Where do I begin? I know, Titanfall is the blueprint that all shooters that come after it should use as the base. Titanfall does a whole lot right with very few wrongs. I have no doubt it will be emulated and borrowed from.
Titanfall is the perfect blending of Battlefield, Call of Duty and Unreal Championship. It's almost as if Respawn took the best of those franchises and molded them into one game. The maps are big but not so big you feel lost and spend a ton of time running just to get to the action. The maps are open but not so open that you are prone to be picked off by a camping sniper like in Battlefield. The maps have a great balance of openness and restriction but not over restricted like the maps had become in Call of Duty pre Ghosts. The game has a near arena shooter feel like Unreal because of its speed and acrobatics. Titanfall made me realize just how much I miss arena shooters.
While the maps are big, the speed at which Titanfall plays makes the maps feel smaller and more managable. You always feel like you're a few steps away from action. I can liken it to NBA Jam. You never feel like you're out of the play. You can catch the enemy with speed or bounding around to cut him or her off. The speed, wall jumping and bounding brought back memories of hours of Unreal Championship on the original Xbox. I had reservations about the boost pack that every warrior uses in Titanfall. I am not a fan of Halo multiplayer because of the 'floatyness' of the jumping. I was pleasantly surprised that my reservations were for nothing. There's the perfect amount of float to each jump while still having weight with the character.
Burn cards should be employed by every shooter out there. They add a dimension to Titanfall not seen in any of the mainstream shooters now. For those that don't know what a burn card is, it's a playing card that you can only use once per life. They offer great boosts to your warrior but are gone the moment you die. You get three per round. You get the burn cards by playing the game. Complete challenges and get more burn cards. The burn cards can be a "amped" weapon to shorter wait times for your Titan. There's a quite a few of them and offer endless possibilities of the combinations you can use.
Titanfall has enemy AI bots. They're stupid but they're stupid for a reason. The bots make Titanfall accessible to anyone. It makes the less than stellar player able to contribute to his or her team's goal. Nothing is more frustration to a gamer than when they are getting nothing but destroyed at every turn. The bots allow less skilled players to actively participate in rounds while at the same time learning and getting better. They're fodder but could use some tweaking. More on that later.
When you win or lose a game there's an epilogue scene after the game. The game isn't over until the losing team's departure ship departs. If you win you have to prevent the loosing team from departing. If you lose you have to make it out alive. Simple enough but it adds a level of tension even though you might have just lost the match. It's a race and an exciting one. It's was pure brilliance on the part of Respawn to add this small, but ridiculously fun, post battle battle. There's a sense of accomplishment when you make it out or when you prevent anybody from evacuating.
In the chaotic world of Titanfall gameplay is imperative. The seamlessness that you can go from piloting your Titan, to your Titan being destroyed, to jumping on the back of another Titan and taking that down with your gun, to jumping off onto a building and engaging the enemy is... It's hard to describe the feeling and really needs to be experienced. You're always engaged in the game. There's no downtime and there's always something to do. The action is non-stop but it's not overwhelming. It's a perfect balance. The game's challenges seem to be endless. I find myself wanting to know what challenges I met when the game is over.
Oh yeah... those Titans. When you get your first Titan you feel like a king. Then you get destroyed in a minute and you feel like a total newb. While the Titans are awesome you have to know how to control one to be able to excel with them. You can't just go around and shoot everything in sight. Though that does work sometimes. You have to be aware of the flank and where your cover is. Titan vs Titan battles are awesome, but, if you're not ready for it, your piloting time will be very short. The demo only has one class and it seems as if it's the more rounded class. I had piloted another Titan with a burn card but I can't remember what the class was. It was fast as lightning but couldn't take much damage.
Where Titanfall could use some work.
There are a couple of areas where Titanfall could use tweaking and more attention. The first is obviously the graphics. On the Xbox One they are pretty average. I would say they are on par with Call of Duty: Ghosts. Other than being critical of it during training the graphics became an after thought. They're not a deal breaker because Titanfall does so much right you forget about it the moment you play an actual game. There are also some frame rate issues that pop up here and there but they seem to be few and far between. Again, nothing game breaking. Hopefully Respawn can fix that before the game goes gold. You're not buying Titanfall for the looks. You're buying it for the gameplay and the enjoyment and it delivers in both areas. People will harp of the graphics and that's understandable. But, he game does enough right that it shouldn't prevent most from flat out enjoying the experience.
