The video game industry is one of the most competitive businesses in the market. There are hundreds of developers creating new games each year, and then there are publishers who try to get them out there and make them sell. It’s very hard to predict whether your game will be a smash success or if it will be a financial flop. Some developers quit the industry entirely, because their games failed to capture the audience it was intended for. The video game industry is very competitive, but if you were to ask what genre in video games is the most competitive it would be the first person shooter genre. Mainly big budget multiplayer online shooters. They are a way for millions of people to unite together and test their skills against each other. For the most part. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, and Overwatch are some of the biggest shooters in the market right now. The one thing they have in common is that they are big sprawling multiplayer games with hundreds of servers hosting each game.
They sell extremely well making billions each year. Online multiplayer is great, but it's nice to go back to a time when everything was much simpler. When shooters weren’t so focused on being competitive, but accessible to any type of person. Remember when we were offered uniquely told single player experiences that didn’t require friends to actually have a fun time? Now I know there are a lot of gamers who are going to tell me multiplayer games are as important as single player games. Some of their greatest friends were made online. I still want to see quality put into the single player modes of first person shooters, because in recent memory developers have strayed far away from crafting good campaigns. It wasn’t until 2016 that we got two excellent first person shooters that proved maybe pouring time into making a good solo experience is what drags players into their game. The first successful single player shooter of 2016 was the fast paced Doom developed by legendary Id Software, which proved that old school shooter design still works today and turned out to be more engaging than an average Call of Duty campaign. The second single player shooter, while not selling as many copies as the publisher intended due to being released at a poor time, was considered one of the best shooter campaigns to be released. That game was Titanfall 2 which was developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts.
The team was founded by Jason West and Vince Zampella who used to work on the Call of Duty franchise. They left Infinity Ward and decided to form their own studio with their own first person shooter in mind. They wanted to stray away from the trends most first person shooters had and make something much faster and brutal. The game would have a more sci-fi focus than Call of Duty or Battlefield and the player would rely on two methods of fighting. Running around at jet speed while parkouring across an arena, and piloting a colossal mech to stop on foes and counter the other team who also were piloting mechs. This was the basic concept for Titanfall. The game would be published by Electronic Arts and they would even make a partnership with Microsoft to test the upcoming Xbox One’s hardware. When Titanfall released it was received pretty well. I say pretty good, because while reception for the game was higher than expected the player numbers dropped within a few months. The shooter genre is competitive, but trying to establish a new franchise amongst a crowded genre is basically a suicidal move. There was also the fact that Titanfall had a season pass which contained a good amount of the content that would be added later on, and the game lacked a single player campaign meaning it was multiplayer exclusive. This was kinda a bad move since live service subscriptions can end up being double the price of the game you just bought. Titanfall wasn’t a bad game, but it certainly would have done better if it wasn’t lacking. There were plans for a sequel, but Respawn Entertainment was struggling to find out how to make this game perform better than the first.
In the end they decided to remove the season pass this time around and add in what could have made the first game so passable: a single player campaign. However, production and time spent on the campaign would be stepped up unlike most first person shooters. The team wanted the campaign to be the best it could and showcase what made Titanfall so awesome in the first place. Titanfall 2 is set to release in late 2016 around the same time other famous first shooters are coming. That was a big mistake right there. It was released between the time of Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Sales for the game were lower than Respawn Entertainment wanted and Titanfall 2 ended up dying out faster than Battlefield 1 or Infinite Warfare. The game that Respawn spent so much time devoting themselves to was left in the dust, but those who did check Titanfall 2 out were met with a surprise.
Gamers absolutely loved the single player campaign Respawn made. Stating it could possibly have been the best campaign to come out that generation due to all the crazy ideas and mechanics they had on display. They also refined the gameplay and more people were beginning to understand why Titanfall was unique. Titanfall 2 was praised by several review outlets and even got nominated for overall Game of The Year unlike Battlefield 1. It’s nice to see the game that sold less copies get the nominations it deserved. Titanfall 2 is so amazing and it contains one of my top favorite FPS campaigns of all time. Today we’ll be talking about why I love Titanfall 2 and why it deserves your attention. So load up that smart pistol, and standby for titanfall.
