War Games is a medium sized offering with features-a-plenty. This marks the first time you’re not brought into a match by way of drop ship, as the arena is a virtual one. The countdown screen has participants loading into a simulation pod very similar to the one used during “training.” Once all combatants are in, you’re warped into the best looking, best playing map of the 18 available. One of my few criticisms of TF is the average design of maps and how it affects Pilot play. I understand that each location has to host both human and mech battles. I’m sure walking that line is tricky, particularly when there aren’t really any other “text” the level designers can pull from for inspiration. But if you watch an extremely talented person control their Pilot, it’s like looking at a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. I would argue most map layouts make it very hard for average-to-good players to even come close to that mark of affluence in terms of agile Pilot play. War Games fixes that problem. Here, you see the realization of Respawn’s “parkour” ideology in full sequence. There are so many ramps, tilted walls, “step” formations, varied platforms, and such that you’ll be zooming and zipping around from start to finish each and every round. The look of the map is a mash up of the normal grungy/grimy motif we’re used to melded with areas of vibrant white, neon blue, and “venom” yellow. It’s Mad Max meets Tron. And it’s beautiful. In terms of play, War Games is really fun. There are a few areas of wide open space that can become a kill box of sorts for the unmindful, but most of the asymmetrical map is laden with enclosed pathways, high walls, and rooms for those in-close CQC spray ‘n pray vs. jump kick scenarios. All match types play well here, especially CTF. And because of how free flowing the layout is, Pilot Hunter is exciting and eventful instead of the camp-fest it can easily become on other selections.
Runoff plays host to a new IMC installation, with the corporation making use of a water filtration plant as an FOB. Vertically, the map looks huge, with plenty of high points to scale. But when taking measurements from wall to wall, so to speak, this place is actually on the small side. Unlike most entries in the TF library, it’s about as symmetrical as you’re going to get from this game. Each end has a medium sized, two story base adjacent a really tall tower, connected in the middle by a small man-bridge. For the sake of conversation, assuming the aforementioned orientation is east and west, north has a two level structure with a view of the towers from the ground level and upstairs floor while the south end has this murky lower level intended for Titans to get from one side to the other without having to lumber “up the middle,” inches away from the neutral structure. The visual aspects bring us back to the usual dystopian playlands we’re accustomed to, so nothing too notable there. For objective games, Runoff is ideal. The ability for factions to gain equal high ground to battle for map control is key for fun and exciting matches of Capture The Flag. Oddly, Attrition felt a bit stale. It could be that because it is very easy to take out a swath of NPCs from high perches, not many people “push out” until they get their Titan. In any event, stick with the Variety Pack to really see this place in its best light.
Swampland is a bit of a black sheep among the dozen and a half selections. Imagine the forest moon of Endor without Ewoks. Obnoxiously tall trees litter a marsh-y landscape with a few structures thrown in here and there for good measure. It’s sort of “rounded” in nature. There doesn’t seem to be a feature of demarcation that separates one side and the other. At first it seemed like a real mess, but it actually grew on me after a while. It’s a big map with a couple of elevated tree outlook spots along the outside as a way to protect points of interest in objective games. The architecture makes it easy for Titans to carry out full on duels in open space while pesky Pilots can give Anti-Titan weapon support from the below ground areas. Effectively sneaking around and staying out of plain sight as much as possible goes a long way to keeping a kill streak going. This was the best place out of the three for Hardpoint (perhaps the top game mode in TF), which alone makes it a very valuable addition to this DLC pack as well as the full map menu. Pilot Hunter games can be awesome or awful depending on how things play out during the early, pre-Titan period of the match. Because Swampland is short on substantial structures, Last Titan Standing boils down to “stand and bang” shootouts. Which is fun to watch, but frustratingly boring to play.
In concert with Expedition getting released, the Titanfall Companion App made its way to capacitive screened devices this week. Once the download is fired up, it will automatically pick up the Xbox One in proximity, or you can manually plug in the IP address of the One in which you want the app tethered. The main menu is divvied up into two sections. Intel feeds information ranging from the background story of the two factions, weapon specs, descriptions of multiplayer maps, and so on. Stats is the component that is meant to accompany live play. To start, it will give the pre-match lobby status like game type, fellow players, and countdown timer. When the match starts, the app becomes a real time extended radar, showing to-the-second friendly and enemy movements. Once the match is complete, the “post game” info like kills/deaths and unlocked items are shown. The program is very well put together and works as intended with no real hiccups. The problem with it is the same problem all second screen experiences have: a pair of eyes work together to see one thing at a time. Quickly glancing down at the 6″ display of my Nokia Lumia 1520 was helpful during Last Titan Standing matches, but anything else is just too hectic to devoid any attention away from the main screen. Maybe if a friend would be cool enough to stay glued to the app and bark call outs like a rally racing co-driver giving pacenotes, the intended effect could be an advantage. Sadly, I’m not that charismatic to convince someone of such an assist. And I’m betting not many others who would use the app are, either.
I think most TF players won’t mind shelling out the $10 asking price, particularly because of how good these maps are. Runoff and Swampland have their quirks, but they can still play host to some epic matches for play types in their proverbial wheelhouses. And, for me, War Games plays, looks, and feels exactly the way a map in this game should. In the future, I would like to see four or five maps per drop to really solidify that expunged Hamilton greenback from our credit/debit accounts. Having said that, this is a solid start.
