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My review
This bugged out while I was typing an essay on this game, so I'll keep it even shorter and more bitter.
I'm pretty disappointed with the game. Instead of putting my heart and soul into it like last time, I'll just use a very simple method:
Pros:
Combat is amazing (though perhaps a tad too easy).
General movement through the areas are awesome.
The core of the game, the running and jumping and other such movements are vastly improved and feel sharp.
Characters are pretty well defined in such a short amount of time (we'll get to this later in the cons section).
Graphics aren't nearly as good for me as they were in the preview videos (they're actually quite bad for some reason) but frankly I don't care, they're good enough for me. Though the high quality textures aren't there, the city itself and the general aesthetic is gorgeous.
Cons:
TLDR: I waited 8 years for a game that kicked aside what I loved about the original (the story, characters, and worldbuilding) and inserted an open world with nothing but borrowed side activities from other AAA titles and a multiplayer component plagued by hackers.
The open world, while not a bad idea, was implemented in such a way that it means nothing to me. It is the perfect example of how not to do an open world: no interesting random events (my whole 20 hours I had 2 of those "interrupt" events where you help a civilian who is being assaulted by KSec but ****, are they even that interesting anyways?)., no interesting side activities, no interesting or cool "secret" areas or stories that are told simply by using notes, broken down doors and blood for instance, or any of that in the game.
I do not want to run around like a headless chicken picking up collectibles. Yes, that is a good way to have people play the game, but to have every--single--collectible be around half the side activities (really, more of them) in the game, it gets to grate on my patience. Especially when the other side activities are uninspired and dull, taken straight from Assassins Creed (yes I know maybe not intentionally, but the fact is getting to the top of XYZ area is used far too often).
There is very little that could possibly have put the last 5 nails in the coffin (I say it this way because I hadn't given up on the game yet) than the ending. I do not want another game like this. I don't want a multiplayer-focused, open world game with a rushed story ( whether or not DICE didn't get enough time to work on it I don't know. What I mean here is that the story itself moves far, far too quickly to get fully invested in the characters). And finally an absolutely garbage ending that means for Faith or the rest of the runners. Are there any new things you can do in the game after the story to maybe show off the fact that Faith might give two hoots about the other characters like Birdman? Nah. There's nothing special about it, and that's something I really was let down by in this game.
Finally... Dogen? Lol what happened to this guy? Anyways...
To sum this section up, I will say two things. One, just because this is longer than the Pros section doesn't mean there's more "wrong" with these aspects than there is "right" with the pros. It simply means I wanted to explain more since a lot of what I'm saying I know is A) in the minority (not many would rightly sacrifice gameplay improvements and an open world for a fantastic story and worldbuilding and
is blunt, which might cause people to jump the gun on the "anti rant" mentality.
The last thing is similar to my TLDR for this section. I love this franchise, but it's no longer the kind of connection one would have with something they can interact with. It's really more like a break-up. Why that comparison? Because I don't want another Mirror's Edge Catalyst 2. I want Mirror's Edge 2. The original had solid gameplay, yet it had amazing worldbuilding and the characters meant something to each other , if not to the player. Again, I know many people didn't play the original for the story, but that was exactly why I did. And it's exactly why I'll play ME:C long after today, when I beat the game. Cause however much I think this was a terrible sequel (prequel), I do want to give DICE another shot at incorporating my values as well as the values already in this game.
Because I think there is room in this franchise for both sets of values.
I'm pretty disappointed with the game. Instead of putting my heart and soul into it like last time, I'll just use a very simple method:
Pros:
Combat is amazing (though perhaps a tad too easy).
General movement through the areas are awesome.
The core of the game, the running and jumping and other such movements are vastly improved and feel sharp.
Characters are pretty well defined in such a short amount of time (we'll get to this later in the cons section).
Graphics aren't nearly as good for me as they were in the preview videos (they're actually quite bad for some reason) but frankly I don't care, they're good enough for me. Though the high quality textures aren't there, the city itself and the general aesthetic is gorgeous.
Cons:
TLDR: I waited 8 years for a game that kicked aside what I loved about the original (the story, characters, and worldbuilding) and inserted an open world with nothing but borrowed side activities from other AAA titles and a multiplayer component plagued by hackers.
The open world, while not a bad idea, was implemented in such a way that it means nothing to me. It is the perfect example of how not to do an open world: no interesting random events (my whole 20 hours I had 2 of those "interrupt" events where you help a civilian who is being assaulted by KSec but ****, are they even that interesting anyways?)., no interesting side activities, no interesting or cool "secret" areas or stories that are told simply by using notes, broken down doors and blood for instance, or any of that in the game.
I do not want to run around like a headless chicken picking up collectibles. Yes, that is a good way to have people play the game, but to have every--single--collectible be around half the side activities (really, more of them) in the game, it gets to grate on my patience. Especially when the other side activities are uninspired and dull, taken straight from Assassins Creed (yes I know maybe not intentionally, but the fact is getting to the top of XYZ area is used far too often).
There is very little that could possibly have put the last 5 nails in the coffin (I say it this way because I hadn't given up on the game yet) than the ending. I do not want another game like this. I don't want a multiplayer-focused, open world game with a rushed story ( whether or not DICE didn't get enough time to work on it I don't know. What I mean here is that the story itself moves far, far too quickly to get fully invested in the characters). And finally an absolutely garbage ending that means for Faith or the rest of the runners. Are there any new things you can do in the game after the story to maybe show off the fact that Faith might give two hoots about the other characters like Birdman? Nah. There's nothing special about it, and that's something I really was let down by in this game.
Finally... Dogen? Lol what happened to this guy? Anyways...
