I think I know what my favorite moment in Titanfall is.
Iām in a Titan when my display tells me an enemy pilot has crawled up my back. My Titanās near death anyway and I know there wonāt be time to hop off and shoot the pilot down. Besides, my Titan is prepared for this exact moment. Earlier, I equipped it with a kit that would eject me, cloaked, just before it was set to explode. I should be just fine.
My Titan automatically launches me into the air and I see the colors of the sky and buildings whiz by, blurring together. My eyes focus on the enemy pilot who was just attacking me. He had been launched into the air, too, upon my Titanās explosion.
So here we are, two pilots, flying parallel up to the sky; me cloaked, him staring straight at me. I have a slight advantage and I kill him while our upwards movement is in sync. I had never done that before. Until that point, I didnāt even know you could do that.
Orā¦wait. No, this was my favorite moment:
Iām on a catwalk a platform above the ground. A lone Titan looks like heās halfway on health. He hasnāt spotted me yet. I remember thinking I could take him out with a few anti-Titan rounds.
So I do my usual routine: cloak, throw an EMP grenade at him to fuzz out his display, and then unload rockets at him. Despite the display fuzz, he spins around and starts shooting at me. Direct hits.
My screenās red, telling me Iām about to die, and I almost panic. But instead I turn around and run against the side of the wall, away from the threatening Titan. The wall is ending. I jump at an angle to my left and run against the next wall, which eventually turns me back around to the other side of the same Titan.
Iām above the Titan. I let myself fall down off the wall while throwing my last EMP grenade at him. Heās writhing, disrupted by my grenade, near death. Latched onto his back, I finish the job with my carbine to walk away triumphant. Iād taken down a beast built for destruction all by myself.
No, no, no. Hold on. This is surely my favorite moment:
Luke and I are in a game together. Heās in a Titan, I on foot. I see him walking ahead of me, so I jump on his back for a ride. He starts getting hit by a pilot on some rooftop. At his gargantuan size, itās difficult to find and access the tiny hiding spots pilots can crawl into. So I jump off, run up to the building and shoot the pilot down.
Luke continues on up ahead and I race across the tops of the buildings next to him to keep up. As I get to the end of the last tall building, I see him facing off against an enemy Titan. I cloak, throw grenades, and take out my anti-Titan rocket launcher. The enemy Titan is so distracted by Titan Lukeās commanding presence that he never once tries to take me out, though Iām sure his display is yelling at him that heās getting attacked from an opposite direction. We take him out in a team effort, and I jump over onto Lukeās back again, prepared for the next one.
Yeah, that one was awesome. But one more try. It must be this one:
Luke, Kirk and I are racing to the dropship location indicated on the map. We just tore through the enemy team that round and wanted to make sure they couldnāt escape during the epilogue. Iām pretty sure Luke and Kirk are stomping around as Titans near the dropship area, but Iām too busy sneaking up the buildingās sides and taking pilots out mercilessly as they try to approach. I think one or two might have slipped through, but I take out at least three myself.
Iām on a killing spree high, and the three of us are sharing a round of private trash talking on party chat. The seconds are ticking down and weāre focusing our energy on demolishing the ship. The ship is within an inch of its life. Itās about to pull away. Weāre getting anxious. Can we do it, can we pull it off?
The ship is lifting up off the ground. Shields completely destroyed, itās got maybe an eighth of its health left. The engines are rumbling, the ship is lifting up higher, itās about to take off. The three of us keep unloading on it. Maybe thereās a chance, maybe thereās a chance.
Just as itās exiting our reach we manage to tick the shipās health down another notch. Itās barely another hit before death! But itās gone. Zipped out of sight. We almost made it! Weāre shouting into party chat now, āOH MY GOD, OH MY GOD WE ALMOST DID IT. HOLY SHIT, DO YOU SEE THAT?!ā
So, we didnāt get to pull of the best, most perfect, awesomest round we ever played together in the history of playing together. But wouldnāt it have been cool if we did?
I have a lot of favorite moments in Titanfall.
Itās hard not to when you can string jumps together to navigate dilapidated buildings, side-run against suspended walls and hang against ledges and platforms all in one sequence. Titanfall starts you off as a pilot capable of these movements. Youāre outfitted with a jetpack of sorts that lets you jump and double-jump across each map.
The best players can race across the map in a matter of seconds. The best players are in your face before you see them, and are gone just as quickly. The best players can leap off of buildings to land a jump-kick on your face. The best players are probably a little annoyingā¦until you learn how to be the best player.
I love first-person shooters. Iāll play most that come out. But itās mostly because of my history with them, because Iām good at them, that I keep coming back. Iāll recommend a few to friends who I know like FPSes already, and Iāll even give a couple a good review here or there on Kotaku.
But I havenāt wanted to recommend a multiplayer-based first-person shooter to absolutely everyone quite like I do with Titanfall.
