Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to 2014's Titanfall and was released worldwide on October 28, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Its single-player campaign focuses on a Militia soldier, Jack Cooper, who aspires to pilot a Titan, the ultimate fighting tool in the war, against the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (also known as the IMC) and its mercenaries.
Titanfall 2's single-player campaign was praised for its design and execution, and the multiplayer modes for building upon the foundation of the original game, with several reviewers citing Bounty Hunt as the highlight. It received criticism for its writing and short length. Despite the positive reception, Titanfall 2 underperformed commercially.
Video Titanfall 2
Gameplay
Similar to its predecessor, Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter game in which players can control both a pilot and their Titans - mecha-style exoskeletons. The pilot has an arsenal of abilities which enhance their efficiency during combat. These abilities include cloaking, grappling, and parkour - such as double-jumping and wall-running - with the aid of a jump kit. These movements can be chained together in order to travel between locations quickly. The game introduces several new gameplay mechanics: a sliding mechanic, the pulse blade, which is a throwing knife that reveals the location of any nearby enemy, the holo-pilot, a holographic pilot that mimics players' action to confuse enemies, and a grappling hook, which can be used to slingshot players to a building or an enemy it attaches to. The pilots have a large arsenal of gadgets and weapons, such as shotguns, submachine guns, pistols, and grenades to fight against enemies. At close range, players can execute their opponents from behind, this will play an interruptible execution animation.
Titans are significantly less mobile than the pilots, but they have stronger firearms and are more powerful. The titans from the first game were removed or changed, and seven loadout-locked Titans where introduced: Ion, an Atlas-class Titan that uses a directed-energy arsenal. Scorch, an Ogre-class Titan that uses an area-denial incendiary weaponry. Northstar, a Stryder-class Titan that excels in long-range precision attacks, setting traps, and is the only Titan that has the ability to hover. Ronin, a Stryder-class Titan that specializes in close quarters combat, utilizing a shotgun and a `sword. Tone, an Atlas-class Titan that focuses on midrange combat with its target locking weapons. Legion, an Ogre-class Titan that utilizes a minigun designed for defense and controlling combat zones. Finally, Monarch (added post-release via DLC), a Vanguard-class chassis that can upgrade itself on the Fly. The Titans have their own sets of move sets. For instance, they can quickly dodge to evade attacks.
Single-player
Unlike the first iteration, this game has a single-player story campaign. It features a linear story, but levels are similar to open-ended arenas which offer players multiple paths to explore. Players are allowed to use multiple ways to complete objectives, such as utilizing stealth, or using the long-ranged or short-ranged weapons provided in the game to assault enemies. Maps are sprawling, and there are multiple paths for players to choose from in order for them to reach their destination. In addition, the game features platform elements, which task players to make use of Cooper's parkour abilities to solve environmental puzzles, and access the previously inaccessible areas. Some weapons are level-specific, and can only be used in certain regions. There are also level-specific gameplay mechanics. For instance, in the level "Effect and Cause", players are required to shift between modern times and the past with a temporal device in order to advance. Players can also select dialogue options and talk to the Titan at certain points of the campaign.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode features a Titan meter, which fills up slowly when the player is playing the game. It fills up faster when the players kills an opponent, inflicts damage on enemies, or completes certain objectives. When a certain percentage of the meter is filled up, the player can summon a Titan, which then descends from the sky. A Titan can crush opponents if it lands in top of one when summoned. When the Titan meter is filled up completely while in a Titan, the Titan can use their core ability, which inflicts a lot more damage than typical attacks do. Players can rodeo an enemy's titan and steal its battery, which will cause damage to the Titan. If you rodeo the same titan again, the player will drop a grenade in the place where the battery was. The battery can also be taken and implemented on a friendly Titan, which will recharge its shield and fills up the Titan meter. Players can disembark from their Titan at any time, and it will continue to attack nearby opponents under "follow mode", in which the Titan follows the pilot as closely as it can; alternatively they can set it to "guard mode", in which it will stay put.
