With the release of Titanfall on the Xbox One, many XB1 owners felt the need to let PS4 owners know what they were missing. Outside of big robots, fast gameplay, the ability to walk walls, the main thing that they let PS4 owners know they were missing was a campaign mode. While everyone could agree that Titanfall looked positively pretty on the new console and featured some interesting and intense multiplayer action, it still never felt complete. It was almost as if it was rushed a bit to meet some silly deadline to make a system better or more popular. *AHEM*
Anyway, we all felt the sting, which equaled out to what most describe as half a game. Regardless, it sold well and set up Respawn to begin making a sequel. A FULL sequel.
And wow, did they make a sequel. A FULL sequel.
The campaign mode, a competent and endearing story that lasted around 5-6 hours in length, was put into Titanfall 2. The story follows a trainee foot soldier for the Frontier Militia named Jack Cooper that was dead set on becoming a pilot for a Titan. During his unauthorized pilot training with mentor Captain Lastimosa, Lastimosa is killed in combat. Prior to dying, he gives orders to his titan, BT-7274, to obey and work with Jack, thus making Jack the new pilot. After taking over the titan, and going through several tutorial-esque like missions, Jack and BT-7274 go on a hunt to track down intel about enemy IMC, what they’re doing to progress their efforts in the war and help to stop a natural disaster from happening that could shift the tide of war in the Frontier Militia’s favor.
It sounds like a simple plot that Respawn threw out there, but they did a fantastic job in shaping the relationship between Jack and BT, while building a strong story that features some insane gameplay design to go with it. The balance in Titanfall 2 between story and gameplay design is one of the more impressive development jobs I’ve seen in the last few years. There are some creative elements in play in the game. For example, there is a level where you have to jump back and forth through time to acquire information about the IMC’s plans. The time jumping shifts in the main complex you’re in and changes the environment’s state. What I mean by this is that the past has the complex full of enemy soldiers and stable in design, so when you go back to it you have to be aware of the enemy presence in your environment. The present has a devastated complex with wild creatures, hazards and missing parts, which you have to equally be aware of in the story. To progress in the mission you have to jump back and forth at the right times (pun intended) to get through enemies, wildlife, unusual complex obstacles and find your way back to BT. It’s an insane level that just gets more brutal as you progress through it.
The gameplay design from mission to mission is generally different and creatively put together. It’s not just point and shoot like some first-person shooter experiences. It’s jump, shoot, climb, push button, get in titan, go do A-Z and then come back. Plenty of variety for the campaign to offer up new material from mission to mission.
With that said, the biggest downer in the campaign is the artificial intelligence, mainly in the enemies, which is a bit middle of the road.
While there is no doubt some variation from boss to boss, there’s nothing really special about the typical NPC characters that come at you in the game or that help you out. They do have a great sense of self-preservation when it comes to seeing the odds go against them, but for the most part the NPCs are forgettable. I’m not sure that’s the worst thing in the world, but it was noticeable during my time through the campaign mode and sometimes it does affect some gameplay, but mostly not.
The bosses are a step up from the regular NPC, but they still weren’t very tough to defeat. I think the only real challenge I had during my gameplay session with Titanfall 2’s campaign was the second to last boss battle. BT-7274 was already depleted from battling other minor titans and the game didn’t give me a chance to find green energy capsules before Titanfall-ing the boss. It was challenging, but finding a pattern after a while proved to be easy and the ultimate solution to getting passed that boss. Definitely a step up from the NPC, but should have been more challenging as the adventure progressed.
Anyway, the campaign was damn good overall. I will probably go back and play through it again, now that I have my barring on the controls, which were easier than I thought — far more intuitive once everything got going, and see if I can do better. There are plenty of trophies to acquire, so I might just make December my goal for those.
Overall, the design and story of Titanfall 2’s campaign mode left me happy. It was a fun campaign and it certainly treated the characters right, as it made them more memorable and endearing than I thought a FPS campaign would nowadays. You definitely won’t be disappointed in what Respawn did here.
In terms of presentation value, this Titanfall title looks much better than the original. The environments are a lot more detailed, as there is plenty of draw distance in the game. There isn’t a helluva lot of rendering going on, as Respawn’s developer team did a great job of figuring out the current generation hardware. They must have knocked on DICE’s door a few times to get some Battlefront-like advice for their environments, characters and titans. Everything looked gorgeous, though not quite as pretty as Battlefield 1. Regardless, Titanfall 2 is its own kind of pretty and it feels visually complete. They did a great job with texture detail, usage of lighting techniques (you’ll see that in the first mission, as it is so good) and shadows and shading.
On the audio side of things, the dialogue is well-written and performed, as is the music composition that goes along with the adventure. It adds quite a bit of audible momentum in the game.
Presentation-wise it was darn good from end to end.
On the multiplayer side of Titanfall 2, there’s a lot to be happy about and some things that need improvements. First, the positive side.
