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Hi. I'm Mark and this is Game Maker's Toolkit

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Mirror's Edge is one of those games that was[br]crying out for a sequel. One that would polish

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up the first-person platforming, rethink the[br]story, get rid of the guns, and just add a

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bunch more stuff.

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And, hey, we got it! Mirror's Edge Catalyst[br]is a sequel - or a prequel or a reboot or

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whatever - and the controls are more responsive,[br]the cutscenes don't look like they were made

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in Flash, the guns are gone, and there's way[br]more content.

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But, if the reviews are anything to by, it[br]didn't quite work out. And I think the culprit

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might be one contentious change to the franchise:[br]the introduction of an open world.

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The original Mirror's Edge presented most[br]of its levels like an obstacle course. There

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was a linear route through the world and you[br]had to build up, and then maintain momentum,

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by stringing together parkour movements over[br]a series of springboards, fences, and zip

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lines.

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You'd often see your route in front of you[br]- highlighted in the bright red of Runner's

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Vision. But the challenge was to pinpoint[br]that path while at top speed, to look for other

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routes that could be quicker, and to actually[br]pull off the moves - the jumps, tucks, rolls,

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wall runs, and quick turns - with precision.

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And at other times, the game slowed down. Here,[br]Mirror's Edge turned into a platforming puzzler

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where you tried to find a path up a tall tower,[br]using a maze of platforms and obstacles.

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As for Mirror's Edge Catalyst. No, actually,[br]all that is true of Catalyst, as well. Because

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almost every story mission, and some of the[br]side missions, take place outside the realms

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of the open world - in locations that are[br]linear and intricately designed to be run

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through once and in one direction only.

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Those missions take place in skyscrapers,[br]office buildings, underground facilities,

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and giant server hubs you can't access while[br]free roaming. Which means the open world is

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relegated to other roles.

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So it's a way to get from mission to mission,[br]and a place to practice parkour. It's filled

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with collectibles if you're into that sort[br]of thing, and it also houses a number of side

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missions. And so maybe these non-essential[br]quests could actually take advantage of the

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sandbox City of Glass?

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If we want to understand how an open world[br]can lead to gameplay that really takes advantage

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of having a large space to play in, there[br]are plenty of games we can look at.

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Games that give the player a huge breadth[br]of options in how they approach a mission,

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or give them a feeling of mastery by repeatedly[br]exploring the same locations. But considering

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the speed of Mirror's Edge, perhaps the best[br]place to look would be a game like Burnout

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Paradise.

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Here's a super speedy franchise that successfully[br]transitioned from linear tracks to an open

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world. And I think that's because every event[br]takes advantage of the game being set in a

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sandbox city.

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Races and marked man challenges send you from[br]one side of the map to the other, and there

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are no limits on the route you can take. Road[br]rage and stunt run events let you take

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down cars and rack up combo points in any[br]way you wish and you don't have to worry about

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hitting dead ends because the city spills[br]out in every direction.

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Because you're constantly racing over the[br]same roads again and again, and all of

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Burnout Paradise takes place inside the city,[br]you quickly start to learn routes and shortcuts,

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and know where to top-up your boost or cut[br]a few corners.

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Plus, every race ends at one of eight finish[br]lines on the map, so you'll soon become very

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familiar with the roads and shortcuts leading[br]to those end points.

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Mirror's Edge Catalyst doesn't really work[br]like that.

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Side missions like dashes, fragile deliveries,[br]covert deliveries, and dead drops are all

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point to point runs, but to arbitrary spots[br]and on short, predetermined routes. And while there

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are often shortcuts that will give you a better[br]time, they're usually just off to the

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side of that main route.

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That makes it feel like the open world has[br]been carved up into tiny chunks and at that

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point you might as well just put them all[br]in a menu and call it Mirror's Edge.

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Because they ultimately feel no less linear[br]than the races in the first game, which saw

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small sections of the main story levels turned[br]into speed runs. As well as bonus, pure platforming

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challenges set in bizarre abstract worlds.

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Side Note: because Mirror's Edge didn't need[br]to reload an entire chunk of an open world

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every time you fluffed a jump, it didn't have[br]to have annoying loading screens during races.

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Anyway. What you'll find is that the shortcuts[br]in Catalyst's side missions are found much

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like they were in the original Mirror's Edge:[br]through repeated playthroughs of that specific

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event, rather than from your overall knowledge[br]of the City of Glass.

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Which will be, I'm willing to bet, very limited.[br]And that's for a few reasons.

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One is that because the main missions don't[br]take place in the open world, you just don't

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spend enough time there to learn the layout.[br]Two is that the city has few familiar landmarks

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to help you navigate.

