Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - performance testing. Things are good. Beta impressions Mirror's Edge: Catalyst mirrors edge closed beta

We played the beta version of either a prequel or a reboot of Mirror's Edge, and we can't figure out if DICE was able to build a truly worthy game around the interesting mechanics.

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Despite the fact that the first part was generally warmly received by players and critics, it did not become a commercial success. The reasons are clear: the first was more like a five-hour test of cool mechanics, to which they forgot to tie, in fact, the game. But they did not forget to call Rihanna Pratchett, with the help of which they drew such a plot around the parkour girl that listening to the dialogues at some moments the player felt an unbearable desire to rip his face off. And now, after almost eight years, we are again invited to the roofs of the City of Mirrors - so far only for an hour.

And I must tell you that they lie to us right from the start. This is not Beta. This is Pre-Alfa. I understand everything - the game is still in development, the testing department specialists are working hard, but technical problems on the first day of the beta test on PS4 were just unbearable. Failed under the texture - okay, it happens. A script that did not work the first time - okay, I will survive. But it's terribly annoying when, having overcome all these technical jambs, five times returning all the settings sliders to their place (because all the sliders in the settings were shifted to the extreme left position every time I exited the menu or tried to take a screenshot), you find yourself at the closed door to the story room without the ability to interact with this door. At this point, I burned more than after the death of the high-level hero c.

But now I have shared my pain with you and updated the game. Now everything is fine, and we can look at, getting rid of this prism of resentment and pain.

And when we look at it closely, we see the same one. Beta begins with the heroine getting out of prison and through a veil of rain we are shown the good old City of Mirrors. But before you have time to blink an eye, the plot again steps into the foul-smelling waste product, forcing only the freed Faith to break the law right outside the prison door. And then almost die. And then disobey the order and almost die again, at the same time substituting his entire organization. And again disobey the order. Seriously, how good a courier does she have to be so that she still doesn't get shot by her accomplices? Characters and dialogues to match the plot: we have a stereotypical dude who is stuck in development at the age of about sixteen and rushes at everyone in a row because of some of his complexes, dude daddy, ready to sacrifice his entire organization for a tattooed girl, the sage dude who sits on the roof and feeds the pigeons instead of doing business, and the fan dude who looked after Faith's clothes for two years and tossed her small errands. I have a feeling that I am watching a TV series for teenage girls.

And so we spent half of the article discussing the cons of the game. But do not be upset, because now we are moving on to positive impressions.

The movement in the game has remained at an amazing level, and the controls have improved slightly. It's completely incomprehensible why, but I have great pleasure in moving to. The first person view can be a problem at first, but don't be too lazy to get into the settings and change the Field of View indicator so that it becomes more comfortable to play. An alternative control scheme is also worth trying. Once a comfortable combination is found, you simply dissolve in movement. Considering that the game produces fair 60 frames per second 95% of the playing time (not taking into account the cutscenes, in which there are no more than 30 FPS), the picture while running completely captures the eye and makes you want to put on glasses virtual reality... To feel it even more strongly, I got off the couch and sat in front of the TV, almost resting my face on it. And the more pleasant it is to run through the city at full speed, the sadder the forced stops. Therefore, I do not turn off Runner's Vision - a system of assistance in finding a way. You can always get from point A to point B here different ways, but wasting time looking for them means standing still, which is absolutely impossible in such a game.

To make it more interesting to run around the open city, players are offered new system pumping. Over time, Faith learns new tricks, fighting techniques and collects useful upgrades for his equipment, which serve in a variety of ways: for example, General Map the world is one such upgrade. To earn experience points for all this, you need to complete small errands and collect items scattered around the map. Somewhere we cut down the radio tower, somewhere we steal a chip from the guard. Do not say that this is the most The best way motivate the player to explore the world, but this is one of the opportunities to gain experience points and subsequently, for example, learn how to do a somersault when falling from a great height, so as not to lose speed. The system looks quite logical, given that Faith long time spent in prison and forgot the receptions of couriers.

Before the official release Mirror "s Edge: Catalyst, which will take place this summer, there is not much time left. However, the most impatient will be able to try out the game even before the official release.

As it became known to the site, the developers invite everyone to beta testing. Company Electronic arts published new trailer to the game, which announced the registration for tests open.

