sinadoom 8

I was sceptical of this game - especially given the hype surrounding it. After seeing some reviews it made it seem as if this game was a rush-job cashing in on the "CoD developer" hype. Whilst I can agree with the criticisms levelled at it, I cannot ignore the sublime gameplay Titanfall offers. Yes, it is multiplayer only (and no, you can't have bots). Yes, the campaign is completely I was sceptical of this game - especially given the hype surrounding it. After seeing some reviews it made it seem as if this game was a rush-job cashing in on the "CoD developer" hype. Whilst I can agree with the criticisms levelled at it, I cannot ignore the sublime gameplay Titanfall offers. Yes, it is multiplayer only (and no, you can't have bots). Yes, the campaign is completely pointless. By that I mean there is no explanation of the story that's interesting or deep enough to care, and since it's a multiplayer-only game, you will join campaign levels in an arbitrary order and have no clue as to which side is which in terms of the story. Really, it's pretending to have a campaign but it doesn't. But then again, why would anyone buy a multiplayer-only shooter for the "campaign"? The gameplay is not different to the rest of the game, so nothing added other than pointless dialogue.



Onto the gameplay then. What strikes me about it at first is the pacing. Inheriting from Call of Duty's legendary controls for which all console shooters aspire to be (in terms of fluency, intuitiveness and smoothness and ease of use), the game feels incredibly agile. The parkour mechanics are, without joke, the best I've ever come across. Wallrunning can go on for very long and speeds up movement, you can chain wallruns infinitely, you can double-jump, and wallrunning resets your double jump. So really it's (one of) the fastest moving FPS around. It's not just CoD with wallrunning - it feels even better than that. The titans also feel fairly agile and control intuitively. At first I disliked the idea of titans but they really make the game what it is. They're not overpowered, they're not easy to take out and you almost have to purposely stand in front of them to be killed by them as a pilot. AI controlled "auto-titans" can be useful for defending but obviously not as good as being piloted. The titans don't feel like tanks on legs - that's for sure. They have a unique presence but they don't feel overpowered or out of place.



Given that the season pass is now free, I found that the quantity and quality of maps is amazing. The maps are really well-designed and each one feels different. They are well-suited to objective play and accommodate Titans and the parkour mechanics. Speaking of which, there is a decent selection of game modes - TDM, Domination, Last Titan Standing, CTF, Marked for Death and some other variants on these. This is a game where every game mode is exciting and fun to play. The combination of map design, Titans, controls and pacing make these really intense and action-packed.



Then there is create-a-class. This is where you can tell it was made by same developers as Call of Duty 4. There aren't a bajillion weapons with hundreds of attachments or skins. No, a small selection of weapons (which are actually different), only a few attachments (which are unlocked by doing challenges), 5 custom slots and 2 custom slots for each game mode. You can customise both Titans and Pilots, but it's not a mess like modern CoD - you pick the ordnance (grenade), tactical ability (e.g. cloak or temporary speed boost), perk 1, perk 2, primary weapon, secondary weapon. There are only 3 secondary weapons - all of which are pistol for different ranges. That's it - no attachments, no SMGs as secondary or anything like that. Simple, easy, balanced. No weapon feels useless, underpowered or overpowered. The smart pistol received a lot of complaints but they are misguided - it is by far the least effective weapon in the game unless you are very stealthy. It has short range and takes a relatively long time to lock on. Overall there is good variety in create-a-class but not overly cluttered. The anti-titan weapons and the Titan create-a-class are particularly commendable for their variety.



One of the things that makes Titanfall so action-packed is the minions. These are AI-controlled solider which are weak and dumb but there are quite a lot of them for both teams and they spawn infinitely. The make the maps feel more alive like a battlefield and provide easy kills and actually help you do objectives. They typically battle amongst themselves but their presence adds to the action. Even if you don't see many human players you will see plenty of minions so no shortage of action. This leads to another thing about Titanfall - it is never frustrating. No matter how bad you do, you never feel angry.



To conclude, Titanfall is absolutely an epic shooter. Questions will inevitably arise as to whether a triple-A title can get by on multiplayer alone, but to be honest, I don't think it's a problem. Despite Call of Duty 4's incredible single player, it received little attention from players - most of whom probably never even touched the campaign! Titanfall is overall a very original shooter. It is fair, fun and by far the best-looking Source engine game to date. I have very little to complain about on this title. … Expand