5 ms·

Titanfall is still EA's most innovative shooter ten years later

28 points by namanyayg 3y ago

sporeray 3y ago
Titanfall 2 is also fantastic and still has a fairly active community!
- ToucanLoucan 3y ago
  Did they fix the servers yet? For a long while there it was nearly impossible to finish a multiplayer match, the servers were getting slammed with some kind of attack and rendered it basically unplayable. I would love to get back to some Frontier Defense...
  - jsheard 3y ago
    The community took matters into their own hands: https://northstar.tf https://northstar.tf
- spike021 3y ago
  The campaign has that one level everyone who's played it knows. One of the most creative levels in a modern game. The multiplayer was so good the first 2-3 years after the game released. Then they started nerfing it a bunch and then some issue began with people DDOS'ing their servers.
  - sporeray 3y ago
    Indeed, fantastic level! I was surprised I enjoyed the campaign as much as I did. FPS campaigns are usually a bit arse.
- secretsatan 3y ago
  I still replay the campaign every so often, it's still very good, is not too long and very enjoyable, I'd love a PS5 update but I doubt that's coming.
vsnf 3y ago
Other companies are no stranger to this phenomenon either. Warcraft Classic is Blizzard's, and arguably the MMO genre's most innovative game right now, and its 20 years old.
- pdimitar 3y ago
  Why is Classic more innovative than Retail?
unpopularopp 3y ago
One of the most overhyped game I've ever played. Incredibly boring and uninspired. It’s the 100th run and gun CoD clone of the 2010s there is nothing special about it apart from meching up… but that’s all? I mean there are better mech fighters out there (Armored Core for example)
- AlexandrB 3y ago
  It's not the mechs that make it special, it's the movement system. Shooters generally regressed from doing wall jumps and dodges in UT2003 to slow, plodding, realistic ground movement. Cover based shooters were probably the nadir for me personally. Titanfall 1 & 2 are the rare recent examples of mainstream shooters where complex movement is possible[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwz0FHdRQa8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwz0FHdRQa8
- piva00 3y ago
  The movement was much more dynamic than the CoDs from the time, the 3-dimensional fights reminded me much more of the time I played Unreal Tournament and Quake than any CoD and much less CS that I used to play competitively from the betas to 1.6. So yeah, completely disagree with your take.
- awelxtr 3y ago
  It is not just the mechs that make it special It is the combination of having to play as pilot, when you are small and nimble but fragile, AND as mech, when you are big and clumsy but durable and powerful.
- pixxel 3y ago
  Dropping an additional reason why you are incredibly incorrect: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755278. Single player levels were very inspired (I never played MP).
DarkNova6 3y ago
Don't bother reading. Neither is there backing for this claim, nor is the article more interesting than its headline.
readyplayernull 3y ago
Really? EA pulled the first version off from Steam.
- unpopularopp 3y ago
  EA. 99.9% of the times the publisher is the one who remove a game, Valve has nothing to do with it.
  - readyplayernull 3y ago
    Right, corrected.
josefresco 3y ago
As a veteran of first-person shooters I found Apex Legends to be very difficult. Maybe I'm old, or maybe "movement shooters" are simply not my skillet. I excel at almost every other shooter, but despite 100+ hours on Apex I'm still terrible. I think it's the "movement" part (or maybe the cheating), as I still dominate in games like CS:GO and Fortnite.
- burrish 3y ago
  Imo Apex Legend is one of those game like Team Fortress 2, where it's only at a higher number of hours that you can truly develop your game senses and not die stupidly. It's those game where there is so much to learn and with a high skill ceiling, so it takes time to get good at it.
ethbr1 3y ago
Is anyone old enough to have played both Titanfall and Starsiege: Tribes? If so, curious on your take on game design comparisons. Building an FPS with wildly disparate power mechanics always seemed like an interesting challenge. (Never played Titanfall, but I assume it's power vs agility balance?)
- piva00 3y ago
  I used to play Tribes 1/2 but being honest don't remember as much the movement mechanics compared to my memory of Titanfall 1/2. Remember the skiing, picking up speed, launching into the air with the jetpack and zig-zagging but not much more... Titanfall definitely had as a core mechanic the power/durability of being in mech vs the agility with the ability to "ride" on an enemy's mech to destroy it. It was very well done, I had lots of fun cornering enemies and riding on them to destroy the mech. The feeling as a mech of seeing a pilot quickly moving towards you and the panic of trying to get them before they get to you was a very satisfying thrill.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
theshrike79 3y ago
Titanfall 2's single player campaign is one of the greatest experiences I've had.

