Mirror’s Edge Catalyst review: Follow the red line, or else

She's got legs... she knows how to use them (to land on a nearby rooftop after swinging down a zipline)

The first Mirror's Edge solved a seemingly unsolvable problem in gaming: effortless first-person running and jumping. Usually, in 2D or 3D, a good third-person camera is needed to let the player see around corners, above and below ledges, past gaps, and even behind and to the side of the character in a way that allows for smooth planning of jumps and moves two or three steps ahead of time. In first person, by contrast, you often can’t see where you need to be until you’re already up in the air, getting ready to hopefully land somewhere safe.

Mirror’s Edge figured out this problem with a clever system of environmental cues that gave back some of the preternatural knowledge taken away by the perspective. Objects highlighted in bright red against the game’s stark white backgrounds showed you precisely where you should plan to jump, grab, or slide safely without having to worry about what you can’t see beyond the horizon. Combined with a set of fast, smooth parkour moves, protagonist Faith felt like an unstoppable super-powered force, cutting swiftly and precisely through dangerous environments mere mortals couldn’t tread.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst doubles down on this “Runner’s Vision” conceit, adding a paint-like red line that darts in front of your vision to show you exactly where to wall run, ledge grab, or spring jump. Sometimes, the game goes so far as to show an outline of a person doing the precise parkour move you need to move on. It’s subtle enough to not be annoying but clear enough to stand out among the game’s gleaming, techno-utopian environments.

At its best, Catalyst’s version of Runner’s Vision gives you that same feeling of being a superpowered badass that can’t be stopped by walls, fences, or even towering changes of elevation. Following that red line quickly becomes second nature, giving a sense of effortless flow and seeming mastery that’s rare when traversing first-person environments.

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