Titanfall 2's campaign is truly among the most elite contemporary FPS adventures, and I cannot believe EA shoved the game out to die between COD and Battlefield back in 2016.
Perhaps Titanfall's greatest accomplishment is how effortless it seems, I rarely feel empowered by first-person parkour but Respawn nails it here. The game leans into feel, allowing you to pull of parkour stunts that work with you instead of against - unlike a game such as Mirror's Edge wherein fluidity takes time to achieve, Titanfall makes you feel sick as hell from the tutorial area. All rough edges are sanded down, wall runs, clambers, slides are so sticky because Respawn incentivizes fantasy above all. Movement is rarely obstructed - it feels like hard geometry bends to you.
That sense of effortlessness also applies to mission design, which so often throws The Coolest Thing You've Ever Seen at you before quickly pulling it away, introducing A Thing So Cool That You Forget About The Last One in its place. A lesser game would be so preoccupied with its achievements that each idea becomes a centerpiece, opposed to another entry in a rolodex of badassery.
Where my praise ends is where the narrative begins, as I simply had no interest or investment in the tensions between the IMC and the Militia. BT is a very fun character, but all he has to bounce his calculated charisma off of is Jack "boring military guy" Cooper, so even that dynamic left me wanting. But Titanfall is about its gameplay and game feel, both of which are just arguably unmatched. Cannot believe we don't have a Titanfall 3, but being seven years late to the party myself... I guess I was part of the problem.
Perhaps Titanfall's greatest accomplishment is how effortless it seems, I rarely feel empowered by first-person parkour but Respawn nails it here. The game leans into feel, allowing you to pull of parkour stunts that work with you instead of against - unlike a game such as Mirror's Edge wherein fluidity takes time to achieve, Titanfall makes you feel sick as hell from the tutorial area. All rough edges are sanded down, wall runs, clambers, slides are so sticky because Respawn incentivizes fantasy above all. Movement is rarely obstructed - it feels like hard geometry bends to you.
That sense of effortlessness also applies to mission design, which so often throws The Coolest Thing You've Ever Seen at you before quickly pulling it away, introducing A Thing So Cool That You Forget About The Last One in its place. A lesser game would be so preoccupied with its achievements that each idea becomes a centerpiece, opposed to another entry in a rolodex of badassery.
Where my praise ends is where the narrative begins, as I simply had no interest or investment in the tensions between the IMC and the Militia. BT is a very fun character, but all he has to bounce his calculated charisma off of is Jack "boring military guy" Cooper, so even that dynamic left me wanting. But Titanfall is about its gameplay and game feel, both of which are just arguably unmatched. Cannot believe we don't have a Titanfall 3, but being seven years late to the party myself... I guess I was part of the problem.