Game Source

Prepare for the Degenerate08 review.... Ok cheesy I know (even for me) but imagine the excitement when you here the words "Prepare for Titanfall" now granted like I'm sure a lot of you were right alongside me on the journey through the beta but as of midnight last night we can now embark on our full fledged journey.

Somewhat same start of the beta, we embark on pilot training, pretty simple to do again. You then can go into a kind of small attempt at a campaign with some cutscenes usually you and your cohorts in the dropship or the occasional popup window in your HUD but they tend to be lost considering you'll be paying more attention to the action all around you. I was reminded of a little game called MAG, now your probably asking yourself is this guy crazy? How can he compare the two and I can't agree more. They can't be compared but they both are on the right track. Follow me on this. MAG treaded into this territory thought to be pushing the envelope (not by much) but to GO BIG was something they envisioned and that too is blantently apparent here in Titanfall as well.

No I'm not just talking about the Titans, a campaign story (so to speak) driving by a strong multiplayer experience and less us not forget the classic multiplayer which we got taste of in the beta. Now the questions were asked, can Titanfall survive without the "traditional" story/campaign mode? And last but certainly not least, will Titanfall be Microsoft and the Xbox One's savior? Now the answers are somewhat simple...... (To steal one from Daniel Bryan and the WWE) YES! YES! YES!

Ok I feel the questions coming Gerald is he crazy? Did he hit his head? I don't know what Gerald would say but I say NO! First off yes Titanfall can, is, and will survive without a traditional campaign. Now the latter no one will be sure of, but I can say this being part of a midnight release last night I saw a lot of Xbox One Titanfall bundles getting rung up. So can a small price drop and bundle of one of the best titles to hit Xbox One (since P vs Z GW) sell units, only time and figures will tell but from what I've seen it definitely won't hurt.

Overall Titanfall is in my opinion is a system seller and a game that will hold us over in the multiplayer/1st person shooter arena for some time! THE GOOD: The presentation, team working aspect, parkour ('nuff said), you really have to plot your every next move and strategy. THE BAD: Subpar AI and voice acting, very minimal but still present graphic issues, a shame that what campaign is present gets lost in the multiplayer shuffle.

With the advent of the next generation already upon us and all the hype and hyperbole that comes with this XBOX One-PS4 competition one issue of concern has started to come to light. Games that are exclusively going onto the previous generation consoles are finding it difficult to meet the numbers once considered a shoo-in by their developers and/or publishers. In the past 12months, whether it was an anticipation for the next wave of consoles or a consumer apathy for current-gen products, the sales numbers for video game software has been substantially down and many within the industry are directly pointing at the failure of many of these Xbox 360/PS3 games as the main culprit behind it. Not counting games like GTA V, The Last of Us and Minecraft are there any other real success stories since the start of 2013 that the XBOX 360 and/or Playstation 3 can talk about? Don't tell me Tomb Raider because to Square Enix 5 million wasn't enough to lift it out of the realm of disappointment for them although that's something Gerald, Nick or someone on the Game Source staff can argue about on another day. Bioshock Infinite? Four million in sales led Ken Levine right out the door begging to go downloadable and stay away from the "AAA" franchise games no matter how many people he had to kick to the curb over at Irrational Games. Amidst all the showmanship and conferences and one-upping from Sony and Microsoft came a sea of well-know franchises and potentially great games that failed to connect with audiences that caused many studios to go under and even more to re-evaluate their long term plan on how they want to develop their games. Even now as February draws close to the end a number of games are on the way that for all intensive purposes are looking like they were sent to die. Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2, Fable Anniversary, Thief, NASCAR 14, Final Fantasy XIII-Lightning Returns all look poised for some extremely dismal numbers with the only saving graces for now for success on current gen platforms possibly (and I use that term carefully) being Titanfall, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Watch Dogs, The LEGO Movie: The Video Game and Dark Souls 2 maybe doing enough business to satisfy their publishers, maybe. In the case of The LEGO Movie: The Video Game, Titanfall and Watch Dogs those are games being courted on the newest consoles so one would have to assume anything they can get on the older systems is just gravy. In the case of others like South Park and Dark Souls 2, the PC version is being heavily relied upon to get back what they probably were expecting sales-wise on those current-gen consoles. I understand that most of these games were in development well before the news came of a next generation of consoles but at this point seeing as how less than one year later Crystal Dynamics pushed out a definitive edition for the PS4 and the XBOX One wouldn't a more prudent move be to take a little more time, spend that extra money and make a next generation version that would create interest to a faster growing audience hungry for a wider variety of video game titles? Finally, I'll leave you with this and I'll buzz off for now. With all the attention being paid to whatever is happening on the next-gen systems be it the impending releases of Titanfall or Infamous: Second Son or the big updates, the cool new accessories, etc.doesn't it make sense if you're a publisher to have your upcoming game be a part of that? Mmm-hmm that's what I thought you would say. Having a game solely on current generation systems now IS a bad idea but for many developers and publishers hindsight is unfortunately all too twenty-twenty.