so bright, sunbleached, and colorful yet sleek as in mirrors edge
"As if Linus Sebastian was the architect"... one of the best criticisms of a game's artstyle I have ever heard.
The only thing is I'm pretty sure Linus doesn't care about RGB. I mean, I thought it was funny. But from my understanding, he doesn't like the RGB trend. Me, I have an RGB monitor, speakers, PC, keyboard, mouse. Even a damn mousepad. I don't think Linus cares. But I also don't have a problem with a joke, nor do I think WhiteLight senpai dislikes Linus. I'm just a literalist that has to ruin any fun.
@@robred123s I don't think whitelight dislikes linus, I think whitelight was just making joke
Linus once mentioned I think in WAN Show that he was in for the meme about the RGB Stuff.
@@robred123s Yeah. You ARE cringe.
i though it was a joke the fact that he drop expensive hardware
Can you do one on Dying Light? it has a parkour system that's heavily inspired by Mirror's Edge. definitely one of my favorite games of all time
Great game. hope the sequel is even better.
@@splinterborn hell yeah, I'm hyped af. one of the few games I'm considering paying full price for at release
@@Ezekiel_Burton Dying Light ran bad because they let you turn the settings up too high, and the cancerous "ultra or bust" mindset made people say it was unoptimized. They "fixed it" by drastically cutting down the max view distance a player could set.
Yes yes yes!!! I havent played it but would love a video like that about it, loved dead island
I know it probably had nothing to do with the people actually working on the game and was purely a corporate decision, but I'm still pissed that Techland fired one of the best writers in the fucking industry over some baseless accusations. They aren't getting my money at full price.
This game is the epitemy of: "Being good, but you forget about it quite alot" i really enjoyed the game during all the time i played it, yet, somehow forget about quite a bit.
Looks like it's a problem for a lot of AAA video games these days
This. You stole my thoughts. I was about to say something along these lines. I like it more than the first one, but I also don't feel any particularly strong emotion toward it nor I remember it that often. Just one difference, which I imagine is subjective. I remember Faith, and I remember her as she looks in this game.
@@hesiolite If only. I don't even manage to enjoy a lot of today's output. If only they managed the bare minimum of being fun but forgettable.
Thats litearally most AAA games nowadays, all flash and no substance.
Yeah seems that since 2008 most of them are just forgettable.
Can we all just admit that love or hate the OG Mirror's Edge, Still Alive is one of the best game theme's ever.
Didn't Mt Eden remix it or something?
I can't find it on Spotify anymore :(
The whole soundtrack is good too
I actually think Catalyst is better
@@albiesnyder412 I think it has all of the tools to be a better game, but it fails to put them together as well.
I don't think it quite justifes itself as an "open world", and I think it actually would have benefitted from a more linear structure like the first game.
The reason being that it's not really open it's just a couple of linear lanes that collapse and intersect to funnel you a single direction.
There's typically only one single way to reach any one specific area. Sure that way might have two different lanes for Part of it, but they travel parallel to one another and one lane will always collapse into the other making a single lane. So what's the point?
I think if you could legitimately go anywhere and the parkpur system wasn't as bare-bones as it is (its basically the same thing as the first game with a Grappling hook that you can only use at a few contextual points) it could have been better.
And while many of Catalyst's elements are superior *in make* to the first game, the execution wasn't done well.
Which is why the first game is MORE than the sum of its parts, and the second game is significantly less than the sum of its.
Whitelight is the only UA-camr I love while simultaneously having no idea what he’s actually saying.
Someone doesn't watch Jacob Geller
@@Dionysius8421 whitelight, raycevick and jacob geller are all over there in the same corner of youtube
The moment I started hearing his mouse clicks between each take, it became more distracting to the point where I was hearing more of that than the words themselves :/
It's like an hour-long Zero Punctuation. I just finished watching and I feel like I just put in the effort needed to graduate college.
British man sound good.
The first Mirror's Edge was the first game I'd ever seen that crashed to bargain bin status in the launch window. I bought it 3 weeks after release from a HMV clearance bin for £4.99. Mirrors Edge made up like 3/4 of the bin. From anecdotal evidence this happened worldwide. The game was fine but I never got over how blatantly quickly the title was given up on by the publisher. The fact that they gave the series another go at all is incredible.
So you're telling me there is still hope for Deus ex after mankind divided
Publishers have nothing to do with the price of games in brick and mortar stores beyond setting the MSRP.
@@aolson1111 I never said they did, but they provably pulled or otherwise cut down on marketing after a week and sales plummeted further leaving stores with an influx of stock that no one wanted. They gave up on it and stores followed.
