Titanfall Review

Your Titan is Now Ready

Since its first gameplay trailer was revealed to the world, Titanfall was one of the most talked about next-gen games. It seemed ambitious, creative, and innovative, which excited a lot of people. However, when there is that much hype, it’s easy for expectations to not be met, and for people to be left wanting more. Thankfully, Respawn Entertainment  rose to the occasion and made Titanfall hit almost all of it’s marks.

Probably one of the most impressive aspects of Titanfall for me was how natural the controls felt. Having played many first-person shooters before, I never at any point felt like I was forcing myself to do something awkward or different, even with the addition of wall running, zip lining, and Titan piloting; the controls just felt so right. It’s evident that a lot of time and effort went into making the transition for hardcore shoot fans as easy as possible, mostly because the control layout just makes sense.

Titanfall is a game of perfectly constructed checks and balances where no player has a true advantage over another.

When you first step onto the battlefield, there is a lot to take in. The massive map size, combined with dozens of structures, alcoves, and debris makes for infinite tactical options, which allows you to explore which technique works best for you. Are you going to stick to the roof tops, or are you going to try your luck on the ground level? Are you going for a more stealthy approach, or are you planning to get up close and personal? It’s amazing how the jetpack adds a whole new dimension to the game. Wall running and double jumping moves you from one side of the map to the other in no time flat, making the game much more fast-paced than games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, and makes camping virtually impossible.

Wall running and double jumping moves you from one side of the map to the other in no time flat, making the game much more fast-paced than games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, and makes camping virtually impossible.

Once the Titans start falling is when all hell breaks loose. These giant, hulking mechs are deadly and destructive, while still having their share of weaknesses to help balance things out. All players spawn with an anti-titan heavy weapon that give the pilots on the ground a fighting chance. Pilots can also jump on the back of the enemy Titans, open up the core, and start pumping rounds into it, bypassing the shield and attacking the Titan’s main health supply. However, the rodeoing pilots have to be cautious of that Titan’s countermeasures; Titans can be equipped with an electrical cloud, a secondary function that releases an electrified smoke screen that both impairs the vision of attacking enemies and instantly kills the enemy on the Titan’s back. The enemy pilot might not be in the Titan altogether, and has instead engaged auto-titan mode and is lying in wait for a pilot to come along to try to bring down the mech. Titanfall is a game of perfectly constructed checks and balances where no player has a true advantage over another.

My only complaint is that with a game as unique as Titanfall, there are only five game-types that you can play. Since this is a game that is 100% multiplayer, there needs to be more to keep players interested.

Titanfall also adopts a lot of mechanics from other first-person shooters that have come before it. Players have the ability to customize their loadouts and are able to unlock better weapons, abilities, and perks by completing challenges and leveling up. Multiplayer matches also use several classic game types, like Attrition (which is just a 6v6 deathmatch), Capture the Flag, and Hardpoint (capture and hold 3 objective points longer than the other team). While these are fairly typical in all shooters, Titanfall adds its own flare to them, like allowing you to customize your Titan’s loadout, having 6v6 Titan-only battles, and the use of Burn Cards, which are one-time use cards that give you perks in battle like reducing Titan build time or increased damage for a certain weapon. My only complaint is that with a game as unique as Titanfall, there are only five game-types that you can play. Since this is a game that is 100% multiplayer, there needs to be more to keep players interested.

Graphically, Titanfall looks pretty good on the Xbox One. While it runs at a solid 792p, there was never any point where I looked around and thought “wow this looks terrible.” Could it have looked better? Sure, but in the heat of battle, I could care less if the rocky mountainside looked slightly worse than it could have been if it was in 1080p. What I did care about is a smooth framerate, which I rarely, if ever, experienced a dip in. The sound effects and score of the game also play a big role in the Titanfall experience. The meaty reports of the assault rifle mixed with the stomping of the mechs was music to my ears, immersing me deeper into the battle than I already was. The epic scores that played during the match set the tone for how intense and crazy the world around my character was, and even the voice acting was well done, although the dialogue itself was sometimes cheesy.

The only positive thing I can say about the campaign is that you can play through it twice: once as the IMC and once as the Militia, so you can get both sides of the story. However, since the story was so hard to follow, this really didn’t matter.

There was only one major disappointment for me and that was the sorry excuse of a campaign. While I understand that Respawn was entering uncharted territory with story driven multiplayer, it was a huge swing and miss. First off, there were no cutscenes, sans the short intro of your pilot landing on the map. All dialogue is delivered mid-battle via radio transmissions and little video-coms in the top right corner of your screen, but since you’re playing against real people and you have zero control over the flow of the battle, these communications go mostly unnoticed. The campaign missions themselves are just either Hardpoint or Attrition matches, providing no unique objectives or outcomes, and winning or losing the match has no effect on how the story plays out. I thought it would have been cool if the losing team had to stay and replay the level while the winning team moved on, but instead there were no consequences for your team getting manhandled. The only positive thing I can say about the campaign is that you can play through it twice: once as the IMC and once as the Militia, so you can get both sides of the story. However, since the story was so hard to follow, this really didn’t matter.

Spawnfirst Recommends…

Titanfall is a tremendous game that managed to take the first person shooter genre and pump new life into it, while still remaining familiar and natural. Nothing tops the feeling of hearing “standby for titanfall” for the first time, and it still gets my heart racing after hearing it for the hundredth time. Despite its less than stellar campaign mode, Titanfall welcomes us to an exciting new generation of gaming with a loud and deafening bang, and will be a mark other shooters try to match for years to come. If you have a Xbox One or a capable PC, do yourself a favor and buy this game now.