Titanfall 2 (2016) Review
Stand by for Titanfall.
Futuristic warfare was being explored in 2014 with Call of Duty taking a crack at it with Advanced Warfare, and a new arrival hitting the market, Titanfall. Crafted by key developers behind the Call of Duty franchise, Titanfall offered the next-gen shooter, providing you with the option to fight your way, as an wall-running elite assault pilot or as a powerful, heavily armored yet agile mecha robot dubbed Titan. It was the next evolution in combat and it was strategically linked to the launch of the Xbox One as a console exclusive.
Two years later, Respawn Entertainment followed suit with a sequel. But it’s arrival occurred in a crowded release window, competing with EA’s Battlefield 1 and Activision’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The idea was that EA could strengthen their position in the shooter genre if they could cater to two different types of fans simultaneously. Unfortunately, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson prediction was wrong and Titanfall simply could not compete against established juggernauts. It didn’t help that, unlike it’s predecesor, the sequel was no longer an Xbox exclusive and the general public failed to receive the memo.
I was intrigued by Titanfall, ever since its arrival in 2014, but my hands were tied financially not to mention other responsibilities like work and school. I’m more of a casual gamer in that regard and I prefer a campaign over online gameplay.
With cloud gaming taking precedence, an Xbox Game Pass subscription seems mandatory. (Join now for 1$ for your first 3 months, the subscription continues automatically thereafter for 14.99 monthly)
Included with this subscription is access to EA Play, a cloud gaming offering of select games in their repertoire.
Enter Titanfall 2.
I turned on my Xbox and there it was on my dashboard, Titanfall 2! EA Play was giving me a chance to be an apex predator in the next evolution of combat. Needless to say Titanfall was sent to my que before long. (The downloadable version of this game supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish.)
As of this writing, this game is 6 years old but with the Xbox: Series X capabilities, this game receives a new breath of fresh air. Respawn Entertainment promised a heart pounding adrenaline adventure and it delivers.
There’s something about wielding your own robot that brings out your inner child, what can I say. But my favorite part was exploring futuristic weapons that seemed like the natural progression of real world weapons. It also managed to explore time travel in an immersive experience akin to another 2016 title, Quantum Break (Yes, you should play that too!).
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the voice given to the Titan, BT-7274, provided by Glenn Steinbaum. The writers room conceived of a bond that would effectively generate throughout the gameplay so that they could pull at your heart strings when it came time to. No little feat, what’s more, it’s actually a really well written game as a whole. It is underscored by brilliant music composition arriving from Stephen Barton, a frequent collaborator of theirs.
Unfortunately, the campaign isn’t a very long one, it shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to pass even on hard. But it achieves one thing, it leaves you wanting more. I can’t wait for Titanfall 3! But an announcement has not been made and is likely not on the horizon. Respawn Entertainment is currently busy in a galaxy far, far away, following their success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Another beautiful labor of love. Delivering a well orchestrated story with gaming mechanics to keep you busy for hours on end. All trademarks of Respawn Entertainment.
In any case, I’ll tell you what you can do, you can support the sequel! Maybe if enough of us support the game we can give them the data to pursue the project. I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed. After all, it was the winner of the Game Critics Award for Best Online Multiplayer.