@@807D14M0ND5 Maybe not. Square Enix did cancel Deus Ex in favour of Avengers after all.
Well it got another chance because it became a cult classic.
I have actually worked in places that looked much like the glass towers of this game's cities, complete with those stairways that sort of look like they are floating, and even glass hallways between buildings that made those of us afraid of heights feel very queasy. So, even in our own real world, this style obviously exists. But, there were, of course, no sheer drops of doom in common areas meant to be used by humans, and these things called railings existed in the spaces as well.
ohhhh what areas did you work since that sounds really interesting?
@@loosescrew472 I worked in a downtown area at a large firm that had recently changed from its original home to a new building that was designed to be a typical example of an ultra-modern design, which evidently has this glass-everything look to it these days. Other newer buildings in the same area had a similar look, as if the entire structure were made of glass, or at least creating that illusion.
7 minutes in and I have no idea what he is talking about. Feels like im being beaten to death by a dictionary and laughed at by Wikipedia. Im still gonna watch the rest but damn.
This made me chuckle
You are a creative writer, but in this video, you overuse metaphors and unconventional sentence structures. At some points, even when giving your video full attention, it requires a couple of rewinds to catch what you were meaning to say. I preferred your writing style from about a year ago, where you would mix your diverse metaphors with some direct statements. I get the impression that you are overthinking your script. Don't lose sight of the goal to make your videos clearly get across your ideas in an entertaining way. Your diverse vocabulary is great, but leaning too heavily on it makes some lines of yours feel long-winded. I appreciate all the effort you put in, if you would just throw in some strong thesis statements for your segments and reinforce some of your points through direct reiteration, that would go a long way in making your videos more pleasant to learn from.
41:11 "Mirror's Edge Catalyst is shallow, that's the theme that threads everything we've seen since the Shard together. After the spectacle's dazzling effect grows faint, you can wake up to find that you spent the last 2 minutes on autopilot. What reaches through your screen and drags you out of a daydream? Perhaps about the way, in a grim inversion of its predecessor, Catalyst weaken with time. Not as its flaws fade into view, but as its virtues fade out. There's only so long a pretty face stays bewitching."
Here was the perfect place to put a thesis statement or a reinforcing statement, but it ends up being more of a poem. It's a nice poem, but it's a long-winded way of telling the viewer "Mirror's Edge Catalyst's spectacle wears thin over time revealing its shallow core. Its forgiveness and overbearing directions put the player into a mindless autopilot mental state."
You don't need to change your entire writing style to be direct, but choosing to be direct and concise at a couple of key moments would keep me wanting and sharing your content.
Videos move on whether the viewer wants them to or not. But the reader completely controls the rate they read an article. That's the problem basically, descriptive writing needs a little time to sink in, so do complex points, and this video is extremely fast paced.
I agree with your solution, though not your example. It's one of many I'll try next year.
@@Whitelight I appreciate you taking the time to read my feedback. And I want to reemphasize that I'm not saying descriptive writing is faster than metaphorical writing. I'm saying that the *combination* of both is the fastest for a listener to pick up.
For example, if I'm talking about a videogame level and I said, "You are a mouse in a trap, scrambling for a way out." You might not get a quick understanding of my point, but if I frame the metaphor with some direct writing, "I love the intense feeling of this level. You are a mouse in a trap, scrambling for a way out." Even though it's longer, its meaning is acquired quicker because the direct statement limits a lot of possible misinterpretations of the metaphor. You could have easily interpreted my metaphor as a critique and not praise without the statement. When you bookend metaphors with more metaphors, it's easy to lose that essential context that makes metaphors work. Sometimes I can't tell if you are critiquing or praising the game at some points. It's a mistake easy to miss as a writer because you can never misinterpret your own writing. Context and framing make a huge difference. With videos, if you want to maximize efficiency your framing should always go before your point, so a rewind is not encouraged. Plus, the flipping of style is more gripping, and prevents the viewer from slipping into a trance where they lose focus on your video.
"Whitelight is the only UA-camr I love while simultaneously having no idea what he’s actually saying." This is highly liked comment from another person that shows that you are putting some of your fans into this trance state where they listen to your words and enjoy the colorfulness of the writing, but miss the point.
I am someone who has the time and patience for long videos, but you need to realign your perspective a bit if you think your heavily metaphorical 1-hour long video essays are "extremely fast-paced." It makes me scared to imagine what your idea of a slow-paced video is. I get that you have a lot to say and you feel that relative to how much you wanted to say, the video was efficient. But I'm sure if you put the effort in you could find ways to speed up pacing without losing points or good jokes.
