Titanfall 1 is a goddamn classic. IMO, it's still easily the best FPS that's been made in the past decade, so Titanfall 2 had a high bar to meet/clear in my book. The mobility/"feel" of the game's controls is still more fluid and fun than many imitations that have been made since. Also, the Smart Pistol made for some amazing multiplayer stealth gameplay, and tailing and then dropping multiple targets with a single trigger pull is cool as shit. More on that later, but suffice it to say that I came into Titanfall 2 perhaps a little prepared to be let down thanks to some real love for the original. I played the beta of Titanfall 2 and had some fun with it, but like most everyone else, I skipped the day one purchase of Titanfall 2 because EA in all their EA brilliance released the game at quite literally the worst possible time competing against one of its own games among many others. (FWIW, I bought Battlefield 1 and largely enjoyed it.) The awful release window was the main reason I skipped the day one buy, with the reveal that the Smart Pistol was mostly gone in Titanfall 2 being the other. That was a bit of a bummer for me, but I kinda promised myself I would give the game a chance at some point anyway. That time has come.

One of the complaints people had with OG Titanfall was the lack of a campaign. I felt that the quality of the game's multiplayer more than made up for whatever it was missing there, and thought that this was mostly a convenient excuse for people to ignore a good Xbox exclusive at a time when the anti-Microsoft bandwagon was full-fucking-steam ahead, but enough on that. Also, let me clarify one thing before I discuss Titanfall 2's campaign. Sassy robots are a personal pet peeve of mine. It's an oft-used trope in video games (see: Destiny, Borderlands, et al.), and it generally crushes my spirit like little else. It in no way amuses me that "robots shouldn't act human, so it's hilarious that this one does". It's that Family Guy-level of "humor" that relies almost entirely on the mere concept of unexpected behavior with a truly offputting wink, wink quality to it. Fuck. That.

Thus, when I heard that you have a robot buddy in Titanfall 2's campaign, I feared the worst. For me, an annoying robot would completely ruin the campaign, if not the game itself. Thankfully, they pulled it off. Knowing myself, it's an accomplishment that I don't hate BT. I don't know if it's BT's dry, stilted, monotone delivery or what, but Respawn somehow managed to find a good balance of charm that I find most games whiff terribly on. The "personality" they gave BT never feels like it's trying too hard, BT isn't some quip machine that never shuts the fuck up, and the subtle humor that's there is often related to robotic misunderstanding of human emotions/idioms instead of embodiment of them for ironic effect, which largely works. The only "robots acting human" bits were limited to dumb stuff like endearingly cheesy "thumbs up" gestures, and I enjoyed that, although they perhaps overused BT literally throwing your player character to get to areas you otherwise couldn't.

I had rolled my eyes and groaned at the marketing of the game that kept referring to the "bond" you'd build with BT, but that...actually kinda happened? I mean, as much as one can feel invested in a virtual character, especially a robot, kudos to them for making me care a little bit about BT. This is even more of a feat because in Titanfall 1, I played it almost entirely as an FPS and constantly used my robit as a bullet-sponge distraction while I stalked other Pilots. That's how little of a fuck I gave about the robits. I think allowing you dialogue tree choices in your interactions with BT certainly helped here, as did having some canned segments where your character would contact BT or vice versa when you get separated to keep you feeling "connected". The campaign features a lot of boss fights, and I found myself wanting not only to not die, but to protect BT as well. By the end, he feels like something of a pet or at least part of some buddy-cop duo. That's a lot of different ways to say they did a good job with BT, but they really did. Moving on.

The game plays as well as the original and also looks terrific. The Xbox One X Enhanced site doesn't list it as 4K or HDR, but you could have fooled me. From an environment standpoint, it's pretty incredible artistically. The game starts with a bit of spelunking through some cool-looking caves/lagoons, and the other levels have some good "themes" to them. There's some platforming that centers around the wallrunning, and without spoiling too much, the game finds neat ways to make this somewhat dynamic to mask what would otherwise be a linear structure of convenient setpieces. I don't really want to call this stuff a gimmick, because that's doing it a disservice, but they definitely tweak the gameplay from level to level, and entire games have been built around similar/worse gimmicks to lesser effect than what they achieve here.

