Titanfall 2 was the victim of a harsh and unforgiving release slot window.
Stuck between the latest CoD and Battlefield titles, plenty of voices have cried over the streams of binary data on the internet about how unfair it was that such a great game was pushed aside.
As the months went on though, Titanfall 2‘s popularity increased gradually. Articles began to pop up and videos on YouTube began to proclaim Titanfall 2 was the unsung hero, claiming it to be 2016’s game of the year (or at least FPS of the year!). Somewhere down the line though, the meta-game reared its ugly head for a little while, and things started to quiet down following a few questionable update decisions and patches.
Since then, the game has gradually started seeing more numbers again, and has once again become a popular title to play online. Further sales have put Titanfall 2 as low as £16, and people’s interest has finally caved in where they’ve finally given the game a shot. I’m happy to say that in the last few months, the game has been improving dramatically in terms of balancing, and also in terms of lengths waiting for matches (playercounts are up).
Some good decisions and continued support from Respawn Entertainment has paid dividends, and the game is enjoying the benefits of having a strong fanbase and community.
Free DLC also helps though, right?
While two of the early free map DLC packs were just re-designs of previous Titanfall maps, the latest ones have been new and original. Alongside some major changes like being able to equip both a pistol and anti-titan weapon as part of your secondary and tertiary loadout, Titanfall 2 is feeling a lot nicer to play.
The latest DLC pack brings back a fan favourite from the original: Frontier Defense mode. A horde-like mode, Frontier Defense sees four players stack up against waves of A.I, whose objective it is to take out a structure the players need to defend. With some tweaks to the formula and a slight re-arrangement of how powerups and titans operate, we’ve got a great co-operative mode to play that’s as every bit as challenging or laid-back as you want it to be.
With multiple difficulty modes across five maps to choose from, you can enjoy a quick session with randoms online, or test you and your friends to your absolute limits. However you choose to play Frontier Defense, it’s always a fun time. At the end of every round, you get the option to purchase new equipment with the funds you earn from your performance. Arc traps and turrets are great defensive placements to lay down to cover areas that might be lacking support, and other powerups help power your attacks or heal your titan.
You also have the option to contribute to a global funding pool – a pot that anyone struggling to make enough cash to buy what they need can dip into. This fosters great co-operative play, as lesser skilled players can rely on highly-skilled players to help them out a bit. It also means those higher-skilled players don’t feel as if over-performing is a waste of their skilled efforts.
Frontier Defense starts off easy enough with waves of grunts and a few mortar teams comprised of stalkers spawning around the map. Things quickly escalate as a couple of titans show their faces early on, and then it transitions into your team having to fight off dozens in a single wave. Nuke titans are extremely powerful, as when in a doomed state, they let off a powerful nuclear explosion that can cause massive damage to your structure if you kill them near it. Needless to say, these are high-priority targets that need taking out as early as possible.
Titans have had a bit of tweaking in this mode already; playing Frontier Defense matches will level up your titan, adding new perks and attributes to them. Respawn Entertainment has stated that, “for now these Ranks will only apply to Frontier Defense,” meaning that this rank progression for titans may see its way into either regular gameplay or a further DLC mode down the line. Interesting choice of words at the very least…
Whilst I was cynical during my previous article about the game, I’m happy to say that I was wrong, and Titanfall 2 seems to be continuing strongly in a positive direction. Frontier Defense is fantastic new gamemode that comes during a surge of interest in the game, which can only do wonders for the playerbase and community. The game has a lot of momentum going for it currently, which doesn’t really come as a surprise considering how passionate fans have been in the long-term.
It’s looking as if Respawn Entertainment’s support and hard-work is starting to pay-off in the long run.
You can read more about the Frontier Defense update and its details on EA’s official website.
