Ok so I'm not that late, but I am late. I actually got this as a Christmas gift and boy am I glad I did! I had decided that I already had a bunch of games to play and was going to wait until some time later this year to play TF2, which meant the game might even slip off my radar altogether. Let me just say again how happy I am that did not happen.
Titanfall 2 is a good ass videogame ass videogame. Yeah, I know how that reads but say it out loud for a moment. It is such a classic videogame in the way the campaign is designed and the way memorable moments continue to happen at a regular cadence. One moment I'm marveling at the remarkable gameplay challenges, the next I'm appreciating how likeable my Titan companion is becoming. All the while, it is delivering on the big spectacular moments you've come to expect from a AAA shooter, while not feeling dumb or like it is trying too hard to hold your attention with big explosions. Also, it looks gorgeous! I'm playing on Xbox One which is arguably the weakest hardware to play this on and it looks fantastic.
I want to talk about the story for a bit so I'm going to spoiler tag a bunch of stuff in consideration for new players. If you haven't played the Titanfall 2 campaign yet, you can stop reading here but before you do let me just plead with you one last time to give this game a shot. What do you get when you take Call of Duty at its very best and cross it with Jumping Flash!? Picture that and then take it and cross it with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Now sprinkle in some Mega Man. That's Titanfall 2's campaign and it is a hell of a good time. It feels like a first person shooter that Nintendo's best talent would try to make if they gave a shit about first person shooters. Check it out!
Breaking down my game comparisons above:
Call of Duty - Well this should be obvious considering how Respawn came to be in the first place. The controls feel super tight and responsive in a way that other games strive to match. As much as I love a number of other shooters, few can stand against CoD but I'd argue that Titanfall 2 is actually the top dog when it comes to fast, snappy, responsive controls. Granted that is a personal opinion and based totally on how it "feels" to play, but I always felt like I was in control of what I wanted to do and never struggling to either pull off some complicated sequence or pairing of buttons or fighting the game's tendency to assume my intentions. Nothing like that was ever a problem here and I think its worth calling out. Its a joy to play whether you are on foot as the pilot or in your Titan. I also make the obvious CoD comparison because there are these large spectacular set-piece moments that the series is known for and Titanfall 2 has those in spades. They're all very cool, btw. Some of my favorites were:
Jumping Flash! - While there may not be ducks dropping bombs or giraffes shooting lasers, Titanfall 2 reminded me of Jumping Flash! because of the way your pilot traverses through some of the levels. There are more than a few places where you are climbing these structures and bouncing off walls and double jumping and going higher and higher. Then there are also moments where you fall for quite a long way before your jump kit provides a landing assist. These moments made me consider what a new take on Jumping Flash! could be like. There is some very inspired level design on display here. For example:
There are many great moments of level design, but those two in particular stood out in the way they made me think of Jumping Flash.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - There's no way to discuss this without spoilers.
Again, absolutely brilliant design on display here. I also really appreciated that it kept me wanting more. The game didn't introduce this and then rely on it for the rest of the game. Its rare that you get a game that gives you a toy and then exercises the restraint needed to take it away and shift your focus on another cool new thing they want you to experience. That takes guts and should be celebrated.
Mega Man - The important enemies in the game make me think of Dr. Wily's robots in the way they all have distinct personalities and battle tactics. Granted, you're not fighting "Heat Titan" or "Wood Titan" or whatever, but they each have their own character traits that really set them apart while not undermining that they are all part of the Apex Predator group. Together, they are more than a match for Cooper and BT, but they make the mistake of underestimating their enemy and they each fall one by one, just like Dr. Wily's robots.
Other smaller moments I enjoyed:
That's about everything I wanted to say about it. I heard the game was struggling to garner the sales either the devs or publisher were looking for, but its been on sale for a while now so I'm really hoping it gained some traction. We need Titanfall 3 to happen. I don't know how much of the multiplayer I'm going to play as that's not generally my thing (if they add a Horde mode like Titanfall 1 had I'll play that though!) but I went ahead and spent some money on custom colors and patterns for my pilot and titan just to show the team a little love and support. I am such a big fan of what they achieved with this campaign that the thought of it being the last in the series is tragic. Please check this one out and enjoy a videogame that isn't afraid of being a videogame for the sake of being a fucking awesome videogame. Thank you!
BUY TITANFALL 2.
Titanfall 2 is a good ass videogame ass videogame. Yeah, I know how that reads but say it out loud for a moment. It is such a classic videogame in the way the campaign is designed and the way memorable moments continue to happen at a regular cadence. One moment I'm marveling at the remarkable gameplay challenges, the next I'm appreciating how likeable my Titan companion is becoming. All the while, it is delivering on the big spectacular moments you've come to expect from a AAA shooter, while not feeling dumb or like it is trying too hard to hold your attention with big explosions. Also, it looks gorgeous! I'm playing on Xbox One which is arguably the weakest hardware to play this on and it looks fantastic.
I want to talk about the story for a bit so I'm going to spoiler tag a bunch of stuff in consideration for new players. If you haven't played the Titanfall 2 campaign yet, you can stop reading here but before you do let me just plead with you one last time to give this game a shot. What do you get when you take Call of Duty at its very best and cross it with Jumping Flash!? Picture that and then take it and cross it with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Now sprinkle in some Mega Man. That's Titanfall 2's campaign and it is a hell of a good time. It feels like a first person shooter that Nintendo's best talent would try to make if they gave a shit about first person shooters. Check it out!
