Titanfall was a bit
of a flash in the pan. It was not a particularly big commercial success, but it
had a devoted fanbase that enjoyed it, and on a personal level I always
appreciated it’s design. The concept of mixing up the supremely popular
first-person shooter with the dying genre of mech combat was not a novel
concept at the time. Games have been mashing-up different genres with the
shooter to great success in recent past, but the approach taken with Titanfall felt unique: The mech combat
was fast-paced but without losing the telltale weightiness of a giant robot,
and the maps all functioned perfectly despite having to work on multiple sizing
scales. While I really enjoyed my time with it, ultimately it's multiplayer
user-base did not stay active for a long
enough time to become the next big thing, and that was in no small part due to
a multitude of issues with the game. The lack of a proper single player
campaign made the full $60 price tag a poor value proposition, and despite the
game feeling good, there was not much progression to be had in multiplayer to
encourage long-term play. These issues were all on the front of the collective
gaming mind when coming into Titanfall 2,
and I can say with confidence that what came out of Respawn Entertainment
this year improved the Titanfall
model on every individual level.
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Six different unique
titan models are available, bring your whole squad!
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What came out of this design process is a campaign that is
built around a series of mechanical vignettes that makes each mission feel
fresh, without losing its underlying charm. These entail a multitude of
differences, from something as simple as fighting side-by-side with your titan
on different warfronts, to sweeping mechanical changes that mess with game
components like time or the environment. It is not an exceedingly long
campaign, but the quality over quantity approach that is taken is greeted with
open arms by the modern adult gamers like me. I was able to complete it on the
normal difficulty in around six hours, but that didn’t stop me from going back
and going through the game again in a higher difficulty, despite this being a
practice that I reserve almost exclusively for Dark Souls titles and games from my childhood. While fun, the
experience was not perfect, the lack of mechanical focus at times made the
campaign feel a little disjointed. The goals and means of the player often
changed between missions, and the drastic changes in environment sometimes felt
like the devs were more concerned about set pieces than a unified aesthetic. Titanfall 2 similarly did not feel great
from a storyline perspective but, considering Titanfall had almost no story, I was not coming into the sequel
with high narrative expectations.
The story itself is loosely draped over the cool level design
and mechanics, and in that sense it isn’t great. It is a generic sci-fi story
of the space frontier rebelling against the oppressive government/industrial
complex, and I would say it is fine. Fine is not a dirty word in games when
regarding storylines, the medium has proved it is capable of doing more, but we
don't need every game to ‘reach for the feels’ like Depression Quest or Firewatch,
and that’s okay. What makes the story special to me is the angle. The player
still inhabits a generic McSuperSoldier, but the story takes an approach that
makes the A.I. inside your Titan the emotional center of our storyline. The
developers slyly added simple dialog choices at key interactions that allow you
to choose how you interact with your Titan, and while most of them are not
particularly disparate, the interactions add some endearing personality to your
codified friend. Again, not necessarily new, the dialog choice has been an
important part of the RPG for some time, but seeing even the simplest of
options in a campaign that could have easily played it safe was a nice touch;
more than worthy of acknowledgement.
The single-player is not flawless, but demands respect. It will
sell a lot of copies, but what will make the game truly a success and keep it
on the front of the minds of players for the long-haul is the multiplayer. My
hot and heavy fling with the original Titanfall
multiplayer was something I look back on with fondness, but I admit it
didn’t have the legs to keep me playing. But, I have good news: the issues with
progression and variability in the online multiplayer from Titanfall are all but gone with the new multiplayer in Titanfall 2. More weapons are available
in each category, and similarly more options for upgrades and modification,
something that the original game was sorely lacking. Respawn also made smart
changes to how the character ‘levels up’ by abolishing a traditional experience
points system in favor of something new, called merits. Merits are provided by
a multitude of actions, and while they function very similarly to XP, keeping
the numbers small and the flow of points constant gives the player an
approachable view of the system, and easy ways to set personal gameplay goals.
The weapons and titans themselves also progress using a merit system, where
they had no such progression system in the past. Actions like headshots or
saving a teammate’s titan from an enemy pilot grant merits, and I think it is
really smart to reward players with progression this way, as it also advocates
good teamwork practices.
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The visual tech lags a
bit behind other titles, but it still manages to be impress
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Player choice is paramount in Titanfall 2, and in addition to
the traditional arsenal of weapons and pilot abilities, the titans and
progressive unlocks themselves become choices for the player. Collecting merits
and leveling up will unlock new items, titans, and skins as you go, but this
leads to a problem: linearity. New players coming to the game only have access
to one model of titan and a handful of weapons, but will be immediately thrown
into a mix of folks armed to the teeth with wild new weaponry. While this
accomplishes the goal of giving new players something exciting to look forward
to, it also can enable players to get ‘stuck in the mud’ and use the less
interesting options they have become accustomed to strictly on the basis of
comfort. While a total circumvention of the system walks a dangerous line, Titanfall 2 does its part to combat this
with a secondary currency system. I realize that the word ‘currency’ is
overloaded, and it can carry implications of pay-to-win games and
micro-transactions, but I can say with confidence that ‘credits’ cannot
currently be purchased with real money for a competitive advantage. A clever
player can use strategies to earn it more quickly, but even just with casual
play I was able to unlock a couple guns and a titan that I was particularly
interested in trying before being able to earn them. As a whole, I have had an
overwhelmingly positive experience with Titanfall
2’s multiplayer. With more items to unlock and a smart community management
system, I see myself spending a lot more time Titanfall 2 online, and I hope the community stays active into the
future so I can always be ‘ready for titanfall’. I’m excited to see what the
future holds for the franchise, and while I would prefer that it didn’t move
into the doldrums of annualization, I would happily pick up another Titanfall game a few years down the
line. Who knows? Maybe I will still be playing this one.
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The single player pits
you against a multitude of unique mercenary foes
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The powerful combination of quality multiplayer and a
compelling single-player campaign come together to make a complete package with
Titanfall 2. I worry a bit about it,
considering its launch position firmly between EA’s Battlefield One and the unstoppable force that is Call of Duty, but I think the quality
speaks for itself. I don't think
everyone will engage with the campaign on a level that I did, and I am sure
those folks that regularly trounce me in multiplayer would have even more to
say on the intricacies of the online play, but ultimately I think there is
something for almost everyone in Titanfall
2.
Pass on this review!
-Justin Wicker
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher:
Electronic Arts
Platforms:
Xbox One, PS4, PC
Release Date:
October 28th, 2016
Reviewer’s Platform:
Xbox One