Players earn "merits" based on their performance in a multiplayer match, regardless of whether their team wins or loses. Merits are experience points, through participating in the match or getting access to unlocks. Players need to accumulate merits in order to level up, which further unlocks more weapons, abilities and more. There are also other ways to earn merits, such as through surviving the evacuation phase when the players' team lost in a match. In addition, players earn Credits, a form of currency used to buy weapons, boosts, Titans, or abilities before they are unlocked. They can be earned through earning merits and completing challenges. Customization options is expanded significantly in the game when compared to its predecessor. Players' outfits and weapons, as well as Titans' appearances and combat efficiency, can be extensively customized. Boosts replace burn cards featured in the previous game. They are tactical abilities that enhance the players' combat efficiency. Each boost has their own specific access requirement. For instance, Ticks, which are explosive mines that track enemies, required 65% of the Titan meter filled, while Amped Weapons, in which players inflicts more damages with their firearms, required 80%. Players need to decide which boost they are going to use before a match begins, and they cannot swap their boost during the game.
Titanfall 2 features a number of multiplayer modes at launch. These modes include:
- Amped Hardpoint: In this mode, teams received points if they can hold control points for an extensive amount of time. The team that accumulates more points wins.
- Bounty Hunt: Players are rewarded with money if they kill enemies opponents or AI-controlled grunts. Players need to return to specific points to deposit the money. Players can also steal opponents' money by killing them. The team that has the highest score wins.
- Pilot vs. Pilot: A standard team deathmatch mode but players cannot summon any Titan.
- Capture the Flag: Players are tasked to retrieve an enemy flag and bring it back to their team's own base while preventing opponents from stealing their own flag.
- Attrition: A standard team deathmatch mode in which players can summon Titans. Points will be rewarded to a player's team when they kill a human-controlled enemy or an AI-controlled grunt. When a team gets enough points, the game will transition into another phase, in which the losing team needs to reach the evacuation zone and escape while the winning team needs to eliminate all opponents.
- Skirmish: The mode is similar to Attrition, but there is no AI-controlled grunt and the scores needed for phase transitioning is lowered.
- Last Titan Standing: A standard team deathmatch mode but players cannot eject from their titan.
- Free For All: Players are tasked to kill each other in this mode. All other players will be marked as their opponents.
- Coliseum: This is a one-versus-one multiplayer mode in which the player is tasked to eliminate the other player. Players can gain access to this mode through Coliseum tickets, which are earned through playing other multiplayer modes, buying them with credits or receiving them in gifts, granted when the player levels up a faction.
- Titan Brawl: A standard team deathmatch mode but players spawn with their titans and cannot eject or disembark from their titans.
- Frontier Defense: A PvE multiplayer game mode where four players must face up to five waves against Enemies and you get money as you progress and special unlocks for your titan.
Matchmaking is also enhanced, with the game automatically helping players to find a new match after the end of every match. The game also introduces a new features called "Networks", which allows players to form a group, similar to a guild. The game automatically groups both the player and other members of the network together in a match. Players can join more than one network, and can switch between joined networks in-game. Each network has its own "happy hour". If the player plays the game during this period time, they will gain extra merits.
Maps Titanfall 2
Synopsis
Setting
The conflict of the game takes place in "The Frontier", a region of star systems far removed from the "Core Systems" where Earth is located. The Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) and the Frontier Militia battle for control of the Frontier; the IMC seeks to exploit the Frontier's rich resources regardless of the consequences for planetary environments and civilian populations, while the Militia fight to expel the IMC and gain independence for the Frontier. In the wake of the Battle of Demeter, the Militia is on the offensive; battling for resources and control of the Frontier planets. The IMC, though weakened by the lack of reinforcements from the core systems as a result of the destruction of the refueling facility by James MacAllan, are still a dominant fighting force attempting to drive the Militia out and put down any resistance to their control of the Frontier.
