Titanfall 2 | Respawn Entertainment/EA
TITANFALL 2
A Worthy Sequel that Deserved So Much More.
Oh Titanfall 2, you deserved so much better than this. You really did put forth all the effort to rebound from the lackluster outing back in 2014. You would think that a game about piloting a huge mech should have been a sure fire hit. It was almost like having a license to print money. This game was the type of FPS that we all needed and it was surely a game that I wanted to play. Sadly we forget that whenever EA is involved, something is sure to go wrong. Sure enough, it did.
Now before we begin, as in every Criminally Underrated segment, let's look at some of the more popular releases of October 2016:
October 7 - Mafia 3 (PC, PS4, XBO)
October 10 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience (PC, PS4, XBO)
October 11 - Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Edition (PS4)
October 11 - Gears of War 4 (PC, XBO)
October 18 - Batman: Return to Arkham (PS4, XBO)
October 21 - Battlefield 1 (PC, PS4, XBO)
October 21 - Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (PC)
October 25 - Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (PC, PS4, XBO)
October 28 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition (PC, PS4, XBO)
As you can see, October 2016 had a very crowded release schedule. I think using the term “Crowded” is a severe understatement. Squeezed in between Elder Scrolls and Dragonball Xenoverse 2, Titanfall 2 did everything it could to cement itself as a worthy sequel to the original Titanfall 2. When Respawn Entertainment unveiled the trailer back on E3 2016, I literally sat up and cheered as I saw the game in all its mech glory. But my cheers quickly turned to groans when I saw the release date, October 28, 2016.
“Oh no.” I said out loud. Why would EA release Battlefield 1 AND Titanfall 2 in the same month? That makes no sense. But nothing with EA ever makes any sense. I was already set on picking up Battlefield 1, which sadly made no room for Titanfall 2. Also, with the Christmas season quickly approaching, who knows when Titanfall 2 would get added to my backlog. I'm pretty sure that there were many other gamers out there that felt the same way.
I was able to get my hands on Titanfall 2 as part of PS Plus Free Games of December 2019 and all my suspicions about this game were correct. The game is truly outstanding. Respawn Entertainment was able to double down on the movement and scale that made the first Titanfall such a blast to play. What made this sequel different is the addition of a stellar single player campaign.
Titanfall 2 | Respawn Entertainment/EA
Titanfall 2 had one of the best levels of this console generation. And yes it involved time travel.
In the campaign, you play as rifleman Jack Cooper who assumes the pilot status of a Vanguard Class Titan called “BT-7274” but you get to know him as just “BT”. In the course of a roughly 6-8 hours of story, we get to see their bond grow as they are put to the test on the stranded planet Typhon. The story can get somewhat predictable at times but the game really shines in its marvelous level design. I won't give too much away but one of the levels requires the use of time travel. The level design is on par with another amazing title called “Ratchet & Clank.” I don't know about you but I still prefer my games to have some sort of story campaign and Titanfall 2 did not disappoint.
The multiplayer portion of Titanfall 2 takes a page straight from other popular Call of Duty games and injects them with different classes of Titans. This creates some truly unique multiplayer matches that leaves you wanting more. Stringing together kills as I leap from rooftop to rooftop is very rewarding. All I wanted to do was jump in another Titan for some sweet mech on mech action. I haven't had this much fun piloting a mech since the original MechAssault on the Xbox.
This is why it baffles me that a game like Titanfall 2 fell by the wayside. It checked all the boxes for a great AAA title. As predicted, Titanfall 2 did not meet sales expectations. There’s no way it could have. I mean, just look at the release schedule. EA went on ahead and noted that:
“Some of the other games outperformed its predictions, and that helped offset Titanfall 2 somewhat.”
Although EA did not want to provide how many copies of the game sold, Morgan Stanley analysts claim that Titanfall 2 sold roughly 4 million copies compared to 14 million copies for Battlefield 1. Also keep in mind that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was released just one week after Titanfall 2. So it’s safe to say that EA really screwed up on this one...again.
Chief executive officer Andrew Wilson has previously provided his thoughts on Titanfall 2’s misstep by saying the following:
“We think there’s really three types of players,” Wilson explained back in November. “People that really love Battlefield and that kind of big strategic gameplay that will orient in that direction; the player that loves the fast, fluid, kinetic gameplay of Titanfall 2 that will really orient in that direction; and the player that just has to play the two greatest shooters this year and will buy both.”
Oh man, he was so wrong. He greatly misjudged how the players would act. Even with the positive reviews, it couldn't secure Titanfall 2’s success. If you have the chance to play Titanfall 2, play it. You'll see for yourself why its so Criminally Underrated.