What's so special about Titanfall?

[Maple Syrup]

I have read the reviews but I can't bring myself to be interested in this game. It just looks like a generic FPS. What's the hype about it? Or what's so different about it that makes it interesting?



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Edit: To clear any misunderstandings: I am not at all judging anyone based on their game preferences, which anyone could totally see if they read my post without the "I am sick of haters" goggles on. Just like how it is in the music genre, there is no "good" or "bad" taste in gaming. Personally I play everything and I wouldn't want to make assumptions as to whether a game is bad or good without playing it. That's why before buying & trying out the game, I wanted to ask for people's opinions. I merely asked what made Titanfall so special. Please don't read too much into my post.

 

[DeadProxy]

I like the idea that having the smaller lobbies with the grunt AI running around maps is so that everyone playing the game has the chance to have a good time playing the game for the 5-10 minutes a match can last, compared to the usual CoD system where either one team does great or just a handful of people in a group of 16 having an enjoyable time stomping all over the other 12 players.

Plus titans are a game changer. Having to worry about a giant robot falling out of the sky and landing anywhere in sight while also trying to find other players to kill for more points while being distracted by grunts on the way while you hop your way through the streets...Pretty much, you can do more stuff while moving from Point A to B to C before you die, plus mechs, instead of running around for 10-20 seconds and dying from being shot in the back.

 

[Zhukov]

It's a multiplayer shooter where you can traverse the map with parkour-ish vaults and wall runs and you can call in big mechs to drive around.

What's to get?

If that's not your thing, fine. But calling it "generic" is pretty questionable and smells slightly of ye olde "stop liking what I don't like."

Personally, I haven't played it. Froom what I've seen it looks pretty fun though. I'd like to give it a go at some point.

 

[Jandau]

Yes, generic, because EVERY FPS out there has giant robots, parkour and jetpacks. Right, totally generic. Look, I'm not buying the game and I'm not interested in playing it as I don't do multiplayer FPS, but even I can see why people are interested in it, and the main reason is that it's NOT yet another generic FPS. And this doesn't mean just CoD ripoffs; Team Fortress ripoffs (cartoony, "wacky" style) are getting just as boring.

 

[Caliostro]

First FPS in a long while to do something different.

The free running and jetpack gives you an unparalleled sense of mobility, while the presence of both grunts and titans in addition to other players adds a very interesting level of vertical, in "power level" terms, gameplay: You're constantly fighting things weaker but in larger numbers than you (grunts), equal to you (other players) and much bigger and stronger, but generally less numerous than you (titans).

It's basically the way the entire thing flows. From running across buildings and walls shooting people, to "rodeoing" a titan to death, the whole thing flows extremely well and offers a variety that the genre was lacking.

Additionally it is a very pretty game. Not in the "graphic power" sense, as the good'ol workhorse that is the Source engine isn't exactly the most potent in sheer rendering quality of this generation, but because the art direction and animation quality is so high (seriously, look at the titans move and react to things!) you're likely to never notice that it isn't all photorealistic 4k resolution Crytek level of sheer graphic potency.

The game has flaws, but to me it's totally worth it for what it brings to the table. Not necessarily for everyone.

 

[Zipa]

First FPS in a long while to do something different.

The free running and jetpack gives you an unparalleled sense of mobility, while the presence of both grunts and titans in addition to other players adds a very interesting level of vertical, in "power level" terms, gameplay: You're constantly fighting things weaker but in larger numbers than you (grunts), equal to you (other players) and much bigger and stronger, but generally less numerous than you (titans).

It's basically the way the entire thing flows. From running across buildings and walls shooting people, to "rodeoing" a titan to death, the whole thing flows extremely well and offers a variety that the genre was lacking.

Additionally it is a very pretty game. Not in the "graphic power" sense, as the good'ol workhorse that is the Source engine isn't exactly the most potent in sheer rendering quality of this generation, but because the art direction and animation quality is so high (seriously, look at the titans move and react to things!) you're likely to never notice that it isn't all photorealistic 4k resolution Crytek level of sheer graphic potency.

The game has flaws, but to me it's totally worth it for what it brings to the table. Not necessarily for everyone.

