We have had our copy of Titanfall for awhile before the official release date and personally speaking I’m not one who is crazy into multiplayer games especially ones that only have multiplayer. Sure I absolutely love FPS games like Halo and Call of Duty but what I love about them is the story, the set pieces and getting involved.
So when details first emerged that Titanfall was only going to be multiplayer with no single player story mode I was a little disappointed to say the least, however……I shouldn’t have been.
Titanfall is a fast moving wall running roller coaster ride of a game and fear not, while there is no actually single player story mode, there actually kind of is with ‘Campaign’ mode.
The Game Story
The Campaign mode in Titanfall is initially where most people will head, what Campaign mode does is cleverly pit you and your online combatants into the war between the IMC and the Militia. Your online team mates play with you through each map as if you were playing a normal story driven FPS with each map (level) having a different story element.
You play through the campaign mode firstly as the Militia and then again as the IMC, there are two sides to every story and this is the case here.
In Titanfall, many generations of humanity live in the deepest reaches of explored space. This vast region is known as The Frontier. It contains many well-known and inhabited solar systems, but many more worlds remain uncharted.
Most people will never travel this far away from normal civilization. But for pioneers, explorers, mercenaries, outlaws, and soldiers — the Frontier offers both adventure and opportunity.
Sadly the story is somewhat lacking and very disjointed, not unexpected as this is a new franchise and does not have a rich history of back stories such as Halo for example. None the less you will be entertained by Campaign for about 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how quickly your games go.
For when you are sick of the Campaign more there is Classic mode which features all the usual suspects such as Capture The Flag and also Attrition, Hardpoint and Last Titan Standing so real multiplayer nuts will be well served here.
Gameplay, Graphics, AudioGameplay
Gameplay in Titanfall is fantastic, the control scheme is well thought out and you are even treated to a very thorough training section at the start of the game to get you used to the characters from a pilot and Titan perspective. Free running is a popular craze these days and the makers of Titanfall have given you brilliant free running abilities. Your pilot characters when not in a Titan can run and jump with the aid of boosters which allows for some fantastic stringed together moves encompassing running, wall running and jumping. If you have ever played Mirror’s Edge then you can imagine what this is like, the element of control is just brilliant.
When you jump into a Titan things as expected get a little be more clunky, its easy to control them and great fun but with all that power you lose your nimbleness so choose carefully. For me however I did find that the Titans were just too weak, fighting in one rarely lasts longer than a couple of minutes before you are ejected as it explodes below you. I would have like to have seen perhaps a little bit more juice being given to their armor.
Graphics
The graphics in Titanfall are for the most part very nice, they are nothing special and wont compare to other FPS’s like Call of Duty but they are good. At times the maps despite being well made and fun to play will often feel very flat or lacking depth, for example each structure just seems to be a shell with no real substance behind it.
The interface both in and out of a Titan though is solid and your HUD looks really nice with all the info you need at hand to perform your role. Titans look great and the process of jumping into one is very cool, even more cool is when your Titan rips one of the other pilots out of theirs and throws him away.
There was and still is a lot of talk about frame rates in relation to Xbox One games versus PS4 games and Titanfall is no exception, it doesn’t run in 1080p but rather in 792P but you wont even notice this so don’t worry.
Audio
The audio in Titanfall is great, the guns sound meaty and explosions are booming, Xbox Live voice audio streams clear and in real time and listening to the chatter as bullets and explosions go off around you sounds great. When a Titan drops you get this fantastic sound whooshing down from the sky.
Online Matchmaking
Titanfall’s matchmaking process for the most part works very well but sadly while people are still getting up to speed sometimes games will be unevenly matched, I was in one match against 5 level 38’s and my team were all under level 9 for example. This is only to be expected and hopefully will resolve itself automatically over time.
Lobby waiting can be a little bit annoying with 90 second waits for matches to start once teams are matched, I think this could be sped up by allowing people to mark themselves as ready to go when they are.
Verdict
Titanfall is a great showcase game for Xbox One, lets make no bones about it, the graphics while not the best on the Xbox One are still in advance of the Xbox 360, so yes this is a next generation looker too. Multiplayer is where Titanfall’s heart is, buy it knowing this and you will love it. Even if you are not crazy into your multiplayer FPS’s this is still a fantastic game to pick up, you really will enjoy it.
So get onto Xbox Live now, get some friends and see if you can be the Last Titan Standing.