Users of new generation consoles and PCs will be admitted to testing. Those wishing to participate will also need an Origin account. You can leave a request for participation on the official website of the game, simply by indicating your email address.

On this moment Electronic Arts representatives did not provide details of all available gaming features during testing. But, according to rumors, the creators of the game want to focus on the multiplayer component.

The implementation of multiplayer in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is not like traditional competitive or co-op multiplayer modes. During the game, the actions of one player can affect the game world of another. Faith will be able to hack billboards, after which he will appear in the game world of other gamers. will not see the players themselves, but the trail they have passed.

Electronic Arts has begun accepting applications for the closed beta testing of the parkour action game Mirror's Edge Catalyst from the DICE studio. At the same time, the publisher has published a trailer "My name is Faith" (I Am Faith), dedicated to the story campaign of the game.

“We really wanted to show you the new material from Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, and now the time has come,- says the description of the video. - This trailer will take you on an amazing journey with Faith, who will go from a reckless thrill seeker to a real heroine. You will also find out what the role of the Runner has in store for you: a unique freerunning and battles in the stunning and dangerous City of Glass. "

The carefree life of Faith Connors, a courier from the secret Runner faction, ends when she crosses the path of the head of the powerful corporation, Gabriel Kruger. Together with her assistants, she begins a struggle to free the city from the shackles of totalitarianism, in which she will play the role of a "catalyst".

You can register for the upcoming beta testing on the game's official website. To apply, you need Account EA Network (you can create it at this link). Testing will take place on PC (Origin), PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Other details of the test, including the timing of the test, are still unknown. Most likely, it will take place one and a half to two months before the release of the game, that is, in March or April.

Electronic Arts does not guarantee eligibility for all registered users. What criteria will be used to select candidates is not specified. The company promises "early access to exclusive content and in-game rewards" for signing up to the newsletter.

The Mirror's Edge Catalyst was officially unveiled at E3 2013 after years of rumors. The second game will tell Faith's backstory and will offer many innovations: free movement in an open world without loading screens, side missions, challenges and puzzles, a redesigned combat system based on accurate movement calculation and the use of inertia, as well as an asynchronous multiplayer mode with a leaderboard. There will be no weapons in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst - the developers recognized this component of the original game as superfluous.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be released in North America on May 24, with its European premiere two days later. The game was originally planned to be released in February, but in the fall the publisher announced the postponement of the release. Electronic Arts began accepting pre-orders back in June. For early purchase, users will be presented with two DLCs - "Combat" (Combat Runner Kit) and "Speed" (Speed ​​Runner Kit). In addition to the standard one, a collector's edition for $ 200 is available for purchase, including the Faith statuette.

Time is money, so the bull is by the horns. Here's information for those in a hurry: judging by the beta, everyone has Mirror's Edge: Catalyst OK. You can run.

But if you have a minute, please be late. A little less than a year ago, I wrote "", a story about what was great for the soul in the last part and must be in Catalyst. Let's go through that list and see how it turned out in practice. It is, of course, difficult to judge the whole game by the beta version, but it is possible.

A sense of freedom

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is a game primarily about freedom. All its components, as in the original, work on the feeling of flight: when there are no frames, only you and constant movement. In the first Mirror's Edge there was no open world at all, but the levels could be passed in different ways.

This nonlinearity was especially acute in speed races with the ghosts of friends: in order to overtake the shadow of a friend, it was necessary to act very accurately - every step was counted. Even in the simplest locations, we found new routes: here you can run from the wall and jump (this is faster than up the stairs), and here you can just fall and sacrifice a bit of speed, because it will save half a second.

More than anything else, I feared that Catalyst developers would not be able to think about the open world as carefully. But after all it comes about every second! But what we saw in the beta version is beyond praise. Yes, at first, in search of optimal routes, you constantly get confused and fall, but soon you already begin to literally feel the city, see it like Neo - the Matrix, without any "vision" of the running (and if anything, you can easily activate this "vision" without wasting time ). There are a lot of paths from the conditional point A to point B, and on each of these paths, somewhere you can cut, and somewhere - save time.

I recorded this video from the sixth time. And even then I'm not sure that I found the shortest way. Surely there is somewhere to cut, so as not to waste time on the stairs and pull-ups.

The local open world has a huge advantage over the rest: it doesn't need to entertain you. Moving around the city is entertainment in itself, and you are unlikely to ever get bored of it.