Pretty much this and importantly for Microsoft as well this is supposed to be the first killer AAA for the Xbone.

 

[josemlopes]

Its a multiplayer FPS that works well with its mechanics while bringing some few new things to the genre. What was the last one that had that? TF2? COD 4?

For a mutliplayer FPS you dont really need to be all that fresh to be good, the most important thing is being functional (and fun, duh) and at that Titanfall succeeds very well.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Titans.

It's like Battlefield Bad Company 2 (not sure about the others) but instead of vehicles you can pilot giant robots.

And that's enough, honestly. Mechs sell themselves. Hawken is a mech-themed FPS whose only real feature compared to a generic FPS is having two weapons at once.

I've heard mobility is good too, but I've also heard that no-one bothers because there's Titans.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I don't really see anything new in Titanfall, take the rocket packs from Tribes (albeit degraded) and the big stompy mechs from Planetside, Unreal and so on then add that to some Mirror's Edge with Call of Duty Hit Scan Cannons.

However, I don't see that as a bad thing, Halo: Combat Evolved just mashed up controls and gameplay elements from a bunch of other games and everybody loved it, the result was fun and it worked.

Respawn may be onto a similar thing here, nothing is very original looking but importantly it works on release and seems to have had a lot of thought put into gameplay. Whether it takes off like Halo did remains to be seen, Halo more or less existed in a competition vacuum until CoD4 came along, Titanfall has to convince people to make space alongside all the others now.

Its a multiplayer FPS that works well with its mechanics while bringing some few new things to the genre. What was the last one that had that? TF2? COD 4?

Left 4 Dead!

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I don't really see anything new in Titanfall, take the rocket packs from Tribes (albeit degraded) and the big stompy mechs from Planetside, Unreal and so on then add that to some Mirror's Edge with Call of Duty Hit Scan Cannons.

Plus a little sprinkle of MOBA style AI grunts.

Yeah it's not exactly anything new per se but its definitely better than the sum of its parts because of how seamlessly well it manages to incorporate all these things. And technically even though it's a lot of mechanics and ideas that have been done before there isn't really any single game that's like titanfall. I wasn't sold on it until I played the beta, but I was actually really surprised how fun it was.

 

[Caliostro]

I don't really see anything new in Titanfall, take the rocket packs from Tribes (albeit degraded) and the big stompy mechs from Planetside, Unreal and so on then add that to some Mirror's Edge with Call of Duty Hit Scan Cannons.

That's a bit unfair isn't it? To say the game isn't original or doesn't bring anything new to the table because all of its individual components have been touched on somewhere else. That's like saying a dish isn't original because all of its ingredients were already in use by other chefs in other dishes. Well, yes... Nihil sub sole novum. "There is nothing new under the sun". An expression as old as the bloody bible! Sure, the ingredients aren't new, but no one had used them or put them together quite like this before.

I mean, can you honestly say that Mirror's Edge, for all its flaws, wasn't innovative? That it didn't bring something new to the table? Yet free running had been done before in other videogames. No painting can ever be original, seeing as pretty all colours and brush strokes have been used before.

Surely innovation isn't merely discovering a new element, but how you use the elements you have.

 

[fix-the-spade]

That's a bit unfair isn't it?

Mirror's Edge for it's part was pretty original, I can't remember a first person platformer like it before or since, but it was also six years ago, so it's not like Titanfall can't claim a little inspiration.

As for Titanfall, not really.

I would argue Titanfall's 'innovation' is more a gimmick, TDM with mechs already exists, CTF with Mechs already exists. TDM and CTF and Territory control with Mechs and Platforming and verticality have existed for more than a decade now, but the Call of Duty fan base probably didn't notice. Doing it with a triple A marketing budget doesn't make it innovative in the slightest.

Titanfall even looks ruthlessly generic, the pilots could drop into Dead Space or Killzone or even Avatar tomorrow and wouldn't look out of place, for the record a Titanfall Dead Space mash up would be (sunglasses) dead cool.

