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Well I managed to get in a few matches of Titanfall just now so I thought I'd deliver my initial impressions of the extremely hyped game. Firstly; you complete a training mode which allows you to experience the controls, general feel and the overall combat mechanics. It comprises of 14 or so mini-missions and lasts around 15 minutes. It is extremely well implemented and very helpful before going into battle. The first thing you notice whilst getting to grips with the features is how good the engine is. It is silky smooth and the combat is very satisfying. I have never experienced such an impressive feel to a FPS ever. This absolutely top of the range production in how to produce a quality build. I opted to use my 360 pad to start with and the controls are pretty straightforward with an input binding similar to that of Call of Duty. The only difference really is a cloaking feature on L1 which is the same as what we saw in Crysis 2. The Titan is easy to use also and has rockets and a shield on the shoulder buttons. You can also dash from side to side and forwards in place of the jump function. My first match was Attrition (TDM) on Angel City which is a urban city based location. You begin by getting air dropped into the map with your team. The map felt pretty good and even the highest buildings could be reached by almost a parkour manner by easily navigating off walls using the jump button. The guns look and feel brilliant also. Unfortunately the AI on the bots has to be called into question; they seem clueless and useless and don't really offer any input into the match. Reminded me of combat training in COD using recruit bots! Fortunately the battle with the opposition is much more trickier and intense. It's a real shame that it's only 6v6 as the NPC units discredit the gameplay but when you have numerous Titans on the map; you can understand why the 12 player count has been sensibly reduced. You seem to get your own mech every few minutes and when you do; the action becomes pretty chaotic and you mow down the bots and battle with players on top of buildings and on the ground along going toe to toe with other Titans. It's pure old-school carnage. If your Titan is on its last legs; you must eject which sees you shot up into the sky and come down to get right back into the action. The pace is fast and furious and very enjoyable although the mode seemed to lack meat which perhaps is expected as it's only team deathmatch. In terms of gameplay balancing; perhaps it would have been better if they had limited the amount of Titans available; lets say one on a team at a time and allowed for more human players in place of the bots. It feels like this game is ideal for 9v9 or 12v12. At the end of a match; the team that scores 250 wins and to add a twist; the losing team must reach the evacuation point on the map and the winners must prevent them getting there. Why? I don't know but if you're on a streak; you can grab some last ditch kills. I assume this game ending event is connected to the story or something. I next played on a very good map called Fracture. It was a much more open setting than Angel City and there were less high buildings so I saw quite a bit of action on the ground. I was initially concerned that there wouldn't be much diversity between the maps but Fracture certainly adds a different dimension to the gameplay in terms of how you approach battles. In Angel City; you were playing off the buildings and trying to work into clear lines of sight but on this map you desperately seek cover from buildings against Titans whilst getting into open areas hunting bots and other human players. It will be interesting to see what other maps will be on offer and how they vary. Visually Titanfall isn't overly-spectacular and the colour pallet is quite drab but the gameplay is fun, frantic, fun and at times spectacular. The general feel is magnificent but the balance between human and AI players along with the Titans could drag the gameplay down. The AI needs drastic improvements also to make the game a viable challenge throughout matches and to keep players engaged. If you like old-school titles like Quake and Unreal Tournament; this game is a pretty astonishing reconstruction of the classic frenzied arcade shooter compiled with the impressive Titan battles. I will delve into the other modes later to see how the gameplay copes with objective play thrown in but overall this game is a pleasant surprise from what initially looked quite a generic shooter. The menu presentation and statistics is extremely polished and the ranking system and unlocks mirror that of the typical COD games. Familiar but nevertheless fresh and interesting going forward. I will also give it a try using the M+K but so far, so bloody good yeah!

hahahaha this is the only use for the bomber

I like the last one. Chris (TigerBurge) watched me try to get ammo from a guy for 5 mins straight.

A great series where comments taken from YouTube from an argument are reenacted in film-scene style

I always love the winter Olympics, never been a fan of the summer games at all. So far I haven't missed anything they have shown from 8-11:30 then from 12-1am. Been good games so far. One thing I hate though is just how biased and unfair the judging in figure skating is. If your new or an American then you are already screwed point wise in most cases. That one kid Jason Brown should have got MUCH higher scores than he did. No way he should have finished 9th place. It's BS when a skater can fall 3 times and still win a medal yet the American can simply have two off balance landing yet not fall and only finish 9th Same gos for the skater from Japan, he got screwed as well. The hockey game times suck, but that's what DVR is for. I recorded the USA vs Russia game that was on at 7am this morning and will watch that this evening before the Prime time Olympics come on. I still remember watching the 1980 "Miracle" Hockey team win back when I was only 9 yrs old. Hoping this year can be a repeat and we beat the Russians again

Well there's 3 minutes of my life I will never get back

All good then, you bastard!!

You haven't done anything to me, we're friends, we agree on some things and we disagree on others that's all. I have no issue with you at all. Now let's drop it ya scruff!

I *almost* wish I'd gotten an XB1. Almost. I think for it to really be a "CoD killer" (though I'm not sure why everyone wants that so badly) it can't be an exclusive.

Well...all my IRl friends play Lol, most of you guys also play it, I think it's time I gave this game a real try. I absolutely hate the click to move, prefer wasd keys for my mobas but I'm gunna give it an honest attempt. I'll use your sign up Tommy for the refer-a-friend stuff.

Thanks a billion for the review! Titanfall certainly looks very interesting. How do you think the transition from COD will be like, when everything is taken into account? Seamless? Bumpy? A sexy, sexy middle ground?

Proposed to my wife at NASCAR (during a caution so she could hear me)