Sadly, I just don't see it. This is coming from someone who thinks "Fallen Order" might be the best 'Star Wars' game not named "TIE Fighter" or "Knights of the Old Republic," so there's only respect for ReSpawn here.

What drew me to "Titanfall 2" was the notion that platforming and parkour could be successfully mixed with more conventional FPS play, all with a splash of first-person mech action. If you're into action games and that doesn't sound interesting to you, check your g*dd@mned pulse. I ran The Gauntlet for about an hour, trying to determine how I felt about this particular brand of run-and-gun but never quite settled on 'yea' or 'nay.' What I did know going into the actual game was that, regardless of whether or not it was my cup of tea, it was different and I was down for that.

After all that time in The Gauntlet, learning how "Titanfall 2" wants me to embody this notion that speedy movement is life, the first actual mission straight-up won't let you play that way. The few sections of the following mission that do permit it only give you one or two viable targets each. It makes sense to slow-roll or soft-ball things to the player but this wasn't even a drip feed. It was nothing. Isn't this genre mashup one of the central thrusts of the game play hook? Aren't we here to run across walls and jump from surface to surface, all while gaining the speed of a runaway train and flinging lead like an indiscriminate killing machine? If so, why aren't you letting me do at least a little bit of that right out of the gate?!

I accept that the disappointment I felt on that front was due to mismanaged expectations. Perhaps I should have been more patient and let the game develop or introduce its mechanical complexity at its own pace. But even after taking a day to consider going back and giving the next mission a try, for science you see, I just couldn't convince myself to do it.

The story, while serviceable, isn't engaging. The world, though solidly built, isn't novel enough to stand out amidst the dozens of other sci-fi action game universes. The characters are fine but not compelling. The dialogue is... mostly useless, if I'm being honest. Well acted for certain, but in no way revealing about the people speaking the lines or in any way helping to advance the plot. The banter between BT and Jack never rubbed me the wrong way, it just never clicked for me. Graphically, the game is good but again, as with the world building, there's not enough unique to it for it to have its own sense of identity.

Finally, there's the game play. The platforming and parkour are decent on their own, but I didn't see how well those elements could compliment the action elements that were (theoretically) the core of the game. Rather, it seemed like "Titanfall 2" was divided into sections: here we parkour, here we fight. Speaking of fighting... The shooting was... alright. Weapons handled well and felt distinct from each other, at least from the Pilot perspective. The FPS portion was 'fine' even if it never quite made it to 'fun' for me.

The bits in the Titan, though? Lackluster. Coming from "Mech Warrior" and "Armored Core," it was always going to be a tough sell for me that the pilot/warrior NEEDED to leave the suit/mech/armor/titan/whatever in order to maximize the unit's combat efficacy. It was this specific bias I wanted to address; I wanted "Titanfall 2" to show me the error of my ways in this regard. I wanted to say to myself, "Maybe it doesn't make sense to jump out of the suit and set up a trap to trip the enemy Titan while my armor autopilots itself. But if it's fun, I will happily chow down on some humble pie to be a part of those shenanigans." Unfortunately, there be no crow in these here jaws, matey.

Given that I'm playing it in 2024, there's a strong possibility I've just missed something. Quite possibly too late to the party to be able to appreciate the game in its current context. After all, it was released nearly 8 years ago; the FPS-action-hybrid market was a very different beast then. Nevertheless, I'll salute ReSpawn for their efforts in "Titanfall 2." It takes guts to try something new and bring it to market, even if that new thing doesn't end up quite as distinct and long-lasting as you may have hoped.

pre-edit: i know how this goes
edit the first: clarity on paragraph 4