Despite only consisting of two different maps and three different gameplay modes, the Titanfall beta from Respawn Entertainment proved to be incredibly fun for many as more than 2 million people around the world played the game on either Xbox One or PC.
Featuring the ability to run along walls and double jump in order to gain further height, Titanfall feels like a very different game to most FPS titles due to it utilisation of parkour techniques, and the Titans themselves add further options to the game as you can use them in several different ways. You can have your Titan follow you around the map, set it to guard mode and keep gaining points from your Titan picking off enemies whilst you’re exploring the map on foot, or get inside your Titan and take control of it as you explore the map and attempt to destroy the opposition. Each round of Titanfall feels a bit different with the variety of options that you have available to you; this is not just your standard FPS title where you run around the map spraying bullets at the other team, Titanfall is a game that comes complete with its own feel and identity, it separates itself from the crowd through its implementation of innovative new features and each map feels like it has been designed to take full advantage of this.
With 6 human players and 12 AI players on each team, a lot of the competitors that you come across each match will be AI controlled and therefore easier to pick off than most humans, as you’re rushing through the map you have to treat everyone that you come across like a human player though due to the frantic pace of the action and even the AI controlled players therefore help further hone your talent for the game as you’re constantly on your toes and can never really afford to take it too easy. Picking off human players always feels a lot more rewarding than beating the AI, every kill counts as regards to your overall score though, and during periods in the game when you don’t find yourself encountering any real life human competitors it is always nice to keep getting kills in and at least feel like you’re still contributing in some small way.
Win or lose a round, Titanfall is a huge amount of fun to play, and being on the losing team does in fact have its perks as come the end of each round the losing team has to make a run for it to try and make it to the evacuation dropship before it takes off, as the players from the winning team try to take everyone down to ensure that no one is able to save a bit of face and get away on the dropship. It’s definitely a lot of fun trying to make it to the dropship unscathed, taking away that absolute feeling of misery and disgust with your team that you get with most FPS titles when you lose and replacing it with a positive target to aim for.
Titanfall is an incredibly aesthetically pleasing game to look at, with visually appealing backdrops that make the game all the more appealing to play. There has obviously been a lot of time spent getting this game to look and play as well as possible, something that has definitely paid off for Respawn Entertainment as they have here created an incredibly addictive multiplayer video game, building upon their past success with the Call Of Duty franchise and putting out a new FPS title that is incredibly fresh and fun.
After the extreme success of the Titanfall beta it seems inevitable that this game will be a huge success and it’s also incredibly likely that this game will help shift many further Xbox One units. Whilst the PS4 may have superior hardware to the Xbox One, it currently lacks any killer exclusive titles and is currently trailing behind the Xbox One in terms of the titles that it has available; with the release of Titanfall the PS4 is going to become further left behind in this respect and it’ll be interesting to see how this situation develops in the future. The PS4 may have been marketed as the gamers system and the Xbox One more generally as a home entertainment system, the Xbox One certainly seems to be more than holding its own in the gaming department so far though and Titanfall provides another fantastic title for the console in a game that will no doubt provide much enjoyment for many when it’s officially released next month.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
