Gaming

Titanfall 2 can get you hooked easily

The game's campaign is engaging, fast-paced and reasonably short, with fun new modes

While the guns in most games deliver a sharp, metallic rat-tat-tat, the shooters in Titanfall fire with a rounded, electronic woosh.
While the guns in most games deliver a sharp, metallic rat-tat-tat, the shooters in Titanfall fire with a rounded, electronic woosh. PHOTO: ELECTRONIC ARTS

Titanfall 2 has an engaging, snappy campaign, as well as fun new modes in its multiplayer that will draw players back again and again.

At the start of the story, players don the fatigues of Militia rifleman Jack Cooper, who is suddenly given command of a Titan - a giant mechanical robot - when his mentor is killed in action by the enemy Interstellar Manufacturing Corp (IMC).

Piloting the Titan BT-7274 (or BT for short), the pair have to destroy the Ark, a power source for IMC's devastating Fold Weapon, which IMC plans to use to wipe out all Militia-occupied planets.

Titanfall 2's environments are detailed and varied, from the lush, teeming jungles of Typhon to the sludge-filled, cavernous interior of a factory.

Each level, like the whole Titanfall 2 campaign, is meticulously crafted around the relationship between greenhorn pilot Cooper, and the veteran, deadpan BT.

Missions are designed to take advantage of the strengths of each - Cooper's precision and mobility, and BT's firepower.

  • 9/10

    RATING

    PLATFORMS: PlayStation 4 ($79.90), Xbox One ($79.90), Microsoft Windows (version tested; $69.90)

    GENRE: First-person shooter

For instance, a level may be such that BT holds off the enemy infantry, while Cooper finds a roundabout way to activate a door for the Titan to get through. Even though the pair may be separated, they are always connected by a neural link - something which I found quite reassuring as I sneaked around behind enemy lines.

Playing as both pilot and Titan has its perks. As Cooper, you get to navigate the world with wall runs and double jumps. I got so engrossed in the mechanics that I found myself leaning left and right in my seat to make a seemingly impossible leap across a crevasse or onto a gangway.

As a pilot, you also get to wield the game's weapons, each of which has a unique feel and sound. While the guns in most games deliver a sharp, metallic rat-tat-tat, the shooters in Titanfall fire with a rounded, electronic woosh. Sniper rifles fire with more of a whump than a crack, and machine guns patter more than they tear.

As a Titan, you may not as be as agile, but you get to swop entire loadouts on the fly. This changes your primary weapon as well as your abilities, to better target different kinds of enemies.

The campaign is fast-paced and reasonably short. It has only eight chapters excluding the tutorial, each of which takes less than an hour to complete on normal difficulty.

Fortunately, Titanfall 2 has robust multiplayer gameplay. There are standard modes, such as free- for-all and capture the flag, as well as the new Bounty Hunt.

In Bounty Hunt, the goal is to get 5,000 gold units into the bank . This can come by killing AI-controlled minions, or killing enemy players to take half their wallet.

You then have to deposit the gold, without getting taken out yourself and losing all your money.

I found that the Singapore server was quite quiet though, as the player base here is still not large.

To get a game faster, you can queue on the United States server, although you will have to contend with a higher latency.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 23, 2016, with the headline Titanfall 2 can get you hooked easily. Subscribe