Titanfall for PC

A lot of games are heavily hyped by their manufacturers in order to build pre-lease buzz. Titanfall was just such a game and was touted as the crown jewel of gaming for 2014. In this review, the good, the bad, and the ugly will be discussed and evaluated.

Titanfall Review: The Good

The standout positive feature of Titanfall is the graphics. They are state of the art and then some. It is fair to say that the PC version of the game boasts some of the most beautiful, lifelike, and intense graphics ever seen on a PC game. This is notable in every detail but is especially spectacular in the rendering of shadows, smoke, facial detail, water effects, and fire.

Gamers will have to play the title on relatively powerful computers to get these graphical goodies, but even gamers who own computers barely meeting the minimal requirements will notice some of the beauty.

The gameplay in and of itself is also quite impressive. The running along walls, the variety of weaponry, and the ability to enter and control the very cool mechs are all pluses. It would have been nice, however, to at least have some kind of tutorial mode or practice arena to give new players a sense of how to play before being "baptized by fire" in the online arena.

Titanfall Review: The Bad

Bugs and connection problems have, somewhat sadly, become expected for new PC releases. Review sites are often littered with complaints over "no server found" messages or hacking issues. While this may be par for course these days, it still rankles many gamers. Also a big turnoff is the fact that Titanfall for the PC requires Origin to play.

Titanfall Review: The Ugly

The matchmaking system is easily the biggest flaw of the game. Many message boards filled with frustrated gamers emphasizes this point. In order for a good online battle, teams need to be evenly matched. Unfortunately the Titanfall system is ridiculously random, and beginning level players may end up on a team of newbies fighting against an enemy team composed entirely of top level gamers.

For a game that only offers a 6v6 online battle, the matchmaking system should have been a top priority. For whatever reason, the system is unforgivably broken, and that's a shame.

Rating: 6.5

This could have been much better with only minor changes. Perhaps "Titanfall 2" will address the problems.