In the singleplayer campaign the player assumes control of Jack Cooper, a class three rifleman from the Frontier Militia, who is sent to the alien planet of Typhon and must ally with his former squadmate's Titan named BT-7274 to fight against both local alien creatures and human enemies from the IMC.
Plot
Jack Cooper, a class three rifleman in the Militia, aspires to become a Titan Pilot for the Militia, and is receiving off-the-books training from Captain Tai Lastimosa in preparation for Cooper's candidacy. The two are part of a Militia force which attacks the IMC-held planet of Typhon. In the initial battle, the Apex Predators, a group of mercenaries contracted to the IMC and led by Blisk, mortally wound Lastimosa and incapacitate his Vanguard-class Titan, BT-7274. Lastimosa transfers control of BT to Cooper, and BT explains that Cooper has also inherited Lastimosa's mission, Special Operation 217: to rendezvous with Major Anderson and assist in the completion of their original assignment. Anderson's last known position is at an IMC laboratory. BT and Cooper are forced to take a detour through a manufacturing plant where they are ambushed and separated. Cooper fights through the factory alone until he is trapped in a combat simulation being run by the mercenary Ash, who is using captured Militia soldiers as test subjects to test the potency of IMC machine units. Cooper escapes, and after being reunited with BT, defeats Ash.
BT and Cooper continue on to the IMC laboratory only to find it destroyed, finding the corpses there artificially aged due to time-travel distortion. Anderson is present, though also deceased from a time-travel mishap. Cooper learns Anderson was gathering intelligence on a new IMC device, the 'Fold Weapon', which utilizes time-displacement technology to destroy entire planets. The planet Harmony, which houses the Militia headquarters, will be the first target. Fortunately for the Militia, the Fold Weapon is dependent upon a power source known as the Ark. Cooper and BT hijack an IMC communications array and broadcast a signal to the Militia fleet. The transmission contained sensor data on the Ark's electromagnetic signature so that the Militia could find and seize it.
After receiving the transmission, Militia's military unit, the Marauder Corps, leads an assault against the IMC-held installation where the Ark is being kept. Arriving too late to prevent it from being loaded onto an IMC transport, the Militia give chase in hijacked IMC ships. The mercenary Viper nearly kills BT and Cooper by throwing them off their transport, but freelance pilot Barker rescues them by catching them with his dropship. Cooper regroups with a friendly mercenary group called the Six Four, and the Pilots secure the IMC ship nearest to the Draconis, the transport carrying the Ark. Barker drops BT off with Cooper and they face off with Viper, who, after a short skirmish, falls out of the sky. BT and Cooper attempt to board the Draconis but are once again interrupted by Viper. In the battle, BT loses an arm, but Cooper kills Viper by shooting his exposed body after his titan's hatch is blown off.
Cooper and BT successfully get aboard the Draconis holding the Ark, and they secure it before the ship crashes. BT becomes incapacitated from damage sustained in his fight with Viper, and the duo are captured by Blisk and his second-in-command, Slone. BT surrenders the Ark to save Cooper, but is destroyed by Slone for trying to help Cooper escape. However, BT gives Cooper his data core before he dies, and Cooper used this data core to revive BT by installing it in a Vanguard chassis provided by Briggs after he escapes captivity. Reunited, Cooper and BT fight their way to the base where the Fold Weapon is being prepared for use against Harmony. They kill Slone, earning Blisk's respect; Blisk spares Cooper because the IMC never included killing Cooper in their contract and he doesn't work for free. He offers Cooper a place in the Apex Predators before departing. BT and Cooper then launch themselves into the Fold Weapon's superstructure where the Ark has already been installed. BT hurls Cooper free before sacrificing himself by Killing himself, destroying the Ark and the Fold Weapon and the planet Complex.
The game ends with a monologue from Cooper, talking about having his status as a pilot affirmed and being inducted into the Marauder Corps, as well as reminiscing over his experiences with BT. The Titan neural link to Cooper's helmet flashes with the message "Jack?" encoded in binary.