Breaking down my game comparisons above:
Call of Duty - Well this should be obvious considering how Respawn came to be in the first place. The controls feel super tight and responsive in a way that other games strive to match. As much as I love a number of other shooters, few can stand against CoD but I'd argue that Titanfall 2 is actually the top dog when it comes to fast, snappy, responsive controls. Granted that is a personal opinion and based totally on how it "feels" to play, but I always felt like I was in control of what I wanted to do and never struggling to either pull off some complicated sequence or pairing of buttons or fighting the game's tendency to assume my intentions. Nothing like that was ever a problem here and I think its worth calling out. Its a joy to play whether you are on foot as the pilot or in your Titan. I also make the obvious CoD comparison because there are these large spectacular set-piece moments that the series is known for and Titanfall 2 has those in spades. They're all very cool, btw. Some of my favorites were:
The large battle near the end where you and the rest of the militia are storming this base in your titans, trying to reach the mercenary forces before they take off in their ship. I must have fought a couple dozen titans in this sequence and there were so many rockets and bullets flying through the air it was incredible. I was actually in awe of the scale at that moment. It reminded me of the first time I played that pyramid level in Star Fox 64 where the end felt like it had 100 ships in the air, all flying around and battling.
BT-7274 catching me as I fell off the communications dish after I put the battery in and it re-aligned itself. "BEEE TEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" and then he just plucks me out of the air! Gotta love BT.
Riding the ships and boarding the enemy transporter during the chase sequence was sick as hell! I loved jumping from one ship to the next while everything was moving.
BT-7274 catching me as I fell off the communications dish after I put the battery in and it re-aligned itself. "BEEE TEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" and then he just plucks me out of the air! Gotta love BT.
Riding the ships and boarding the enemy transporter during the chase sequence was sick as hell! I loved jumping from one ship to the next while everything was moving.
Jumping Flash! - While there may not be ducks dropping bombs or giraffes shooting lasers, Titanfall 2 reminded me of Jumping Flash! because of the way your pilot traverses through some of the levels. There are more than a few places where you are climbing these structures and bouncing off walls and double jumping and going higher and higher. Then there are also moments where you fall for quite a long way before your jump kit provides a landing assist. These moments made me consider what a new take on Jumping Flash! could be like. There is some very inspired level design on display here. For example:
The factory where they are assembling urban housing was amazing to play through and when I contemplated what the planning and development phase of that section must have been like for the team, I found myself admiring their creativity. Its brilliant work.
Once you have the Arc Tool, there is a section where you are making your way through a construction zone of sorts in order to reach a communications dish. The way you use the arc tool to open up new paths and deploy Stalker robots to assist you in battle is very cool, Climbing to the top of the first dish was pretty cool but then riding the zip line over to the next one and ultimately climbing that one after BT throws you halfway up was really cool. This was another area where I was reminded of Jumping Flash! and again, contemplating what a modern take on that series could potentially offer.
Once you have the Arc Tool, there is a section where you are making your way through a construction zone of sorts in order to reach a communications dish. The way you use the arc tool to open up new paths and deploy Stalker robots to assist you in battle is very cool, Climbing to the top of the first dish was pretty cool but then riding the zip line over to the next one and ultimately climbing that one after BT throws you halfway up was really cool. This was another area where I was reminded of Jumping Flash! and again, contemplating what a modern take on that series could potentially offer.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - There's no way to discuss this without spoilers.
The time travel sequence where you can swap between timelines at will was absolutely thrilling. I was really impressed by how instant and seamless the transition between timelines was. I immediately thought of Raziel waving his arms through the air as if to shift the world with a gesture and how back then it was such a cool trick to have two different takes on the same place in a level. TF2 achieved this same feat and did it so well I took a moment to mourn the Kain series. Anyway, I absolutely loved that you could use this mechanic any time you wanted during this sequence and I spent some time just looking at how much things changed between periods. I also went buck wild in battle with this. I got such a kick out of disappearing and then reappearing behind the enemy in the blink of an eye. They also kept it challenging by putting threats in the future timeline in the form of predatory wildlife, so that kept the action going. No clean retreats into either timeline as there was always a fight to be had, but I loved that you never lost the advantage in either scenario as long as you kept moving.
Mega Man - The important enemies in the game make me think of Dr. Wily's robots in the way they all have distinct personalities and battle tactics. Granted, you're not fighting "Heat Titan" or "Wood Titan" or whatever, but they each have their own character traits that really set them apart while not undermining that they are all part of the Apex Predator group. Together, they are more than a match for Cooper and BT, but they make the mistake of underestimating their enemy and they each fall one by one, just like Dr. Wily's robots.
Other smaller moments I enjoyed:
Fighting Richter and then ending the fight with a melee finisher. BT threw Richter down onto his back and then pinned him. BT then followed up by using his shoulder-mounted rocket launcher to fire a missile salvo into Richter's downed body. It looked awesome!
BT-7274 defining what it means for a human to be in love and then stating that he was "50% in love" when asked for his thoughts on a newly acquired weapon loadout.
Listening to IMC forces try to describe my movement as I used time travel to my advantage in battle.
BT-7274 defining what it means for a human to be in love and then stating that he was "50% in love" when asked for his thoughts on a newly acquired weapon loadout.
Listening to IMC forces try to describe my movement as I used time travel to my advantage in battle.
That's about everything I wanted to say about it. I heard the game was struggling to garner the sales either the devs or publisher were looking for, but its been on sale for a while now so I'm really hoping it gained some traction. We need Titanfall 3 to happen. I don't know how much of the multiplayer I'm going to play as that's not generally my thing (if they add a Horde mode like Titanfall 1 had I'll play that though!) but I went ahead and spent some money on custom colors and patterns for my pilot and titan just to show the team a little love and support. I am such a big fan of what they achieved with this campaign that the thought of it being the last in the series is tragic. Please check this one out and enjoy a videogame that isn't afraid of being a videogame for the sake of being a fucking awesome videogame. Thank you!
BUY TITANFALL 2.
