Titanfall 2: Undervalued, Un-marketed, Underappreciated (Review)

Editors Note: This was my first written review that I made before even starting the Tarrmu's Reviews Channel. I've added this as an archive of my thoughts, and a basis for a potential future revisit and retrospective.

Overview

Titanfall 2 is a Sc-fi shooter developed by Respawn Entertainment that was released October 28th in 2016. In this sequel the developers decided to go with a single player campaign and ditched the idea that they had in the first game where little story beats where told after a match but the game was purely online. The campaign takes about 6 hours roughly to complete. The game also comes with a multiplayer component that has 10 maps featured in the base game and 12 game modes to partake in.

Story

The story for Titanfall 2 has you playing as Jack Cooper, a rookie rifleman for the Frontier Militia who is training to be a pilot. Jack is dropped into a losing battle against the antagonist of this story the IMC. Jack inherits his commanding officers Titan BT-7274 and the story kicks off from there. I don't want to discuss certain plot points, but one thing that is really explored in this game is the relationship between the Titan and the Pilot and you feel that in this game, with the little quirky dialogue options. These options aren't critical or impact the narrative in any way. But it's a nice added touch while completing objectives and shooting enemies.

The plot of the game isn't anything new. But the moment to moment gameplay, characters and spaces definitely make it easy to hold your attention. Having played Apex Legends prior to Titanfall 2 I can see so much character in the villains especially. So much character in their presentation that they all could be their own unique Apex character if they hadn't starred in this game.

Presentation

The visuals in Titanfall 2 are without a spectacle with jaw dropping vistas and amazing environments and even a clean UI that is intuitive and easy on the eye. Throughout my play-through I didn't notice any bugs or texture pop in. On the Xbox One this game was able to maintain it's 60fps, although this game did experience some frame rate issues at launch.

Another thing worth noting is the variety of locations and unique settings you explore throughout your journey and the sheer amount of detail put into each level. For example in some levels you can see animals and wildlife flying around and it really helps bring the world and environments to life.

Gameplay

Levels

The objectives laid out for each level are usually straightforward tasks such as "kill that enemy" or "regroup at a set location". But one thing that Titanfall 2 really does neatly is make the environments feel open to explore. Not to the degree where it's an open world game, but open enough to spark that curiosity. Another thing handled well in Titanfall 2 that has been missing in most recent FPS campaigns is unique changing environments. For example one level will have you on a conveyor belt, moving through a factory shooting enemies and trying to dodge hazards. The most notable level is the level "Cause and Effect" where you obtain a gadget that allows you to rift into the past, which adds a puzzle element. As doors maybe damaged in the present you can switch to the past. Rifting back and forth between a blooming facility of scientists to an overgrown run down facility populated with wildlife.It also has it's advantages in combat too, slaying your enemies makes you feel like an absolute bad-ass as you hop between past and present. I feel a little disappointed that this mechanic was further explored more through the story but it was still nice for the duration you get to play with it. But overall the level design is impressive.

Weapons and Movement

The movement in Titanfall is as smooth as it was in the first title with wall running still feeling as good as it did in the first title. The guns feel responsive and like they pack the punch you'd expect an example of this is the EVA-8 shotgun which packs a big meaty bang each time it's fired.

Nothing feels quite like the feeling of piloting a Titan, the feeling of absorbing everything the enemy has just shot at you and shooting it back never gets old. Not to mention the variety of load-outs available to you that you can unlock through your play-through

Why should I play this?

Titanfall 2 is definitely a game that has its fans and there is still a dedicated community who play this game. But because of factors such as poor marketing and a poorly timed release date, this game was never given the chance to properly thrive. To shed more light on what I'm referring to, back in 2016 around late October to early November both Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1 would be releasing. Call of Duty would see a November 4th release and Battlefield 1 would see a October 21st release date. Sandwiched between these two Juggernauts was Titanfall 2 releasing on October 28th. The game was not marketed as heavily as either of it's competitors. With Battlefield and Titanfall both being EA published titles it' evident which one they spent their resources advertising. On it's October 28th release Titanfall 2 was met with a generally positive reception and actually scoring the highest out of the 3 with both users and critics.

Respawn's time to shine would come but it wasn't until more recent years with the release of Apex Legends which also wasn't even marketed but released to a large wave of new fans to the Titanfall universe. But the thing is this universe, these games that Respawn have been making. They have always been good. So if you're looking for a fun shooter to play especially in these times when we're stuck indoors most of the time. I would highly advise Titanfall 2.