Kiwi's Archive

No respawn for the fall of this titan.

Out of every single other game that I've streamed so far, Titanfall 2 was one that I had high hopes for. I was not alienated from the hype that the game had gotten on its release and over the years, especially since I played a lot and was familiar with its sister franchise, Apex Legends, and every person that migrated from Titanfall 2 due to its online mode being abandoned sang its praises in the community. Not only that, every single time a shooter game with some kind of movement tech was mentioned, Titanfall 2 was referenced, fairly so, as a point of comparison.

And, to be honest, I was kind of scared before starting the game. What would happen if I didn't like it? How can I express my dislike for something that many people adore and revere? I can do that now for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33^[1], but I don't think I can collect my thoughts on the fly during a stream. Luckily for me, that was not the case. The game was a treat to play and to experience, as well as a letdown regarding the what could've been" if the series wasn't killed off by EA... Fuck EA.^[2]

Other than that, even if you've watched gameplay of the game, playing it is a whole other level; that feeling of speed while you are on the ground and of being a god amongst soldiers while inside the Titan cannot be transmitted unless you are the one in control. I'll mainly focus on the campaign side of the game in this review. If I don't seem appreciative or don't make distinct remarks about things like visuals or designs in general, it's mostly because I've already spent 400+ hours in Apex Legends, meaning that I've gotten used to Respawn's design, I'm not ignoring it in the slightest.

What, when, where, who and how is a Titan that falls?

A Titan is a colossal war machine only piloted by the best of the best, known as -what their role suggests- Pilots. What we are told at the beginning of the game tracks to what we do during the campaign: they are people who can take out entire armies on their own, but once they get into their Titan (an AI-powered robot that links to the Pilot's cerebral cortex), they can flat-out win a war by themselves.

That link is very important for that to happen. During the campaign, we are going to be playing as Jack Cooper, a seemingly average soldier in whom his superior, Tai Lastimosa, saw great potential. So much so that he submitted Cooper to off-the-record VR pilot training. When Lastimosa was at Death's door he decides to transfer his Titan (BT-7274) to Cooper. Immediately after linking to BT, we are told the three protocols the Titan will follow throughout the game:

• Protocol 1: Link to Pilot.
• Protocol 2: Uphold the Mission.
• Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot.^[3]

Despite being a hunk of metal with very basic instructions, BT is a character that we'll grow to love. Jack Cooper, in contrast, stands in an awkward middle ground. He tries to be a character on his own (he has a name and a backstory) but doesn't talk that much outside of selected segments. He is a soldier, so he knows how to follow orders; and it's only whenever he's not doing that and instead bantering with BT that we get to see some of his personality come through. I get the feeling as though Respawn wanted to make a voiced protagonist but got cold feet before the release date and only introduced some voicelines. Hell, he doesn't say anything relevant or even grunt before linking to BT. Though, this could also be a way to paint Cooper as an "incomplete" individual until he meets BT, which is a way nicer and heart warming point of view.

As you progress through the levels we'll also see Cooper and BT's relationship progress as a team. From little misunderstandings and jokes -Cooper saying "thumbs up" as an ok sign and BT understanding a literal thumbs up- to entire plans agreed on silence between the pilot and its titan (fastball *wink*).

Those levels and sequences are some of the most creative designs I've seen in a shooter in years, even compared to Apex's level design with each one having a different gimmick. Speaking of each section would lead this review to be longer that it needs to be, but believe me. Every single level is deserving of its own dedicated disection. But the long short of it: That time section was one of the most creative enviromental puzzles designs I've seen in a shooter in years and the last level was the most hype moment I've had during a single-player game in a while.

Protocol 1: Link to the Pilot

The game understands level design so you can have two ways of traversing its environments. A Pilot is nothing without their movement tech, and each level is designed around that reality. If there isn't a clear path, it’s probably not the way to go; but if it remotely looks like a path (no matter how vertical or precarious) then jump, slide, wallrun, and double-jump to get to wherever you want to go. The game allows itself to become your personal playground for you to have fun with its movement.