@@iminumst7827 The only thing we're disagreeing on is what pacing means. I understand framing. I cut a lot of it, mistakenly, for this video. Let me know what you think of the Arkham City video if you choose to watch it. I do appreciate your feedback.
@@iminumst7827 More people like you, are needed in this world. 👏👏👏
Never have i enjoyed reading a critique to a youtube video so much.
Thank you. 🙏
@@Whitelight i'll check out your Arkham City video right now.
I remember buying this game back in mid-2020, all because I just want to admire the city's aesthetic, especially the Ocean Glass View district.
mid 2010?
2010's*
@@zephiino3713 I meant somewhere around August 2020
"Bimbofication of Mirrors Edge" was not a sentence I was expecting. I'll have to look this up on R34
Hot
I felt pretty similar about this game. There's so much here that's half-finished or poorly thought-out but I really like it anyway.
Amazing video, just finished watching. Thank you once again for your awesome contributions to games coverage and thoughtful, reflective (heh) content.
nice seeing a legend on another legends video :D
also just 100%'d AC unity mostly due to you and whitelight inspiring me to!!
@@gremmer8 Congrats! It's quite a mountain to climb, 100%ing that game.
:D
Lol glad to see you here as well, I'm not on my main account but you've featured one of my races (doctorzincs time trial) on your channel a while back and I think we talked about the game for a lil bit. Honored to be on a now legendary channel.
When you were talking about how the city in Catalyst looked, it made me remember Cruelty Squad and how, despite the color vomit on screen, you still understand what everything is supposed to be. A mall is a mall, a house is a house. In Catalyst, a rooftop on an office building looks like the fuckin Titanfall 2 gauntlet.
in their defense if I had the money I'd absolutely model my rooftop after the Titanfall gauntlet
Something about a monotonous voice raging at the "Don't let them spot you" speech and saying "Ah Dice you sussy baka" just tickles my soul.
I don't care what anyone says, I loved this game, the parkour was fun, Map design was brilliant, and yes the combat was a bit too easy and the story was lacking but I had an absolute blast playing
same, probably one of my fav games of all time
I think most of the dislike this game gets is because it's radically different from the original in a lot of ways. I appreciate both a lot, but i like Catalyst's dystopic feel more than Mirror's Edge's grounded feel and I actually feel like the movement system is better too. I own it on like 3 different platforms, and sometimes I just boot it up to run through the city, appreciate the graphics/art direction and vibe to Solar Field's soundtrack. The two games feel so different to experience it's hard to judge them as "1 and 2", it's more like two takes on the same concept, and Catalyst fell short on the actual game systems rather than on the gameplay which is what allows it to be actually engaging.
This the ultimate chill game for me from the visuals to the strong focus on freerunning through stunning vistas. Man I appreciate this game helping me through the mundanity of lockdown last year.
I agree with almost all of it, but the map design was absolutely not brilliant. The visuals themselves were stunning, but the actual design of the routes and areas were all over the place. Playing for the first few hours, I distinctly remember running along rooftops believing I’d begun an epic parkour adventure only to end up at a dead end and plummeting down to the street. Some areas lacked any sort of flow, in a game where flow is one of the only things that matters. That being said, I still adored the game. I’m a firm believer in enjoying and admiring things, while also being able to criticize and acknowledge the flaws.
i frankly loved the combat too, it is a bit easy but its predominantly animated with counter attacks, making Faith seem very capable a fighter.
I played through the origional Mirror's Edge 21 times. at least 11 on the hardest difficulty and I truly enjoyed it through and through. What Mirror's Edge Catalyst lacked in place of the original falls under two categories.
First, Catalyst never felt like a map that belonged to the Mirror's edge world. The first game was a delicate balance of allowing player choice and keeping a firm guiding hand on where you're travercing too. I felt lost in the second game when I had to move to another section of the map. It was a shame to have to backtrack when the game wasn't clear enough on where I was supposed to go, or when I chose an incorrect "path." It felt clunky and inorganic, whereas the first game allowed for smooth and easy traversal.
The second point I'd like to make is the combat. Combat in the first game was impactful and each interaction with enemy's was unique. Sometimes you could run through enemies, or sneak by. It never felt like the purpose of each level or mission was to engage the enemy. I wanted to feel like a freerunner and Catalyst made me feel like an arcade button masher.
Third point: The level design feels like a tech demo. Whitelite said it best.