Some of the robits are surprisingly creepy/intimidating as well. They'll often do the "crawl at you after you've shot them" thing, and there are portions where seemingly decommissioned/broken robits wake up and attack you, which is fundamentally terrifying. I don't scare easy and find most horror stuff to be lame, so it was surprising how unsettling (or at least startling) certain portions of this game were to me; I guess because IRL robits are getting to a point where seeing murder robits in my lifetime is no longer an entirely impossible concept. Also, if you're quick enough at certain parts, you can activate robots to fight for you, which is pretty neat (and satisfying). Anyway, the recurring theme of the campaign if you haven't noticed yet is that a bunch of it is surprisingly great.

Special shout-out as well to the HCOG sights on the guns in Titanfall 2. I never realized how much I despised the top part of your sight until I didn't have to deal with it obstructing what I aim at in this series, and goddamn is it pleasant in terms of visibility. As much as I miss the general lack of the Smart Pistol, playing with the rifles in Titanfall 2 is still more enjoyable than almost any other shooter. Also, I cannot state enough how the game just feels good. It's viscerally satisfying the way helmets pop off dudes, the melee is ridiculously vicious and great, and the sounds are all bass-heavy to where it constantly feels like you're this complete badass just kicking the shit out of everything, figuratively if not literally. It's the best.

The late game gets a little Titan-heavy for my tastes, but it's mostly fun. The game closes with what for me was a bit of a tease, as you're given my beloved Smart Pistol for an all-too-brief section where you're just wasting IMC randos at high-speed while wallrunning and it's glorious. As far as power fantasies go, this shit is A+. I was both elated to use the Smart Pistol and sadly reminded how much I missed it, so it was a little bittersweet. Also, the postgame credits are great. It's nothing but cheesy, slow-motion high-fives, fist-pumps, and fuck yeahs, and it's fantastic. I might have given an appropriate thumbs up of my own to share in the moment/show my appreciation for the good times I had with Titanfall 2.

Please play this game, everyone. It's damn near free and well-worth your time. Not that EA needs your money, but this franchise getting the axe would be a goddamn tragedy. A possible Titanfall 3 that brings back the Smart Pistol from the first and a continuation of the campaign from the second game would be near-perfect. There's always the very real possibility that EA gonna EA and ruin everything even if we do get a Titanfall 3, but one can always hope, and Titanfall 2 is definitely worth playing on its own merit. The Respawn devs are still doing great work and deserve your support, and this game deserved much better than EA basically putting it out there to die. Playing this now makes for a perfect late-summer romp until the upcoming Fall/Winter deluge of video game releases, and I can wholeheartedly recommend you give it a try if you're looking for something to play.

The verdict:

As far as campaigns go, it's hard to do much better. It was maybe a little short, but also doesn't overstay its welcome and never dips much in terms of quality or fun. The multiplayer is still there and still very good, although you either like the grapple stuff and the near-removal of the Smart Pistol or you don't. I fall a bit in the latter category and thus prefer the multiplayer of Titanfall 1, but there's still a lot to like about Titanfall 2's multiplayer if you feel like getting into that. Overall, it's a very good game that was done dirty by EA dumbassery, and I really hope this isn't the last we've seen of Titanfall.

It's fantastic! I need to go back and play this again. My only critique is that some of the boss fights are a bit harder than the rest of the game, but I just went ahead and knocked the difficulty down to normal for those and it worked out OK. Hope they get to make a good campaign for TF3!

Loved that campaign - have gone back and played sections of it a bunch of times just to play it.

If I could make a dream game for me it would Titanfall movement and combat mixed with Borderlands' loot system (but none of the story or humour).

Yeah, most of the boss fights were just....okay. Oddly enough, strapping into a giant mech and battling another giant mech was where I felt the least badass, because at a certain point, it was just a bunch of bullet sponges laying into each other. Contrast that with say, THIS, and the robits just weren't quite as cool to me.

Yeah, I'll definitely play through this again at some point. Specifically, the time-travel level was fucking awesome.

First of all, great review! The Titanfall games have been my favorite shooters in the past 5 years. I really wish they had sold better because no other shooters have the feel these games have. It's a constant highlight reel playing this game and it allows creativity with the player. They are so so good.

