Titanfall is here, and we’ve now had plenty of time sitting behind the HUD of our respective Titans to successfully dissect the inner-workings of the game.
All the hype surrounding the game prior to its release is now being replaced by dry-eyed stares and carpal tunnel, as Xbox One owners and PC gamers alike spend countless hours taking to Titanfall‘s sci-fi warzone in order to merrily spray bullets into one another.
With that being said, here are 5 things we learned from Titanfall.
5 Things We Learned from Titanfall
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1. The FPS genre is more popular than ever.
The first-person shooter genre was accused of growing stale after the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts was met with lower sales than usual and Battlefield 4 was the subject of much criticism following its shoddy launch.
However, the hugely successful release of Titanfall has indicated that the other popular series in the genre simply need to up their game, as shooty-shooty-bang-bang seemingly continue to rule the roost when it comes to online console gaming. The message Titanfall developer Respawn has sent to its former employer Activision is simple: "make CoD more fun!"
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2. Presentation means more than graphics.
Titanfall's graphics engine is a modified version of the 10-year-old Source Engine, but it still looks more than serviceable. This is because that Respawn has put more focus on the presentation of the game than it is its graphical power, meaning that there are still plenty of awe-inspiring visual moments to be experienced.
As the debate rages on regarding the game's resolution output (why only 792p, Respawn, why?!) there is no debating that despite it not being the most graphically powerful game out there, it's still far from ugly.
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3. The Titans really aren't the highlight of the game.
Titanfall's most unique selling point is its Titans, but they aren't the REAL star of the show here. While jumping into one of these mechs is suitably empowering, the on-foot combat is where the game really shines.
Leaping from building to building, jetpacking through the sky and even jamming your knife into a wall and shooting down your opponents from a makeshift vantage point is far more exciting than being in control of one of Titanfall's oversized war-machines, and you'll find yourself often requesting that your Titan be left to its own devices in Guard mode so you can continue the battle across each maps' rooftops.
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4. The multiplayer narrative doesn't really work.
I was quite excited to see how Respawn would achieve placing Titanfall's narrative in its multiplayer-only setting, as others were bemoaning its lack of single-player content. Unfortunately, Titanfall's plot is ponderous sci-fi guff that failed to capture both my imagination and my attention.
NPCs standing around and discussing their personal lives doesn't build a sense of immersion, but rather it stands to detract from the core gameplay. The inclusion of a narrative in the game's multiplayer world is seemingly solely for the benefit of giving Respawn an adequate reason to sell a multiplayer-only title at full price, but consider me unconvinced.
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5. There's no way it's remaining a Microsoft exclusive series.
Respawn's Vince Zampella has already said that console exclusivity is not something that the company has openly stated will be in the series' future, and Titanfall's overwhelming success now means that there is no way Sony will stand back and allow Titanfall 2 to make its way the Xbox One and PC without wanting in on a piece of this action. Expect the inevitable Titanfall 2 to be available on the PS4.