While the AI is an awesome inclusion the amount of points they're worth when you kill one should be adjusted. I think having each one worth .5 of a point in attrition games would be the sweet spot. That would make each game last longer, one gripe is that each game is too short, while still allow the less skilled players contribute to his or her's team's goal. Also, the intelligence level should be increased a tiny bit if possible. They shouldn't be on the cheap level of Motaro from Mortal Kombat but I would really like to see them a little bit more intelligent. The same goes for your Titan when it's on auto-pilot.
Tweaks to improve Titanfall.
Titanfall can use some minor tweaks that will make an already enjoyable game much more enjoyable. Between game times need to be halved. Ninety seconds is way too long to wait between games. At most, the wait should be 45 seconds. It feels like an eternity waiting for the next game to start. I'm not sure what the size of the rest of the maps are since he beta only has three maps, but, smaller maps, with human controlled characters only, would appease to the competitive side of gamers and gamers that want nothing to do with the AI controlled character. Sometimes you just don't want to bother with the AI but the current maps are too big for only 6 vs. 6 human controlled games. A sent of playlists where the smart pistol is prohibited would be a nice addition too. Since it's considered a main weapon, and not a pistol, it's only good at medium and close distances but it does feel a tad bit too 'newbcannon' like.
Closing thoughts.
Six vs. 6. It was the cause of a lot of moaning. Having experienced Titanfall 6 vs. 6 is not the end of the world some had made it out to be. It's necessary to keep the player count low because of all of the chaos on each map. Maybe, just maybe, 8 vs. 8 would work. Eight vs. 8 is the absolute max I would go though. The game is absolute chaos but it's not so chaotic that it becomes impossible to play. I think the game can handle 8 vs. 8 but I wouldn't want more than that.
There's so much about Titanfall that I can write and I'm sure I missed a lot. What it comes down to is Titanfall is one of the most fun games, and video game experiences, I've played, and had, in a long time. It's brought back some very fun memories of my gaming past and added some twists that set it apart from anything out there currently. Games are meant to be fun and engaging to gamers. Titanfall does that in spades and then some. It's exceeded my expectations and this was only a beta. Titanfall is, bar none, one of the most enjoyable games to play.
Titanfall is the perfect blending of Battlefield, Call of Duty and Unreal Championship. It's almost as if Respawn took the best of those franchises and molded them into one game. The maps are big but not so big you feel lost and spend a ton of time running just to get to the action. The maps are open but not so open that you are prone to be picked off by a camping sniper like in Battlefield. The maps have a great balance of openness and restriction but not over restricted like the maps had become in Call of Duty pre Ghosts. The game has a near arena shooter feel like Unreal because of its speed and acrobatics. Titanfall made me realize just how much I miss arena shooters.
While the maps are big, the speed at which Titanfall plays makes the maps feel smaller and more managable. You always feel like you're a few steps away from action. I can liken it to NBA Jam. You never feel like you're out of the play. You can catch the enemy with speed or bounding around to cut him or her off. The speed, wall jumping and bounding brought back memories of hours of Unreal Championship on the original Xbox. I had reservations about the boost pack that every warrior uses in Titanfall. I am not a fan of Halo multiplayer because of the 'floatyness' of the jumping. I was pleasantly surprised that my reservations were for nothing. There's the perfect amount of float to each jump while still having weight with the character.
Burn cards should be employed by every shooter out there. They add a dimension to Titanfall not seen in any of the mainstream shooters now. For those that don't know what a burn card is, it's a playing card that you can only use once per life. They offer great boosts to your warrior but are gone the moment you die. You get three per round. You get the burn cards by playing the game. Complete challenges and get more burn cards. The burn cards can be a "amped" weapon to shorter wait times for your Titan. There's a quite a few of them and offer endless possibilities of the combinations you can use.
Titanfall has enemy AI bots. They're stupid but they're stupid for a reason. The bots make Titanfall accessible to anyone. It makes the less than stellar player able to contribute to his or her team's goal. Nothing is more frustration to a gamer than when they are getting nothing but destroyed at every turn. The bots allow less skilled players to actively participate in rounds while at the same time learning and getting better. They're fodder but could use some tweaking. More on that later.
