Titan Fall Review

The first time you hear your Stand-by for Titanfall it calls upon a massive surge in your system.The reason this happens falls under the reasons unknown column. When playing Titanfall it is unlike anything else you have seen or experienced from a game. That fact is certain when you find yourself looking up to see your titan fall from the upper atmosphere with a huge thud as you decide whether to run into it or to traverse the area and have it follow you. The game is reminiscent of Call of Duty yes, but it is much more than that. Given that it is brought to you from essentially the same guys that brought you that COD franchise it is not surprising that the fonts are largely similar and that the shooting mechanics behave much the same.

So getting to the downside/good-bits however you see the glass (half empty/half full). As many know already this is a multiplayer only experience which can only be played 6v6 unlike some of the other big shooters out there. This means that the campaign and all that is the game is experienced this way. This can be a good or bad point as said before dependent on how you perceive it. The fact Titanfall does what it does brilliantly . It is a faced paced heart stomping, pilot grabbing octane ride that does not let up for one minute. The small hitch in the game is the addition of a very weird online campaign that is not very easy to follow mainly because it occurs whilst you are trying to blow up someone’s Titan.

Where the game really shines is in its balance and it does shine blindingly. Titans and Pilots have many abilities but it seems like the guys at Respawn have thought about these so meticulously that there is no overpowering effect to any of them. Titans rule the land because of their size and their ability to squish a Pilot (the human player) like a bug. The Pilots however can easily take down the Titans if they stick to movement, cover and height. Special abilities will help you become temporarily invisible to titans whilst another make you even fast as you wall run on buildings. The ease of movement in contrast to the Titans bulky feel is stunning, even though it seems you are moving a the speed of sound it is a gracious movement. It is the same feeling you get with a really good auto-correct or auto finishing software on some phones were it seems like it is in your brain. The ease at which you move around is something that can be argued to be unmatched in any FPS ever seen.

The possibilities in this game also create a never ending spiral of fun when playing. There are loads of “Xbox Record That” moments which will keep you playing for hours. As pilot you can fight wild or calm and collected but however you do it you need to be on the move. This is so emphasized in the gameplay that Respawn could have easily called the game You Stop You Die. As a pilot jumping atop a Titan a shooting its cyber optics to down it is very rewarding and it does not a surprisingly vast amount of skill. As mentioned before the game is very balanced and the Titans have a move to counter this very action.

As a Titan you are not left with just a big gun, as if that was not enough there is plenty here too. If those pesky pilots keep jumping on your back then launch your electric smoke which will not only get them off but also blind other Titans. There are also 3 titans to choose from and this gives even more variables to what you can have. The Orger is the biggest of the Titans with the smallest being the Stryder. The Heavier the Titan the more protected but also the slower the Titan. The opposite applies for the smaller Stryder and then you have the middle of the road Atlas which is an all-rounder. In many respects the vast amount of possibilities that you have with the pilots and Titans means you can play as best suits you. There is never a sense of not having a place where you fit in.

Gameplay

The Gameplay is pure and it is based on the Fundamentals that made Call of Duty such a great game. With many of the upgrades you unlock along the way being useful but not overpowering. This formula means that someone that is starting on day one in theory can beat the much more experienced player that has unlocked multiple upgrades. The way you play Titan fall does not fundamentally change regardless of the upgrading or the regenerating that occurs with the levelling systems and this is definitely a good thing. Unlike the regular run and gun multiplayer shooter there is no sense of small fish in a big pond here.

The lack of Micro transactions is refreshing to see in a main stream game even though many companies are doing it. The one place where this could have been implemented is with the Burn cards which allow you a variety of perks. Thankfully the cards are free this time round and there are not micro transaction for the near future.

Although the matches are 6v6 with human players , the battleground is also filled with drones which help human players. By helping human players this means they actually serve as target practice. The AI ability is non-existent here even though Microsoft says it uses its dedicated servers for this. The advantage though is that killing these drones gives you less time to wait for you Titan and it also give you a small amount of points. So all in all they aren’t in there for the heck of it.

There are some innovate weapon systems in this game , one the favourites is the smart pistol. This gun allows for automatic targeting of enemies with the ability to dispatch multiple enemies with one shot. Although this may sound overpowering it really isn’t and drawbacks such as having to wait precious seconds for the gun to lock on prove it.

Balance does not stop there, the diversity of the map choices in the game not only bring refreshment each time you decide to play. It also keeps the meticulous feel that covers all of the game. You can tell these maps were tested again and again as they decided where to put cover and the size of the streets. This level of scrutiny is the only reason Titanfall plays as well as it does and one of the many reasons to “Believe the hype”.

Although the game looks great in some respects it does not compare to some of the best visuals we’ve seen on the next gen consoles. This is down to the look and feel of the game in general but it also comes down to the console and what the small team at Respawn could achieve. The game does run pretty much at 60fps almost the whole time no matter what amount of action is going on the screen.

The simple answer is this is a must have experience , not because this is a fault-less game but because there is nothing else on the market right now that delivers excitement in a First Person Shooter like Titanfall. The abilities you have and the way you can manoeuvre is simply too much not experience at least once. Yes there is no single player campaign which is a disappointment and yes this game has the least amount of PvP action seen in a while. Despite these little hiccups the game is still worth its weight. Unfortunately this being an Xbox One exclusive those with a PlayStation will sadly be missing out. That said if you are deciding on which next gen console to buy then Microsoft have made a strong case for their brand with this title.