“Titanfall,” like all games, has its own flaws and has great room for improvement. With that in mind, the game still stands currently as the best competitive multiplayer shooter on the market. “Titanfall” takes everything that works that shooters fans know and love, but changes the formula enough to give us a fresh and fast-paced experience.
“Titanfall” is a competitive online-only shooter. First and foremost, enjoying online multiplayer is essential to enjoying this game. The one core weakness of “Titanfall” is its campaign experience. It passes on the typical single player and instead tries to integrate a campaign into multiplayer matches. During the process all sense of plot and character development are lost. It is almost impossible to pay attention to what is happening in the story while also trying to win a multiplayer match. The execution is flawed and it seems that “Titanfall” should have just cut this game mode all together.
But if you don’t care about a memorable campaign experience, welcome to some of the best online multiplayers.“Titanfall” doesn’t need a great campaign because every multiplayer match finds a way to produce a memorable “water cooler” moment. “Titanfall” lacks in terms of overall content, but makes up for this in quality.
The “Titanfall” controls are great are fluid and extremely easy to adapt to. Sprinting around maps, jet-packing, running along walls, and double jumping will all come naturally after only a few matches. The guns also feel incredible. Every gun has its own distinctive perks and flaws, but all of the game’s different weapons feel great to use. “Titanfall” does as good a job as any in producing an immersive experience giving you full control of your pilot and their weapons.
The maps are a huge highlight. The maps allow for titans to easily traverse throughout, while at the same time providing plenty of cover and buildings to run along for the pilots. The variety of maps is also extremely refreshing. There are larger open maps great for titan fighting and also small enclosed inner city maps packed with action. All maps play differently. They all force the player to adapt and try a new strategy, but they all still promote the great fast action -oriented experience that defines “Titanfall.”
The game does a great job of balancing the titan and pilot. The maps are made in a way that allows for both classes to easily travel from point A to B, but you never feel overpowered. Titans give you a huge suit of armor with a powerful weapon and unique special ability, but a single pilot can dominate the battlefield. It’s much easier for a titan to kill a pilot, because of how strong their weapons are, but at the same time the map designs and pilot speed give pilots all of the tools they need to take out an enemy titan. The game provides pilots with a variety of weapons and abilities which make fighting titans a manageable but still a challenging process.
Balance within “Titanfall” is a truly impressive feat. As mentioned, the pilots and titans have perks and flaws, neither one truly has an advantage as any good pilot can kill a titan. To go along with that balance, no weapon in the game feels truly more powerful than any other. There are a variety of weapons and perks but no weapon is really more powerful than another, they just change how you play the game. The smart pistol and snipers all have instant kill potential, but I found myself getting just as many kills with the different SMG’s and assault rifles. You will definitely have favorite weapons within the game, but the weapons you unlock at higher levels are not overpowered giving higher level players an advantage: a fact that is refreshing in such a fast-paced competitive game.
The only problem with the weapons in “Titanfall” was the lack of them. Comparative to a game like “Call of Duty” or “Battlefield,” “Titanfall” has a relatively small pool of weapons and perks to unlock. While I understand this is the first game in the series, it is kind of disappointing that there are so few things to unlock within the game. There are around 15 weapons and 20 different perks to unlock and customize, not including titan weapons and perks, but those numbers are tiny compared to what we see in other modern FPS titles. On top of this, levels are gained far too quickly in the game.
“Titanfall” lasts because of how different every experience is. It only has seven game modes, and one of those modes is a combination of the other game modes. These matches are all well thought-out and fun. It’s easy to enjoy every different match type, and at the same time not get bored no matter how many times a certain game mode is replayed. The use of titans and burn cards makes every match feel original.
Any person in “Titanfall” feels empowered and the game gives the player that feeling while still having a sense of balance. Never do you feel over powered in this game and in every match you will manage to pull off some move that surprises even yourself. The game is a purely competitive multiplayer shooter that manages to produce a unique water cooler moment in every match. There is great balance and diversity within the game. Although the game lacks some depth, it manages to push the boundaries and change the normal FPS game outline in memorable ways. If you are the type of person that puts hours of time into online matchmaking, then “Titanfall” is the game for you; it does everything you love in an FPS right, while still introducing great mechanics that are polished and balanced hopefully improving the genre for the future.
