Company Electronic Arts began accepting applications for participation in the closed beta testing of the parkour action game Mirror’s Edge Catalyst from the DICE studio. At the same time, the publisher published a trailer for “I Am Faith,” dedicated to the game’s story campaign.
"We've been wanting to show you some new content from Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and now is the right time to- says the video description. — This trailer will take you on an amazing journey with Faith as she goes from happy-go-lucky thrill-seeker to true heroine. You'll also discover what being a Runner has in store for you: unique freerunning and battles in the stunning and dangerous City of Glass."
The carefree life of Faith Connors, a courier for the secret Runner faction, ends when she crosses the path of the head of a powerful corporation, Gabriel Kruger. Together with her assistants, she begins a struggle to liberate the city from the shackles of totalitarianism, in which she will play the role of a “catalyst.”
You can register for the upcoming beta on the game's official website. An EA Network account is required to apply (you can create one using this link). Testing will take place on PC (Origin), PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Other details of the trial, including timing, are not yet known. Most likely, it will take place one and a half to two months before the game’s release, that is, in March or April.
Electronic Arts does not guarantee that all registered users will be able to participate. It is not specified what criteria will be used to select candidates. 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 innovations: free movement through the open world without loading screens, secondary tasks, challenges and puzzles, a redesigned combat system built on precise calculation of movements 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 - the developers recognized this component of the original game as superfluous.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be released in North America on May 24, followed by its European premiere two days later. The game was originally planned to be released in February, but in the fall the publisher announced that the release would be postponed. Electronic Arts began accepting pre-orders back in June. For an early purchase, users will be given two DLCs - Combat Runner Kit and Speed Runner Kit. In addition to the standard edition, a Collector's Edition is available for purchase for $200, which includes a Faith figurine.
Year of issue: June 9, 2016
Genre: Action / 3D / 1st Person
Developer: EA DICE
Publishing house: Electronic Arts
The new Mirror's Edge is one of the most impressive games. It will be a restart of the series. Finally, normal cyberpunk, instead of corridor levels - open world. But at the same time, that enchanting atmosphere of the first part remained. The new Mirror's Edge: Catalyst contains all the real elements of cyberpunk - a high-tech city, by the way, a great looking city, cyber police, megacorporations and a charismatic main villain.
We are all accustomed to games with an open world, but we have never seen such an open world, this is a pleasant open space in which moving around it does not allow you to fall asleep, but brings a certain challenge every second. You constantly run and enjoy parkour, constant action and, of course, a fighting game.
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta is supported only by Windows 7/8/10. Other operating systems are developed by developers on this moment are not supported and are unlikely to receive support.
The priority and main graphics API for Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta is DirectX 11.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta is based on Frostbite Engine 3.5. Frostbite Engine is a game engine developed by EA Digital Illusions CE; used both in its own developments and in projects of other Electronic Arts branches. The first game created using this engine was Battlefield: Bad Company 2008. The engine was developed to replace the technically outdated Refractor Engine technology that was used in the company's previous games.
There are four versions of the engine - 1.0, 1.5, 2, 3, 3.5 and special option engine for mobile systems- Frostbite Go. An engine is a type of software and is a combination of several components, such as a graphics engine, a sound engine, etc. operating system Microsoft Windows the game engine supports graphics display using DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1, and starting from version 1.5 - DirectX 11. One of the stated features is optimization for working on multi-core processors.
The technology is capable of handling the destructibility of the landscape and environment. Supports dynamic lighting and shading with the HBAO function, procedural shading, various post-effects (for example, HDR and depth of field), a particle system and texturing techniques such as bump mapping. The maximum location size is limited to 32 × 32 kilometers of displayed area and 4 × 4 kilometers of playable space.
In addition, it is stated that the maximum drawing distance allows you to see the level right up to the horizon. It also has its own sound engine, which does not require the use of specialized tools like EAX.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta has a sufficient range of graphic settings. We have both basic and advanced settings.
Below we have provided screenshots of the game at different graphic settings, where our readers can see the difference between the minimum and maximum graphics quality settings.
The difference between settings is quite noticeable, especially when moving from low to mid.
