Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts.
Despite the negative connotations of an EA game, mixed with modern fps traits and wall running, Titanfall 2 manages to stand
out as one of the most overlooked games of 2016.
Long gone are the lack of online guns, lack of customisation and general lack of content. Titanfall
includes a 6 Hour campaign, an in-depth multiplayer all while coming in at a price of £25 with free DLC forever (as of the time of recording)
thats right, no more map packs that you are forced to purchase if you want to play. No guns locked behind DLC etc
The basis of this review is coming from a first time Titanfall player, having complete the main campaign in its entirety
as can be seen on my channel and having sunk time into the multiplayer portion of the campaign.
My initial impressions were of "Why should I play this over Battlfield 1, Call of Duty Infinte warfare / the Remastered
Call of Duty 4 version. Initially I was hesitant to purchase but the price tag and general concept behind the game brought me in,
over the tired Call of Duty series and the heavy vehicle based gameplay of Battlefield.
Going into titanfall 2 as a new player my first thoughts were this, "Titans are going to be too powerful online, its going to
be a spawn camping titan mess" and that "the campaign and its wall running would feel tacked on, gimmicky and just there for
the sake of being there". I can safely say this isn't the case, Call of Duty, now thats a game where running along walls and jumping
high feels like change for the sake of change, but Titanfall immediately gripped me as it felt designed from the ground up with these
mechanics in middle.
Honestly I feel like Respawn have done themselves no favours pitching this game against 2 juggernauts in Battlefield and Call of Duty, if this game was launched in december they could have had a much larger player base from the get go launching later into the calendar year. Right now Christmas sales will happen and new players will come, but most Titanfall 2 players will have left or gotten bored of playing games with a small population and wont stick around. Modern fans dont wait. But hear me out, I'm not saying the game is bad, it is bloody great.
It just needs more players online, I will discuss Multiplayer a little later in full detail but right now lets jump into the campaign.
Initial impressions were that I'm a solider, a generic fps soldier where guns have no recoil but very quickly I began to get to grips with the wall
running, the jumps, the movement, the knee slides into powerful melee attacks and I thought, Hey this is different, lets give this a chance.
I'm quickly sent into a few fetch quests and amazingly it isnt boring.For a modern FPS game its shocking, shockingly fun. Reminsistent of Wolfenstein new Order, simple core gameplay but fast frantic fun.
Knee slide, into powerful melee, into cloaked sniper kill into wall run into glide down rope. This wasn't flat linear quests,
I felt like had real control of the character and the environment wasn't just a line to get X quest goal but it was a playground of
walls, climbing, slides, jumps and pulls. Bright varied environments with great graphics that maintained a steady high fps with everything thrown at it, streaming, recording and playing.
As I unlocked the titan and began to become more comfortable with the controls you really felt that the Titan was an extension of the pilot,this wasn't a slow clunky robot you were forced into, but it was a larger then life version of yourself with great power, mobility and freedom.
Quite easily they could have made the Robot this generic hunk of metal that was slow to move in made the campaign artifically longer, with no personality, a pure killing machine but no, the Titan BT has great personality, very funny at times and again, you are free to use it, or not use it.
You aren't forced to be in it but I recommend it, its great fun. You can jump, sprint, rocket boost forward, duck and weave and fight with perfect control,just like a pilot. It makes you want to use rather then think "Oh its another mission where Im forced to use the bit slow metal killing thing".
Now dont get me wrong this isnt the Witcher, this isn't some highly complex open world, with 10 Million Voice acting lines, its still a modern FPS. But that doesnt mean it cant be fun. Thats the difference, it might follow all the codes and conventions of a modern FPS but it doesnt mean its boring,
it is very fun. A lot of features are introudced to make running, jumping, even been thrown 500ft (Yes that happens) fun. Swapping Time, being frozen in time, Jumping between characters memories to change how the environment works all make this feel good. I never once felt in the 6 hour campaign that a section was too long, that "I've done this before" or that an environment was boring.
There was underground sections, sand sections, factory segments, satellite dish running, moving panels on cranes to position them for a jump and it all felt new and fresh each time I played. The biggest compliment I can give it is that I didnt get bored. So many modern FPS campaigns become so similar, slowly walk behind the AI while we have a pointless cutscene,run here and shoot this box for an explosion. But this stopped all that, the only cutscenes
actually progressed the campaign, I didn't have to wait for AI, if I was ahead they ran to me. So yeah, the campaign is short, 5-6 hours isnt great, but I
would rather have 6 hours of pure fun then 10 hours of repetive gameplay.
I'm not going to spoil the campaign but it hasn't got the greatest ending, I cant lie about that, the characters arent deep, its quiet generic but that doesn't mean it wasn't really fun.
Onto the multiplayer section and this was a big suprise. I havent played a so called modern FPS in a long time, the last one I truly sunk time into was Gears of War, FPS wise counter Strike global offensive and then Blackops 2. Since then wall running became a thing, classes, customisation, paid DLC, DLC Fracturing communities the lot. The multiplayer is very very fun. Customisation a plenty, Players work with players and AI to destroy other players / AI. This gives new players a sense of killing when they get to fight AI and it introudces players to new mechanics without throwing them straight into PVP.
New players are treated well, experienced players have massive outplay potential with immense movement capabilities, mixed with classes and perks. Nothing feels to strong and oppresive, really good balance from the team. Camos, body paint and guns all free and unlockable, nothing hidden behind RNG
loot cases, it really is great.
I highly recommend picking up Titanfall.