If they ever make another game for Mirrors edge, please make it with intent for fluidity of movement first, and cool futuristic sifi second.
This has been my TED Talk.
Agreed up to the point where you talk about the combat, did you even play the first one ? You say you did but if you did you would know how bad the combat was. It was really wonky and trash. Hits didn’t land right. It was not good at all.
@@MikeOcksmallClips im also pretty sure it literally forced you into combat in some levels. And if you wanted to be fast you had to use guns.
Also, i loved/feared how dropping from a high place felt in Mirrors edge. it actually was terrifying, the sense of falling.
what you said about the combat in the ME1 makes me believe you didnt even play
past the first 3 levels lmao
@@JJ-smhcombat is way more fun than in catalyst, which doesnt say much cause both were ass. At least it didnt force as much of it in the first one
There are tons of things I'd like to touch on that you mentioned but one that stood out at me during the story segment at 1:00:12, you mention how much non verbal and natural feeling communication is made in the cutscenes. This is something I noticed during my first playthrough, are the tons of small twitches, movements, and the way everyone talks. The uncontrollable breakdown Faith has when it finally clicks that Noah is dead felt so real. The way Noah struggles to turn the damn TV on. The INCREDIBLE direction and acting during the Dogen moments. I wish more budget could've went into telling a better story, rather than making a huge, yet empty feeling open world. Clearly the actors, writers and directors were up to the task.
Catalyst was good. It's one of my favorite games that I regularly return to. But I'm biased, and that doesn't mean it could've been so, so much more.
If you haven't yet, some of the devs have done a full Director's commentary-style playthrough of both games. Go look for "SlicedLime"'s playthrough, they talk a lot about game design, systems and deadlines.
The body and facial animations were very good too. Rebecca and Noah looked obscenely realistic
This game's world is something so unique and I can't stop thinking about how amazing I would feel being there.
Yeah until you get beat down by the cops. 😁
bro it's a dystopia lmfao
Thats the problem. It's supposed to be a dystopia but the place really doesn't appear to be that terrible. We don't really see it if it is. Just take the games word for it. Even cyberpunk 2077 did the dystopian late stage capitalism feel better. (honestly i thought that part of cyberpunk was done very well)
Wouldn't be very amazing if u can't jump and don't have good cardio
@@MitchJohnson0110 That's more to do with the game being about the freedom of being a runner, rather than a theme of the dystopian life the citizens must endure. Life as a runner is dangerous as hell but beautiful, wonderful, and uplifting for faith who looks down on the city that's literally and figuratively bellow her. She lives outside the system, not in it and because of that as well as the thrill, danger of sudden death, and Most importantly the Flow of her work, she views life in a very positive perspective that people ground down addicted to trash on the streets in a city like night city wouldn't appreciate. (Look up flow theory for better understanding into faith's Psychology if you're unaware of the concept)
Tech Demo*: The Game**
*Not actually a demo. For sale at full price.
**Only a demo. Not really a game. For sale at full price.
Good one, xD
MGSV:GZ in a nutshell
@@thebadwolf3088 Oh, wow. You're totally right. Good observation!
@@100Servings at least that had a soul
@@ketrub Oh yes, you can definitely tell it wasn't made by a committee of soulless corporate executives. They saved that for Metal Gear Survive.
"I joined Tier 3 to hear Whitelight say this out loud" is probably the best username I've ever heard. Staying for the Patreon section at the end gave me a good laugh.
What's so sad to me about this game is that it has the systems and the foundation to be great. The game feel and the foundation laid down by mirror's edge 1, combined with a little more self-awareness about its story and maybe some brain cells in its level design could've swept us off our feet. And it made so many bad decisions, and now no one will ever try something like this again.
It's my favorite game.
What if people mod the poop out of it and their ps4s down the line like people do with older games now?
IMO there's a lot more great decisions than bad. The fact is it plays so much better than 1 that it makes up for the dumb levelling up system the game didn't need.
@@smolsnek3835 I can only hope.
I absolutely love the game. One of the most beautiful and fluid games ever. Amazing music. Combat is smooth af, no tedious gunplay. But because no one bought it, we will never get a sequel.
One of the most underrated games I've ever played. Still love it and would love to play this in VR.
Usually you can imagine what a person looks like through just hearing their voice, it's generally completely wrong but you still craft a mental image, but I have no idea about whitelight.
I thought Mittensquad would’ve looked like a pristinely hairless fat man, like a bald baby.. I was wrong.
I’ll never make a guess at what a UA-camr looks like again.
