After writing the previous review on Mirror's Edge I finally got the nerve to finish Catalyst after all this time. Started over from a fresh new save and wow I have some FEELINGS about this one.

Like I said in the last review, Mirror's Edge means the world to me. While flawed and with questionable design decisions (because what really is perfect art ya know?) it sits within a very particular place of my memory and my life itself. It's the type of game that feels like a once in a while experience that comes out of nowhere for me like a Gravity Rush or a Sayonara Wild Hearts or something. To me there isn't really anything that hits like Mirror's Edge does for me in the hyper specific way it does.

I didn't play Catalyst when it first released. I was in college and had no money for video games or even systems and I DEFINITELY didn't have anything with me that could run it. I was too busy doing sick ass longplays of Nier Gestalt because I was deep in my Longplay Era and justified it as a way that I was "justifying" my time with games in between classes at the time. Everything had to be for "content" which looking back jesus christ I was bitter and cynical and just not engaging with things in healthy ways at all. Looking for excuses to just engage with things at all instead of just like engaging it for the sake of itself. Like yeah, I write shit for here and for videos these days but I also just like do things for me too more than just some lackluster excuse to churn out "content" through the mill? I feel like if anything these writings are ways I engage with things and I'm doing this for purely selfish me reasons these days which I just feel better about doing for myself. Sorry, completely unrelated tangent lol.

Anyway, I now have the means and ability to play Catalyst and just wanted to finally after all this time. So how was it?

Catalyst is like watching your favorite underground up and coming band who got by on scrappy charm and unique sound water down their sound and identity for "mass appeal". Yeah that's a bit of reductive and slightly up my own ass way of looking at how and why artists will try to do things in order to reach more of a broad audience of sorts, and it's not like DICE is some indie darling studio or anything like that. Mirror's Edge isn't a Cave Story. Hell I'm not even fully against that happening with artists if that's what they wanna do anyway. I actually agree with Kurt Cobain's own words on it, “I don’t blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout,” Cobain adds. “I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they’ll realize there’s more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.” and like Nirvana themselves did it with Nevermind which is a banger and then tried to battle that perception with shit like In Utero that also fucks incredibly hard. The point more-so is that it IS noticeable and it can be an element clearly seen within the art itself when it happens but that's not an inherently bad or even negative thing, it just is what it is.

So for me, while I'm glad that DICE was allowed to make more of the game that they wanted the first time around (no gun combat this time, an expansion of the movement options and mechanics) it also absolutely capitulates to THE OPEN WORLD menace and in this case I don't think it fully helps the game in the ways that I think they hoped they could make it work within.

Now listen, I'm not one of those fuckin people who's all like "OPEN WORLD BAD, AAA GAMES INHERENTLY BAD" if the games good to me the game is fuckin good brah. Like trust me I like exploring a nice open world if its fun to do so. Spider Man PS4/Miles Morales, Gravity Rush, Red Dead Redemption, and Dragon's Dogma are some examples of ones I fuck with heavily. Hell, Catalyst itself does some neat things with its open world structure and design that's really fun to engage with. The dreaded Ubisoft Towers that in one way or another have poisoned this genre of games for a long while at this point now with their normally fairly poorly thought out easy ass decently thoughtless seeming design. But the way that this game makes them all into really fun mechanical parkour challenges is genuinely really fun and rad! Like seriously the Rezoning one is one of my favorite challenges within the game because of just all the shit you can do in there to get up to the terminals.

