Titan Fall Review

Titan F-awesome

There really is no other way to describe this game.  I know I'm late to the game as they just dropped the teaser trailer for Titanfall 2, but that's why I'm revisiting TF1.  If TF2 listens to their avid gamer's requests and manage to bring the same thrill ride into TF2 we are looking at the next game to beat.  I am currently ranking Titanfall a solid 8/10.

So without anymore fanboying about TF here are the good and bads.

The Bads!

1) The campaign reminds me of a science fair project that was forgotten until the night before and then thrown together as an "Oh shit, lets just hope I get a grade for it" sort of situation.  The levels, if you can call them that, are very loosely pieced together, and by loose I mean you don't ever really know what level you are on.  You load in with a group, you could load into level 5 or level 1 with that group and you could be on level 5 or 1 and on one of two sides.  Then they don't follow the story line unless you win.  So pick a good group.

2) Everything is online and requires xbox gold to play.  Not that I didn't have it anyway, but come on, I don't always have an internet connection, and I don't always want to play with other people.  Taking me to point 3.

3) You have to play with other people.  You don't have an option. The only time you can do something without other players is the training mode, which is fun, but gets old after the 3rd or 4th time.

4) The campaign levels are the same maps as the multiplayer maps.  Literally no new content.  The campaign consists of attrition and hard point battles but that's what you do anyway in multiplayer so really you are playing them only for the broken story line.

5) Ranked play means nothing.  What does it do for you?  Nothing it hides what generation soldier you are (meaning the number of times you cycled your ranks through).  It also changes the icon by your name to display a bronze silver or gold icon, to basically show everyone how bad ass you are. There are also a few quips about how you have to jump to exit windows and how the guns could become overpowered and how some of the other functions were mostly worthless.  Blah, blah, blah, not worth talking about. The level of player does not affect the group you are randomly placed with. This sucks as you can be a generation 1 level 1 playing a group of generation 10 level 50s and barely be able to take a step on the field as they have everything unlocked and you only have the basic scope, frag grenade, and anti-titan rocket launcher. Then you have the "pro" gamers with the fancy controllers who are able to hit the jump button and fire and grenade button at the same time, using momentum jumps to carry them through the map so they never actually run on the ground.  I see this and I leave the match.  Not to say I didn't instantly want the upgraded controller so I could do the same thing.

The Awesome!

1) If you like COD or Battlefield you will most likely like this game.  It is adrenaline pumping, button smashing, strategy building, puny human crushing, giant robot killing, parkour running awesome.  I guess that doesn't count as an awesome, so I will go with piloting giant robots that stomp pilots, pull pilots out of other robots and perform a fatality, or rip the arms off other robots and then beat them to death.

2) Parkour.  Enough said.  Nothing brightens my day like a COD-hard coming into Titanfall thinking it is the same as COD and then getting owned.  They always forget about the parkour!  You have a completely new strategy when you add parkour and those who remain on the ground become fodder for satchels, grenades, and your friendly parkour loving Titanfallers.  Dropping a Titan on a pilot is one of the most rewarding crunches of the game.

3) It is fast.  I normally am not huge into multiplayer games.  I've tried COD, Borderlands, Gears of Wars, Halos, etc but never really enjoyed them.  Enter Titanfall and my wife was instantly regretting the birthday present she bestowed.  I was hooked by the speed, and shear awesomeness of piloting giant death dealing robots.  Note** You will die.  A lot.

4) The weapons.  Though limited the upgrades and the different ways to load your weapons seems to work, and gives a wide variety to different gamer types.  My personal preference is a compact smg type gun that unloads massive numbers of bullets at once and works great for short to mid-range fire.  However, the assault rifle though slower is great over mid-range and long range depending on your scope.  Others use shotguns, sniper rifles, or the LMG (beast of a gun but has low accuracy).  I will say this though.  If you use the smart pistol, be prepare to be hated.

5) The strategy.  I can not say enough about how strategy is key in this game.  Sure you can loan wolf it, and many do.  But when if comes down to 3 titans on the field to 0 titans on the field strategy turns into winning and it feels great.  The maps vary enough that the load out of your weapon, the type of explosives, the type of Titan, and the Titan's loadouts become key to victory. 

Would I buy this game?  I have two copies already (xbox one and 360) so that should speak for itself.  It is not perfect by any means, but it was the funnest game I have played in probably the last 15 years.  If Titanfall 2 takes the criticisms and improves the game it is going to be a masterpiece.  Remember this is coming from a person that mostly hates multiplayer games.  One area I should mention before leaving is that there are multiple types of multiplayer options like hard point matches, capture the flag, attrition, and last Titan standing.  They even have a few that are specific to hoards of Titan armies converging on you as well as the ground is lava.  I didn't get into those much but the hardest of the hard sure do.