Development
Reports about the sequel to Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall began to circulate within weeks of the game's March 2014 release, particularly that the sequel would not be a Microsoft console exclusive as its predecessor had been and that Electronic Arts would serve again as publisher. The game was in planning as of June, and revealed by Respawn CEO Vince Zampella to be in development as of March 2015. A second team at Respawn was working on an unrelated project. Respawn explored the possibility of a companion science fiction television series. The game was released on October 28, 2016. A collector's edition at release featured a full-scale replica of the game's pilot character helmet as well as other gadgets. The first beta, which contained two modes and two maps, began on August 19 and ended on the 21st. It was followed by a second beta, which began on August 26 and ended on August 28.
Titanfall 2 uses an improved version of the previous game's engine, which was itself a heavily modified version of the Source engine. Improvements include a new audio system with support for sound occlusion and reverb, as well as numerous improvements to the graphical rendering system. Unlike the first game, it includes a full single-player story mode focusing on the relationship between Titans and pilots. The developers also confirmed that they were going to release all of the post-release maps and modes free of charge in an effort not to fragment the player base. A virtual reality version of the game was prototyped but it never went into full production, because according to Joe Emslie, the player would "vomit all over their controller."
Reception
Titanfall 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
The game's campaign was met with critical acclaim. Edge wrote that "Titanfall 2's campaign is a work of dazzling invention, in which ideas strong enough to power entire games are introduced then tossed away casually... EA just put out the best Nintendo game of the year." They termed the game's time-switching Effect and Cause mission "an instant classic." Brandin Tyrrel of IGN thought that the game's level design was "excellent", and praised Respawn for its "genuine talent for conveying scale." He also praised the platforming design, noting it was "as refreshing as any I've encountered in a first-person shooter."
Jon Denton of Eurogamer considered the game's campaign "a benchmark", and that it was "quite feasibly the best single-player FPS since Modern Warfare 2." He thought its movement mechanics felt "nigh-on flawless", and praised the relationship between Cooper and BT-7274, writing that he cared more about the robot than "almost any action game character in recent times." Chris Thursten of PC Gamer thought the game packed "a best-in-class singleplayer campaign", and said he wouldn't be surprised if it was remembered as "one of the best shooters of its time." He was concerned though, that the game's "excellent" multiplayer component might fail to retain its audience simply due to its release date (which was between the latest installments of Battlefield and Call of Duty).
Arthur Gies of Polygon, however, thought the campaign was "a demoralizing slog to play." While he noted that the game has "the smoothest, best controlling player movement in a shooter that I've ever laid hands on", he thought that "Titanfall 2 feels like a set of mechanics in search of a game."
Sales
Electronic Arts expected the game to sell approximately 9 to 10 million units in its first year of release. However, financial analysts predicted that the game's sales would be substantially disappointing due to EA's decision of releasing the game in late October, a period between the launch of EA's largely popular own Battlefield 1, and Activision's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Despite that, EA expressed no concern about the release window, as they felt that the player base of Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 would not overlap.
EA partnered with several catering companies to promote the game. Players who purchased food or drink at any Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant would receive a free customization item and access to a new multiplayer mode. Similarly, players who purchased Pepsi's Mountain Dew or Doritos would be given a code granting them double XP, early access to a new multiplayer mode, a Titan, and Titan customization items.
The game was the fourth best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release, behind Battlefield 1, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition, and FIFA 17. Its first-week sales only reached a quarter of the launch-week sales of Titanfall despite Titanfall 2 being a multi-platform release. Digital sales of the game were also down, only reaching a quarter of its predecessor's sales as well. In their earnings call for the third quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, EA stated that the game's sales fell below expectations, stating "the out-performance versus our expectation was driven by Battlefield 1 and FIFA 17, offset by Titanfall 2 and that "we sold more units than we expected to sell in Battlefield, and we sold less units than we expected in Titanfall." However, EA CEO Blake Jorgensen went on to say that the company was pleased with the positive reviews the game received and expected it to have strong sales into the next fiscal year.
Accolades
References
External links
- Official website
- EA Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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