Titanfall 2 has dropped into the middle of gaming’s biggest release season.
Just like those player-summoned Titans that plunge into the thick of battle, the game is looking to withstand the immense firing line of a string of well-received and well-established FPS franchises.
Unlike Destiny or Battlefield or Call of Duty, Respawn Entertainment and EA have only had one shot to impress. Two years ago the first Titanfall released to massive amounts of hype and anticipation. A shooter with giant mechs developed by the guys who created Modern Warfare? Sold! But the game was an Xbox and PC exclusive at a time when Sony gained an unprecedented amount of momentum with the PS4.
Despite a dedicated fanbase and good reviews, Titanfall wasn’t as popular as it could have been. The sequel hopes to rectify some of the mistakes made by the original, namely the lack of a single player campaign and no PlayStation release. The result is an engaging and addictive shooter that brings something different for gamers wanting more than boots-on-the-ground combat. In the campaign, players take on the role of Jack Cooper, a normal soldier in the Militia who has big dreams of being a fabled Pilot. Pilots are elite soldiers with cool abilities who take control of Titans. After a battle leaves nearly everyone in his unit massacred, Cooper is unceremoniously given the title of Pilot and authorization over BT-7274. BT and its original Pilot had the task of meeting up with Major Anderson who was off on some mysterious mission.
Cooper and BT battle their way through an alien planet’s hostile wildlife, grunt soldiers, robots, and a band of fierce mercenaries that also pilot powerful Titans. The first half of Titanfall 2’s campaign is mainly by the books as far as FPS campaigns go. Players start out with a simple mission that takes them through galleries of impressive sci-fi shootouts where they are eventually led to a midpoint that raises the stakes.
Shooting is handled very well in the game which is crucial for the enjoyment of any FPS. Weapons aren’t entirely memorable in the campaign but feature a healthy amount of practical bullet-based guns and futuristic weapons that make enemies explode into violent chunks. It’s satisfying watching the helmets fly off soldiers when making a headshot or outflanking a difficult group of enemies by activating your cloak and shotgunning them from behind.
None of this would feel as impressive without the addition of Pilot mobility and controlling BT. Like Titanfall before it (and Black Ops 3 if you want to make the comparison), players can run along walls and slide to gain more speed and get incredible kills that play into the game’s push for mobility and fast gameplay. There isn’t a reliance on platforming sections and players are only asked to test their jumping mettle a handful of times over the course of the campaign in some truly thrilling and tense moments.
BT emerges as the true star of the game both mechanically and narratively. In a surprising use of player agency, Cooper can respond to BT in a number of ways. The Titan can be treated like a fellow soldier and friend or kept at a giant arm’s length. The banter between the main characters really seals the bond these two have and watching their relationship and trust grow over time is one of the story’s true strengths. While Titanfall 2 can’t compete with narrative-driven games, it doesn’t mean the story is lacking in quality. The budding comradery with Cooper and BT fuels the slower sections of the first chapters. But after a new game mechanic and plot twist in the second half of the game, the story becomes more engaging and exciting.
Piloting BT one of the pillars of the Titanfall experience. Over the course of the game players will pick up different weapons that represent Titan loadouts. Each one uses a different primary weapon and set of skills that are important to master when facing difficult situations. Players encountering heavy fire from enemies would do best to use the Ion loadout and its vortex shield that soaks up bullets and missiles and shoots them back at enemies. If you want to close the distance then pick Ronin with its fast speed and sword. All Titans feel unique to play with and always give the player a sense of true power in the campaign.
As a note, I would suggest experienced FPS players to begin the game on Master difficulty. The standard difficulty is just too easy and doesn’t show off the true qualities of Titanfall 2’s campaign. Master difficulty requires smarter use of guns, agility, and Titan loadouts to effectively survive and take out enemies. And if it’s too hard, it’s easy to change.
Despite criticism of the first game’s lack of a story, it may be a saving grace for Titanfall 2. Respawn have shown their skill at crafting a campaign worthy of the best shooters and it’s hard to imagine the developer would have knocked it out of the park on their first try, especially when the first game was so focused on a one-of-a-kind multiplayer experience. An acceptable balance is struck between going solo as Cooper and piloting or working together with BT. Players who enjoy deep lore in their games won’t find a lot here but hopefully Respawn further fleshes out the Titanfall universe in future installments.
The real catch of Titanfall 2 is the multiplayer experience. Respawn offers something that is truly unlike anything on the multiplayer market right now. Across a variety of modes including team deathmatch, capture the flag, hardpoint control, and more, players will face off against other pilots and the looming threat of giant Titans dropping from the sky and crushing everything in their paths.
Virtually every mechanic from the campaign is carried over into multiplayer. Learning the maps is extremely important as it gives you an understanding of the best hiding spots and where wall running and double jumping will be key to survival. Homestead, Exoplanet, Eden, and Drydock are some of the best maps in the game. In fact, nearly all of Titanfall 2’s maps feature great lanes of action and enough surfaces to climb and camp from. Complex may be the worst map because its tight spaces and narrow hallways make Titan combat a chore. Every map features a few high buildings or surfaces players will relentlessly snipe from, which can be frustrating. The frantic pace of the game and the amount of stuff happening does make it easy for observant players to kill those who are off guard.