The MP loadout experience, as well as leveling, is mostly old familiar in structure. Pilots and Titans can be configured in multiple ways.
On the pilot side of things, you can choose your weapons and then the additional amenities that go along with them. While most of the amenities are limited in number, their viciousness refutes the numerical limitations. Choosing how you look through your sights on particular weapons or adding things like loading your gun quickly can be imperative during battle, if not simplistic decisions that are decisive to a match. In addition, you can do things like change the weapon colors, as you can unlock color schemes when you progress in the game.
Outside of the usual, you also get two kits that allow you to improve your chances of success, which include things like regenerating your health or quickly teleporting into your titan to avoid pre-titan death (that sounded very medical). Beyond kits, the loadouts also include how you can melee/excute your opponents. There’s nothing quite like kneeing someone in the head (a favorite of mine in the campaign).
Titan loadouts are a bit more uncomplicated in selection, as you have kits divided up that help support each type of Titan. For example, I mainly use the Ion Titan, which comes with a Titan kit, Ion Kit and Titanfall Kit. The Ion Kit is related to my Titan type, while the Titan Kit and Titanfall Kit are repeated categories that help all titans out in the game. The Titan Kit allows you to do things like auto-eject from a titan stealthy (my favorite of the bunch so far) without being noticed, which works wonders in the Last Titan Standing mode, if your pilot has the right secondary weapon (see modes below for details). You can also do things like launch an electric smoke cloud or get an extra dash (invaluable) with this kit.
The other kit is solely used for protecting your titan (and you to an extent) after it performs a titanfall. Nothing too special here, but it can be darn useful.
Loadouts aside, let’s talk modes.
The majority of what you come in contact with, in terms of modes, offers up enough variety that any MP fan will be satisfied with the end results. Here are the modes you get:
Bounty Hunt – I think I played more of this than anything else, but it’s a 5v5 gameplay that earns you bucks when you dispatch people in the match. Get enough money, bank it in little remote banking robots and keep going. The most money wins the match. It’s simplistic in nature and it consists of short bursts of intense action. I enjoyed this one very much.
Amped Hardpoint – It’s exactly what it says in the name. You capture and hold hardpoints to earn points. It’s up there with domination and several other variations of the same mode in different series. The maps are generally pretty tight, but the points are spread out enough to make this competitive. Snipers work really well in this mode.
Pilots vs. Pilots — Team deathmatch-ish in a way. It’s the mode that most resembles a good Call of Duty MP experience. Titanfalls are not included in this one, so get those running, jumping and shooting skills in check before you do it.
Attrition — Almost like a free-for-all. Kill or be killed in a 6v6 match. This works well and is simple enough for anyone with a moderate amount of skill to enjoy.
Last Titan Standing — I honestly didn’t know how I was going to feel about this, but I enjoyed it throughly. You’re playing on tight maps that are conducive to constant action. If you have the stealth ejection option on your titan for this, it can spread out the gameplay a bit and get interesting quick. I played this one happily and quite a bit.
Capture the Flag — This is a 5v5 match. Steal flag, get points. I wish this would be spruced up a bit by someone. I’m not just harping on Respawn for this, I mean ANYONE should find a new way to play this. It’s getting a little old at its base structure.
Free-for-all — Kill or be killed. If you like this insanity of 1v11, then have at it. I’m more team-oriented when it comes to my MP experience, so this didn’t interest me very much. I know there are some beautiful loonies out there that live and die by it. Nothing but respect, peeps.
Mixtape — This is what it says it is and it allows you to get a nice cornucopia of modes without worrying about backing out of one mode and going into another (those 30 seconds are so time consuming). This mode includes: Bounty Hunt, Last Titan Standing, Attrition, Amped Hardpoint, Pilots vs. Pilots and Capture the Flag.
8v8 Mixtape — Just like Mixtape except the variety of modes is limited to Amped Hardpoint and Skirmish. Bigger battles.
Coliseum — One-on-one for high rewards. You have to purchase a ticket to enter this one. It’s kind of like the Osiris levels on Destiny. Earn a coin to go play it against other players. One-on-one makes it more intense and the stakes seem a lot greater, especially in the pride category.
There is no disappointment about how many different ways you can play this title in the MP experience, as it has something for everyone. I think my tiny bit of disappointment from this part of the MP experience is the lack of players going at each other. I do understand there is a domino effect when you add more players to the mix, such as if you had a 20v20 or something insane like that, as it would be a network nightmare getting up to 20 titans at a time onscreen at once. In addition, if you add that many potential titans, then you have to expand the maps. If you make the maps too big, then your online game probably becomes too unstable and you run into a situation where people are having bad MP experiences — I’m sure no one wants that more than Respawn.
Anyway, somewhere down the road I would love to have epic size maps, Battlefield-esque, with giant armies of titans going at each other. Until then, this is but a minor complaint in a sea of positivity, as this game certainly deserves a heavy amount of praise for what it delivered this year.
Onto the summary!
