The Distinct Power of a Titanfall 2 Pilot

Titanfall 2 has one of the best singleplayer FPS campaigns in all of gaming. Certainly the best military shooter campaign. And it’s because Titanfall 2 solves. It’s the only campaign that really solves the problem that’s plagued military shooters for so long. And that’s the dissonance between how the game tells you you’re powerful through the story and dialogue and how you actually end up being powerful in the game. The best way to describe this is through example so for the call of duty franchise, mostly the older games, you play as some sort of specialist. Typically a secret agent or a prominent soldier. And your skills are basically high stamina, really good aim, in-depth knowledge of battle tactics, and the ability to just push on and keep going in face of insurmountable odds. There’s still the dissonance of how you’re a destructive killing machine with a thousand body kill count and few people comment on this, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The dissonance lies in the aforementioned description of the player character and how in game your advantage lies in the fact that you have regenerating health and your enemies are retarded. Every battle, every battle in call of duty is you and maybe some peons pushing forward against the enemy. You’re walking and gunning, shooting dudes and then, oh no you got shot a few times good thing there’s pillars and chest high cover everywhere so you crouch down wait for your health to regenerate, meanwhile the enemy is too dumb to actually charge you 90% of the time. And all of a sudden you’re in good health again and you get back to running and gunning.

You see the problem? You’re winning because your health regenerates and because you respawn. You’re not ultra-tactical outside cutscenes and dialogue. During gameplay you’re just a walking tank that occasionally hides behind cover if the screen’s flashing red. You’re one of those toy knock down clowns that bounces back up whenever somebody hits you.

There is no dissonance between gameplay and narrative in Titanfall 2. You’re powerful in exactly the way that the game says you’re powerful. You’re a pilot not a standard rifleman. The opening cutscene shows you how you’ll be playing before you even have to touch your keyboard. It shows you how Pilots are a feared force on the battlefield. They’re mobile, capably jumping from enemy to enemy at lightning speed, unpredictable in their movements, creative in the way they take down enemies, and resourceful in the way they use everything on the battlefield to advance their cause. They disrupt enemy lines: a force-multiplier, sowing discord and giving friendly infantrymen the space they need to push forward.

Seriously, if you’re not sold on the game just watch the amazing trailer. Even though it’s pre-rendered footage the trailer could have been pulled straight from gameplay.