Company Electronic Arts began accepting applications for participation in the closed beta testing of Mirror's parkour action Edge Catalyst from DICE studio. At the same time, the publisher published the trailer "My name is Faith" (I Am Faith), dedicated to the game's story campaign.

"We've been wanting to show you all the new content from Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and now is the perfect time to says in the description of the video. — This trailer takes you on an amazing journey with Faith as she goes from carefree thrill seeker to heroine. You'll also find out what the Runner role has in store for you: freerunning and fighting in the stunning and dangerous City of Glass."

The carefree life of Faith Connors, a courier for a secret group of Runners, ends when she crosses the path of the head of a powerful corporation, Gabriel Kruger (Gabriel Kruger). Together with her assistants, she begins the struggle to liberate the city from the shackles of totalitarianism, in which she will play the role of a "catalyst".

You can register for participation in the upcoming beta testing on the official website of the game. To apply, you need Account EA Network (it can be created at this link). Testing will be held on PC (Origin), PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Other details of the test, including timing, are not yet known. Most likely, it will take place one and a half to two months before the release of the game, that is, in March or April.

Electronic Arts does not guarantee that all registrants will be able to participate. By what criteria the selection of candidates will be made, it is not specified. For subscribing to the newsletter, the company promises "early access to exclusive content and in-game rewards."

Mirror's Edge Catalyst was officially unveiled at E3 2013 after years of rumors. The second game will tell Faith's backstory and offer many new features: free roaming in an open world without loading screens, side quests, challenges and puzzles, a redesigned combat system based on accurate movement calculation and the use of inertia, as well as an asynchronous multiplayer mode with a leaderboard. There will be no weapons in Mirror's Edge Catalyst - this component original game the developers recognized as superfluous.

In North America, Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be released on May 24, and its European premiere will take place two days later. Initially, the game was planned to be released in February, but in the fall, the publisher announced the postponement of the release. Electronic Arts began accepting pre-orders back in June. For an early purchase, users will be presented with two DLCs - “Fight” (Combat Runner Kit) and “Speed” (Speed ​​Runner Kit). In addition to the standard edition, a $200 Collector's Edition is available for purchase, including the Faith figurine.

Introduction

In this review, a summary test of video cards and processors in the Mirror's Edge Catalyst game will be carried out. You can read the review on it by clicking on this link.

System requirements

Minimum system requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 7 (SP1) (64-bit systems only).
• CPU: Intel Core i3-3250 @ 3500 MHz or AMD FX-6350 BE @ 3900 MHz.
• RAM: 8 GB.
• Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2048 MB or ATI Radeon R9 270X 2048 MB.

• Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit systems only).
• Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3400 MHz or AMD FX-8350 BE @ 4000 MHz.
• RAM: 16 GB.
• Free HDD space: 25 GB.
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4096 MB or ATI Radeon HD 390X 4096 MB.

Summary testing of video cards

Test configuration

The tests were carried out on the following stand:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K (Skylake, L3 8 MB), 4000 @ 4600 MHz;
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3, LGA 1151;
• System CPU cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H105 (~1300 rpm);
• RAM: 2 x 4096MB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK8GX4M1A2400C14 (Spec: 2400MHz / 14-16-16-31-1t / 1.2V) , X.M.P. -on;
• Disk Subsystem #1: 64GB SSD ADATA SX900;
• Disk Subsystem #2: 1 TB HDD western digital Caviar Green (WD10EZRX);
• Power Supply: Corsair HX850 850 watts (stock fan: 140mm blower);
• Frame: open test bench;
• Monitor: 27" ASUS PB278Q BK (Wide LCD, 2560x1440 / 60Hz).

Video cards:

• Radeon R9 Fury X 4096 MB - 1050/500 @ 1150/500 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon R9 Fury 4096 MB - 1000/500 @ 1100/500 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon R9 390X 8192 MB - 1050/6000 @ 1160/6500 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon R9 390 8192 MB - 1000/6000 @ 1140/6500 MHz (ASUS);
• Radeon R9 380X 4096 MB - 970/5700 @ 1150/6500 MHz (Gigabyte);
• Radeon R9 380 2048 MB - 970/5500 @ 1100/6500 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon R7 370 2048 MB - 975/5600 @ 1180/6800 MHz (PowerColor);
• Radeon R7 360 2048 MB - 1050/6500 @ 1200/6800 MHz (Gigabyte);


• GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6144 MB - 1076/7012 @ 1420/8100 MHz (Zotac);
• GeForce GTX 980 4096 MB - 1216/7012 @ 1440/8000 MHz (Palit);
• GeForce GTX 970 4096 MB - 1178/7012 @ 1430/8000 MHz (Zotac);
• GeForce GTX 960 2098 MB - 1178/7012 @ 1450/8000 MHz (Gigabyte);
• GeForce GTX 950 2098 MB - 1188/6600 @ 1480/8000 MHz (Palit);


• GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2048 MB - 1085/5400 @ 1220/6600 MHz (GigaByte).

Software:

• Operating system: Windows 7 x64 SP1;
• Video card drivers: Nvidia GeForce 368.39 WHQL and AMD Radeon Software Crimson 16.6.1.
• Utilities: Fraps 3.5.9 Build 15586, AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05, MSI Afterburner 4.2.0.