You can avoid every open world chase by zapping the camera with the EMP thing... but only once you get the upgrade. This game locks almost half the necessary mechanics to have fun behind the upgrade tree. It makes Unity's progression look liberating by comparison
which is more perplexing when they give you half the skill tree as soon as the game launches
@@BluePieNinjaTV Hahahaha. I literally just booted it up for the first time and went "Who unlocked 15 of my skills... oh wait "jump" is on the skill tree? WTF?" Seems a half implemented everything in this game (missing rails is an example in the above video, don't think anywhere in ME1 was like that, perhaps 1 place with no doors/ladder?).
The sci-fi city of our dekstop wallpapers indeed. That was beautifully put. Apt, especially because like the wallpaper, it was only occasionally pretty to look at, but unlike the wallpaper, you were stuck with it and had nowhere to go. Solar Fields did an amazing job with the game's ambiance and soundtrack.
I have used my own screenshots from Catalyst as my wallpaper lol
This game is the epitome of "fine". The graphics are good, and if you just turn your brain off the parkour is fun and the environments are pretty to look at. But that's it. If you long for any kind of depth the game won't give it to you and upon looking at the world for anymore than the 2 seconds they expect you too while running by, it's fake. The whole game feels fake, you can even tell when your not directly looking at it and just running by, but then it's more of a lingering feeling. The game tells you that you're in a dystopian nightmare, but it's setting is so painfully implausible. If you want to just turn your brain off and run around looking at the pretty lights this game is perfect and that's fine. It's just that that's not how it presents itself. Like how a balloon animal isn't particularly remarkable, there's nothing wrong with a child playing with it and having fun. The real problem starts to arise when you desperately try to convince the child that it's not a balloon animal but a real dog. It only accentuates the fact that it's an empty representation, and will only make the child wish that they were playing with a real dog.
Games are obsessed with being closest to the real since last decade, maybe thats what we need nowadays. To remind the games are just games, not reality
There's plenty of depth in its gameplay mechanics. That's what pisses me off about the way this game gets criticized. Literally everyone is disappointed that it's not cinematic and immersive like it was meant to be uncharted or tomb raider. Can we please focus on the fact that Mirror's Edge is meant to be a hardcore mechanical GAMEPLAY focused game and not another "cinematic experience"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it couldn't be better but it's definitely not a metacritic 68, especially when literal garbage games like AC Rogue have a much higher metascore
@@giannis_tar Okay well...good to know you're just not taking part in the discussion and instead having your own.
"Hardcore gameplay" as this thing basically plays itself lmao
@@rudolfambrozenvtuber I can tell you didn't play the time trials, which is one of the most important aspects of this franchise. They even released DLC for the original game just with time trials
@@giannis_tar No, we don't generally judge the difficulty of entire games by the top 5 percent of the challenge they offer
The first Mirrors Edge feels like a "Brutal reality" but Catalyst feels like what a runner in that OG reality would dream about. Nonsensical environments that does not make sense when you pay attention to it (like in a dream). However, when you only have a focus of running from point A to point B it doesn't matter too much that the world around you is nonsensical. When I first played Catalyst I didn't enjoy it because of it many flaws, but I recently replayed it and I enjoyed it much more than I did originally.
The game is so ridiculously underrated. Makes me sad that people didn't even give it a chance because there's so much to love about it. Super fun gameplay with a very high skill ceiling, really fun story missions with epic set pieces, one of the absolute most enjoyable open worlds to traverse and explore, and an awesome art style
The story could've been better but it satisfied my base requirement to be enjoyed, it's interesting even if not well executed.
This game will never stop being fun and once I upgrade my PC I'll start playing it on that cuz currently, the 900p console versions are a little rough.
I think Mirror's Edge is my favorite video game example of something with extreme untapped potential. The gameplay in both games is fantastic and both games create their own unique vibes. The story in both also have potential but fall flat. As far as the runners vision in Catalyst, I immediately turned it off because I liked playing with it off in the original. My playthrough felt immensely more interesting with it off.
Catalyst is the game I try to come back to at least once every year, only to realize I'd have to wipe all my progress in order to play it again. It's unfortunate that it doesn't have multiple saves :(
Why would you want to play this title beyond the First playthrough?
@@Exel3nce Because I enjoyed it the first time.
@@Rocksteady72a weird
@@Exel3nce Weird to think people think playing a game is weird
@@Rocksteady72a if its mediocre or bad, it kinda is^^
"We don't just deal in drip we in the tropical storm business" I'm taking that
I still adore Catalyst, one of my first introductions to gaming. I’m just pissed off I couldn’t find out more about the world and it’s lore, I was really interested
A shame
Have you collected all the tapes and documents?
