What I’m Playing

I’ve actually had time to play games recently! Of three highly anticipated games, two come from beloved franchises and one’s a newcomer. How do they stack up?

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

When I first played this game, I was a little disappointed by its repetitive nature and lackluster story, but when you settle into the controls it can be a lot of fun to run around the city. The true issue with Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is that – like many other recent games – it’s been forced into the “open world” mold. Fetch quests have little meaning or impact, you find yourself running through the same areas over and over, and the main story suffers from a lack of urgency thanks to being able to wander aimlessly. Now I can appreciate how the intensity of the first game is attributable to its designed levels. I certainly never got lost while trying to hear the story-related voiceovers.

The combat system in Catalyst feels more dynamic, even if it’s a little hard to understand at first. Using the environment to fight is optional, yet you will have better results – and feel more awesome – when you bound off a wall and treat a bad guy to a flying kick in the face.

The story tries too hard to be hip, with unnecessary ageist jabs at characters who look, at most, 40. It’s also unclear what Faith is actually fighting for. Shady government conspiracies are only fun if you get a peek behind the curtain once in a while. Maybe Catalyst‘s transmedia material (comics, etc) does this, but if so, the narrative is compromised by spreading itself over too many channels that the player might not participate in.

No Man’s Sky

Much has been made of whether the developers knowingly misled players by claiming No Man’s Sky had more features than it launched with. The hype train certainly exceeded safe speeds at some point, but even though I wasn’t aboard, I have to admit that there’s not as much to the game as there probably should be at its price point. Perhaps if there were more Myst-like puzzles and mysteries on alien planets; better, more fluid flight controls; or a mining mechanic that isn’t really boring, the game might feel less tedious.

No Man’s Sky nails the retro sci-fi look, feel and sound. The game offers impressive visuals and the atmosphere of a great journey or undertaking. I rather enjoy learning words in alien languages and watching them fall into place in conversations, but unfortunately, conversational depth is not a feature of this game. I love searching for the coolest looking ships and the excitement of traveling to new planets.

Fatally, the game falters in its core loop. I repeat the same routines for entering a system, landing on planets, optimizing inventory. Without more depth, it’s the little optimizing/organizing robot in your brain playing, and not you.

I’m glad the game exists, and I think it can redeem itself as an almost zen-like experience that you return to periodically; but it’s hard to argue that No Man’s Sky doesn’t have some missing pieces that would make it more fun to play.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

I’m a big fan of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. For a modern entry in the franchise, it nailed the feel of the beloved original. The one thing I couldn’t stand was all the boss fights. To its credit, Mankind Divided is blissfully free of them (for the most part).

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I felt very clumsy playing this game on an Xbox controller. I was mystified that I couldn’t quite manage the controls gracefully, though it has been some time since I played Human Revolution. I managed to klutz my way to the endgame, where it felt like the story was only half-told. The one most interesting story hook – that Adam Jensen has had strange augments installed without his knowledge or consent – is neither resolved nor deeply explored. However, the game’s class commentary on how the augmented are treated and how they are trapped by society is compelling, if already well-worn during Human Revolution.

Preserved are the inventory-managing, vent-crawling, security-overriding antics of Deus Ex gameplay, offering several routes to solving problems. Unfortunately, these tried-and-true mechanics are undermined by a silly AI system. Simply wait for an alarm to reset, and the guards won’t recognize your ultra-cool augmented visage and you can walk away a free man.