Of course, there are additional quests: deliver the package as soon as possible, run the route faster than anyone, and all that jazz. And if somewhere in Assassin's Creed Such things got tired very quickly, but here, when you are challenged every second, side tasks become the most important tool for self-improvement.

Sharpness of movements

Most Important Things to Know About Catalyst: It Feels exactly the same like the first part. This, of course, is a compliment, because Mirror's Edge was and remains the most technical and accurate parkour simulator, where you can not reach the ledge, just without taking one necessary step before jumping.

All of this is just one big training ground for honing your skills.

However, the big game - more possibilities! Faith is much more cunning here than in the first part. There are not many new moves, but they are all very useful. Especially when it comes to the obstacle course represented by the KrugerSec employees. Fighting is almost always the worst case scenario. Besides, judging by the beta, they are not very well made in Catalyst.

It is preferable to run along the wall, kick the master with a club in the face and jerk further without wasting time. Or jump onto the enemy from above. Or, in the tackle, kick the bells with your foot. Or to hit him so that he bumped into his colleague and together they fell off the cliff. Or ... God, there are just a bunch of options!

Opponents, depending on their skills, are divided into classes. Each, as usual, has its own approach.

In the process, Faith earns experience, which is spent on new movements and other possibilities. At first glance, the innovation is controversial (it would be much better if the player improved his personal skills, not Faith's skills), but it seems that in an open-world game there is nowhere without it. Moreover, one does not interfere with the other.

Perfect cleanliness

In appearance, the City of Mirrors differs from the city from the first part quite strongly. There are almost no standard skyscrapers here - all architectural perversions that turn city panoramas into a heap of colorful cubes, pyramids and parallelepipeds. However, the local architecture cannot be called tasteless - the edges have become even sharper. The City of Mirrors seems to cut the sky into rags with its sharp corners.

Passion for gigantism is a dangerous thing. Whole civilizations are bent over from this.

But it's still clean here. It is difficult to say how much the Conglomerate spends on cleaning and who generally cleans the roofs, but running on them is simply an aesthetic pleasure. In beta, we also managed to visit the Conglomerate laboratories. The interiors, like the exteriors, are perfect. Pure colors, sharp edges, thin fonts, glass surfaces, slippery floors (no one slips, so it's okay). Catalyst artists are adept at capturing fashion trends in architecture and design and using on full reel... This is what a dystopia should look like. There must be at least something good from total surveillance and lack of freedom in society? Let the city be stylish and clean at least.

The draw range in the beta version is, however, confusing. At least on the PlayStation 4, it doesn't shine. It is unlikely that you will notice the blurry textures of the windows in that building in the distance when you run, however, the beauty of the screenshots is noticeably spoiled.

Everything would be fine, but here's the texture of that building ...

Intoxicating sense of speed

As in the first part, in Catalyst it is important to move without stopping, catching the flow. Actually, this stream is now displayed as a bar at the bottom. It is better to avoid stairs, pipes and pull-ups on all kinds of scaffolding and cornices when moving - they significantly slow down Faith, as well as unsuccessful falls from a low height. For the same reason, it is better not to get involved in fights.

The game didn't get any easier. You will still fall a lot and often. But whoever did not fall did not get up, right?

The same escape from the laboratories in beta is furnished in the best traditions of the most spectacular action films: bullets whistle, music is enriched with new patterns, Faith in slo-mo smashes glass and beats up Kruger's guards, slides on the glass floor, runs up the wall and flies out the window - to freedom.

From the looks of it, staged scenes are not uncommon in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, which is perhaps a good thing. But you and I know that the game does not need any formulation. The player is his own director, and any race here, even the usual delivery of a parcel, can become the most beautiful sight in the world. It all depends on your personal talent, the runner, and only on him.

Afraid of heights? In vain. In Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, height is a good friend of yours.

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Everything about Mirror's Edge: Catalyst seems to be good. DICE took what we loved the first part for, plunged it into a thoughtful and detailed open world and added a storyline. Lots of plot. Social opportunities will also appear to make it more interesting for you to compete with your friends. Well, the same genius is engaged in the musical accompaniment Solar fields whose music only emphasizes the feeling of boundless freedom and free flight.

Dreams do come true, huh? The game comes out in early June. It looks like the summer will be hot.