It went right off to a bad start with it's 15 minute tutorial teaching you how to play an FPS, granted, it showed you how to wall run and use a titan, but when you have to spend 10 minutes being told how to move, it's quite (very) annoying. This isn't part of the campaign though, but you do have to go through it to play it at all. The campaign then, is a set of online battles with a brief story in between, but there's some interesting elements in here. Due to the fact that you need opposition, you get to play as both sides, The IMC (which is some big corporation) and the militia (you can figure that one out for yourself. What makes it most interesting is that you can sympathise with both sides, even though they hate each other, you can understand the position that they're both in, with the IMC being the biggest company in the 'verse, and doing what they feel is right, and the militia is a group of civilians that have come together to stop them, as they feel that it's what's right for all the people. Now, this seeing two sides of the story made me think of command and conquer, where you would play through the 2 opposing campaigns from each perspective (though never the same mission, as that wouldn't work given the missions that were there), but the main difference is that both sides in whichever C & C game you were playing always seemed like arseholes and you wanted everyone to die, but not so much in titanfall. It is a shame that it is just a bit attached to the game to appease people who wanted a story because it could be so much more, and the story's not over, so lets hope come titanfall 2 there will be much more of an in depth campaign, be it on or off line.
 |
| Parkour |
But will I be playing the sequel? It's very difficult for me to play this without comparing it to the old days of playing Call of duty for hours on end, so, I've come up with some pro's and cons vs Cod (when I gave a crap)
Pro: Parkour
Con: people online are knobs and so games that require teamwork eg. CTF are down to dumb luck rather that any good tactics.
Pro: titans make an interesting game dynamic, you can take them down alone, use them to protect yourself, and cause nuclear explosions (quite small though) as you eject out of the top to safety, but
Con: Titans are kind of boring to drive
Pro: easy to get a higher score and make yourself look good by killing 'minions' (lots of people have a problem with this, coupled with the fact that you can only have 6 v 6 games, but I don't really want massive matches where you get killed the second you step out of cover, and killing minions makes you look better on the scoreboard and ensures you level up, so for the people who are new to it or just aren't that good at it, they're not constantly getting owned and never able to advance
Con: Not enough game modes (especially as there's no free for all and the lie, sure, as I mentioned, 12 players is fine, as is 6 v 6, I don't want anymore, but sometimes it's nice to be a loner, and show everyone how good you are (or aren't in my case (sticks and stones anyone?))).
Pro: maps are quite well varied, so you can't just win by having a titan guard all the time, or sniping or etc.)
Con: I have no one to play with (granted, this isn't a con for everyone, because I'm sure lots of people have friends to play with, but my group that used to spend hours together on COD and Fifa back in the late naughties-early teens (is that right, should it be 10's?) have all split off in to other types of gaming, lack of funds, other priorities, or in my case, shift work. This won't just be a problem for me though, as we are at the beginning of a console cycle, many people will have not bought an xbox one yet (let alone if they will/have got a PS4 instead or whichever console preference floats your boat (I'm only putting it this way as Titanfall isn't on Playstation)), so it stands to reason that many people playing online will not be joined with all their old online gaming buddies (well, not yet anyway)).
(Pro: No Rich Taylor!)
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| Clash of the Titans? (sigh) |
The real question then is id you don't like Call of duty, then will you like this? I'd have to go with probably not and it is a real shame. Microsoft threw everything at titanfall to sell the xbox ones (to be fair, UK sales did increase by 96% the week it came out, so actually it did work, I'm just spouting gibberish now) but ultimately it was, for me at least, a let down. Not that it's terrible mind you.
The other game I played this week was brothers, a tale of two sons. This is kind of a fairy tale adventure to a magic tree in order to get some magic tree stuff (there's no speaking, hence no real name, so 'magic tree stuff'' will suffice) that will cure your dying father (who is ginger, so the real question, does he even saving, or does he just want to be put out of his misery?).
There is an interesting control scheme here too, where you are in control of both of the brothers simultaneously, one with each thumb stick, which gets very confusing when they're standing the other way round on screen (you keep thinking that you'll get used to it, but you don't (stupid hand eye coordination)). That also leaves each pair of shoulder buttons to each of the brothers, and it's unique, and not necessarily in a bad way as it opens up new ideas to puzzles that you couldn't do otherwise (it's a puzzle game). Sadly though, the puzzles never really get too adventurous or difficult (not that I want to be stuck for hours on end looking at the same small area, but when you can still tell what to do instantly by the end of a game, then maybe they should have banged the difficulty up a bit).
The game doesn't really have combat, sure, there's a bit where a rabid (I assume) dog chases you around a farm, and some glow in the dark eyed wolves try to get you in one level, and there's some plants that try to eat you, and there's this spider thing and a troll guard and some killer whales, but you never really do any of the fighting, well... there is one right at the end. My point was that it's a pretty cathartic game where you can take your time and enjoy the view (there's plenty of benches to sit down on to see said views).
