Judith on 18/4/2016 at 13:48

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I kinda wish they did something about runner vision, and definitely not what we've seen in these videos. In the first game, I thought it was a failure in design: they didn't come up with more systemic and recognizable setpieces, so they used the red color. It's beyond me why they decided to "improve" on the original idea, instead of thinking about something different and better. Maybe they're planning to market the game towards people who aren't even remotely interested in that kind of gameplay, so they can feel smart and enjoy the momentum of running, without thinking on their feet and devising strategies, just following the pre-determined paths.

henke on 22/4/2016 at 09:18

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The release has been (https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/04/22/mirrors-edge-catalyst-delay-2/#more-361899) pushed back to June 7/9 (US/EUR). The closed beta starts today for Frontrunners, whatever that is, and tomorrow for other regular, ol', lucky sonsabitches. I don't know if I'm a lucky sonsabitch yet but I'll find out tomorrow!

[video=youtube;dm0H-v3P0Zw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0H-v3P0Zw[/video]

Here's a new video which shows that there's some kind of a grapplinghook thingy in this. I am now 3% more excited than I already was. There's also races and geocaching and Dark Soulsian Player Ghosts. And that stuff is ok I guess.

Fafhrd on 23/4/2016 at 22:32

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The beta hasn't worked at all for me. Crashes on load. I thought it was my old ass video card, so went out and bought a new one (went from Radeon 6950 to R9 380x), still no dice. And I'm not the only person with this problem. Multiple threads in the Beta feedback forums about it, with no response from DICE.

Fafhrd on 24/4/2016 at 01:34

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The common thread for everyone having the problem is that we have AMD Phenom IIs and not FXs, which would be a first for that being a compatibility problem.

henke on 24/4/2016 at 16:44

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Didn't you get into the beta, Thirith?

After 2-3 hours I believe I've experienced pretty much all the beta has to offer. Only crash I get is when I quit the game. Never works right, and I have to use the task manager to shut it down. The beta contains 4 main missions, 3 side missions, and a bunch of open world missions, contained in a portion of the map. I played with 360 pad/M+KB, both worked well. Dualshock 4 didn't work, oddly enough, you'd think they'd have implemented support for that already.

Skills
You start with 11/19 movement skills, 4/20 combat skills and 1/11 gear skills unlocked. Notable movement skills you must unlock include skill roll(rolling after a jump), coil(tucking in your legs while jumping) and quickturn(which is more necessary when playing with gamepad than M+KB). Unlocks are gated by mission progress.

Runner vision
Full - what you've seen in the videos.
Classic - like ME but you can still press right thumbstick/Alt to pulsate out one of the runner-lines. Kinda like breadcrumbs in Dead Space. I kept it on this mode most of the time.
Off - honestly, until you get your bearings in the city your probably won't wanna use this, as without it you'll often have little clue which direction to head in. Also, the map unhelpfully doesn't tell you which direction you're facing in, making it extra hard to navigate without runner vision.

Movement/Combat
Movement feels great, and the combat also feels pretty good I gotta say! You can modify the kick by holding down direction buttons to kick guys left or right, which is useful for kicking them into each other or into a wall. Also, while jumping/wallrunning/sliding you can press the kick button while in range of a baddie to effortlessly dish out some hurt and then keep on running. It looks good and feels good.

Missions
Pretty good. There's one where you infiltrate a building to steal some data during the night and it feels stealthy and cool, tho it doesn't have any actual stealth gameplay. Some of the sidemissions are pretty meaty as well.

Open world missions
Deliveries - these seem to be more or less infinite, they're time trials basically, they're good fun.
User-made time trials - every one of these I've tried has been more annoying than fun.
Security Hubs - these are my favourite! They have you beating up a bunch of guys guarding a hub, then blowing it up, and then running from the helicopter that comes chasing you. First you have to escape the search zone, and then stay out of the copter's view, usually by hiding under a rooftop AC unit or scaffolding while it circles above, which is tense and cool.

Looks
It looks great! Especially at night. Sadly it was only night during one of the missions. I played plenty of extra missions in the open world but it never rolled around to nighttime again. I hope we won't just get night during some missions in the full game, but rather a day/night cycle, or being able to toggle it somehow.

Overall
The beta sold me on this game. I want to spend more time in this world. The story I don't care too much about, but I definitely wanna run all around this city exploring all the rooftops, doing delivery missions and taking down security hubs. :)