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"Stand by for Titanfall!" |
Hype can be a double-edged sword in the video game industry.
While some is obviously needed to generate excitement for an upcoming title,
too much hype may lead to unrealistic expectations. During E3 2013, one such game
featuring mechs versus free-running humans generated so much hype that by the
end if the show it was widely considered to be the next evolutionary step in
the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. That game was Titanfall, and it was quickly on a hype train that would continue
to build steam until it was released on March 11, 2014. Once released, only one
question was on every gamer’s mind: “Does Titanfall
live up to the hype?”
Simply put, absolutely.
The developers over at Respawn Entertainment have managed to
create a fast and frenetic game that plays incredibly smooth and feels amazingly balanced.
Given the dramatic differences between the two avatars you control - the Pilots
and the Titans – that’s no small task. Titans are slow, lumbering giants that
stomp about the battlefield armed with massive weapons capable of delivering loads
of destruction.
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Titans may be lumbering powerhouses, but Pilots have the speed and agility to reach places Titans simply can't get to. |
Pilots, on the other hand, are obviously smaller and frailer
but are much faster and more agile opponents that rely on darting in and out of
buildings and wall-running to reach vantage points high above Titans. From
there, Pilots can use specialized Anti-Titan weapons to deliver devastating
amounts of damage. Or, if a Pilot can get close enough, they can jump on the
back of a Titan and destroy it by shooting at exposed wiring, which can create
some impressive “David versus Goliath” moments. But it’s not just this
balancing act alone that makes Titanfall such
a blast to play.
Respawn takes many of the familiar features of modern FPS
and tweak them in ways that makes Titanfall
accessible to players of variable skill levels, the biggest being that only the
best players should be rewarded. Titanfall
instead rewards players for simply playing the game, whether it’s killing other
players, AI opponents, or simply parkouring around the map. And instead of
coming in the form of map dominating weapons, rewards come in the form of Burn
Cards (temporary perks) or time shaved off your next Titan Drop. Which calling in your Titan is always satisfying, no matter how many times you've done it.
For players that tend to find themselves having little-to-no luck with
one-on-one confrontations against other players, Respawn sprinkled plenty of AI opponents throughout the battlefield for you to pick off as well as a few micro
objectives (such as capturing a stationary gun) to complete, which allows you
to still contribute to your team’s overall score. It's a nice touch added to the 6 vs 6 matches, livening up the playing field, and ensuring that everyone has plenty of stuff to shoot at while trying to gun each other down for the big points.
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It's not just you and the other players out there on the battlefield; there are plenty of AI opponents just waiting to be stepped on. |
It’s these minor revisions to the basic FPS formula that
makes Titanfall so refreshing and fun
to play in a genre that had begun to grow stagnant. Yet while Respawn managed
to balance and refine nearly every aspect of gameplay to create this sublime experience,
it’s that very same narrow focus that inspired Respawn to overlook or even omit
key features that without hampers the overall experience of Titanfall.
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Titans are always willing to lend a hand. |
The developer wasn’t shy to point out that Titanfall was going to be a multiplayer-only
experience. Though given
the ashes from which Respawn Entertainment was founded on, at the time it
may have seemed like a safe bet for the young studio. But after spending some
time in the universe of Titanfall,
you may find yourself wanting more background story. Titanfall’s so-called campaign is strictly multiplayer, with any story elements delivered in brief intros and dialogue via radio-chatter during matches. And amidst all the chaos, it can
be very easy miss.
The other noticeable shortcoming of Titanfall is the lack of variety of game modes. At launch, Titanfall only has five game types to
choose from: Attrition (team deathmatch), Hardpoint (domination), Pilot Hunter
(Attrition except only Pilot kills count), Last Titan Standing, and Capture the
Flag. Given the multiplayer only presentation, Titanfall’s very short list of gameplay modes to choose from may
lead some gamers to experience premature “ho-hums”. Fortunately this is likely to
be only a temporary issue as Respawn has
stated additional game modes are in the works as well as several other
updates and additions. Hopefully none of them will be mere rehashes of current
modes.
So, dropped from high orbit, my 2¢:
Titanfall is a
fantastically fun, frantic, and fast-paced game filled with some of the best
moments one can experience in a shooter. So far however, that’s what Titanfall consists mostly of – moments. With
its rather shallow delivery of multiplayer only and few game modes, Titanfall can begin to feel like a bit
of a grind when playing without friends at your side. Yet despite this, you’ll
immediately notice how well balanced Titanfall
plays and feels compared to other modern shooters, lending credence to the
claim that Titanfall is the evolutionary
step the genre needed. Hopefully the alluded
to Titanfall 2 will address the
few but noticeable shortcomings of Respawn’s first outing, producing what may
very well be the best first-person shooter we’ve seen in a long time.
(All photos courtesy of Respawn Entertainment)
(Originally posted @ examiner.com)
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