Others expressed concern over the lack of modes and customization, leaving players with little choice to personalize their experience. When the focus of Titanfall’s hype lay dramatically around its superstar treatment as the contender to topple the ‘titan’ that was Call of Duty, little attention was given to how the game stands up for its own merits. The game itself is perfectly fine and well done: amazing twitch gameplay, good graphics, smooth controls and fun spectacle. Although perhaps another problem was that that’s all there was to it, leaving gamers wanting more.
Games can be successful without having to appeal to everyone or ‘killing’ anything
If we look at the game’s reception on the critics’ side, it’s done very well. 9s and 10s have been awarded generously with many overlooking some of the game’s issues in favor of praising its merits. There’s a strong dissonance between these scores and what the user base thinks, but that happens with most games so this isn’t anything new. What this does mean however is that people’s expectations had been further propped up even after the pre-release hype into believing that the game is perfect and free from fault. No game is really ‘perfect’ in an objective sense, and even some of the best games of last year such as Tomb Raider just aren’t made to suit everyone’s tastes. Tomb Raider performed really well and was an exciting reinvention of the franchise, but not all the fans were happy with the change, nor did they welcome the game for its own features. A game like Tomb Raider performed excellently without any such nonsense as ‘defeating Uncharted’, and it’s a game that is very enjoyable for several reasons. Titanfall is no different and at its core it’s a first person shooter, so if you’ve likely never enjoyed them before then the game probably won’t change your mind.
All the hype trailers and conversations about how the game was setting new precedents were a bit suggestive and it was great promotion for a game that is definitely quite fine. Yet, these impressions took too many things for granted. Aspects such as the game being ‘balanced’ and how ‘everyone can feel like a hero’ were expressed by many game journalists who had gotten time with the game before its release, which is exactly why it suffers from a warped validity. When a game is out in the wild, amongst the millions of gamers and skill levels, things such as balance change after some time and how the game feels to get into won’t be the same as it was when only a few got to preview it. This once again isn’t something Titanfall is subjected to, but it’s something all games undergo, especially games that are competitive. Some might give the game a free pass for this and that’s their prerogative, though others might be less forgiving when what they were promised isn’t what they got. Hype is a double edged sword.
So is Titanfall ‘overhyped’? Not necessarily. The game is doing well for itself, it’s receiving new updates and future DLC which will add more modes, and a sequel has already been secured by EA. Everything that we’d seen in the trailers, previews and beta is all present in the game, running smoothly and performing marvelously. However, this might not have been good enough for some, given that many were under the impression that Titanfall would be an absolute smash hit, changing the industry and ‘killing Call of Duty’. Whatever Titanfall ends up doing is yet to be seen, but the important lesson here is that while it’s good to be hype about a game, always consider that a game’s hype and a game’s reality won’t always agree. You just have to decide which part you care more about.
What about you? Do you think Titanfall has lived up to the hype? Let us know in the comments.