Story
We play as Jack Cooper, one of many riflemen who works for a special military group known as the Militia. Mankind has discovered new ways to explore the galaxy and one of the many planets they discovered is inhabitable is what they deem the Frontier. The wildlife is exotict, the planet is littered with tons of natural resources, and there are strange mysteries that lie even further. Big corporations have tried to take control of the Frontier and make use of the many resources planets like these have. One such company is the Interstellar Manufacturing Company otherwise known as the IMC. These corporations use the planet’s resources to construct houses and machinery, but they also use these resources to construct weaponry and equipment designed for battle. One of such pieces of equipment are Titans, originally designed to do manual work that required numerous people were then redesigned to help out in battle.
The Titans are capable of fighting and thinking on their own, but during a battle they require a Pilot to be put to good use. The connection and communication skills between a Pilot and Titan is what makes them a formidable duo, and sometimes their connection can end up turning into a brotherly relationship. The IMC is a corporation abusing the Frontier’s resources and they have been making illegal business deals with unknown factions. The Militia, a united force, is sent in to deal with IMC but this conflict ends up evolving into a war. The war has been going on for a while now and the stakes are placed even higher now that the IMC have hired skilled mercenaries to lead their army and they are beginning to experiment with dangerous technology.
Cooper fights for the Militia and it is his job to protect mankind and keep balance no matter what. He is trained by Captain Tai Latsimosa who is one of many highly skilled Pilots for the Militia. Cooper has been taught the skills of a Pilot through virtual simulations, but hasn’t quite met the requirement to be one. Latsimosa hopes that his greatest student can one day be a well respected Pilot like him, and Cooper hopes that one day he can live up to Latsimosa’s expectations. Cooper prepares to be sent down below to the Frontier, where Latsimosa and his team are ready for a deadly confrontation with the IMC. Their drop pods crash onto the surface below and Cooper is thrown into a clusterf*ck warzone. Soldiers are dying left and right while Cooper tries to stay alive long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. The IMC has brought a small selection of Titans to the battle and Cooper’s teammates are then overwhelmed. Cooper is about to get crushed to death, but he is then saved by Latsimosa who is controlling his Titan, BT-7274. Otherwise BT is too short. He tucks Cooper into a corner and tells him to wait until the battle is over. Lastimosa and BT cut down all the Titans in their path, but they are eventually defeated. Lastimosa is beaten to a pulp and Cooper passes out during the last few minutes of the fight.
He wakes up the next day to find Latsimosa bleeding his heart out and that BT is ready to be controlled. Latsimosa transfers control over to Cooper and dubs him the new pilot of BT without the permission of Militia officials. He wants Cooper and BT to locate the whereabouts of the Militia and have them escort them to wherever the IMC plan to go next. He then finally dies and Cooper creates a small stone grave to honor his death. Cooper then collects some batteries to power up BT and the two of them soon begin to explore The Frontier. There are tons of IMC forces who will try to stop them and the skilled mercenaries whom the company hired. It’s Jack Cooper versus the world and he has a giant mech to get through it. Cooper and BT will learn to work together and form an incredible friendship if they want to stop the IMC.
Gameplay
If Doom (2016) was more focused on being aggressive and getting up close and personal, then Titanfall 2 would focus more on being stylish and maneuvering from Point A to Point B. There are a few gimmicks that every first person shooter has. From the two weapons limited restriction to regenerating health. However, Titanfall 2 does something right. It knows that cover based shooting isn’t always the greatest way to engage the player, so enemies will always be trying to flank you and occasionally there will be Titans who will stomp you into the dirt. Your character has a basic walk speed, but their run speed is much faster than other shooters. You can build up momentum and use your several tricks to out maneuver your opponents and get the edge on them. You can double jump allowing you to traverse across long gaps. Slide quickly along the ground to fit through tight spaces and quickly get back up to continue running rather than having to wait until you get to a complete stop and then keep on running. You can run along walls and bounce back and forth between two surfaces to never touch the ground. In the multiplayer I heard the player has the ability to use a grappling hook, and combine that with the complex movement and you get a very fast paced game that rewards the player with fighting efficiently while zipping around like lightning. You can even reload your weapon while running which is very helpful when you are in a chaotic solution. In most shooters you have to go at your basic walk speed to reload, but here they always want you to be ready by allowing you to do while maintaining movement.