To sum this section up, I will say two things. One, just because this is longer than the Pros section doesn't mean there's more "wrong" with these aspects than there is "right" with the pros. It simply means I wanted to explain more since a lot of what I'm saying I know is A) in the minority (not many would rightly sacrifice gameplay improvements and an open world for a fantastic story and worldbuilding and
is blunt, which might cause people to jump the gun on the "anti rant" mentality.The last thing is similar to my TLDR for this section. I love this franchise, but it's no longer the kind of connection one would have with something they can interact with. It's really more like a break-up. Why that comparison? Because I don't want another Mirror's Edge Catalyst 2. I want Mirror's Edge 2. The original had solid gameplay, yet it had amazing worldbuilding and the characters meant something to each other , if not to the player. Again, I know many people didn't play the original for the story, but that was exactly why I did. And it's exactly why I'll play ME:C long after today, when I beat the game. Cause however much I think this was a terrible sequel (prequel), I do want to give DICE another shot at incorporating my values as well as the values already in this game.
Because I think there is room in this franchise for both sets of values.
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Comments
In your point about the original story being completely gone, very early after this game, MEC was announced it was confirmed to be a reboot so the story was confirmed to be wiped. In your second point you mention the open world, while at times it is a bit empty, I think the DEV's were more concerned with you feeling like a runner navigating a city, as you keep playing in it you will begin to see new way's to traverse it which was very rewarding. It kinda goes into line with ME original in faith's opening speech about roof's becoming pathways and something (I don't remember it totally but it was a great speech
If you keep playing you'll find there are area's you might have never even known existed. Also " broken down doors and blood"? I don't remember alot of that in the first game personally... there was one but mostly players who enjoy collecting would bother to find it...
And while the ending was a bit rushed it was still very good for an origin story and it did leave some things open so that the door is open for a sequel .
While I disagree with you, I do see your point's. There are many directions the reboot could have taken and the DEV's did what they felt was best for the game. There are many people who liked the old non-open world linear gameplay, and many people who loved the gun gameplay(well not that many
I sill liked the story. But I liked it more how it complemented the reason for Faith's running than actually being a brilliant story in of itself. To me ME:C has a better overall story and better characters than that first game. Icarus and Plastic alone I'm going to easily remember over anyone in the first game. Then there's Birdman. Noah is as good as her handler as the guy in the first game.
As for your issues with the open world, maybe they could add in things like a "scavenger hunt" event or something. But there's so much in the is open world I keep finding new things every day. I still haven't explored half the map. There are a lot of cool places to find and use in your routes. It is their first shot at open world after all, and I think its a great one. I find though its a lot better to play in after the story is over than most open world games I've played, including the Infamous titles.
Having the old game's story scrapped makes far, far more sense now (though it doesn't excuse the lack of explanation for me). Anyways, I know there's a lot to do in the game itself, but that wasn't really what I was disappointed by, it was that all the content wasn't what it could've been. It was generic, through and through, and so was the worldbuilding. When I said having a broken door with blood spatters, I didn't mean I actually wanted that in the game, I wanted something like that in order to show what it's like to live in the world. Listening to a random employer for less than 5 minutes about a random guy that she used to like... is just again... generic. I don't care about this person at all, and the only time I ever felt anything for anyone in this game's story was when Noah died.
I think overall there were better characters here than in the first game as well, but I don't think they had nearly as much say in the story itself as the first game. Case in point ArchAngel_777: you say that the blonde girl is not interesting because she leaves and joins the enemy side at a certain point in the game, yet in this game, nothing like that happens. I saw the Isabel-->your sister "twist" coming from awhile away, it wasn't really built up to... it was more like they built up a ladder for the player to climb. It was just too obvious, too easy to find it out.
People and characters from the old game at least did things in the world. They fought you (blonde girl), they filled you in on parts of the world as well from time to time, so it was at least two birds with one stone: talk to someone important, while also learning about Glass or the Conglomerate.
Lastly on the story I"ll just say this:
The story in and of itself is so uninspired. How many times have I gone through **** to save the world from enslavement from the government in video games? A lot of times, enough times to feel like it's boring. The old game at least had realistic goals for Faith: save your sister, and then move on to the next big thing if you survive. This game had none of the "Living on the Mirror's Edge" that the old game had built into the story.
Basically my argument boils down to: yes, the old game had serious flaws, and this game actually has less flaws I'd say-- but the flaws that this game has are so massive in comparison to how well the first game did it's hard not to say it just didn't live up to the old game.
I want improvement everywhere, not just in certain aspects of this franchise. That's what it boils down to.
Also, the blonde girl in the first game was uninteresting to me before she turned on them. I wasn't intending to imply that was the reason I didn't like her.
Hopefully they do another game to improve in areas and build on this one.
When employees talk during deliveries, they share the lore of the game with you.
DICE can't story in general so didn't expect the story to be above average. And it's not like we are here for the story anyway. You can not deny that devs have nailed what is really important - movement mechanics and the environment for them.
Can't see how the flaws are 'massive' but that is, as usual, one's opinion.
You are satisfied with having the lore of the world spoken to you by a nobody? Well, guess your last sentence really is true then. :P
And that's what the entire thread is about to be honest. It's about how they nailed what is important-- but everything else was a colossal disappointment. And sadly, I was happy with relatively ok quality in the gameplay department and extra effort put somewhere else.
I will never, however, get over the fact that they put so much emphasis on multiplayer especially when it's completely broken, again, hackers.
Honestly, I thought throughout my time with the game so far that multiplayer took a backseat to storyline and character development. Maybe I just enjoy all the content this game has to offer because I love the Ubisoft collectathons I pay sixty dollars for multiple times a year.