28 points by namanyayg 3y ago

sporeray 3y ago

Titanfall 2 is also fantastic and still has a fairly active community!

ToucanLoucan 3y ago
Did they fix the servers yet? For a long while there it was nearly impossible to finish a multiplayer match, the servers were getting slammed with some kind of attack and rendered it basically unplayable. I would love to get back to some Frontier Defense...
- jsheard 3y ago
  The community took matters into their own hands: https://northstar.tf https://northstar.tf
spike021 3y ago
The campaign has that one level everyone who's played it knows. One of the most creative levels in a modern game. The multiplayer was so good the first 2-3 years after the game released. Then they started nerfing it a bunch and then some issue began with people DDOS'ing their servers.
- sporeray 3y ago
  Indeed, fantastic level! I was surprised I enjoyed the campaign as much as I did. FPS campaigns are usually a bit arse.
secretsatan 3y ago
I still replay the campaign every so often, it's still very good, is not too long and very enjoyable, I'd love a PS5 update but I doubt that's coming.

vsnf 3y ago

Other companies are no stranger to this phenomenon either. Warcraft Classic is Blizzard's, and arguably the MMO genre's most innovative game right now, and its 20 years old.

pdimitar 3y ago
Why is Classic more innovative than Retail?

unpopularopp 3y ago

One of the most overhyped game I've ever played. Incredibly boring and uninspired. It’s the 100th run and gun CoD clone of the 2010s there is nothing special about it apart from meching up… but that’s all? I mean there are better mech fighters out there (Armored Core for example)

AlexandrB 3y ago
It's not the mechs that make it special, it's the movement system. Shooters generally regressed from doing wall jumps and dodges in UT2003 to slow, plodding, realistic ground movement. Cover based shooters were probably the nadir for me personally. Titanfall 1 & 2 are the rare recent examples of mainstream shooters where complex movement is possible[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwz0FHdRQa8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwz0FHdRQa8
piva00 3y ago
The movement was much more dynamic than the CoDs from the time, the 3-dimensional fights reminded me much more of the time I played Unreal Tournament and Quake than any CoD and much less CS that I used to play competitively from the betas to 1.6. So yeah, completely disagree with your take.
awelxtr 3y ago
It is not just the mechs that make it special It is the combination of having to play as pilot, when you are small and nimble but fragile, AND as mech, when you are big and clumsy but durable and powerful.
pixxel 3y ago
Dropping an additional reason why you are incredibly incorrect: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755278. Single player levels were very inspired (I never played MP).

DarkNova6 3y ago

Don't bother reading. Neither is there backing for this claim, nor is the article more interesting than its headline.

readyplayernull 3y ago

Really? EA pulled the first version off from Steam.

unpopularopp 3y ago
EA. 99.9% of the times the publisher is the one who remove a game, Valve has nothing to do with it.
- readyplayernull 3y ago
  Right, corrected.

josefresco 3y ago

As a veteran of first-person shooters I found Apex Legends to be very difficult. Maybe I'm old, or maybe "movement shooters" are simply not my skillet. I excel at almost every other shooter, but despite 100+ hours on Apex I'm still terrible. I think it's the "movement" part (or maybe the cheating), as I still dominate in games like CS:GO and Fortnite.

burrish 3y ago
Imo Apex Legend is one of those game like Team Fortress 2, where it's only at a higher number of hours that you can truly develop your game senses and not die stupidly. It's those game where there is so much to learn and with a high skill ceiling, so it takes time to get good at it.

ethbr1 3y ago

Is anyone old enough to have played both Titanfall and Starsiege: Tribes? If so, curious on your take on game design comparisons. Building an FPS with wildly disparate power mechanics always seemed like an interesting challenge. (Never played Titanfall, but I assume it's power vs agility balance?)

piva00 3y ago
I used to play Tribes 1/2 but being honest don't remember as much the movement mechanics compared to my memory of Titanfall 1/2. Remember the skiing, picking up speed, launching into the air with the jetpack and zig-zagging but not much more... Titanfall definitely had as a core mechanic the power/durability of being in mech vs the agility with the ability to "ride" on an enemy's mech to destroy it. It was very well done, I had lots of fun cornering enemies and riding on them to destroy the mech. The feeling as a mech of seeing a pilot quickly moving towards you and the panic of trying to get them before they get to you was a very satisfying thrill.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

theshrike79 3y ago

Titanfall 2's single player campaign is one of the greatest experiences I've had.