The graphics in the game Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta are very good, which is determined by the use latest version game engine Frostbite Engine 3.5. Everything is very beautiful and dynamic. But still, visually, the game lacks a sense of the physics of surrounding objects, which PhysX did an excellent job of in the original version of the game.
| Test configuration | |
| Test benches |
Test bench No. 1 based on the Intel Socket 2011 platform v3 Test bench No. 2 based on the Intel Socket 2011 platform Test bench No. 3 based on the Intel Socket 1155 platform Test bench No. 4 based on the AMD Soket AM3+ platform Test bench No. 5 based on the Intel Socket 1150 platform |
| Multimedia equipment | Monitor ASUS PQ321QE |
| Software configuration | |
| operating system | Windows 10 Pro |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 364.72 AMD Radeon Crimson Edition 16.4.1 |
| Monitoring program |
MSI Afterburner v4.2 FRAPS |
All video cards were tested for maximum quality graphics program Action!. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from various manufacturers under the same conditions. Below is a video of the test segment:
Our video cards were tested at resolutions of 1920x1080, 2560x1600 and 3840x2160 at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta. AMD CrossFireX and SLI are not currently supported by the game.
Testing at very high quality settings 1920x1080
It’s worth noting right away that in this case, 2 GB solutions do not behave comfortably, producing temporary drawdowns and freezes, so we do not take them into account in our recommendations. With these settings, video cards of the Radeon HD 7950 or GeForce GTX 960 4G level showed acceptable FPS.
Testing at very high quality settings 2560x1440
In this case, AMD’s 3 GB solutions are quite freezing, so they also cannot be recommended for comfortable gaming. With these settings, video cards of the Radeon R9 380X or GeForce GTX 960 level showed acceptable FPS.The optimal solutions will be video cards of the Radeon R9 290 or GeForce GTX TITAN level.
Testing at very high settings quality 3840x2160
Well, in 4K, we see that only 6 GB solutions remain. At 4 gigabytes, all our solutions had hellish freezes with an extremely low frequency of 1-3 FPS. With these settings, only GeForce video cards GTX 980 Ti. But still, they also have temporary friezes, so in this case, only TITAN X will probably be needed.
Testing of video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on top video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at resolutions 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 with different anti-aliasing settings.
Testing at maximum memory GPU quality settings
The recommended amount of video memory usage for a resolution of 1920x1080 will be 4096 MB of video memory, for a resolution of 2560x1440 - 6144 MB of video memory, and for a resolution of 3840x2160 about 6144 MB of video memory.
We tested processor dependence on 16 models of basic configurations that are relevant today. The test was carried out in those places where the value of the video card for the game is minimal and its load was less than 99%, this time at a resolution of 1920x1080.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1920x1080
The processor performance in the game is sufficient for all models.
Paragon uses up to 8 computing threads.
The test was carried out on the basic configuration of Core i 7 [email protected] GHz with 32 GB DDR4 2400 MGz pre-installed memory. The entire used operational memory was taken as an indicator. Test random access memory throughout the system was carried out on various test benches without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.).
Testing the game's RAM consumption at various settings quality
As we see, when various installations quality, the amount of RAM consumed in Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta is within 3500 megabytes.
Testing system RAM consumption
If you have a system with 6 gigabytes, Mirror's Edge Catalyst Beta consumes all 5.5 gigabytes of RAM (it is worth noting that this volume is very small, especially when using video cards with small size video memory). With a system with 8 gigabytes, the RAM consumption of the entire RAM was 7.5 gigabytes. With a 16 GB system, the total memory consumption was almost 8.5 gigabytes. And with 32 gigabytes of RAM, the system consumes 10.2 gigabytes of RAM.
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To sign up for the beta test of Mirror's Edge Catalyst, you need to have an account with Electronic Arts. If you don't have one, then register using this link. Next, follow this link and get, in fact, to sign up for testing. First, click on the big red button “Registration", then log in using your EA login and password, then select your gaming platform (XBOX ONE, PS4 or Origin PC) and again click on Registration. In the next window, if you wish, you can subscribe to news.
However, all these actions do not guarantee access to the test!
Well, okay, the main thing is to try and apply, I think so. The game will be available through Origin, as we have already found out, and pre-order is already possible for 1999 rubles. 