Players can choose between a number of Pilot loadouts with more options becoming available after leveling up. A Pilot can be equipped with one tactical skill such as a grapple hook, cloak, sonar knife, phase shift, or stim. These abilities have a cooldown after being activated and are meant to give a slight advantage in the moment-to-moment gameplay. I found that a lot of players relied on cloak to sneak around maps and surprise players. The skill isn’t overpowered since cloaked players have a slight glimmer to them. As it stands, not all tactical abilities are created equal and some seem overwhelmingly beneficial to all playstayles while a handful need a deft hand to take advantage of.
One primary weapon and one pistol or anti-Titan weapon can be equipped in addition to a grenade. It will be easy to find an initial favorite but assault rifles and LMGs are the most reliable for distance and close encounters. The amount of mobility granted to players makes shotguns, snipers, and SMGs a lot more situational than in most multiplayer games. Players also select one boost that acts similar to a scorestreak. After enough points or time has passed, boosts are activated that provide useful equipment like a front-facing shield, bonus battery for your Titan, amped weapons that do more damage, or a way to see opponents through walls. Boosts are more powerful than tactical abilities and further help you cater to a specific playstyle or mode. Time to kill in Titanfall 2 is pretty fast and there are only a few times where players will be able to escape with their life after being shot at. Some may be turned off by this style of multiplayer but it works in favor of the constantly shifting tide of battle as Titans come and go and objectives change. In my first days of playing the game a few connection problems did exist. In one match me and my party were finishing up and right as it was about to conclude we were kicked, losing any unlocks and experience that were gained. Matchmaking isn’t great as players have to manually invite each other through the PS4 UI rather than just joining a friend in game and sometimes one of your friends won’t be brought in to a match or randomly dropped without knowing.
Servers and player created networks exist to allow for quick joining but they aren’t without a little frustration from time to time. Like any online game, there will be players that lag horribly but it never seems to work in their favor. As the weeks and months continue, hopefully the remainder of matchmaking and server problems will be remedied.
Most players’ favorite part of Titanfall 2’s multiplayer will be summoning a Titan and having it crunch an enemy team or duke it out with another Titan. For the most part, Titans are relatively balanced in their strengths and weaknesses. The sniping and flying Northstar Titan and Ronin have low health but can inflict massive damage. But Legion often feels overpowered with the ability to shoot a minigun that does massive damage while also protecting itself with a shield. It’s also important to level up your Titan as you can unlock bonus perks for them such as detonating with a massive explosion after losing all health or ones that benefit that specific Titan.
Titan combat is best when you are playing in unison with five other friends, working together on team composition and how to best decimate your opponents. Titanfall 2 has given me some of my favorite moments in a multiplayer experience ever. There were times I dived into the thick of battle outnumbered and detonating in front of three Titans, destroying them all and their pilots inside. I’ve often sat inside a building firing off grenades, weakening a Titan that was harassing a friend only to jump on its back, pull out its battery, and heal my friend’s Titan. Players will feel like a vehicle of death and destruction in so many thrilling ways. It’s an adrenaline rush in most circumstances, especially when a match ends with nearly every player on your team in a Titan.
Bounty Hunt and Attrition are the modes that will get the most mileage out of the community. Attrition is similar to team deathmatch but there are AI enemies that players can also attack. Killing anything grants points with human players, strong robotic reapers, and Titans rewarding the most points. Bounty Hunt throws together multiple scenarios in which players try and make money to bank at the end of rounds. Dying to an enemy will take away half your cash and give it to them, so keeping all your money until the end of a round can be stressful but exciting.
As fun as the multiplayer can be, it’s over too fast. Matches currently have a very low maximum point and/or time threshold, Attrition often ends as a result of time running out while Amped Hardpoint matches can last only two or three minutes with its confusingly low win goal. But these are all issues Respawn can address as players continue spending time in the game and the community provides useful feedback. Personally, I wish that leveling up your multiplayer character was a bit more rewarding. To gain a level, merits need to be earned by winning matches, performing well, getting kills with guns, and getting kills in a Titan. As you “level up” a gun or Titan with kills, it takes increasingly more kills to earn a merit. There aren’t many actual challenges for players to complete outside of getting headshots or assists with their gear. And outside of earning new equipment or permanently unlocking rewards with credits, leveling only gives paint jobs to everything. None of the paints are very exciting outside of designs for the front of a Titan which have ridiculous leveling requirements to earn.
Even with its flaws, Titanfall 2 is one of the best shooters of the season and one of the most entertaining games of the year. Respawn Entertainment’s choice to include a campaign paid off because the journey players will go on is exciting from beginning to end as they fight alongside Cooper and BT. Though multiplayer has a tiny amount of kinks to work out, there is little that can compare to jumping into a match and watching the mayhem unfold whether as a Pilot or in your very own Titan.
Reviewed for PS4