This article originally ran under a different banner/website in November of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Lend me your ears. I have a story that I want to talk about. A very underrated story about a man and his giant robot that came out two years ago. NO, IT WAS NOT TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT!!! Though I was reminded of the first Transformers movie, after playing Titanfall 2. I have a fondness for the interaction between the transformers and Sam. I love seeing the transformers confused by human costumes and sarcasm. Most of my fondness for the two main characters stemmed from having pilot Jack Cooper say something sarcastic to titan BT and him failing to recognize it as such.
Titanfall 2’s story starts with our hero along with his entire battalion invading the small planet to investigate the schemes of the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC). Before someone could yell “It’s a trap”, the group is ambushed and nearly slaughtered by a colorful cast of mercenaries called the Apex Predators. Cooper is the only surviving soldier, and his mentor in his last moment binds his titan BT to Cooper. The two must venture through enemy lines to reconvene with the rest of the good guys and attempt to foil the IMC along the way.
As mentioned earlier, the levels are designed to house iconic battlegrounds in epic set pieces. I can recall almost every level in Titanfall 2’s campaign, something a game hasn’t done since Bioshock. I can recall parkouring across assembly arms, mechanical cranes, roaring jets, and even through two moments in time. I can recall wall running behind my enemies to get the drop on them. I also remember the titan battlegrounds. Now I hear you cry out: DOOMSAYER YOU DESCRIBED TIGHT CORRIDORS DESIGNED FOR PARKOUR AND HIT AND RUN TACTICS. HOW CAN YOU FIGHT IN A BEHEMOTH OF A MACHINE IN THOSE TIGHT SPACES? That, my followers, is the beauty around the level designs. They will open in giant arenas when it is time for rumbling in your titans.
While you trade away your mobility by jumping into your titan, you unlock ridiculous amounts of firepower. Along with your standard titan shotguns and machine guns, your Titan has access to various shields, rockets, and ultimate abilities depending on the loadouts you have unlocked throughout the campaign. The loadout range from an in-your-face fire-breathing scorcher to the long-range sniper-like Northstar. Along with stomping on grunts, titan combat also revolves around fighting other titans. Throughout the campaign, you meet the member of the Apex Predators each with their own unique quirks, ranging from the deranged psycho to grumpy Russian to the cocky jet pilot. At an early level, Cooper is able to knick one of their communication devices, which allows us to hear this band of misfits squabble amongst themselves giving more character to these antagonists. Making that much more satisfying to take them down.
Unfortunately, I do have some small gripes with Titanfall 2. Numerous bosses were easily having their way with me until I tried switching titan loadout, and when I did that, the tables were turned in the most embarrassing of fashions. This makes me wonder how balanced the titan loadouts are when one loadout is clearly superior to another loadout. While fighting in a titan allows you to pick up health packs, you are not given such luxury while fighting as the pilot. Near-death, all you can do around the corner and wait for your health to regenerate like a second-rate wolverine. I believe if the game adopted a health pack system similar to the titan health packs, but placed them in places that require parkouring, it would reinforce the idea of being constantly on the move. I also never really became attached to a specific gun. In Bioshock, I rocked the crossbow, DOOM the chaingun, Gears of the War the flamethrower (yes feel free to laugh), etc. But no gun in specific comes to mind. Though, these are all small complaints that are easily overlooked with the game’s strengths like the growing relationship between Cooper and BT. When BT returns a thumbs up after his life-saving catch, I can only smile as my grievances with titan balance, gun design, and regenerating health wash away.
Things might not be well for Titanfall 2 thought. For a game that has a campaign that has a very “Half-Life 2” feel, the game’s publishers, Electronic Arts, did not treat it well. Its release date was placed between EA’s own Battlefield 1 and Activision’s Call of Duty. I recently learned the EA found Titanfall 2’s sales disappointing, which doesn’t seem surprising when forced to fight two juggernauts in a competitive fps market. I am of the opinion that EA purposely set up Titanfall 2 to fail because Titanfall 2’s multiplayer was not designed to crave content like Battlefield 1 was. EA will probably use Titanfall 2 as an excuse to stick to demanding money for maps. It is sad a game will care and love put into its campaign while games designed to steal more cash from you are a success. And while sales of Titanfall 2 will probably not help meet EA’s expectations, I urge you to give Titanfall 2 a shot even if EA is unwilling to. The video game story lover in me has driven me to stand on this soapbox and yell Titanfall 2 is great until I collapse. If DOOM was my favorite song put on repeat, then Titanfall 2 is my favorite album. Not every song/level may be the best, but experience it from start to end is incredibly satisfying and cathartic. While people these days don’t listen to albums all the way through, I urge you to please take a seat and experience this tale of a boy and his robot from start to end. Like BT tells Cooper when he goes to throw him across a chasm, trust me.