The problem with the open world of Glass comes from the fact that this world is a pain to navigate. Runner Vision, an option that doubled as a stylistic touch within the first game, is now basically mandatory if you don't want to constantly get lost within it. I swear to fuck I would think I was going in the right direction constantly only to then realize that I'm nowhere near where I'm supposed to be going at all and if anything have made more of a trek for myself trying to just run it. For whatever reason instead of trying to make a more compact city that could possibly be navigated in any which way you want, making the OPTION of Runner Vision an actual OPTION, there are instead certain linear ass points that boringly funnel you in the same ways every single time with no real way to get around them in fun or creative ways. It's an open world that limits how you engage with it which I feel goes against the entire spirit and identity of the series and what it wants to do. Glass is a nightmare city designed by a madman and while yes that IS the text that doesn't make it any less annoying to navigate especially without Runner Vision. It doesn't help that there really isn't much interesting in glass. All of the side missions are delivery missions or races which while decently fun at first, again can be difficult to navigate without Runner Vision and are repeated so often that after the 5th one its just exhausting. Same with the cops and cameras on every corner. Now while I didn't always have KrugerSec on my ass there were points where I'd be trying to go somewhere and then IMMEDIATELY either have to fight or book it to a safehouse in another direction or sometimes even both because some KrugerSec were just around a corner for SOME reason and now there's a helicopter on my ass. Like I could be shit at the game, it's totally possible, maybe my navigating skills are total shit, but I don't feel like I'm alone on this one honestly. The entire place kills flow constantly and at points it was just less annoying to fast travel around than have to really deal with it though I love the parkour so much that I would try not to do it too much.

My god those movement mechanics have been so well expanded though even in spite of that. The animations, the feel of it all, the satisfaction of getting the perfect double wallrun or getting to the peak of a building or tower or construction site is like nothing else. It's a goddamn rush. They really went all out to focus on improving every aspect of how this game feels to play on every level and I wouldn't have it any other way. They even throw in a grappling hook! Though it is limited by like where you can use it which is kinda lame but I can get not wanting the player to fully just spider man their way around everywhere. But I also think having the option to if you were good enough with it could've been rad. Its uses are still fun ways to vary the movement up when needed.

Then problem #2 rears its head for a part of the game. The progression system in this game is complete ass. It's there because it has to be and its so obvious that they didn't want it there. They lock rolling and fucking QUICKTURNING away from you until you unlock them in a 3 tier tree that feels useless as fuck. I instantly put everything into movement because why the fuck wouldn't you in a game about parkour? Instantly the game just feels better and better. But it should've just been the base everything from the first game and then built more on top of that! Like I wouldn't have even cared that much if it didn't lock such basic shit behind the progression trees and its so baffling that they chose to do that even if they were forced to put the trees in.

The levels themselves though? Absolutely sublime parkour challenges. Every level feels like a fun challenge with some a bit more linear than others but all at points encouraging you to figure out where to go within it. I especially love the level where Dogan wants you to go to the top of the building under construction in order to fuck with the owners of the building for not paying their debts. It's such a banger of a level and the view is absolutely perfect once ya get to the top. The beautiful art direction perfectly compliments every single distinct location absolutely perfectly too, whether you're in the run down resistance run underground, the HighCaste rich district or hanging out with Birdman it's all just such a dystopian hellscape of a vibe. The OST by Solar Fields perfectly compliments all of what you're doing too. The melancholy sting of this OST seriously sings to me, it's such a fuckin banger. It funnily enough reminds me of songs from the Manhunter Soundtrack just this ethereal melancholy vibe.

Again I just wish more of it was in service of more! I feel like the few actually different side missions that are there barely help flesh this world or these characters out. I wanna know more about Birdman but ya do 2 missions for him and he's basically fucking gone! Ya do 2 missions for Nomad and same thing! Plastic at least remains within the plot which is dope because she's rad and autistic techy black girl rep is legit sick as fuck. Dogan is cool! He seems like a bastard that kinda gives a shit he's dope!

But I think this is where the story shows its ass majorly (though I'm not really holding it fully against the game as its not like the first games story is really good at all either lol) is in just how fucking underdeveloped it all is. The world is fascinating and interesting! These characters seem really cool! But they all feel to exist and talk as if you're supposed to have context that the game just doesn't give you. It makes parts of the story frustrating because it reminds me of that thing Final Fantasy 15 does where Gladio leaves your party and then comes back and just goes like "YEAH I WENT AND DID SOMETHING BUT I'LL TELL YA ABOUT IT LATER BUD" and its to sell you the Gladio DLC. But here the Gladio DLC or the Final Fantasy XV Brotherhood equivalent is a comic book prequel where characters constantly go "FAITH YOU WENT TO JUVIE FOR THAT THING YOU DID THAT WE CAN'T SAY wink wink nudge nudge" after a while it just becomes annoying as its like hearing characters talk about an episode of television that only streamed on Amazon Prime and you just haven't seen it yet and had no clue it even existed.