There are a plethora of guns to use and some of them are actually quite unique. You have a pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, missile launcher, plasma rifle, and many more. There’s this one weapon later on which has the spread of a shotgun, but the long range of a typical rifle and can easily pierce through foes. You have a small handful of grenades to throw at foes. From a regular fragmentation grenade to a grenade that is basically a black hole and sucks groups of enemies together before exploding. Titanfall 2 isn’t just known for it’s satisfying traversal options and time to kill.
As the name of the game suggests, there are also the Titans you can summon in combat and pilot. There are different classes to work with each with their own abilities and main weapon. In the campaign you can swap between classes to fit whatever scenario you are in, so the game does want you to experiment. For example the Ronin class uses a powerful shotgun-like cannon, can easily bash foes using a giant sword it carries, and it’s ultimate ability allows it to swing it’s sword around like a ninja. Ultimate abilities are powered up over time and can easily kill other Titans if used correctly. Your Titan moves much slower than you, has a long reload animation for weapons, and can’t jump. However, against Pilots alone they can cut them down easily and they have a dodge move to quickly evade attacks. They have a regenerating shield and a health bar. If the health bar reaches below zero then the Titan will explode. In the multiplayer if the Titan explodes you can quickly eject yourself from it. Sometimes you can use the explosion of a Titan to kill an area of enemies. In the campaign, if either Cooper or BT dies during combat then they are kicked back to a previous checkpoint.
There are also bosses in the campaign who will test your reflexes and ability to navigate around the arena. Besides that there really isn’t much else to say about Titanfall 2. There are some collectible helmets scattered around each level, but besides those there isn’t much else. Titanfall 2 is a game that uses both speed and brawn to get to where it needs to be. Hopefully you can take down the IMC forces in your way and hopefully chase them out of the Frontier. The synergy between man and machine.
Thoughts
Titanfall 2 is a really good game and I can easily recommend it to a lot of people. The story ended up exceeding my expectations and dragged me along for a lovely ride. Cooper and BT don’t seem like the type of duo to get along, but they end up becoming close friends within the first few missions. Their relationship works, because you and the player have to engage with that relationship to push forward. The ending was pretty sad and I can see the people who can force out a couple of men's tears while watching. The levels are another aspect that took me by surprise. They could have just gone for the typical: take cover and then keep pushing forward. Instead they went for unique levels each with their own theme. When I say these levels are unique I mean these are ideas most developers wouldn’t think of. A level where you navigate a factory building house and you have to use the newly added pieces to get to where you need to be. A level where you obtain a special energy gun to interact with machinery in the environment. The time travel level is possibly the best one as you switch between what is basically two different levels. These are wonderfully executed mechanics and they don’t overstay their welcome. One level and that's it. Gone for the rest of the campaign.
The Titan classes that you can switch to during the campaign helps add a little replay value to the section where you control BT. The graphics are crisp and some of the environments are dazzling to look at. I remember this one level where you're preparing to storm an airship. The planet’s evergreen stretches below you as several other ships prepare to storm the giant vessel. The controls are tight and your pilot’s movement is satisfying to master. Titanfall 2’s campaign is very short compared to the campaign of Halo: Combat Evolved or Doom (2016).. Lasting roughly about five to seven hours long depending on what difficulty you are playing on. It’s a good runtime for this game and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. The multiplayer I also heard is really good. Containing a wide selection of modes and really testing what the player learned in the campaign. It plays more like an arena shooter which I really like because it forces the player to master their abilities and make full use of whatever they have. There are a couple of microtransactions, but they're not in a way where they completely break the balance. It’s mostly just for cosmetics. At least Respawn was able to convince EA to not make a pay to win system. I wonder if EA kept that idea after Titanfall 2?
There aren’t that many complaints I have with Titanfall 2 besides a few nitpicks. The enemy AI kinda waits around to be killed and is easily abusable. Some of the sections to a few levels do a weird job at telling the player where they can and cannot go. I wish the grappling hook was available to use in the campaign. However, they would have needed to design the levels to accommodate the grappling hook and how it can fling you across long distances. In the multiplayer mode there are players who can launch themselves several feet into the air or launch themselves halfway across the map. Would have broken the campaign entirely. That's all my complaints to be honest.
Titanfall 2 is still an amazing first person shooter and compared to others in the market it stands out. It can be picked up for a really cheap price these days, so I say pick it up whenever you can. In the end I am giving Titanfall 2 a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
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