Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - First Impressions

Confession: I didn't play the original game and I picked up Catalyst because it honestly looked cool and I've been wanting to try out some other first person games. I haven't gotten very far in the game, but what I've played has been pretty enjoyable. Of course this doesn't come without critique.

So far I have only played Catalyst while streaming, mostly just for friends, but there were a few strangers who popped in for a bit as well. This adds to the commentary and really flushes out the games flaws. Cause chat keeps asking questions like "but why???"

Spoilers (if you haven't played and don't want to know anything).

Anyway, the game began, we had just got out of prison, which was pretty dope. Then we immediately break out of the walk way leading out of the prison, which was hilarious. We broke out as we were being freed. (I tried to punch a guard at the time), and I like to think that is why we had to book it out of there, but of course we would have had to regardless. So kinda a silly start.

Then we were accompanied by this Icarus kid, who is stupid annoying. WORST PART OF THE GAME. And from there we go around on missions and do some sick parkour while punching bad guys. What more could you want? Right? At first it kinda has a similar layout to Assassins Creed but the games are still far too different to make any good comparisons. So I would only say its like AC because of how you get to choose what missions/destinations to do via a map. Not unlike FarCry: Primal.

After playing a bit more today (my chat and I) realized that everything seems to be either red, yellow, or white, which lends to less impressive cityscape but maybe its significant so who knows. Also there are a lot of cut scenes, some of which are pretty neat. I didn't really have any issues with the cutscenes, but the dialogue leaves something to be desired. Maybe this is just a gaming thing in general. But there are very few games that do dialogue well. Its really hard to take a games seriously when the dialogue is either really over dramatic or underwhelming. They can't seem to find a good balance and the moodiness "we are all doomed" attitude which prevails constantly in these characters just becomes ridiculous to the player because the tension is never released.

So these are my initial thoughts on this game. Overall, its really fun to play cause you feel like a badass, but it is by no means perfect.

~Ducky

Race The Sun: Game Review

Before I get into it, I just wanted to let you all know that I put a follow button on the left side there. I'd love it if you would drop a follow so that we can keep in touch! Thanks!

I bought this game several weeks ago as I was looking for a game that my wife and I could easily play as well as entertain younger audiences. It has a certain arcade feel which is reminiscent of other dodge car games. Except there are no lanes, you are a drone, and the world is grey and infinite. Okay, that might be a bit of an over simplification. There is a certain thrill and excitement about the game that I haven't found in other games of similar genres.

So the basic premise of the game is that you are a drone, and you have areas that you have to clear, each area is riddled with an array of different obstacles of various shapes and sizes. Some obstacles move and some do not. The drone is solar powered and if the sun goes down then your battery dies. Hence 'Race the Sun'. There are boosts that essentially give you more daylight by speeding the drone up, making it more difficult not to crash, but giving you more battery. The further you get the harder the obstacles are.

I think what blew my mind was the fact that the world is virtually infinite. Sure its kinda grey, but it doesn't end, which is pretty cool. They also randomize it everyday so that there is no identical levels. Yes, there are elements in one world which is the same as the other, but its never in the same place or in the same order. So you can't memorize the track. This gives the game much more replay value, and allows for the average player to have a shot at the daily leaderboard. I made it onto the global leader board during one of my first sessions which was pretty cool and very satisfying.

This is a game that is very simple and has essentially no learning curve. Its fun and thrilling and you always gasp a little before you crash. The only thing that I'm not a huge fan of is the fact that its not a very pretty game; everything is grey and white. Now this game is on PS3 as well, and if there was more attention to detail it would probably be a strain on the system because of how big the world you fly though is. It's also not the point, the game isn't trying to be some artistic giant, it allows the player to experience the simplicity of world which in turn emphasizes the action of flying through many many many obstacles.

~Ducky