So many strange little things like that happen throughout the story too. I feel like everything to do with Faith's parents is kept fairly vague too for no real good reason at all? Characters like Rebecca feel like they're going to matter far more and like do something within the story but then just disappear from the plot entirely in the end after threatening Faith directly. Its just kind of an entire ass mess that at least feels more interesting overall to me than the first game's story fully was. But it never gets where I feel like it wants to go honestly. I do absolutely love some of the character banter though.

I didn't even really touch combat but if I'm being honest with ya I just don't have a ton to say on it. It feels better than the first game's to me. There's a bigger focus on more environment/running based moves and juggling different moves and enemy types and its fine enough to be fun at times but most of the upgrades all deal with being stronger against enemies in general and certain enemy types which is whatever.

This game hits a bit, it does some shit real real well on the movement but kinda flounders in a number of ways that are fairly disappointing. The first game sits in a very personal place to me and while I think this game is still very solid it just doesn't at all hit in the same way that the perfect flow and pace of the first game does for me. It's just a solid mess of an experience that I'll probably replay just because of how good movement feels but I just wish that it didn't kneecap itself at every possible opportunity. Not bad but definitely watered down in ways that make me kinda sad. I guess I should've heeded the Warning Call ya know????????????? ;)))))))))))

Really underrated imo, the open map works better than people give it credit for, mostly thanks to the time trials that are scattered all over the place and require precision and creativity in finding the routes for the best time.

Story is extremely forgettable but I think narrative never really was the point of Mirror's Edge (though it would be great to have a good one); Catalyst delivers in offering a tight, first-person parkour platformer with a unique aesthetic, the city's ambience has a sort of melancholic vibe to it that I really dig, especially at night.

Barring a few collectibles (which are not shown on the map, mind you) 100%ing was also a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Overall the best pikmin game IMO, although it is incredibly easy. This game plays like an optimized pikmin 1, where the main fun of the gameplay is seeing how fast you can beat it. 3 captains lets you play much more efficiently compared to 1 with just Olimar, although it may make the gameplay feel more mechanical than 1 where you're struggling for survival.

The day limit returning in this game is a cool idea but anyone who's even relatively competent will never see it get close to running out. The new pikmin types are really cool, although blues are essentially useless in this game and yellows are on life support.

Bingo battle is the best sidemode in any pikmin game by a wide margin. Mission mode can be fun if you're into that, but I never liked it that much personally.

Overall just has the most fun gameplay with the best functioning mechanics and controls. The areas are all fun to explore and giving each area 1 big boss to do is unique to this game (2's bosses function much differently to these, with not every cave having them and not having any time restriction). If enemies just had higher pikmin kill caps then the game would actually be difficult to, but as of now it's the easiest game in the series by far.

Fuck you Nintendo for releasing Pikmin 1+2 while I was in the middle of playing this emulated.

I imagine the biggest internal conversation regarding sequel development is in regards to changes. A sequel is always the best way to really assess what makes an original title work and what doesn't. Pikmin 1 had the benefit of being such a richly produced game I found it hard to imagine what could be done to improve on it while playing it for the first time a while ago.

Weird feeling to find out that Nintendo's answer, in 2004, seemed to be "not much."

Pikmin 2 really wanted to flip the core of Pikmin on its head, by going from a time-limited scramble for ship parts to a slower, methodical treasure hunt. Part of Pikmin's appeal, to me, will always be its ability to pressure the player. Controversial as it was, Pikmin's entire campaign was time-limited for 30 in-game days, each day about 13 minutes in length. So, in short, each Pikmin playthrough will last, at most, about six and a half hours, give or take. To stress it out, the player is put under two constant time limits, that for the day, and that for the 30 total days. On my first playthrough I missed the deadline at the last minute by having the last two crucial parts in separate areas on the last day. It was frustrating, but I still enjoyed Pikmin.

