No honeymoon phase or exaggeration, this is the best feeling FPS I've ever played on a controller in terms of raw inputs, aiming, and movement fluidity. The slide alone puts every other FPS slide to shame, not to mention the buttery smooth wallrunning. So many smart little things done here from pre-loading slides in midair as well as pre-loading sprint no matter how you're moving, to wall clinging from any direction, etc. Gunplay is also really strong with satisfying mid-range hip firing, sprint shooting, great hit marker sounds, great reloading and weapon handling animations (<3 how you turn the weapon while crouching), and really punchy weapon sounds. Huge step up from their CoD days (I never got a chance to play the first Titanfall)
My one really big glaring question mark is map design. There are 4 maps here that are just straight up weird:
- Forwardbase Kodai + Homestead: Central base surrounded by wide open fields where pilot gameplay is uninteresting and dangerous. Predictable match flow. The grunt war at the middle of both is fun in AI modes, but everything else feels like random space.
- Crashsite + Complex: Long and linear hallways connected to converging hot zones. Very little room for vertical escapes / firefights, and combat is funneled to simple choke points, particularly with Titans who have no room to maneuver. Honestly kind of tedious maps to move through. Also, AI are annoying to track in these because the long paths lead to slow movement and lots of dead zones.
The other half:
- Eden is great with a very clear landmark using the track running through the center, lots of wallrunning routes, and escape paths everywhere. Easily the standout map.
- Drydock, Exoplanet, and Black Water Canal are solid, although fairly nondescript. They allow Titanfall to be Titanfall and flow well, but don't do anything very interesting.
- Boomtown is ok, but has revealed itself to be a lesser Black Water Canal, featuring a similar "bridge over lower level ditch" layout, but with smaller and less interesting buildings
So idk. 1 great map, 3 solid role players, 1 "ehh whatever", and 4 "nopes". I'd really like to see a move to more dense, free flowing, vertical map design for the DLC. Long hallways and open spaces don't play well with Titanfall.