Summary [8 out of 10]

Titanfall is billed as the title that launches the Xbox One into the forefront of the Console Race. I would not say that it fails to deliver but falls short on a few points that otherwise could have solidified this claim and given us a new franchise to rally around and fan(boy/girl) over.

What It’s Like:

Call of Duty mixed with High Moon Studio’s Transformers games. An interesting combo of fast paced, fly by the seat of your pants parkour mixed with hulking action in a giant exo-suit.

The Great:

Source Engine: The things they made with this engine is amazing, I thought Portal 2 was an excellent show piece but this goes above and beyond. Most likely it is so heavily modified that the similarity to other games running the engine are few and far between.

Online Gamplay Rotation: So often you find that mean gameplay usually rests on one mode, not necessarily a bad thing as this is often the best example of the game functioning but grinding round after round of the same experience gets a bit tedious. One swap in lieu of a typical voting structure is the campaign, which rotates out the gameplay modes and follows a structured story arch.

The Good:

Combat: Combat is fast and fluid, whether you are jumping and jetpacking your way through the map while trying not to get pancaked or strolling around as a Titan spitting out righteous fury it feels well put together. As a pilot or a Titan I didn’t feel at a disadvantage either way while trying to take down enemies, a different play style is needed but there is enough customization to weapons to suit your needs and turn the tide to your advantage.

Burn Cards: A great system to keep things interesting during gameplay, instead of building up certain perks like a typical shooter you have a one time use bonus that lasts for a brief time during gameplay. You can save these up to have a plethora in stock, but can only select three at a time for potential usage.

The Bad:

Content: The storyline is really bare bones here, I understand this is a launch title for a make or break studio that had previously sired many Call of Duty titles but the minimal effort here really does not help elevate this title to Halo levels on previous generations consoles. Yes, a majority of play time is spent on multiplayer for these titles but you need to have a grounding in some decent story. Not some tiny cut scenes, voice-over and splash pages that goes not cut the mustard for a game on the magnitude that was promised. There is a lot of variety in game type and enough maps to keep you busy for a while, but overall it does not feel like there is enough here to justify calling it a complete game.

Conclusion [8 out of 10]

Not the second coming of a massive system migration game as promised but a good entry into the FPS genre that adds enough differentiation to separate itself from the typical shooter. With some added DLC this game might be closer to supporting a long term online community, with rumors of a potential sequel you may want to standby for price point drop.