Where's the Ghost Recon Wildlands video you mentioned two years ago? This is like when i was 7 my dad promised me he'd take me to the cricket one day, but never did..
This game is just something else. I still find myself losing myself in Glass. The ambiance and world is just so breathtaking. Really love it.
"this is mirros edge renderded in unreal engine 5, did you even notice?" OH MY GOD YES, YES I DID.
Whoa, literally was playing through it this week. It's definitely a mixed experience but overall it scratches a similar itch that the first game does. I'm glad that games like Ghostrunner are moving the genre forward.
Now, as the girl who defends 'pretty dystopias' like Watch Dogs 2's minimalist hellscape?
I... I got nothin', dude. This isn't a pretty face hiding something insidious, it's just pretty. Look at that street, it's filled with traffic flowing absolutely perfectly in a gleaming white city with natural light, natural life and architecture that's designed to be pleasing rather than cheap or painfully modern. And the end result is some dude is king and can make contracts punished with force? I think we call those "laws" in real life. The reason pretty dystopia works is because it's a serial killer's mask - it's an uncanny valley of relatability, trying too hard to disguise that it wants to take your skin and sell it to the highest bidder and failing miserably. Are you the product in Catalyst's world? No. You're going to be made a drone by nanites... which rather defeats the purpose of being made drones by wage slavery, no?
Also that transition with Faith smashing down the door to the next scene was gorgeous, top-notch editing.
I personally didn't like that it was open world. In the first game every level felt unique, but in catalyst so many missions had you running the same line over and over again back and fourth from your objective to the hideout. In the original game running the same stage again felt like it was your own choice so it was a lot more fun trying to find a new quicker path to improve your time. The city in Catalyst looks worse too in my opinion. I don't like the futuristic setting, it doesn't even feel like a real city as you're running there's no logic in the structure it just feels like random cubes. The city in first game felt like something you could see in Japan.
Thing is, Catalyst does have levels. Each of the missions are encapsulated on their own level, similar to how the first did it. The open world is there as an interlude, the thing between missions
A lot of Catalyst's architecture is actually a lot less "futuristic" than you'd think.
This sort of design is quite common in some places, the biggest point of difference is that in Brisbane city, you might have a gallery, a terrace, or an office building with this look, but it's not the *whole* city XD
I really wouldn't mind it if they designed the city in themed segments
See as an example, jet set radio future
The game doesn't have levels but more districts of the city open up as you progress and each area feels unique. And you don't spend too long in any single area.
@@nickelakon5369 I would argue that they sort of did. At any given time, Rezoning, Downtown, Anchor and The View all have drastically different and uniquely identifiable spaces with character, personality and charm.
Is it just me, or do the arms and legs look way too thin in Catalyst?
I love and am frustrated by this game so much and could never quite put my finger on why and you absolutely nailed it. It's broad but shallow and thinks it's focused and deep, but it doesn't actually, it just wants to pretend it does so that we think it thinks it does.
It's all artifice and is kind of self aware about it but does not let on or lean into its self awareness. Like the devs thought they were making a statement and some gremlins came in at night and hollowed it out.
And somehow i still enjoy running around the city.
I believe the reason why you and everyone else still enjoyed the running despite all these flaws is because the game has probably the best parkour mechanics in the industry. Not gonna lie, it kinda makes me sad that everyone focuses on its flaws but rarely anyone talks about how good the mechanics and the camera are.
You’re looking for the word “pretentious” lol.
Why does this guy sound like he's reading poetry? And why am I so invested?!
Your manner of speech is very similar to John Silver's from the non-hit, underrated tv show Black Sails, a prequel to the hit book Treasure Island. Watch it, it's great.
I always love a black sails reference
You know what?I like your merch. There's something about them
Also, that May have been the best self sponsored merch pitch I've ever heard. I feel like I can't not buy a shirt now
I'm definitely one of the many that didn't like catalyst. Yes there's plenty of cool things that always bring me back (mainly the graphics), but overall I just get tired of all the side missions and constant back an forth through the same areas in this "open world". I would've much preferred if they either went "proper" open world where you can do whatever you want or gone back to the original level based design. Next time I come back to the game I need to try just doing the main missions and then explore the city without runner vision
56:34 If I understood the story correctly, which I might not have because it sucks, this whole game is a Catalyst. It's the event that leads up to the sequel. That's what they say at least in the ending scene, we haven't saved everyone but something has changed, we've started something.