I was aware of how Pikmin 2 removed the 30-day time limit but I also wasn't aware of what else it did to flip up the core game loop.

i.e. fucking dungeons. A lot of this review is gonna be about the caves/dungeons, as they’re the new center of the gameplay in this sequel.

Pikmin 2 decides that, while time ticks away during the day above ground, four different entrances in each area can be found that lead to a unique underground cave. The now-overworld clock freezes as you're now dungeon crawling for the bulk of the game time. Within the first hour, the main essence of Pikmin's design philosophy is contradicted. Pikmin 1's yin-yang of problem solving and time management is disregarded as Pikmin 2 concerns itself more with scanning featureless floors of repeating geometry, relegating the Pikmin to color-coded keys instead of diverse pieces of a toolkit. Red Pikmin are immune to fire and can remove fire traps, Yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity and can remove electric traps, Blue Pikmin can swim and are mostly useless in caves. Every floor, no matter the layout or cave itself, plays out exactly the same: clear out the enemies and traps, bring the treasures back to the landing spot, proceed down. You do this shit for over 100 floors, and all they do is get bigger, more plentiful, and take longer to complete as the game progresses.

Call me jaded or reluctant to change, but I don't find the constant lock-and-key (as Pangburn beautifully put it) gameloop an effective progression from what I previously experienced as such a greatly imaginative strategic puzzle blend.

I think what can be said most about the dungeons is how pointless they are for something that takes center stage. As I stated, pausing the daily time limit for extended dungeon crawling segments completely eviscerates the need for the time limit at all, especially with how barren the above ground sections are now. What used to be the main environment of Pikmin 1, sprawling multi-pathed worlds and labyrinths with puzzles to solve and routes to optimize at every corner have turned into circularly linear gates to these cave entrances with not much to see or do when outside of them. There's some stray treasure out there, but with how little time you spend above ground the time limit may as well not be there. I repaid my debt in 25 days over 10 hours of playtime, twice the time I spent in 30 days within Pikmin 1.

I could write much more, about this game's psychopathic sense of difficulty in the late game, over-reliance on randomized hazards to artificiate difficulty (those fucking bombs that drop from the cave ceilings), the unsubtle requirement to reset the game every time you fuck up on a shitty floor layout to get a new one (as it asks you to save between floors as a loud and obnoxious wink), the timepadding of having to farm the new White and Purple Pikmin, etcetera etcetera. You think all those clips being posted on Twitter of everyone's Pikmin army being completely eviscerated by random hazards all being from Pikmin 2 specifically is just a coincidence? It sure as hell isn't. Sometimes I think Pikmin 2 is a work of pure evil.

Despite all its changes, with all of Pikmin 2's misguided and unthoughtful reimagining, the most subversive thing of all is that I don't flat out hate it. It can be trudging, monotonous, boring, but never completely joyless. It's still a wonder of world and sound design, and there are moments above ground that spark the same light as its predecessor. I think "misguided" really is the key descriptor for Pikmin 2, as the core of a good game is still there and felt. Though I audibly groaned at the return of caves in Pikmin 4, with an explosion of countless indie roguelikes in recent years a-la Enter the Gungeon and Spelunky with their innovative dungeon crawling systems in the name of accessibility and quality of life, I think there's no drought in inspiration Nintendo could take from. Pikmin 2 could be elevated as a footnote in Pikmin 4's potentially successful winning take on Pikmin-meets-dungeon-crawling, but for now, it's a clumsy effort to shake up a successful formula that didn't need to be changed.

improves upon the first game but also completely changes what made it so special. I get the time limit is intimidating and all but it’s Pikmin 1’s driving force and 2 feels a bit aimless without it imo. Caves are alright but I wish they weren’t the bulk of the game. The improved ai and QoL improvements do make a big difference though and, at the end of the day, it’s still Pikmin, so for me this game is only SLIGHTLY worse than its predecessor. Fuck Hocotate Freight and its bitch ass president too Olimar just wanted to see his family :(