Platform: Xbox One
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date (NA): March 11th, 2014
Genre: First Person Shooter
Nerd Rating: 8 out of 10
Reviewed by BigSwift
If there was going to be a third party competing with Battlefield and Call of Duty in the all out war for online gamers attention, it would be Respawn’s fresh take on online first person shooters. Titanfall was touted for quite some time before its release, and since I have had the game for a couple weeks; I felt it would be a great time to review this eighth generation game.
This completely online game contains a Campaign mode as well as Classic mode. The two game modes are not really all that different. The Campaign features two opposing sides: the IMC and the Militia. The player is randomly assigned to one of the two sides with five other players to complete each of the nine missions. Once finished, you once again go through the campaign missions except this time as the opposing side. The maps are exactly the same as in the Classic mode, and the missions are either Hardpoint Domination (three point domination) or Atrition (team vs. team). The only difference between the Campaign and Classic is that there is about one minute of cut screen story before each mission or round begins in Campaign, and the Classic mode has a few more game types to pick from such as Capture the Flag and Last Titan Standing. At the beginning of each round each player, or pilot as they are called in game, is given a countdown clock which dwindles until it is time to call in a Titan. There are three variants of Titans: the lightweight yet quick Stryder, the Atlas which has a little more protection and is a little slower, and the Ogre which is heavily armored but pretty slow.
I had been very excited for this game since the trailer debuted back at E3 in June of last year. Part of this was because Jason West and Vince Zampella of Respawn Entertainment were formerly of Infinity Ward which means they created one of my favorite FPS games, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. When my brother and I managed to scrape up enough cash for an Xbox One, I knew this was going to be the first game I would purchase. We made the trek to Gamestop and bought the bundle that came with the download code for Titanfall. Finally, after waiting for a rather large download of about 20gb, I was ready to get into the game.
Here are my thoughts on the game. Would you like the good news first or the bad? The bad? Good, because no one wants to end on a sour note.
There are a few blemishes, be it minor, with the title. First, the Campaign mode. I realize that it was designed to be an online lobby based game, but it would have been nice if there was at least a little bit of single player, story based campaign. The story behind the feud between the IMC and the militia is so insignificant that I have a hard time remembering what it was about. I suppose this is why there is an achievement to unlock where you need to play 50 campaign matches for 50 gamerscore. That way you will see the complete story more than once in a play through.
The only other real issue I had was with the selection of primary weapons which are comparatively limited when looking at other games of the same genre. There are only eleven different primary weapons with about seven possible mods for each one. This is compared with Battlefield 4 which has an astounding 64 primary weapons with mods and Call of Duty: Ghosts which has 26 different primary weapons and modifications.
Now, got that out of the way. Time for some good news. I feel like Titanfall is a lot like that friend you had that changed a few years ago for the worse but recently has gone back to their old self. The interaction between pilots is simple and reminds me of my days on Modern Warfare 2. It doesn’t take a full magazine from a rifle to kill someone, but at the same time it’s not three shots to the feet to mortally wound you. The power of the weapons I feel are proportioned to their purpose. By that I mean that a shot gun is one hit at close range but does nothing at distance, and sub machine guns are terribly inaccurate at long range.
The Titans themselves are also really well done. You would think that once a Titan is called in that it would be really difficult to get rid of. This is not the case. They are quite menacing, and if you take on one while not in your own Titan then you are doing so at your own risk, but they are rather vulnerable especially when enemies start to gang up. Each pilot, along with their primary weapon, is also given an anti-Titan weapon to aid with dooming an enemy Titan.
Another pleasant surprise is the ease of which you can level up. Once you reach level 50 you are given the option to regenerate. This is the same as prestige mode in Call of Duty. Just as in Call of Duty, if you do decide to regenerate you lose all of your unlocks, but in Titanfall you begin with decent weapons and can unlock your favorites again within a few hours. I am currently a third generation pilot with about 35 hours so it really takes no time at all to make your way through the ranks.
Overall, in my opinion, this is a great game. It seems fair and doesn’t take too much practice to become competitive with those who have been playing for a while. That being said, I give this game an 8 out of 10. The lack of a classic campaign mode and limited selection of weapons is more than offset by the original twist to FPS gaming and forgiving level up system. If you have an Xbox One and are looking for a nice alternative to Battlefield or Call of Duty then I would definitely recommend picking up a copy or downloading it.
Have you played it? What did you think?