I think it's horrible storytelling, not an inability to read the dictionary, that is at fault here.
Dude. That shirt.is.the.bomb. And, putting periods between words is absolutely not hyperbolicly presumptuous.
FWIW, am going to buy at least 3 of them. Don't ask me why, they're just bad ass.
This game deserved more recognition...i dont care how old it is. I grew up with it..this was my escape, amazing game..love it til the end
Right? Such a good free roam game I still love coming back to it for that
The way this narrator speaks sounds like a poem
This is your best writing yet. Really cool to see how much you've improved at nuanced and meaningful critique.
I never really had a problem with the city aesthetic/design like all the random props because it was like what if companies had full control over cities and could build whatever they wanted wherever they're pleased with and then everything devolved into chaos
It’s an unpopular opinion but I love this game ❤️
The world is my favourite feature. They nailed the futuristic setting with a kick-ass soundtrack, beautiful skyscrapers and the minimalist interiors.
The races keep me coming back. I love finding courses I’ve been beaten on and studying the map, searching for shortcuts, shaving milliseconds off my times to stay competitive and rise through the online ranks.
Combat is a common complaint, but I feel an unjustified one. Yes if you stand and button mash it’s rubbish, but if you fight like Faith, it’s brilliant. Use mobility to your advantage; surround your opponents and catch them with movement-based attacks. Chip away at them - it’s an entirely new way of doing combat.
I never played the original Mirrors Edge so I’m not as informed as most; I simply ask people to keep an open mind. Not everyone dislikes this game 👍 🙏
~~ps if you read that text wall I appreciate you hearing my opinion 😅 ❤️
It’s still my favorite game of all time. I would just run around in that city for dozens of hours finding bad guys to beat up. If there was a third game made, I would want combat challenge maps.
If I had a penny every time I watched through Mirror's Edge Catalyst on UA-cam (because my PC can't run it), I would have two pennies. Which doesn't sound a lot, but considering that this is the game we are talking about, it's more than others would have.
This is the best worst game I encountered in my life. It's Mirror's Edge, but feels a bit off (soundtrack, enviroment), the movement is amazing, but you have magnetic hands that snap to ledges. Your shoes's sound while running on the too clean floors is one of the best soundeffects I have ever heard -- but the story is mediocre at best. Characters are basically paper cut-outs, and the combat is awful. Glass might look amazing, but being an open-world game, it lacks in openings (only one way between different parts of the map). Side contents lack in variety, and most of them are just get this stuff for exp...
But it just feels good! When everything fades into the background, and it's only running and parkour, and the beautiful vistas, it just doesn't matter. It feels good to watch, it feels good to play. The eye-candy and smooth movements make up for everything else.
the blade runner 2049 soundtrack fits so well with mirrors edge catalyst
love this game so much
Me too :D
Damn I was checking your channel just yesterday after goin "huh been a minute since I saw a new whitelight video on my feed"
Glad to see you again bud, hope you're doin well!
I don't think load times have ever damaged my experience as much as with Catalyst. That, and spending a lot of time trying to get gold on a route only to realize I couldn't because I hadn't unlocked a grappling hook gimmick. Those are my dominant memories of this game -- learning to hate both load times and skill trees.
I'm on PC i never had a problem with loaing screens.
@@whodatninja439 Yeah, I mostly game on a PC with an SSD now, but Catalyst I played on a stock PS4.
There is something viscerally nostalgic about Still Alive. I haven't played Mirror's Edge since it first came out and the only reason I'm not still pining after those split toe shoes is because I found Vibram five fingers (largely because of this game). I had an almost physical reaction to hearing the opening strains at the the start of your video and there aren't many songs that can do that to me.
I still wonder if I should bother playing Catalyst and I wish Mirror's Edge got a proper sequel.
I was 13 when this came out, felt like it came out yesterday... We are all getting older... We will all wither away...
Sad Gilgamesh noises
I was 21, married with my first child.
Will never forget my hype, or the day I finally got a beta code.
I was 13 back then too. I’m honestly kind of mad at myself because I feel like I haven’t accomplished very much with my life. Here’s hoping that 13 years from now I’ll actually have some accomplishments to my name.
i really feel like some of you are confused which game this video is about
@@ketrub Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
Just stumbled across this - just wanted to say I really appreciate the level of effort you put into this video, there's a kind of poetry to your script. These kinds of essays remind me why I love games as an artform so much.