I don't want to delve in to the story too much, because it would spoil it, and it's a fantastic example of how to tell a story without any language, but I'll touch on a few bits (gotta make 'dem jokes). It's the story of a journey to get to this tree, even though you don't know it's a tree your headed, just somewhere a doctor has sent you to find a cure (what kind of irresponsible doctor sends two young children through dangerous terrain to save their dad?). The interaction you can have with the world is great too, mainly in the difference in the way the two brothers interact differently, where the older one wants to get things moving along, but the younger wants to have fun. There are some great moments throughout hidden off in side paths too that you wouldn't notice that add nice touches to the game, like helping some giant turtles get back to their mother. You travel through different locations, all within a fantasy style world, and meet different races like giants, trolls, big bird things and more (I was wondering if you're supposed to be some kind f dwarf, but towards the end, you find another group of people your height, so I guess not). Infact, you get a lot of help from a pair of trolls (one can only assume lovers) as you get passed on to higher surfaces, while he (there's only one at this point) navigates the area and passes you around the world, but, why doesn't he just carry you (maybe I was being trolled...)? There's other help later, from the other troll I just referred too, that bird thing, an inventor and ghost of your dead mother (I assume, it was a female adult ghost, and you don't see your mum at any other point, so it was the logical conclusion). Along the way there are many sad moments, and the ending is a heart wrencher, which definitely makes it worth a play, it's not too long so there's no excuse. Just keep your eyes open for the Lord of the rings style moment at the end (you'll know what I mean).
No Grid 2 was played. March however, keeps the big games coming thick and fast with Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground zeroes right in front of me, and Bioshock infinite's final piece of DLC is out Tuesday too (it better be good for all them people to have lost their jobs now) but this time I really have no days off in the week, so it's a good job then that ground Zeroes has been panned for being too short, might work out well for me.
Finished: Mark of the Ninja
Donkey Kong country tropical freeze
Crimson Dragon
Toy soldiers: Cold war
Metro last light
South park the stick of truth
Titanfall
Brothers a Tale of two sons
One day, maybe: Grid 2
The other game I played this week was brothers, a tale of two sons. This is kind of a fairy tale adventure to a magic tree in order to get some magic tree stuff (there's no speaking, hence no real name, so 'magic tree stuff'' will suffice) that will cure your dying father (who is ginger, so the real question, does he even saving, or does he just want to be put out of his misery?).
There is an interesting control scheme here too, where you are in control of both of the brothers simultaneously, one with each thumb stick, which gets very confusing when they're standing the other way round on screen (you keep thinking that you'll get used to it, but you don't (stupid hand eye coordination)). That also leaves each pair of shoulder buttons to each of the brothers, and it's unique, and not necessarily in a bad way as it opens up new ideas to puzzles that you couldn't do otherwise (it's a puzzle game). Sadly though, the puzzles never really get too adventurous or difficult (not that I want to be stuck for hours on end looking at the same small area, but when you can still tell what to do instantly by the end of a game, then maybe they should have banged the difficulty up a bit).
The game doesn't really have combat, sure, there's a bit where a rabid (I assume) dog chases you around a farm, and some glow in the dark eyed wolves try to get you in one level, and there's some plants that try to eat you, and there's this spider thing and a troll guard and some killer whales, but you never really do any of the fighting, well... there is one right at the end. My point was that it's a pretty cathartic game where you can take your time and enjoy the view (there's plenty of benches to sit down on to see said views).
I don't want to delve in to the story too much, because it would spoil it, and it's a fantastic example of how to tell a story without any language, but I'll touch on a few bits (gotta make 'dem jokes). It's the story of a journey to get to this tree, even though you don't know it's a tree your headed, just somewhere a doctor has sent you to find a cure (what kind of irresponsible doctor sends two young children through dangerous terrain to save their dad?). The interaction you can have with the world is great too, mainly in the difference in the way the two brothers interact differently, where the older one wants to get things moving along, but the younger wants to have fun. There are some great moments throughout hidden off in side paths too that you wouldn't notice that add nice touches to the game, like helping some giant turtles get back to their mother. You travel through different locations, all within a fantasy style world, and meet different races like giants, trolls, big bird things and more (I was wondering if you're supposed to be some kind f dwarf, but towards the end, you find another group of people your height, so I guess not). Infact, you get a lot of help from a pair of trolls (one can only assume lovers) as you get passed on to higher surfaces, while he (there's only one at this point) navigates the area and passes you around the world, but, why doesn't he just carry you (maybe I was being trolled...)? There's other help later, from the other troll I just referred too, that bird thing, an inventor and ghost of your dead mother (I assume, it was a female adult ghost, and you don't see your mum at any other point, so it was the logical conclusion). Along the way there are many sad moments, and the ending is a heart wrencher, which definitely makes it worth a play, it's not too long so there's no excuse. Just keep your eyes open for the Lord of the rings style moment at the end (you'll know what I mean).
No Grid 2 was played. March however, keeps the big games coming thick and fast with Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground zeroes right in front of me, and Bioshock infinite's final piece of DLC is out Tuesday too (it better be good for all them people to have lost their jobs now) but this time I really have no days off in the week, so it's a good job then that ground Zeroes has been panned for being too short, might work out well for me.
Finished: Mark of the Ninja
Donkey Kong country tropical freeze
Crimson Dragon
Toy soldiers: Cold war
Metro last light
South park the stick of truth
Titanfall
Brothers a Tale of two sons
One day, maybe: Grid 2
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