Titanfall 2
Released: October 28, 2016
Game Length: 6 Hours
Grade: B
Expectations: Let me come out and say that I never played the original Titanfall. There were a lot of reasons behind it. First off, there was a review that pointed it out as Call of Duty with mechs, which is in direct contrast to what I initially thought the game was about. That brought me to finding out the messy history of the crew who made the Call of Duty games branching away from Activision to hook-up with EA with their new Respawn Entertainment company. The game ended up being online-only, not offered through Steam and only available through EA's online store, and must be loaded from their Origin platform. Most importantly, their little comment about how no one really plays the game for the campaign was kind of insulting to me. I don't even think they offered an offline-mode with a bunch of bots. So when I found out that Titanfall 2 came out with a campaign, I had to try it out for myself.
Reality: Before I start, I'll have you know that I strictly played the game for its single-player campaign. This was sort of a blessing seeing how much I hate Call of Duty multiplayer. I knew it wasn't going to be like Battletech, but I had hoped for some nice robot-on-robot action with lasers and missiles flying across the screen. Sadly, the game really ended up being like any other ordinary Call of Duty campaign where you charge in fast while striking as many targets as you can. As you can tell by the trailer, most of the time you won't even be inside the machine. You'll be picking up various weaponry from a couple dozen different guns as the game constantly begs you to move faster, kill more, slide off walls like some sort of Mirror Edge candidate on steroids, and take the patriotic duty to finish the mission that will save millions of lives.
Story: And you know what? After the credits rolled, I must admit that it was one thrilling campaign. Then again, I guess all of the Call of Duty campaigns have "their moments" when you get to play around with some new mechanic. This "suit" you get to jump into isn't any ordinary machine. BT-7274 is a voiced-robot AI that adapts to the situation, learns mannerisms from its pilot, suggests maneuvers and "shortcuts" that might help complete the mission, and allows you to hop in from time-to-time to take hold of its superior firepower. It kind of reminded me of Big Hero 6 combined with Chappie, and less Pacific Rim. There are only about 9 missions, but each one has so much packed into them. Not only do you unlock "modes" for your Titan, each with their own set of abilities, but you also find various tools that can spark life to machines or warp between two realities. Without spoiling too much of the story, I will admit that venturing through all of the factories definitely gave me some Portal 2 vibes. There is also a sort of neat Easter Egg after the credits that brings you hope to a somewhat impactful ending. I think whatever resources they had going for them in a possible Titanfall 3 title ended up going towards Apex Legends - a game that was completely different in every way. So I guess we really won't know what happened at the end of the game.
Opinion: Buying a $30 game just for the single-player campaign is a stretch, even if it was as good as people say it is. I hear rumors that the multiplayer can still be pretty active even after being out for four years, depending on what platform you buy it on. I say give this game a pass unless you are really a fan of playing multiplayer.
12-5-2020