I'm so happy that you posted , I've been missing your videos ❤️
My favourite game is mirrors edge 1, did I play catalyst? Sadly no because it’s not mirrors edge 2, i wanted a sequel, not a new completely different game. Sad
you are probably one of the first channels i’ve ever seen with merch thats worth buying i love the design.
Yep! Sexy!
im only 12 minutes into the video and im currently thinking how great Catalyst could be if they just openly told you the game world is an utopia, and you played as some rebellious kid that parkours and gets into fights with the police not because hes trying to fight the system, just because he/she is fucking arround, no need for a deep social comentary filled story, just for once let us unironically and unabashadly enjoy the idea of living in an utopic city, i swear if it werent because of the ''uh oh evil dystopia'' tones the game sometimes has its damn near therapeutic
This has to be one of, if not THE best video I've seen all year! I recently played through Catalyst for the first time. Was a huge fan of the original game and had not touched Catalyst because of the bad reputation. Watched many videos on the game and a few were really good, but none of them analysed and explained the issues it has as in depth as your's. Amazing work man, I love that you take your time, unlike most other youtubers and put quality before quantity! All the best from Germany!
Man the channel isn't doing as great but daddy still uploads. Love you
I've been a parkour traceur for more than 10 years.
There are only 2 games which imho capture well the traceur fantasy: the original ME and original Vector (mobile game).
Interestingly both games' sequels suffer exactly the same way.
Ask me anything!
How do you start with learning Parkour?
@@saisameer8771 There is a number of ways.
1. Find experienced traceurs and ask them to teach you. Maybe even offer money if you have it.
2. If you can't find any remember these 4 things:
A. Watch as much parkour as you can online.
B. Every move you take (e.g. landing) make it as quiet as possible. It's to avert any joint damage in the long run.
C. Always check your surfaces in advance. Does the wall have glass on top? Will the roof collapsa under your weight? Will the branch snap if you put your whole weight on it? Will the rail move? Will a tile move? Etc.
D. If you're scared to do something, don't do it. If you want to impress someone, don't do it. Do parkour ONLY for yourself and never under adrenaline.
This game is so special
this game is so unique
why this game stay in your head ? because it's one of the kind
Looking back, yes the story was bad and so were some of the other decisions. But catalyst created an atmosphere/feeling that mesmerized me more than any game before
Took a while but at last it's here.
This was the game years ago, to teach me open world doesnt mean a good thing over linear
Just played this game again recently after playing it super hard near release for several months. Very memorable experience.
From my distant memory of the game I remember there was a lot of useless mechanics in the game as a placeholder for content
Design of the original is just mindblowing. It is not the game for the masses, rather a deeper psychological experience. At least for me. Mesmerizing design unmatched to this day.
RIP Mirror's Edge Catalyst servers + Platinum trophy 😢
not gonna lie, I liked your "oh god, make it stop!!" delivery more than your "regular" delivery! It sounds natural and emotive
I love catalyst. I just run through the campaign without bothering with side activities. I do find collectibles but the timed routes and stuff aren't fun for me.
There is just something therapeutic parkouring around the city I love the feeling it gives you
I’m in the same boat! Literally have used the game for stress relief.
@@SSaNNEE100 me and you are 1
In the same brother 👌
There's so many comments about how his voice causes bi-panic
They aren't wrong his voice is really distracting
I love this game/series. It has its flaws, but I love them. Running around and getting into that flow just feels amazing. Hope they make a third game someday.
one thing i noticed in the shard, is that there are black shoe marks on the walls and ledges in the shard... supposedly a place no runner has been before...
Daaaamn, I missed watching your videos, when you started talking I got literal goosebumps. Thanks for your amazing work, will wait for the next video
I remember watching tf outta the 2013 teaser trailer back in high school cuz I was so hyped for this. Then was pretty much disappointed when I played it lol
Personally, my biggest issue with this game is that the environments look like a sci-fi fantasy setting as opposed to the more urban future dystopian aesthetics we get in the first game.
I agree that the first one is the better game overall, but I love the freerunning and movement in Catalyst. There are times when I've had a bad day where I will just turn it on and run. No direction in mind, not trying to complete challenges. I may pick up a collectible if I see it, but otherwise I just run. Something relaxing about it.
This is a scathing review of the game but I cant find a single thing I disagree with
Discussing a video game or tv show or even a good book after finishing them is sometimes more enjoyable than playing the game or watching the show itself
I just finally played catalyst. I was frustrated with pacing of the game's story and open world. The open world became easier to navigate as my skill increased but still this game made some misfires. Would've loved to see it handled differently, its wasted potential
Welcome back, king!