Testing tools and methodology

For a more visual comparison of video cards and processors, the game used as a test application was launched at 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440 resolutions.

Fraps 3.5.99 Build 15618 and AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05 utilities were used as performance measurement tools. Frozen in the game minimal and medium FPS values. vsync disabled during testing.

Test run video:

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Monitoring the use of RAM and video memory

Components have been tested with following settings charts:

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• Version 1.0.
• DirectX 11.
• Character camera focus (FOV) - 90.
• Video card memory limit - enabled.
• Texture quality is super high.
• Lighting quality is hyper high.
• Reflection quality is hyper high.
• The quality of the effects is hyper high.
• The quality of post-processing is hyper high.
• Mesh quality is hyper high.
• Motion blur is hyper high.
• Diffuse shading - HBAO.
• Anisotropic filtering - 16X.

Before proceeding to the tests of video cards and processors, we will monitor the use of RAM and video memory in this game.

Video memory usage and random access memory

Video memory (standard settings)

RAM

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MB

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Test Results: Performance Comparison

Now let's go directly to the tests of graphics accelerators.

Summary charts of test results for single video cards

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1920x1080

2560x1440

We played a beta version of either a prequel or a reboot of Mirror's Edge, and we can't understand if DICE was able to build a really worthy game around interesting mechanics.

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Despite the fact that the first part was generally warmly received by players and critics, it did not become a commercial success. The reasons are clear: the first one was more like a five-hour test of cool mechanics, to which they forgot to attach, in fact, the game. But they didn’t forget to call Rhianna Pratchett, with the help of which they spun such a plot around the parkour girl that, while listening to the dialogues, at some points the player felt an unbearable desire to tear off his face. And now, after almost eight years, we are again invited to the roofs of the City of Mirrors - so far only for an hour.

And I must report that they are lying to us right from the start. This is not Beta. This is Pre Alpha. I understand everything - the game is still in development, the specialists of the testing department are working with might and main, but technical problems on the first day of the beta test on PS4 were just unbearable. Failed under the texture - okay, it happens. The script that did not work the first time - okay, I'll survive. But it’s terribly annoying when, after overcoming all these technical jambs, returning all the settings sliders to their place five times (because all the sliders in the settings moved to the leftmost position every time I went to the menu or tried to take a screenshot), you find yourself at the closed door to the story room without the ability to interact with this door. At this moment, I burned more than after the death of a high-level hero in .

But now I have shared my pain with you and updated the game. Now everything is fine, and we can look at, getting rid of this prism of resentment and pain.

And when we look closely at it, we see the same one. The beta begins with the fact that the heroine comes out of prison and through the veil of rain we are shown the good old City of Mirrors. But before you can blink an eye, the plot will again step into the foul-smelling waste product, forcing the only freed Faith to break the law just outside the prison door. And then almost die. And then disobey the order and almost die again, at the same time substituting his entire organization. And again disobey orders. Seriously, how good a courier does she have to be to still not get shot by her own accomplices? Characters and dialogue to match the plot: we have a stereotypical dude who is stuck in development at the age mark of about sixteen and throws himself at everyone because of some of his complexes, daddy dude, ready to sacrifice his entire organization for the sake of a tattooed girl, the sage dude who sits on the roof and feeds the pigeons instead of doing business, and the fan dude who has been looking after Faith's clothes for two years and throwing small errands to her. I feel like I'm watching a series for teenage girls.

And so we spent half of the article discussing the cons of the game. But do not be upset, because now we are moving on to positive impressions.

The movement in the game has remained at an amazing level, and the controls have improved a bit. It is completely incomprehensible why, but I experience great pleasure from moving to. The first-person view can be a problem at first, but feel free to get into the settings and change the Field of View indicator so that it becomes comfortable to play. It is worth trying out an alternative control scheme. After a comfortable combination is found, you simply dissolve in motion. Considering that the game produces an honest 60 frames per second 95% of the game time (excluding cutscenes in which there are no more than 30 FPS), the picture while running completely captures the eye and makes you want to put on glasses virtual reality. To feel it even more, I got off the couch and sat in front of the TV, almost resting my face on it. And the more pleasant it is to run through the city at full speed, the sadder the forced stops. That's why I don't turn off Runner's Vision, the pathfinding help system. You can always get from point A to point B different ways, but spending time looking for them means standing still, and this is completely impossible in such a game.

To run around open city was more interesting, the players are offered new system pumping. Over time, Faith learns new tricks, fighting techniques and collects useful upgrades for his equipment that serve in a variety of ways: for example, General Map the world is one of those upgrades. To earn experience points for all this, you need to complete small tasks and collect items scattered around the map. Somewhere we cut down the radio tower, somewhere we steal a chip from the security guard. Don't say it's the best The best way to motivate the player to explore the world, but this is one of the opportunities to gain experience points and subsequently, for example, learn how to do a somersault when falling from a great height so as not to lose speed. The system looks quite logical given that Faith for a long time spent in prison and forgot the receptions of couriers.