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And third, which is the most important, is[br]that the game is almost impossible to play

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without obsessively and blindly following[br]this wispy red trail. Check out this video

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for more on how following little dotted lines[br]harms your ability to engage with a game's

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world.

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You can tone down Runner's Vision or turn[br]it off entirely but the confusing design of

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the city almost makes it a necessity.

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Strangely for an open world, the City of Glass[br]constantly funnels you into linear corridors,

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where you're trapped between towers too tall[br]to scale, or buildings too low to land on,

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or enormous gaps between rooftops.

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This is good for giving you that classic Mirror's[br]Edge feeling of flowing through an obstacle

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course but it's horrible for navigation. Especially[br]between these big clusters of buildings that

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have just a few ways to get between them.

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So your floating waypoint thingy might be[br]right in front of you, but the only way to

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get to it is to take a huge detour around[br]here.

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This is likely a technical issue, to do with[br]loading the different chunks of the open world

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into memory. But while gamers can put up with[br]some hidden loading screens, it's harder to

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stomach when it starts to really impact the[br]way you navigate the world.

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What all this means is that Mirror's Edge[br]Catalyst can't really provide missions like

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Burnout Paradise. Or, perhaps, Crazy Taxi.[br]In that game you had a vague arrow pointing

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towards your destination and to make it under[br]par time you needed both good driving skills

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and some knowledge of how the city was laid[br]out.

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This could have been a fun mission type in[br]Mirror's Edge where you would pick up and

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deliver packages from one side of the the[br]open world to the other. It would provide

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a new type of gameplay to compliment the linear[br]levels of the campaign - and test you on both

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navigation of the city and your ability to[br]maintain momentum.

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But I don't think it would work in the maze-like[br]and fractured City of Glass, because you'd

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spend the entire time simply following that[br]wispy red line, or just falling to your death.

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One thing that does work well is the way that[br]players can make their own time trials, using

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any route through the City of Glass. That[br]wouldn't really work in a linear game, like

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the first Mirror's Edge, where all the best[br]bits have already been turned into races.

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But would it be naughty to say that Burnout[br]Paradise did it better by just putting leaderboards

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on every road so you're passively competing[br]with other players and it makes you always

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want to race fast, take risks, and become[br]a better driver?

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Or how the collectibles in Burnout were only[br]ever about smashing through gates and billboards

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as you drive and not stopping dead in your[br]tracks to open up a fuse box. And how mission

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givers don't just stand around like zombies[br]but rocket past you and goad you into giving chase?

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But, back to Catalyst. There is one more mission[br]type that actually does take advantage of

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the open world. These security hub side quests[br]see you beating up a bunch of guards, smashing

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up a tower, and then running away from a helicopter.

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Now, like the stunt run events in Burnout,[br]you can just run in any direction, sprinting

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this way or that and taking any route you[br]can to maintain enough momentum to outrun

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the chopper. There is no predetermined[br]path and no specific direction, and any small

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understanding you have of the City of Glass[br]will help you avoid dead ends and drops.

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But, sadly, the best way to finish those missions[br]is to just follow the red line which automatically

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routes you to the nearest safe house, where[br]the chase is immediately called off.

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So close!

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Stuff like this shows that a Mirror's Edge[br]game could utilise an open world. The mechanics

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are not incompatible with free roaming and,[br]in fact, an open play space could lead to

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another style of mission to play. To compliment the[br]linear and puzzle-like missions.

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But many unfortunate choices - like the weird[br]layout, the reliance on Runner's Vision, the

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short-sighted side quests, and the main missions[br]being off in their own locations - all mean

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that this open world just doesn't quite work.

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In an interview, design director Erik Odeldahl[br]said "I'm 100 percent sure that other teams

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within DICE, and other EA studios will learn[br]and look at what we've done and probably use

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it in some way, especially when it comes to[br]these big, big worlds".

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Which should worry me. But seeing as how EA[br]seem to have completely forgotten all the

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clever stuff they achieved in one of the best[br]open world games they ever made, I don't think

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their memory is all that great.

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Thanks for watching! Lemme know your thoughts[br]on Mirror's Edge in the comments below. I

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actually do like the game quite a bit, even[br]if the open world was fumbled.

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Also, a quick note to say thanks for all the[br]kind words on Boss Keys, which is my spin-off

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show about dungeon design in Zelda. I wasn't[br]sure how that would be received, so I'm relieved

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that you like it. Link's Awakening is up next,[br]as requested!

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Finally, Game Maker's Toolkit is made possible[br]by everyone who donates on Patreon, but a

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special shout out to these top-tier supporters.