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Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a blend of extremes, leaping from one to the next as swiftly as the player leaps from building to building. A “reimagining” of 2008’s Mirror’s Edge, Catalyst succeeds in creating a vibrant open-world environment that boasts more personality than many of the characters within the game.

Set in the futuristic metropolis dubbed the City of Glass, one plays as Faith Connors, a vigilante ‘runner’ who couriers illegal packages and causes trouble for the antagonistic corporations that control the city. The game opens as Faith is released from juvie, and as soon as she hits the streets she’s ready to run again, joining up with some old friends and developing an instant rivalry with another runner. A job, naturally enough, goes awry, and Faith finds herself embroiled in a war against the city’s all-powerful conglomerate which sees her past come back to haunt her.

The strongest aspect of the game is the parkour-style movement through with the player, as Faith, traverses through the roofs and stairwells of Glass. While the gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable, the story proves lacklustre, and the dialogue worse. While the Newspeak of Nineteen Eighty Four worked in Orwell’s novel, hearing characters drone on about KrugerSec, hiCaste, loCaste, offGrid, and foodDomes fails on delivery, with characters struggling to make what they’re saying believable. Outside of its dialogue, the story itself never rises above the mediocre, following all of the tropes you’d expect to find in a science fiction dystopia – an evil corporation controls Glass and it’s up to Faith and her plucky band of outCastes to stop them.

The supporting cast follow unsurprising conventions for the most part – there’s a father figure, a rival for said father figure’s affection, a villainous head of an evil corporation, a socially awkward teen hacker, a fanatical freedom fighter, a scientist with misgivings over her work, and an Asian crime lord, among others. Only the relationship Faith has with the latter does anything new or interesting. One cut-scene in particular raises the overall quality of the story.

Combat was the weakest part of the original Mirror’s Edge, and despite some new additions and the removal of firearms, little has improved. The main new trick is the focus shield, which you build by moving fluidly and taking down enemies. It acts as a buffer that allows you to shrug off damage and avoid bullets.

However, sometimes combat becomes unavoidable, and it’s here that the game’s weaknesses in that area become clear. The awkward flailing and tumbling of your enemies could only ever have been meant to be seen through the corner of your eye as you sped past. A more frustrating issue is that your attempts at decent traversal attacks – which cause more damage than simply striking an opponent while standing still – quickly lead your enemies on Benny Hill-esque chases until you finally dispatch them.

These combat issued are coupled with an unnecessary upgrade tree which seems to exist solely because that is what’s expected of modern video games. It is also frustrating because it locks away some incredibly important basic parkour abilities – namely, the 180-degree turn, an ability that is required to complete latter stages of the game, as well as the double wall-run and the skill roll, which, while not required, make traversing Glass that little bit easier.

However, despite all these negatives, the core of the game is difficult to criticise. Once you’ve gotten used to the controls and honed your ability to judge the best path to take across the city’s rooftops, the game really comes into its own. Entering one of the various checkpoint races within the game and gradually shaving seconds off your score as you perfect your technique is endlessly satisfying. There is a fast travel option that allows you to instantly teleport to a different part of the city, but there’s little reason to do so, as the best part of the game is in the traversal.

While the story and the combat gameplay are found lacking, the manner with which the game allows you to inhabit Faith’s body as she leaps from building to building proves to be its redemption, and as a parkour simulator this game is difficult to beat. Indeed at one point in the game, when asked what she’s going to do next, Faith simply replies “I’m gonna run.” Given how enjoyable it is to do just that in Catalyst, who could blame her?

Reviewed on the Xbox One.