Just a year on from
release, some
consider Titanfall another
of last year’s next-gen
games. Respawn’s
shooter was pointedly ignored in many of last year’s best of lists, and I’ve actually heard journalists who gave it five star or ten out of ten reviews on release describe it as a weak or uninteresting game.
But launch Titanfall on your Xbox One or gaming PC and you’ll soon remember why we all got so excited about it in the first place. Even after Destiny, Far Cry 4 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Titanfall is arguably the best competitive shooter of the last few years. Too many people focus on what Respawn got wrong: the dull narrative, the failed attempt to make a multiplayer shooter feel like a single-player campaign, and the lack of destructible scenery.
Instead, take a good look at what Respawn got right. Titanfall mixes two scales of combat together, with the fast-moving, nimble but vulnerable pilots on the one hand and the hulking, heavily armed and armored Titans on the other, and makes each scale work brilliantly, and mesh seamlessly together. Controls and player movement on both scales are nigh-on perfect, and Titanfall’s maps – the vast majority are excellent – do a fantastic job of providing high-speed parkour routes for the pilots and open stomping grounds and choke points for the Titans.
Available on Xbox One (tested), PC (Xbox 360 from March 28)
Titanfall
By Ohad Falk / 7th gr