Tuesday, 8 November 2016

AJ Waters' Spoiler-Free Review - Titanfall 2

Now, I’ve been looking forward to the idea of there being a second installment to this fantastic free-for-all contest of "Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots" for some time and when they announced it earlier in the year, it should come as no surprise that I was ruddy excited about the whole thing. Why, every day I would look at the calendar waiting for October 28th with the sweet sound of Simon & Garfunkel playing in the back of my mind as I gazed with welling eyes.

I found myself constantly daydreaming about the possibilities in multiplayer attrition and new Titan load-outs and – the one we were all waiting drastically for – the single player campaign. But then the day finally came! Yay! Hurray for monsters! We’re all gonna get laid! And I must say, man oh man, was it worth the wait! So, to kick things off, let’s start with the much-anticipated campaign, shall we?

To begin with, you are Rifleman Jack Cooper, a young grunt who dreams of one day becoming a pilot and getting jiggy with it in a Titan of his own. Teaching him is pilot legend Captain Tai Lastimosa, which doesn’t sound like a real name. Tai becomes fond of young Cooper and promises him days of glory to come, but oh no, what’s this? Why, it’s those pesky IMC bastards at it again! Looks like we’re going to have to interrupt this prologue with a motherfucking gunfight! Then BOOM!

You’re up to your nuts in the shit with spectres shooting at you from all directions! Pew pew! Dakka-dakka-dakka! Kaboom! Bosh! Blammo! A whole other array of onomatopoeia to get the juices flowing! And before you know it, due to getting stranded and shit, you come across the damaged, yet salvageable Titan, BT-7274, a bond is bound and you become best of buds! Alliteration: Gotta love it.

The rest, I’ll leave for you to unravel (another great EA game, by the way).

I must say; the campaign was awesome! I absolutely loved the story and got seriously invested in the friendship between man and machine and really did feel like I was a part of a team. The AI is truly remarkable when it came to this aspect. There was also somewhat of a platformer feel to the single-player game which I’m really pleased they added, because with all the things the pilots are capable of (wall-running, high jumps, etc.) it would have been a real shame to not utilise that as much as possible in the campaign. The movement was really fluid and not clunky in the slightest.

The graphics were also stupidly impressive when you consider how much is going on onscreen at any given time (there’s one point in particular where you storm a fortress with a dozen or so other Titans and my word is it exciting). All of the new guns did zero to disappoint!

Now, for you online gamers. Online is pretty much the same thing as before, only with a new layout. Now, I don’t know why, but they’ve changed a lot of how the new load-out system works, which is fine, because there is more stuff to choose from (colours, stencils, etc.), but the way you have to go about it all seems a bit clunky, especially seeing as the old way was fine. Some of that old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” jibe. Online play is pretty much the same idea as before, but with some added extras and play modes (like Bounty Hunter for example), which is nothing to be sniffed at because It’s basically everything we loved in the first game, but with a shitload more to enjoy! Plus, the maps are great too.

Now, I know there’s usually a load of stuff I complain about with games, but there wasn’t really too much to moan about. However…If there is one thing that could’ve been improved, it’s the voice acting. My word, it had me chuckling like a good ‘un! The NPCs would be standing around chatting, and they would all be talking about the stuff in the same over-the-top British accents. It was great! “Ah, mate! I bloody ‘ate them Militia buggers, I do! Like right proper, mate, I do! Apples and pears, I’m a cockney, butcher’s hook, et cetera, et cetera…” but other than all that, there aren’t really any major complaints.

So yeah, pants voice acting and unnecessary changes to the online load-outs and whatnot aside, this is one hell of a fucking game! Majorly impressed with this one. Worth the wait, and by far worth the price tag that came attached. Hours of bloody fun to be had for certain, with a strong campaign that has some replay value.

Aaron's Spoiler-Free Review - 8.5/10 – Your Titan can have a fucking sword, mate. No-brainer.


AJ Waters is a pulp fiction writer from Kent in England, who specialises in horror and flash fiction. With a novella in the works, AJ Waters is an up & comer in the British pulp scene.

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