TItanfall 2 is easily my favorite FPS of all time, but I can never find a match anymore :(. i could pay attention to peak times, but in my mind when I have to start doing that, the game is dead. I reaaaaaaaly hope they dont fuck Titanfall 3 up.

Nice review. I liked the first Titanfall multiplayer ok, but I liked everything about Titanfall 2 much more. The campaign is great and different from any other FPS campaign I've played, and the multiplayer is very fun & competitive. The overall fluidity of movement in that game is excellent. However, since playing Titanfall 2 when I play other FPS games I think they're a bit slow and clunky now. Had a lot of couch co-op fun with some of the Halo games so I'm not sure if I could pick an overall favorite FPS but if I made a list Titanfall 2 would be very high on it, like first or second.

Also, the Smart Pistol made for some amazing multiplayer stealth gameplay, and tailing and then dropping multiple targets with a single trigger pull is cool as shit.

So the Smart Pistol is the primary reason why I stopped playing Titanfall 1 after far too little time with it. I felt like I was pretty good at the game - not amazing, but pretty good - and yet I could almost never beat someone with a smart pistol. You guys don't even have to freaking aim, just point in the general direction of someone for a few seconds and they're gone. The counter-argument to this is that Smart Pistol wielders have to wait a bit for their lock on to start working, but that "bit" never felt like enough for me to kill them even though I felt like I was on fairly even ground with everyone else. If they were to bring the original Smart Pistol back for the third game, it would be a major deterrent for me. I hate that thing with a passion.

But Titanfall 2? Yeah, great game all-around. I thought the movement in the campaign was incredible and I'd love to see another game in the franchise with an even more sprawling campaign. The multiplayer is great stuff, too, although I never quite got into it as much as I thought I would.

I'm somewhat conflicted about Titanfall 2. I mean, I'm definitely on the side of thinking it's great; it has aspects in a first-person shooter that I wish most, if not all FPS' took, like the ability to be able to sprint all the time (which you can change in the options menu). To me, it sits there alongside other sci-fi first-person shooters that I like bunching together and play all around the same time, like Halo 5, Doom 2016, as well as Infinite Warfare. I didn't love everything about it; it feels like the first step into something that could be more special. Now that I have an Xbox One X, the game looks superb and I want to get through it a third time at some point.

It's actually one of the only games that I played on both easy and its hardest and felt no difference in how much I enjoyed it. I think the game needs a slightly stronger story or something. To me, it's a tried and true, but kind of generic sci-fi from an artistic and story perspective. I'm not saying it's bad from an artistic point of view though, I really like it, but the story could be more unique I guess. I don't know. I find it hard to give it the utmost praise despite thinking it's a game that does things that I think other games should copy to make it feel modern. For a sequel, I want a slightly longer campaign and a slightly stronger story. Although I quite liked B.T. I think the relationship between him and Cooper could be done better as well. We all know he didn't die.

Lastly, something I'd also appreciate is if they made exploring more meaningful like if you go off the beaten path you can find collectibles that will either upgrade you or give you lore, similar to Doom 2016. The helmets just weren't that interesting. Oh, and I could be very wrong since games or series seem to be canceled without much preamble, but I think it's safe to say Titanfall will be back. I, however, do think it's cool that a new Star Wars is being made, but yeah, I am disappointed that EA was like 'Oh, we have you now. Go make a Star Wars game!' EA has actually said that Titanfall 3 is in development.

Titanfall 2 is straight up one of the best modern FPS packages out there, especially after the free multiplayer DLC.

I actually get where you're coming from. It is the least fun thing to get shot with because a full lock-on is a really unceremonious one-trigger pull death that you don't even have time to react to, which is never a good time; like getting headshot with a sniper rifle. Still, I'm going to defend it, with the caveat that I'm talking about using it on a console, as M&K on the PC seems like it would have been a bit easier to hold a lock on someone and perhaps a bit more unbalanced there.