What are they promising us in the new part of Mirror's Edge? The most important innovation is that now it will not be a linear passage, but an open world. Several gadgets will be added. There will be a cable for covering long distances and a glove that disables electronics. Concentration - accumulates during movement and gives advantages during maneuvers and fights with enemies. By the way, it will be more convenient to play on a controller. Well, parkour, of course, has not gone away - now there will be even more of it.
I would also like to say something about the music. Remember which masters of electronic beats took on the remix to the main theme of the first part? I bought the game on Steam along with the soundtrack and listened to it after finishing it. In Mirror's Edge Catalyst, the music will be even cooler and more atmospheric and will immerse you in the gameplay even better! Personally, I'm looking forward to the release of the soundtrack no less than the game itself, it will be just something!
And finally, for starters, a couple of videos:
video demonstrating Faith's basic movements
A video from the developer diary showing some gameplay
Mirror's Edge Catalyst - sign up for beta test
http://site/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mirror’s-Edge-Catalyst-main-150x150.jpg
The release of Mirror's Edge Catalyst has been announced for May 24, 2016, and in the meantime, enrollment is already underway for a closed beta test. To sign up for the beta test of Mirror's Edge Catalyst, you must have an account with Electronic Arts. If it is not there, then register using this link. Next, follow this link and get, in fact, to sign up for
Introduction
This review will conduct a summary test of video cards and processors in the game Mirror's Edge Catalyst. You can read the review on it by following 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 space on HDD: 25 GB.
- Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4096 MB or ATI Radeon HD 390X 4096 MB.
Summary testing of video cards
Test configuration
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;
- CPU cooling system: Corsair Hydro Series H105 (~1300 rpm);
- RAM: 2 x 4096 MB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK8GX4M1A2400C14 (Spec: 2400 MHz / 14-16-16-31-1t / 1.2 V), X.M.P. - on;
- Disk subsystem No. 1: 64 GB, SSD ADATA SX900;
- Disk subsystem No. 2: 1 TB, HDD Western Digital Caviar Green (WD10EZRX);
- Power unit: Corsair HX850 850 Watt (standard fan: 140 mm inlet);
- Frame: open test stand;
- Monitor: 27" ASUS PB278Q BK (Wide LCD, 2560x1440 / 60 Hz).
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 clear comparison of video cards and processors, the game used as a test application was launched in resolutions of 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440.
The utilities Fraps 3.5.99 Build 15618 and AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05 were used as performance measurement tools. Measured in game minimum And average FPS values. VSync was disabled during testing.
Test segment video:
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Monitoring RAM and video memory usage
The components were tested with the following graphics settings:
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- Version 1.0.
- DirectX 11.
- Character's camera focus (FOV) is 90.
- Video card memory limit - enabled.
- The texture quality is hyper high.
- The lighting quality is hyper high.
- The reflection quality is hyper high.
- The quality of the effects is hyper high.
- The quality of post-processing is hyper high.
- The quality of the mesh is hyper high.
- Motion blur is hyper high.
- Diffused shading - HBAO.
- Anisotropic filtering - 16X.
Before we begin testing video cards and processors, we will monitor the use of RAM and video memory in this game.
Video memory and RAM usage
Video memory (standard settings)
RAM
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MB
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Test results: performance comparison
Now let's move on directly to testing graphics accelerators.
Summary diagrams of test results for single video cards
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1920x1080
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Overclocking
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2560x1440
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Overclocking
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Before the official release Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, which will take place this summer, there is not much time left. However, the most impatient will be able to try out the game even before the official release.
As the site learned, the developers invite everyone to beta testing. Company Electronic Arts published a new trailer for the game, in which it declared registration for tests open.
Users of new generation consoles and PCs will be allowed to take part in the testing. Those wishing to participate will also need Account Origin. You can apply for participation on the official website of the game, simply by indicating your email address.
At the moment, representatives of Electronic Arts did not provide details regarding all available gaming features during testing. But, according to rumors, the creators of the game want to focus on the multiplayer component.
The implementation of multiplayer in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is not similar to traditional competitive or cooperative multiplayer modes. During the game, the actions of one player can affect the game world of another. Faith will be able to hack billboards, after which she will appear in the game world of other gamers. However, they they will see not the players themselves, but the trail they followed.
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