Anyone can get into this game. Sure, thereās a learning curve, like there is in any game. And when youāre just starting off at level 1, the level 20s and 30s with their upgraded carbines and newly-acquired SMGs will feel like a steep challenge. But itās still an exhilarating feeling when youāre stomping around in a Titan, the giant, pilot-controlled mechs that you can call down. And, thanks to an undiscriminating countdown that every player starts every match with, everyone gets a Titan, regardless of how good or bad youāre doing that round. Everyone gets to have a little fun.
Iāve seen a lot of gamers worry that this means Titanfall will hold your hand, or that Titanfall is too easy, too toned-down, too casual. Thatās not at all the case here. It just means that, while an expert player is tearing down new and experienced players alike, the new guys are hopping around trying to figure out what this parkour thing is all about. Theyāre popping a few computer-controlled grunts and feeling good about it. Thereās nothing wrong with letting everyone have a piece of the fun, winning or losing. Accessibility isnāt innately a bad thing, however terrifying a prospect that might be to some gamers. Accessibility done right is wonderful, and developer Respawn has executed it with grace and balance in Titanfall
Learning Titanfall is new and exciting. Being excellent at Titanfall is fulfilling. Thereās room for everyone here. And itās exactly why I am so enthusiastic to recommend people play it.
Iāve spent a lot of time gushing about this game, talking about why itās so exciting and how to be good at it. A lot of us at Kotaku have been enjoying it. But I havenāt spoken much about the campaignāmostly because itās exactly the experience of multiplayer with some (bad) writing attached. No, literally, exactly the same. There are two factions fighting against each other, as often happens in this genre, and you can play as both for two separate campaigns.
https://lastchance.cc/the-titanfall-hype-explained-1524388082%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Aside from the dialogue and a few moments of scripted action, thereās not much substance in the multiplayer campaign. It 100% doesnāt matter, though, because even Attrition on its own is enough to carry Titanfall, all throughout the day, in my head. Iām late to classes because of Titanfall. I schedule meetings with friends around my Titanfall meetings with my gamer friends. Iām tweeting nonstop about Titanfall. I just want to go home right now, right this second, and play more Titanfall
There are a few other details you might find important in a review.
Likeā¦
Customization
You can customize both your pilot and Titan loadouts, unlocking more available loadouts as you level up. There are guns and sidearms and anti-Titan weapons to choose from. Then thereās your tactical ability. I love the cloak; itās the most useful one in Titanfall specifically, and you see most everyone using it. Your ordnance is your grenadeāyou can opt for the classic frag or something stickier that you can detonate at your leisure. Kits will help you boost your tactical abilities, map views, give you extra ordnance, and all sorts of other small bonuses. You get two of those.
Titans have similar customization setups, except, instead of cloaking and grenades, you get options for shields and massive rockets and other heavy alternative fire. The kits for Titans pertain specifically to them, so itās stuff like shield bonuses and things to do with death triggers (like whether you want to eject automatically or burst into a bomb on death). Theyāre small tweaks that help to fit whatever style of play you like best.
Maps
Boy, are these maps well-designed. Theyāre mostly outfitted with open areas for Titans (some of which are indoors, and thatās awesome) as well as pathways for pilots to parkour around. Once you get the hang of them, you feel like the map is your playground. And it is. Thereās the usual varietyādesert, city, night, dayāand sometimes you get some interesting backdrops, too.
https://lastchance.cc/yes-there-are-spoilers-in-titanfall-1540576181%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
This is nothing new in a first-person shooter, so youāre likely familiar with it. Rodeo a Titan (which is what they call grabbing on to its back to kill it), kick a grunt, etc., etc. Complete enough of these and youāll unlock this next bullet pointā¦
Burn Cards
These are small bonuses, much like the kits you equip your pilot/Titans with, but they are consumables that are only available after each death. Once you do equip it, you have only that respawned life to use it. If you die instantly, thatās it. Itās gone. They can be useful, but also forgettable. Which is a shame, because they do add a little extra oomph to each respawn.
I think I know what my favorite moment in Titanfall is, but I canāt be sure. There are a lot. But thereās one Iāll always remember fondly and, despite appearances, it feels like the most telling one:
Iām playing with Kirk. We flank the map, running across a series of slanted rooftops to the mapās center. Iām about to cloak and drop down to tail some pilot I spotted. I see Kirk, hanging out on top of a roof on the other side of my prey. He starts shooting in my direction. I turn to look to where he was shooting at my right and watch as a pilot falls on his back, dead. I turn back to Kirk and weāre cheering on party chat. āYou saved my life! Kirk, you saved my life and I witnessed that!ā Weāre cheering and talking over each other excitedly, giggling, and we canāt get over how much we love this game and we keep telling each other how much we love this game.
It might not be the most trademark Titanfall moment ever, but, for me, it just shows how good this game feels and how good it makes you feel.
To contact the author of this post, write to [emailĀ protected] or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini
For a second opinion, check out this review written by Neryl over at TAY, our reader-run blog.
