Game review: Titanfall

By Diltaj Atwal

Don’t believe the hype. Titanfall is a fun game, but it’s not without its faults — and there are major ones.

I began the game expecting a grand adventure with amazing action, customization, storyline and multiplayer gameplay. I couldn’t wait to get my titan. But the game fell short of my expectations.

Made by Respawn Entertainment and the co-creators and other key developers of the beloved Call of Duty games, Titanfall brings a refreshing take on the shooter genre, not only by bringing in mechs but through a huge amount of flexibility in the player’s movement. It allows for an easy entry into the game.

The game is centred on multiplayer gameplay and this is where most of your time will be spent. The gameplay flows well and provides an engrossing experience, with various ways to approach situations. You start out as a pilot and have the ability to jump from platform to platform, wall run, double jump, all thanks to a handy jet pack. The player can call down their titans to aid them in battle either on automatic, fighting alongside you or guarding a certain area, or so that you can pilot the titan — which makes you feel like you can take on anything. The game has a good balance between the pilot and the titan. As a pilot you aren’t defenceless and as a titan you’re not invulnerable.

The biggest problem with Titanfall however is the campaign. It is laughably short, clocking in at about four to six hours to finish, with no replay value. It’s really just a bunch of game modes put together with a few in-game cut scenes and people narrating what is going on. Before every mission, there is a brief overview of the purpose of the mission.

The campaign is split into two sides, with nine missions on the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation side and then, after you finish the first playthrough, you play the exact same missions again on the militia side, with few significant differences. There are different cut scenes, perspectives and the ability to customize two other titan types once the campaign is completed.

No matter the result of each mission, the story has a fixed result — winning and achieving goals doesn’t matter if they are predestined to win or fail anyway. It’s not a fulfilling campaign that adds to the world of Titanfall and nothing prompts the player to get invested in its lore, characters or story.

The multiplayer has its flaws as well. The game customization is lacking. It’s rather static, with a few changes to weapons choices, ordinance and abilities but few visual changes. Nothing that makes the titan and pilot stand out from others online. There is very little control over the pilot’s appearance.

The multiplayer experience relies heavily on different game modes but there are very few. Playing the same two or three modes gets tiresome quickly.

Titanfall is a fun game, but only for a short playthrough. It has a lot of potential and hopefully Respawn Entertainment continues working on it.

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