Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst review – welcome return of the running woman

Faith is restored to a visually striking world she deserves in the return of the first-person parkour title - but, as with the original, niggles stop it achieving greatness

Mirror's Edge has always been a passion project for Dice, the Stockholm-based developer better known for its bombastic and hugely successful Battlefield series. The original Mirror's Edge, released in 2007, was a first-person parkour game with a striking visual style, which to this day it divides opinion - some consider it a masterpiece, while others found it trammelled and frustrating. The game was too modest a success to earn a sequel but, just under a decade later, Dice has another chance to get Faith - and her city - running again.

Much of hero Faith's moveset is functionally unchanged from the original game, though it now looks better than ever, and Catalyst's appeal is in how the first-person perspective embodies her. Run forwards and you'll catch glimpses of her hands moving up and down; catch a railing and her arms catch the railing; roll forwards and your view moves through 360 degrees with glimpses of her hunched knees; stand on top of the highest building in the city, look down, and you'll see her feet. It's not just the good stuff either - the way her arms flail during a nasty tumble, how she reels back from punches, or the panicked gasping when you've misjudged a leap and sent her tumbling into oblivion have all been improved.