The Militia and IMF forces are engaged in an interplanetary civil war for reasons beyond my explanation. The combat involves giant fighting warmachines known as titans. It's fast, it's explosive, and it's bringing multiplayer shooter combat to new heights.
1. Gameplay
The multiplayer first-person shooter genre has gotten a bit stale. That seems like a fairly overused statement, but I don’t say that lightly. With sequels coming out every year, it seems like many series have simply taken the mechanics from the last game, tweaked it slightly, thrown in some new weapons and maps, and asked for another $60. It’s a formula that is going to come back to haunt them eventually. Fortunately, Titanfall has attempted to add a whole new level of gameplay. And it is oh so glorious. On the surface, Titanfall is the standard fast-paced first-person shooter. It has a good variety of weapons, equipment, and perks with some interesting differences. Then, after about three minutes, you call in your first titan. As it comes blasting down out of the sky, things get just a bit crazier. Bigger guns, bigger explosions. A good player is devastating in a titan, but a good player can also take down a titan while on foot. But the real game-changer in Titanfall is the parkour mechanics. The player is able to wall run and double jump off of pretty much anything. It turns what is normally a fairly linear experience into a fully three dimensional environment. You need to watch for threats from in front, behind, left, right, above, and below. It sounds complicated, and it is, but it also means that with some practice and twitchy fingers, you can be that death from above. This game gets insane at times. The best players jump around like bunnies on speed, firing shots from mid-air with insane accuracy. If you can keep up with the pace, you will definitely enjoy the experience. If you prefer anything slower than Battlefield or Call of Duty, you’ll probably want to stay away.
The length of this game will depend entirely on how much the player enjoys it. There will be plenty of players that enjoy this game so much they’ll keep playing for hundreds of hours. Each match usually takes around 15 to 30 minutes, so with plenty of maps and modes to try the player should stay interested for quite some time. There is a multiplayer campaign, but it seems oddly separated from the rest of the content. However, the game does have a different story for each of the two sides and may have a different story depending on whether one side wins or loses. I’m not sure how complex the campaign gets.
There are two types of multiplayer first-person-shooters: slower, more tactical games (like ARMA and sometimes Battlefield), and the fast-paced “twitch” shooters (like Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament, and Quake). Titanfall is the latter, which means that if you don’t have great eyes and a quick trigger finger you’re going to get smoked over and over again. There are plenty of players in this game who have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours honing their skill at Call of Duty or Unreal Tournament and who, consequently, are amazing at simultaneously jumping around like a jackrabbit on speed while shooting people in the head. And for those who are already feeling frustrated, there’s an amazing weapon called the Smart Pistol. It takes time, but it can automatically lock onto an enemy. It locks onto AI grunts very quickly, but it takes significantly longer to lock onto pilots. Still, there will be plenty of times when you’re automatically killed with no warning, only to find that it’s some jerk jumping around with a smart pistol. 2. Parental Notices
Violence in this game is fairly typical for a first person shooter. Players will have access to a small variety of firearms that will have very similar effects. Hits result in a very small amount of blood that is surprisingly difficult to detect. I had to go back into my close-up kills just to see whether or not blood was even present. Most of the kills the player will get will be so quick that any blood, even at close range, will be undetectable. Of course, my gameplay experience may be very different from another player’s. I tended to stick to the smart pistol, a weapon designed to be quick and efficient. The rifles, SMGs, and snipers all seemed to have similar effects, especially when used at long range. However, the blood from the shotgun was much more noticeable. If the player used a shotgun, they would be very likely to see a significant amount of blood, even for a brief moment. Combat does not just take place on foot though. The player will frequently enter their titan and engage in combat with ground troops and other titans. This combat involves lots of explosions, smoke, and sparks and almost no blood at all. There were only two other special situations where violence increase significantly. On rare occasions, the player might use their titan’s melee attack against ground units. On even more rare occasions, they might see the effects of this attack. If a pilot is hit by a titan punch, that pilot explodes into blood and bits. Certain titan weapons can have a similar effect, but these are extremely difficult to notice unless you're standing right next to the unfortunate victim. These types of events were extremely rare. The other occurs if the player performs a melee attack against an enemy from behind. A normal melee attack is simply a jump kick straight into the enemy, which is a fairly benign event. However, if the player melees an enemy from behind, he will grab the enemy’s head and twist the enemy’s head around completely, snapping the enemy’s neck. The visual is pretty mild, especially in the form of a still image, but the sound from the effect is pretty graphic.
Sexuality is not a factor in this game.
There is one part in the campaign when the IMC must sort of kidnap a character so that he can help their cause. The man is clearly very drunk when he’s taken and complains about wanting to go back to drinking once the mission is completed. However, the player never sees the man, nor anyone else, consuming any substances.
Gambling is not a factor in this game. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
Religion is not a factor in this game.
The story of this game stems from some sort of intergalactic civil war. It’s a difficult story to follow, but the IMC are seen as rebellious to their supporters and terrorists to their detractors. Either way, since story is such a small part of this game, anti-law is not a significant factor.
Most of the time the community in this game was friendly, but there were plenty of times when an individual would get angry at someone else or disrespect them in some very obvious way. Players that underperform or are seen as drawing a team down are (occasionally) not treated kindly at all. There is also some elements that I can only describe as classist. I know this isn’t the right term, but I can’t really think of a correct word to attribute to it. Essentially, the campaign is seen as where “noobs” go to learn the ropes, then once they unlock new weapons and attachments they go into multiplayer and test their skills. And by test their skills I mean get torn to shreds by the hardcore players. Many of the less desirable elements of the Call of Duty multiplayer community have carried over into this game. While PC users hardly ever use headsets, something that the console gamers frequently use to harass other players, the text chat did have some very mean-spirited comments from time to time.
The pilots all have the ability to wall-run and, using jets, double jump. These actions are very unrealistic, but the mechanics change this game significantly. Players must use wall running and double jumping frequently in order to remain competitive.
Magic is not a factor in this game.
Kidnapping In the opening sequence of one mission, the militia can be seen kidnapping some guy named Barker. They needed him for something (I believe it was information). Unless the player plays through the militia campaign and pays attention to the story, this will not be seen.
4 Comments
Hey, I love your reviews and what you do! But one factor in video games that I, a 15 year old, and my parents always look at when deciding on a game is language. I think it would be great if you could make a rating category about how much swearing there is in the game. Just a suggestion. :)
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JeffdaRev
1/8/2016 05:36:17 pm
Yes I agree. Cussing is a much needed category especially since it's outta control now a days. Thanks.
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Alex
12/26/2014 04:55:37 am
Great review! My mom follows common sense media and a lot of times it is extremely inaccurate. This is a huge help. Thanks!
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Gus cptb
2/25/2018 02:01:39 pm
U guys r awesome at a 12 yr old point of view it is helpful with parents who only look at stupid stickers so called age ratings and need something like this to know that games don't make you kookoo like the Joker and arnt bad cheers guys
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