Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is, against all odds, happening. A sequel and reboot to the cult classic original, it looks like it will give the original game, which was woefully under appreciated, and which could have done with some more fleshing out of its world and systems, another shot at the market. So what are DICE doing to ensure that Mirror’s Edge sticks the landing this time?
A lot, as it turns out. One thing that they are really focusing on this time around is the game’s movement system, which was criticized in the original game.
“We’ve rebuilt the movement system from the ground up,” said Erik Odeldahl, design director on Catalyst to Prankster 101. “Our intention, and we’re delivering on, is to make a system that is way more responsive than any other game out there. It’s something that we’ve continuously worked on. We want the game to be as responsive, smooth, and as unrestrictive as possible. If it looks like you should be able to jump or go somewhere, get out of a move, you should be able to. It’s been a core philosophy for us to have it be as responsive and as smooth as possible. It’s the core of our game. If the movement doesn’t work then nothing else really matters.”
He also discussed how the team has learnt from the first game. “We played the first game to death and there were a lot of really good things about it. We got lots of feedback on the first game about people wanting to explore. People wanted to be able to choose more freely on where to go and what to do. That’s one of the core philosophies for Mirror’s Edge Catalyst where there’s not just one path to a location. There are multiple paths. You can choose when to do it. Also working on the movement system to make it more responsive. And finally, to have a richer story with more texture and with more life in it. I think those are the things.”
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst looks amazing, and it sounds like the team will really be using all the lessons they learned from the original game to develop a far better and more compelling product this time around. I can’t wait for it, personally. It launches on May 21 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
