Titanfall Beta Video Game Review

Final Verdict - Definitely Worth Playing

So one of 2014's most anticipated games finally graced the public eye in the form of a Beta. Toted as one of the major competitors to the Call Of Duty FPS throne, its debut at E3 was heralded with much praise and admiration. A fresh new outlook on the FPS genre and its potential for growth and breaking the mold; fast forward months later to the first accessible public build of the game. Does it live up to the hype? Has it met expectations and more? Join us as we take a look at the Titanfall Beta...

Titanfall is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts as an exclusive for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game was officially announced as Respawn's debut game at Microsoft's E3 2013 press conference, and is scheduled for release on March 11, 2014. In Titanfall, players fight in online multi-player-only matches set on a war-torn planet as mech-style Titans and their pilots. Its action is fast-paced, including abilities to run on walls and hijack mechs, and extended periods between player deaths. Respawn describes the game as bringing "scale, verticality, and story" to first-person shooter multi-player gaming, incorporating elements traditionally used in single-player campaigns. The game uses Microsoft's cloud computing services to offload non-player activity to servers and optimize the home computer for graphical performance. The game won over 60 awards at its E3 2013 reveal, including a record-breaking six E3 Critics Awards, and Best of Show from several media outlets. It also won official awards at Gamescom and the Tokyo Game Show. Many reviewers predicted Titanfall to be the next step for the first-person shooter genre.

What’s Good:

Soundtrack: As a multi-player game, Titanfall has a large number of tracks to avoid repetition. The sound ranges from your typical dubstep heavy bass line type music to to your more melodious fast paced action sequences. Each side has its own identity and its own musical sound world, this helps keep the pace new and varied no matter what team you end up playing on.

Graphics: Respawn chose to build Titanfall on the Source game engine early in their production cycle due to their developers' familiarity and its ability to maintain 60 frames per second on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This is a very versatile and well known engine that is known for its use across multiple platforms and yields good results. The game looks especially great on PC's that can fully take advantage of the 60 FPS and hi-res textures.

Game Mechanics: The very well executed game-play design of Titanfall revolves around 3 main aspects:  "player mobility, survivability, and the merging of cinematic design with fast-paced action". All the aforementioned are seamlessly executed and integrated into the natural progression of the game.

Replay value: A fair amount of replay value exists as there are three main game-play modes: Attrition, Hardpoint, and Last Titan Standing. Essentially your typical FPS multi-player modes of Deathmatch, King Of The Hill and Last Man Standing respectively. Throw in a wide assortment of maps and you got yourself  some fun times ahead.

What’s Bad:

Story-line: There is no single player campaign. Still undecided if this is good or bad but leaning towards bad for the sake of feeling like getting an incomplete game.

Game Mechanics: Computer controlled A.I. is horrendous and most times just stands around waiting to get shot. Lack of Anti-Titan weaponry and ways for pilots to effectively fight Titans on the ground.

What Should Have Been Added:

I know the developmental team at Respawn Entertainment has their reasons for not adding a story mode to the game whether it be to focus on multi-player directly or due to the lack of man power but I feel a lot of back-story into the Titanfall universe could have been covered in an adequate story mode campaign. Also I feel like there should be a wider weapon set allowed than just a primary, a secondary, and a Titan specific weapon. Improved A.I. is also on the list of things to include as currently the computer controlled players offer little to no impact on the round proceedings except to act as cannon fodder and offset balance issues on teams.

Final Thoughts:

All in all a great game seeking to shake things up and give us a new way to play FPS games. I can definitely see the mass market appeal that will garner new comers as well as the classic Call Of Duty (CoD) play-style that may very well coax a lot of CoD players away from their copy of Ghost or whatever iteration of the franchise they are playing. Personally I had my own personal gripe with the game and how Titans feel a bit overpowered but all in all its a solid and enjoyable experience. Most times playing matches were fun and balanced until Titans came into play and that's when all hell breaks loose and Titan superiority plays a major role. For something that can be summoned every two minutes or so I really feel they should not have made the Titans so hard to fight when you are not in one. Granted you can rodeo kill a Titan but its a simple matter for someone to eject from their Titan and shoot you off the back of it before you can do any real damage. Also pro-tip side note; the Smart Pistol and Shotgun are the two most over powered weapons in the game. You're welcome...

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Have You Answered The Call?

Gameplay - 9/10

Storyline - 10/10

Graphics - 10/10

Game Score : 29/30

Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game grossed $500 million, beating 2011's Modern Warfare 3 to become the biggest entertainment launch of all time. 500 Million In twenty four hours. I know I shouldn't be surprised but the damn game sold worldwide and made five hundred million in its first twenty four hours of existence; that's insane. In these coming weeks many women will lose access to their boyfriends and a few boyfriends will lost access to their girlfriend (didn't forget about you gamer girls out there). So one and all lets take a look at the newest addition to the Call Of Duty family.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision (Square Enix for Japan). Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise of video games and a sequel to the 2010 game Call of Duty: Black Ops. Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to feature future warfare technology and the first to present branching story-lines driven by player choice. It also offers a 3D display option. A corresponding game, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, will be released simultaneously on the PlayStation Vita. The single-player campaign features two connected story-lines, with one set in the 1970s through 1980s and the other in 2025. 

Whats Good:

Every damn thing. The weapon choices, the story-line, the zombies mode, the multi-player, the stellar game graphics, the list goes on and on. I don't even really have to really write much for this review cause the game overall is solid and well rounded and they managed to not fall into the typical trend that they regurgitate the same game every year. This is truly an entity onto its own and I am glad to see Treyarch take the time to expand more on the single player aspect of the game and not just the multi-player portion. The story-line of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has several endings, depending on which conditions the player fulfills over the course of the game. How freaking awesome is that??

Whats Bad:

One word; Strike Force missions. Ok so maybe that was three words but honestly this is the only thing I have a problem with in the game. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign story-line. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign. Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. Genius idea but small problem; whenever you place computer AI in a game to aid the player 8/10 times the AI will fail the player. This trend proves ever true as most times playing these missions I had to do majority of the work to ensure I passed and just could not have a lot of faith in the AI to do as told.

What Should Have Been Added:

Every year its the one thing that is missing from the game; granted I know why its not in the game I still want it goddammit. LAN play; yes I know the game always gets pirated and that's primarily the reason why they took it out and made the game with dedicated servers but it would make so much of a worthwhile addition to the game.

Final Thoughts:

The game is good, fan of the series or not its a well rounded experience that anyone who plays FPS games can enjoy. Feel free to check out our single-player walk-through and for posterity I will post a bit of multi-player action from a fellow friend you-tuber of mine.

Single-Player Experience

Multi-Player Experience

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