I came to Titanfall 1 a few months late, so I never actually played with the pre-nerfed Smart Pistol, which, from old videos I could find, admittedly did look pretty OP. Post-nerf once they slowed the lock-on, though, it was totally fair and in a lot of ways as tough to use as any other weapon, if not tougher. Frankly, if it was dominant, everyone would have used it, but in my time with the game, it seemed like only one or two other players at most would be using it in a given match. Here are some of its major weaknesses:

• It loses in a straight-up firefight to basically any other gun. I typically had to switch to the RE-45 to even have a chance whenever anyone saw me. As such, to effectively use the Smart Pistol, you have to alter your entire playing style to put yourself in positions to be flanking. From a tactical standpoint, this meant a lot of wall-hugging, cloaking, et al.
• It is useless at range. The lock-ons are slowed to a crawling pace. I can't tell you how many times I frustratingly chased a guy halfway across the map because they were simply too far away to get a full lock-on even though I could have smoked them easily in that situation with anything else. This also means that open areas are almost certain death.
• Any object that breaks line of sight restarts the entire lock-on process. In a game with hyper-mobility like Titanfall where everyone has jetpacks, wallrunning, et al., perfectly shadowing someone else is no easy task. In fact, I didn't use the "improved targeting" which actually increases the lock-on speed because I found it exceedingly difficult to be able to anticipate movements well enough to consistently pull off lock-ons.
• Single-shot use of it is hilariously inept. If you run around a corner and encounter some bad guy, you don't have the time to obtain a full lock-on unless they're fucking terrible at shooting, and trying the semi-auto never works. The funniest was in the rare encounter between two pilots using Smart Pistols and both are just emptying pea-shooter bullets from it at each other because they don't think they have time for a lock-on. It was always the lamest battle possible.

I will admit that it absolutely slays the bots and can bolster your score a bit that way, but if you wanted to really score points, you had to go pilot hunting. Let's walk through a brief video here that I think accurately depicts Smart Pistol gameplay from one of my matches: https://1drv.ms/i/s!AmWxCFEb2Q8agk2bF5duEC5n-5Zj

The first guy runs out quartering away from me while I'm still cloaked and gets wasted, as he should have and would have with virtually any weapon. I then drop a few bots that happen to show up. Unfortunately, one of his teammates with an LMG sees me from his perch on a stairwell far behind me. I do the only thing I can (aside from just running away) and bolt for cover, hit the cloak, and bum-rush him hoping to get close enough to get a lock-on. I almost pull it off thanks to some pretty crappy spray-and-pray shooting on his part, but he still gets the kill because the Smart Pistol isn't worth a damn in this scenario. I then get a lucky-ass spawn that surprises me next to some guy aiming up at a window. Here you can see how the blown-up car obstructs the lock-on for a bit, but he runs out in front of me and spots me just about the time he gets smoked.

In both the kills here, the result would have been the same with any weapon in the game, and likely quicker given the average TTK in that scenario is lower than the Smart Pistol. The death maybe could have been avoided had I been using something with any kind of range. To your point, though, I wondered if I was actually good at Titanfall, or if it was just the Smart Pistol. So, a match after this one in which I scored 150+, I switched to the standard R101 and duplicated the effort, again scoring 150+. For me at least, the balance was there, but I preferred the way using the Smart Pistol forced me to change up my gameplay. It made Titanfall 1 appreciably different than your standard FPS, and I loved that. Titanfall 2 forced me to use the ARs more, and FWIW, those also play/feel better than almost any other FPS, but it makes the gameplay feel a bit more like other games. I didn't find myself trying to wallrun or make tactical considerations as much using the ARs because I would default to left-trigger right-trigger attempts to just outshoot guys in the open, which just didn't capitalize on the game's terrific mobility and thus felt like a disservice, IMO.

@notnert427: I played it on a PC with a mouse and keyboard, so that might be the primary difference. I also played the game very near launch, so this was pre-nerf Smart Pistol as well.

Still, the fact remains that if a supposed Titanfall 3 comes out and the Smart Pistol is featured as a primary weapon, I will probably not purchase it at launch. I'd love to, but the anger I felt every time I rage-quit Titanfall 1 because of the fucking Smart Pistol is still in me somewhere. I loved the game otherwise, it's just that one little thing that I hated so much.

In any case, I think I'll go play some Titanfall 2 right now - still installed! - and hope it's not infested with hackers.

EDIT: Nevermind, there's only about 1500 people online and it's taking forever to find a game. And they added microtransactions. Not egregious microtransactions, but you can definitely pay five dollars for a skin in Titanfall 2 now. Ugh.