A Pilot is also nothing without his mecha-buddy (BT my beloved), so when you jump inside him, the level must also accommodate that scale. Your movement gets restricted, but you also transform into a walking fortress that can kill normal enemies by the peloton just by walking around them. There's a great sensation of being on land vs being on the cockpit, even if the scenario is the same, the scale is very different and how you tackle the encounters differs as well.

Protocol 2: Uphold the Mission

Titanfall 2 nails the philosophy that "upholding the mission" shouldn’t feel like a chore^[4]. As I mentioned, I’m used to Respawn’s gunplay from Apex, but the level design here is what actually separates the two. In Apex, the map is a static obstacle that some legends can benefit from; in Titanfall 2, the map is an active participant for your success. You cannot stay still, and if you do, you are dead.

The game avoids being to repetitive by giving every mission a distinct identity. From a battlefield scarred jungle to navigating a literal assembly line in a factory that is building houses around you, or shifting through time to solve environmental puzzles (best section IMO). The game keeps you on your toes so you don't have a chance to get bored. And not only that, almost every level has its own boss, who you'll be in direct contact with throughout its duration.

Both writing and level design intertwine. Each area reflects what their boss' ideas and goals are, which is an amazing move and it made me want to progress through each level just so I could finally fight them.

Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot

BT is a hunk of metal, yes, but the writing and the performance by Glenn Steinbaum (BT’s voice actor) turned him into a lovable hunk of metal. BT is literal, dry, and mathematically precise, which creates a perfect foil for the sarcastic and sometimes cocky Jack Cooper.

The moment where Cooper, sarcastically tells BT "Throw me like a baseball next time" because he had to climb a long zipline; only for it to result in Cooper actually being thrown like a baseball by BT later was so fucking funny and iconic to me that I just had to write about it. We also get to see how much care he puts into throwing his pilot hundreds of meters up the air. Despite it sounding a very violent thing to experience, BT takes its sweet time to perform every single calculation for Cooper to reach his destination safely and without a hitch. It's kind of sweet to see.

This relationship can be compared to 2011's Real Steel^[5]. Atom is just a hunk of metal. I don't even remember him producing any sounds other than a coil whine, and yet, by the end of the movie, neither the boy nor his father will sell him off for a shit ton of money and you, the spectator, will be brought into tears. They (and you) have grown attached not only to the robot, but also to what it represents in the life and the growth of the protagonists. And I cannot shake that feeling after finishing the game. BT was dry, but we humans are not and we cannot be deprived from the warmth of a bond, regardless of where it comes from.

BT my beloved.

The entire game was built around BT’s protocols. As I mentioned before, you cannot have a pilot without a Titan, so this story belongs to BT as much as it does to Cooper. Act 1 focused on getting to know BT, while Act 2 was about obeying orders and upholding the mission. By Act 3, it is finally BT’s turn to protect the pilot. Even though it was expected, that didn't make it any easier to experience.

Protocol 4: Fuck EA for killing this series.

I cannot not be mad at EA Games for killing off this series. If Titanfall 3 were to be released in 2025, it would've been a hit; all the stars were aligned for it to happen. Battlefield 6 didn't release with a campaign and Black Ops 6 was shit (according to fans of the series). It would've been an amazing time to shadow release the game. We don't hate EA enough.

Protocol 5: Play this game.

please?

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1. Yes, I really didn't have a fun time playing through E33... Sue me. The game makes my head spin, and after playing it for three 1:30-hour sessions, every single time I got so nauseous to the point of vomiting. It was not a fun experience. And if you got to enjoy it, I truly envy you. ↩︎

2. I installed the game and tried opening it via Steam, I was prompted to install the EA App... Fuck. That. This is not relevant to the game per se, but it was part of the experience, and having to explain why I didn't like this one bit would lead to a non-related rant that is not aimed at the game, nor Respawn (its developers). But I think that this is important to take into account if you think about buying the game. ↩︎

3. Even as I'm writing this, this protocol hits hard. ↩︎

4. Older shooters fall under this trap. I've somewhat recently played "Spec Ops: The Line", and to be honest, the gameplay loop was boring. Even the helicopter opening seemed outdated and not hype at all. ↩︎

5. The movie is about a boy who finds a subpar sparring robot in a dumpster, but with the help of his father, they train him so he can reach even world-class renown. It's worth a watch. ↩︎