When you win or lose a game there's an epilogue scene after the game. The game isn't over until the losing team's departure ship departs. If you win you have to prevent the loosing team from departing. If you lose you have to make it out alive. Simple enough but it adds a level of tension even though you might have just lost the match. It's a race and an exciting one. It's was pure brilliance on the part of Respawn to add this small, but ridiculously fun, post battle battle. There's a sense of accomplishment when you make it out or when you prevent anybody from evacuating.
In the chaotic world of Titanfall gameplay is imperative. The seamlessness that you can go from piloting your Titan, to your Titan being destroyed, to jumping on the back of another Titan and taking that down with your gun, to jumping off onto a building and engaging the enemy is... It's hard to describe the feeling and really needs to be experienced. You're always engaged in the game. There's no downtime and there's always something to do. The action is non-stop but it's not overwhelming. It's a perfect balance. The game's challenges seem to be endless. I find myself wanting to know what challenges I met when the game is over.
Oh yeah... those Titans. When you get your first Titan you feel like a king. Then you get destroyed in a minute and you feel like a total newb. While the Titans are awesome you have to know how to control one to be able to excel with them. You can't just go around and shoot everything in sight. Though that does work sometimes. You have to be aware of the flank and where your cover is. Titan vs Titan battles are awesome, but, if you're not ready for it, your piloting time will be very short. The demo only has one class and it seems as if it's the more rounded class. I had piloted another Titan with a burn card but I can't remember what the class was. It was fast as lightning but couldn't take much damage.
Where Titanfall could use some work.
There are a couple of areas where Titanfall could use tweaking and more attention. The first is obviously the graphics. On the Xbox One they are pretty average. I would say they are on par with Call of Duty: Ghosts. Other than being critical of it during training the graphics became an after thought. They're not a deal breaker because Titanfall does so much right you forget about it the moment you play an actual game. There are also some frame rate issues that pop up here and there but they seem to be few and far between. Again, nothing game breaking. Hopefully Respawn can fix that before the game goes gold. You're not buying Titanfall for the looks. You're buying it for the gameplay and the enjoyment and it delivers in both areas. People will harp of the graphics and that's understandable. But, he game does enough right that it shouldn't prevent most from flat out enjoying the experience.
While the AI is an awesome inclusion the amount of points they're worth when you kill one should be adjusted. I think having each one worth .5 of a point in attrition games would be the sweet spot. That would make each game last longer, one gripe is that each game is too short, while still allow the less skilled players contribute to his or her's team's goal. Also, the intelligence level should be increased a tiny bit if possible. They shouldn't be on the cheap level of Motaro from Mortal Kombat but I would really like to see them a little bit more intelligent. The same goes for your Titan when it's on auto-pilot.
Tweaks to improve Titanfall.
Titanfall can use some minor tweaks that will make an already enjoyable game much more enjoyable. Between game times need to be halved. Ninety seconds is way too long to wait between games. At most, the wait should be 45 seconds. It feels like an eternity waiting for the next game to start. I'm not sure what the size of the rest of the maps are since he beta only has three maps, but, smaller maps, with human controlled characters only, would appease to the competitive side of gamers and gamers that want nothing to do with the AI controlled character. Sometimes you just don't want to bother with the AI but the current maps are too big for only 6 vs. 6 human controlled games. A sent of playlists where the smart pistol is prohibited would be a nice addition too. Since it's considered a main weapon, and not a pistol, it's only good at medium and close distances but it does feel a tad bit too 'newbcannon' like.
Closing thoughts.
Six vs. 6. It was the cause of a lot of moaning. Having experienced Titanfall 6 vs. 6 is not the end of the world some had made it out to be. It's necessary to keep the player count low because of all of the chaos on each map. Maybe, just maybe, 8 vs. 8 would work. Eight vs. 8 is the absolute max I would go though. The game is absolute chaos but it's not so chaotic that it becomes impossible to play. I think the game can handle 8 vs. 8 but I wouldn't want more than that.
There's so much about Titanfall that I can write and I'm sure I missed a lot. What it comes down to is Titanfall is one of the most fun games, and video game experiences, I've played, and had, in a long time. It's brought back some very fun memories of my gaming past and added some twists that set it apart from anything out there currently. Games are meant to be fun and engaging to gamers. Titanfall does that in spades and then some. It's exceeded my expectations and this was only a beta. Titanfall is, bar none, one of the most enjoyable games to play.
so I agree, slight increase in intelligence would be nice.
