In one of my older posts, I mentioned that I am super awful at finishing games. How awful? Well, my roommate finishes my games before I do and then I still don’t beat them. Ideal games for me are ones that I can easily just pick up and play like fighting games or shooters. Games with awful or convoluted storylines that really have no influence on the way one plays the game. I am a huge fan of games like Tekken, Soulcalibur, and Call of Duty. Tekken is a great fighting game. The barrier to entry is low but takes some time to master (Great for anyone who doesn’t know or can’t do hadoken moves. Or likes to not have their thumbs on fire after a match). Now, if you asked me what the story is for Tekken, my response would be, “HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I HAVE NO IDEA. SOMETHING TO DO WITH DEVIL GENES AND A PANDA AND AN OLD GUY WHO WILL NEVER DIE!” It’s on it’s sixth installment and they always include a story mode. Always. I haven’t been able to keep track since Tekken 2, but these are the games for me. Zero investment and I can jump in, beat up other people or be put in my place and get my face smashed in (more of the latter).
HOW CAN YOU HAVE A STORY WITH THIS MANY CHARACTERS?!?! Is that why Game of Thrones is so liberal with their killings?
So I have been looking to pick up something that will scratch that itch for just random fun. This is where Titanfall comes in. I knew that it was supposed to be a good game, but I hadn’t put a whole lot of stock into it. On paper it sounds fun but didn’t seem too out of the ordinary for me to pick it up. A first person shooter where you can summon giant mechs to stomp face with. Just sounds like Pacific Rim or Gundam battles which can be a great time but I haven’t seen too many successful attempts of games like that (I see you Dynasty Warriors Gundam 1-4. Yea they made that many…). It got some pretty good reviews and I gave in. My verdict?
Awesome Sauce.
This is a great game. it does a lot of things right and added some new elements to the worn out FPS (First Person Shooter) games like Call of Duty, which pretty much puts out the same game every year with different guns and new things to drop from the sky to kill people. Titanfall is able to bring the exciting and thrilling elements of FPSs with seamless movements and abilities from Mirror’s Edge and can transition fluidly to controlling Titans (Giant robots) to fight other Titans. How does it do that? Well let me tell you reader (You’re still there, right?).
Best feeling ever. Like the Matrix but better.
Awesome Point 1: Every match starts off with you zip lining out of a plane. There is nothing to make you feel more like a boss than jumping out of a plane with your homies to do what? Go on a killing spree (Or dying spree. I’m not that good…).
Awesome Point 2: You can call Titans down from the sky. Yea, you heard me. They just come from the sky and create a large epic cloud dust and then you can jump in and beat some face. Well let’s say I don’t have a Titan to beat up an enemy Titan. “Oh no Jon! You will probably die if you don’t run. You should just lie down and take it.” To that I say FIE (Yea, I just went there). Which leads me to my Next Awesome Point.
Come on big fella
Awesome Point 3: Jumping on the back of an enemy Titan and aggressively unloading all of your ammo inside of it is a very rewarding feeling. Great for stress relieving. Then it explodes and you get launched up in to the air and come crashing back down and have to reorient yourself so you don’t die after doing something super awesome (No better buzz kill than being killed after doing something awesome. I think that’s just regular life too).
Awesome Point 4: This is the last awesome point, but it is the best awesome point. Being good at a FPS is generally based on the fact that you have played a FPS before. Maybe you have a gift (I certainly do not), then lucky you. Go get’em. For the rest of us normal people, that means the barrier to entry of a FPS is pretty steep and if you are going to jump straight into the online fray, then have fun being called lots of colorful names by children half your age as they tea bag your dead virtual body (This is for real people). Titanfall is not this and has come up with a great way to make everyone feel like they are “part of the team.” It’s super simple too: AI bots. Every match has a certain number players and a larger number of AI bots that are easy to kill (Mmmmmmm. Fodder). So that problem of not being awesome at FPS and getting destroyed three seconds after spawning and for once has been diminished. You can feel like you aren’t the problem child and why your team lost. This incorporation of easy pickin’ grunts is the most Awesome Point.
Not So Awesome Point 1: Has to run through Origin. That is all.
So Jon, should I go pick up Titanfall? I say so. It’s a great game if you don’t have time to commit to something long term like a JRPG (Yea, I’ll get to you Tales games…). I think it is fun for any level of shooter and even helps someone get better since you aren’t being ROFL Stomped every second (That might just be me though).
Reasons I Am Broke 