Regards nothing being original, it's true, but doing something better than everybody else is just as valid a way to be relevant. I don't think saying there's nothing new in Titanfall is unfair at all, everything from the colour palette to the voice over on the trailers is carefully tailored to appeal to mid-late teen dude-bros who've been buying Call of Duty every twelve months for five years. That isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, it's just what it is and to think EA took on Respawn with anything else in mind would be naive.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Its hyped for a couple of reasons one Microsoft want it to be an Xbox One seller so they will push it for all its worth its also made by a lot of the ex Infinity Ward staff and is their first new IP. Lastly it does add a few new things like verticality and mechs ok neither are new if you want to be technical about it but they are new in a FPS that apparently maintains the feel from COD (which is good since they want that audience).

The single player looks real half assed and I would have liked to seen a bit more customisation and imagination in the game modes but what I would have liked to have seen is pretty much moot as I wont be getting it regardless seeing as I dont have an Xbox One and would refuse to pay for online pay anyway and I am still burnt out on FPS games as I have yet to see something to really entice me back in (oh and I know its PC as well but mine wont run it plus EA publish it and I hate playing FPS on PC anyway).

If MP shooters is your thing though then I think this could be good fun the wall running in particular looks great the mechs not so much (they dont look bad though) but at least they are trying and really there is not much competition around atm EA is killing Battlefield with their incompetence and COD has long since been on the decline since MW2. Oh and their is bots so even bad players can score kills and potentially do well and not feel hopefully outclassed.

Its being shoved in faces atm so expect to see a lot of praise and hate for it some justified and others not so much.

 

[Sunrider]

It's not the most mindblowing thing I've ever played, but for me, it's the mobility you have when on foot. Titans are cool, but they're a distant second to the on-foot fighting to me.
I also like how it doesn't only cater to people who are very good at twitchy shooters. I prefer trying to be smarter about my movement, using the smart pistol. (You can hate me all you want, I like the smart pistol.) The titans also work this way. You don't die from a single shot, favouring the people with superior reflexes, but rather lends itself well to more strategic movement.

Just my two cents. Some people might just laugh at me for this, but that's how I feel about it. I don't have the reflexes I had when I was 16 - 20 anymore, and Titanfall allows me to get that Quake feeling again, if only a glimpse of it.

EDIT: I should also point out that I'm a 100% PC player when it comes to shooters. I just can't do it on consoles. There is no comparing a controller to a mouse.

 

[Caliostro]

I would argue Titanfall's 'innovation' is more a gimmick, TDM with mechs already exists, CTF with Mechs already exists. TDM and CTF and Territory control with Mechs and Platforming and verticality have existed for more than a decade now, but the Call of Duty fan base probably didn't notice. Doing it with a triple A marketing budget doesn't make it innovative in the slightest.

I'm genuinely interested. Which titles are these? For example.

 

[jnixon]

So funny that people defending the game can only defend it with little gimmicks e.g IT HAS BIG ROBOTS!!!! of course its just a generic shooter but its a new generic shooter ip on a new generation of consoles so people are going to flock to it, probably the same type of people who try to insist that call of duty games are different each year.....

 

[Saltyk]

Well, it has giant robots. Add giant robots to anything and it gets better. Add giant robots to a JRPG and you get Xenogears, after all.

That being said, I don't really game on PC and they signed a Exclusion deal with Microsoft. So it won't be on PS4 and I frankly would only even consider buying Titanfall if it was on PS4. So that's one sell they lost before the ink even dried on the deal.

 

[tdylan]

Well, it has giant robots. Add giant robots to anything and it gets better. Add giant robots to a JRPG and you get Xenogears, after all.

That being said, I don't really game on PC and they signed a Exclusion deal with Microsoft. So it won't be on PS4 and I frankly would only even consider buying Titanfall if it was on PS4. So that's one sell they lost before the ink even dried on the deal.

I'm holding out that Titanfall 2, or "Titanfall: GOTY" will be on PS4. EA is the publisher. I just can't see EA, the company with annual Madden releases, that so desperately wants to replicate Activision's success with COD, restricting themselves, and the "killer app" by the Infinity Ward team that they poached from Activision, to a current gen (I consider the XBONE & PS4 current gen. They're the generation that we're in) console. Especially the console with the smaller market share.

I'd bank on Titanfall being a timed exclusive (of course, they'd never announce that), or Titanfall itself being and XBONE exclusive, but the sequels, or other "versions" of the game being multiplat.