What Mirror's Edge Catalyst Should Have Learned From Burnout Paradise | Game Maker's Toolkit

Very informative analysis. Thank you. Open worlds are so fun to play, but I always find them intimidating from a development standpoint. So hard to make it work right.

I really like your newest videos, they have a good vibe coming off of them. Seems like you are enjoying yourself making them - keep it up!

Never finished Mirrors Edge (I dropped off at the guards with guns and you need to shoot them part)... and not really thrilled by the sequel - so I haven't played it. I do enjoy the comparison with an unrelated game (at first sight), Burnout Paradise. That game really had something... it kept you entertained and it never seemed like collectables, bashing through the yellow gates :)

Oskar van Velden

I played a lot during the beta, and absolutely loved it. The platforming controls are so much tighter and dynamic and I can just run around in the world, which is all I ever wanted from Mirror's Edge. I enjoyed turning off runners vision and getting to a vantage point to find a route, but was continually frustrated by the bridges between chunks of buildings. Plus there weren't any events that let you get to a vantage point to look at the start and end of a run, so that style of play certainly wasn't supported. There's definitely something to be said about hand-holding as an option to help players having trouble, as compared to a replacement for actual game design.

Vivian of Ultimate Evil

Does 'classic' mean you still see game objects in red, but not that horrible floating red snake?

Gordon Freischlad

If the only people that are unhappy about the removal of guns are the ones that didn't use them in the first place, then it should be fine right? The combat in catalyst puts the emphasis back on staying mobile, on running. Which seems more in tune with the general aesthetic of being a freerunner IMO.

I never used runner's vision in the first Mirror's Edge. This wasn't anticipated by the developers - so sometimes it led to ridiculous situations (not noticing white ladders positioned in front of white walls) but overall, you don't need the runner's vision if you were really good at the first Tomb Raider games. The open world needs more simulation and more life IMO. There are many ways to handle a "world". Is it a hub? Is it an oppressive place where little people live? Little Big Adventure comes to mind. In any case, I don't buy the explanation suggested in this video. The problem with a sequel losing its charm lies somewhere else. For example, I disagree with the removal of guns. In the first Mirror's Edge, I always disarmed the guards and ditched the guns, never firing a gun. I liked that I could do this with real style and finesse and deliberately choose to NOT use a gun that was still available. (It's possible, even on the hardest difficulty, to finish the game this way, especially if you're good at headlocks or kicking balls). Now, I'm robbed of this choice. People who are happy about the removal of guns are the same people who couldn't stop using them unless they are taken away. Very hypocritical. Now we have this extremely unconvincing, unrealistic and clumsy (unless it's in a state of "flow") combat.

Vesselin Jilov

I certainly agree with most of it, except that turning of the runner's vision makes navigation to hard. I set it to classic the moment I booted up the game, and I had no more trouble navigating than most games. I also feel it made me learn the layout of the map quite quickly, and I feel like the bridges between sections served as a similar hub for routes as the finish lines in Burnout Paradise did. But I always try to do every side mission, so that certainly helps in me learning the layout.