Titanfail

Ever since I was a kid, the First Person Shooter (FPS) has been my game of choice.  From Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on the N64 to Halo and Call of Duty (CoD) for the Xbox, I’ve always had the most fun with shooters over the years. I realize that most of my posts so far have been semi-rants about the old days and, at the risk of sounding repetitive, this one will be the same.

Halo 3 has always been my absolute favourite FPS, but since the separation of Microsoft and Bungie I haven’t really found a game that holds my attention as much as Halo 3 did. Games these days are fighting way too hard to be “fresh” or “original”. Terms like “all new design” are being thrown around for every trailer when really they’ve just tweaked a few things from the last game. Halo gameplay was the same as any other shooter but it added science fiction elements to change things up without taking away from the gameplay. Gravity was low, so you could jump fairly high and there are a few gadgets here and there that give you a slight advantage without overdoing it. You could use things like the bubble shield which deploys a protective dome around your character for a limited time or you could use a power drainer to deplete your enemy’s shield.  Halo never tried to be something it’s not with its additions. They included just enough features that didn’t take away from the gameplay. It remained a standard FPS with a little something extra. 

Take CoD for example: CoD 4 was Halo 3’s main competitor and the franchise succeeded in dethroning Halo as top dog. Why? Simplicity. Point, Shoot, Repeat. They had 3 killstreaks, a handful of decent perks and just overall solid gameplay. The Halo series drew everyone in because it was different yet still the same, but CoD grabbed everyone by sticking to a winning formula.  CoD stayed true to your standard shooter, which is why it sort of won the battle between the two franchises, but over the years they started to over complicate things with gimmicky perks and killstreaks and it has begun to lose it’s luster.

Nowadays FPS’ are too busy. The focus has been shifted from simplistic, skill-based gameplay to this horribly busy game style that barely resembles what we grew up playing. Between the ridiculous killstreaks and nonsensical leveling systems, I can’t bring myself to see the point anymore. Halo 3 had one the GREATEST ranking systems of all time. The game gave your profile a ranking, from 1 to 50, based on your actual skill in the game and they had a system for matching you up with players of similar skill. Now you just get thrown into whatever lobby the terrible matchmaking structure finds for you and away you go.  I’m not a shooter all-star. My kill/death ratio usually lingers around 1.5 in most games, so why in the name of God am I playing against guys who are at 4.5?

It’s been a while since I went out and bought a multiplayer shooter. CoD: Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) was the last game I sunk a lot of hours into. I really enjoyed MW2 but some things drove me insane. Perks like “One Man Army” gave everyone the ability to switch one of their custom loadouts in-game without dying but people just abused it and used it to reload their under barrel grenade launcher (aka the N00b Tube) so they could spam it around the map. The perk “Commando” gave you the ability to lunge farther when stabbing someone but the lunge distance and speed was completely ridiculous and it just pissed me off to no end. I miss playing games like Counter Strike where my skill and map knowledge mattered. I don’t want to have to sink hours and hours into a game so I can unlock all the weapons and finally be in a fair fight.

This brings me to the whole point of this post: Titanfall.

I decided to get myself a birthday present and picked up Titanfall this week.  I haven’t been able to play more than roughly 10 hours but I’m already pretty disappointed. The game does have a lot of actually cool, new features like parkour wall running and at the end of every match there is a “get to the drop ship” race where the losing team has to sprint across the map to hop on a drop ship for, what I assume, is extra experience points. The game has a sort of mock campaign mode which basically just gets you introduced to the gameplay and serves no real purpose. The entire thing is just only matches with random dialog during the game that I did not pay attention to.

Visually this game is pretty appealing even though I only have it for my 360. The titans look bad ass and the maps are all pretty well detailed. That said, the titan gameplay is pretty unexciting. Unless you’re really kicking ass you won’t spend longer than a few short minutes in your titan. The game basically feels like a toned-down Battlefield with a tacked-on mech fighting simulator. It feels too gimmicky and didn’t really succeed in giving me what I was looking for.

Ironically the “campaign” starts off with this quote: “Everyone out here is either running from the past or trying to change the future”. We need to stop running from the past with these games. There’s a reason Counter Strike: Global Offensive is currently sitting in the number 2 slot of active players today on Steam. IT’S SIMPLE.  No gimmicky perks, no ridiculous killstreaks and no having to level up to gain access to all of the weaponry.  The lack of an experience system makes players focus more on actually winning the game instead of trying to stack up their kill count. I feel as though Counter Strike encourages team based gameplay. Back when Halo 3 was super popular I remember entering a lobby and everyone had a microphone which they actually used to communicate strategy instead of berating me with insults for no reason. Counter Strike is the same now—communication is the key to success.

I’m going to give the game another shot when I get the time. Maybe I’m just being too picky or nostalgic for my old favorites. We’ll see. Until then I’m going to continue acting like a grumpy old man so GET OFF MY LAWN.

Later Days.