Review - Titanfallby Chris Murray
Format reviewed on Xbox One |
Developers; Respawn
Publisher; EA Formats; XO, PC, X360 EU Release Date;XO, PC: On general release, X360: 8/4/14 |
Since Titanfall's release on the 14th of March, I've put in around 50 hours or so. For me, this is a lot more time I would usually spend with the multiplayer aspect of a game. There are only a few instances I can think of in which I've put in such a large amount of time and really felt like I got something out of it. The Halo series comes to mind (Halo Reach, to be specific). Ultimately, I tend to get bored of multiplayer games fast,as it feels like I'm having the same experience over and over again. But not in the case of Titanfall.
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Between the enhanced mobility of the jetpack-wearing Pilots and the raw power of the giant Titans, Titanfall brings fresh ideas to the table. Although the shooting mechanics are similar to what we've seen in various other first person shooters, these simple new additions to the gameplay make it feel like a completely new experience. Almost every match I've played has been fast and frantic, and has never quite felt the same - especially when you have four or more Titans fighting it out in close quarters. It's beautiful chaos.
What makes this game so unique and allows it to stand out from others is that Titanfall is strictly a multiplayer-only game. There's no 6-hour campaign to find here, just good old-fashioned competitive multiplayer. |
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Instead, Titanfall’s 'campaign' is told through a set of 9 multiplayer matches and tells a loose narrative of two sides fighting a war: The IMC and the Militia. That's pretty much it. Before the matches start, you view a short cutscene which sets the story for the mission in question. Of course, once you have beaten the game on one side, you then need to do so with the other in order to see everything the story has to offer, as the cutscenes on both sides unfold differently. Unfortunately, I felt the story elements were severely lacking. While some of the cutscenes were good, they didn't do enough to make me care about any of the characters or either of the two sides for that matter. That being said however, this was set out to be a multiplayer game from the start, so perhaps one shouldn't expect much from Titanfall's narrative.
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Typical gameplay is comprised of two parts. As a Pilot, the player runs and vaults around rooftops and walls, shooting enemies with a wide array of the standard weapons you would expect to find in a multiplayer shooter. The second part of the gameplay involves calling in Titans which can then be either controlled by the player or put into an A.I mode which makes the mech follow the pilot or stand guard at a particular point. In my experience with this, I tend to use guard mode more often when playing Hard-point domination matches; the games capture and defend type mode. Doing this allows the team to have a secondary point of defence if there is no players in that particular area.
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One such gun I found particularly innovative from the list of weapons is the Smart Pistol. Instead of just mashing the trigger to kill your target, this weapon locks on to the enemy with deadly accuracy and does it for you. Does this gun feel unbalanced? Maybe. A.I.-controlled grunts that populate each map take only a single shot to kill once a lock is established. However locking on to player-controlled enemy Pilots takes longer. While this makes for a, sometimes, rewarding kill, I always found by the time I had successfully locked on to a human rival, I was always the first to die as the other player wielded something with a much higher rate-of-fire. As such, I tend not to use this weapon very often, if at all.
The Pilot's secondary weapon is intended for taking out enemy Titans. These can range from rocket launchers, electric charge rifles, to a grenade launcher that fires multiple magnetised explosives at a high frequency.
Overall the three Titans feel extremely balanced. There is not one Titan that is better than the other as they are all great in the various situations you could find yourself in. For example, the Stryder class Titan is fast and nimble, making it easy to get out of tough situations like an oncoming barrage of rockets or make a quick getaway with the enemy flag, while the much heavier and slower Ogre Titan would be used at the front line of a large firefight. This is because it can take the most punishment and equally deal as much back. One load-out in particular I find extremely useful when using the Ogre up close is taking the Triple Threat gun that fires three large explosives at close proximity and the Cluster Missile; the Titans secondary ordinance. This load out makes little work of enemy Titans. Not to mention activating the Titan’s special core ability. In this case a Shield Core that can be activated to increase the Ogre’s shield capacity.
The Pilot's secondary weapon is intended for taking out enemy Titans. These can range from rocket launchers, electric charge rifles, to a grenade launcher that fires multiple magnetised explosives at a high frequency.
Overall the three Titans feel extremely balanced. There is not one Titan that is better than the other as they are all great in the various situations you could find yourself in. For example, the Stryder class Titan is fast and nimble, making it easy to get out of tough situations like an oncoming barrage of rockets or make a quick getaway with the enemy flag, while the much heavier and slower Ogre Titan would be used at the front line of a large firefight. This is because it can take the most punishment and equally deal as much back. One load-out in particular I find extremely useful when using the Ogre up close is taking the Triple Threat gun that fires three large explosives at close proximity and the Cluster Missile; the Titans secondary ordinance. This load out makes little work of enemy Titans. Not to mention activating the Titan’s special core ability. In this case a Shield Core that can be activated to increase the Ogre’s shield capacity.
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If you have no interest in Titanfall's campaign, you can always get your hands dirty with Classic Mode. This is where you can play regular multiplayer matches without the narrative backdrop to your heart's content. There are 5 game modes in total, spanning across 15 maps. The maps are fairly large, so naturally you would expect 6 on 6 multiplayer matches to be too small making it hard to find enemy players. However with all the maps populated with the A.I that fight along side and against you, it never feels like the worlds are empty, and although these “Grunts” can kill you, they aren't much of a threat and can be taken out easily (I’ve been killed by a few, but largely from my own stupidity).
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Once a team has reached the set amount of points to win the match, every game is followed by an 'epilogue'. When this happens, each player is reduced to a single life. If you lose the match, you may have to navigate to an evacuation point on the map in order to escape. If you win, however, you simply have to take out the remaining enemy players or destroy their armoured aircraft. In my experience, I've found it takes the fire-power of at least three Titans to get this job done.
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Like most modern military shooters, Titanfall has a level-based system. Players unlock weapons, gun attachments, Titan abilities and greater firepower that naturally unlocks as you progress to higher levels. The level is capped at 50 but there is further progression available. Once you reach this level, you have the option to prestige (or 'Regenerate', as it's known in Titanfall). Doing this, however, causes the player to lose all previous unlocks, though experience points are gained 10% faster each time, which makes levelling up quicker. Players are given ten regenerations in total but particular challenges have to be met before you can regenerate to the further stages.
Finally, to make life a little easier when it comes to taking out Pilots and Titans, “Burn Cards” are introduced. Unlocked around level five or so, these are one time use cards that can either increase firepower of weapons, gain double XP for kills, or even make special abilities last longer such as unlimited use of a Pilots cloaking device. These only last until you are killed however. But in some cases like Last Titan Standing, if you don't die while you are a Pilot, the Burn Cards are carried over to each round until you do. I’ve found activating the double XP cards to be particularly useful in these matches as you can rack up more experience points than usual.
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If you like most shooters but feel you need something fresh then you should probably check out Titanfall. At a glance it feels a little lacking in content, and with only having 5 game modes its easy to see why. But underneath this there is a truly great multiplayer experience to be had here. Combat scenarios throughout are always extremely satisfying and exciting, making the initial lack of content easier to overlook.
Wrap up
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Good - Extremely exciting and satisfying combat, very balanced combat, Titans are awesome!
Bad - Lack of content/game modes, no single player campaign. |
4/5 |
Game purchased by reviewer
All pictures courtesy of EA
All pictures courtesy of EA
