The first majorly-hyped release of the current generation of consoles has arrived, in the form of Xbox One online FPS title Titanfall.

The game has been lavished with praise across the industry, with many places giving it extremely high marks. Indeed, I myself reviewed both the beta and the full release and was highly complementary of the gameplay on offer.

Not only that, but I stand by my review. The frenetic gameplay, with its focus on non-stop action and two-level mech & pilot gameplay, mesh well together; creating an adrenaline-filled action experience that is quite unlike most other games I’ve experienced. The highlight moments come thick and fast, ensuring that there is little time spent not shooting people in the face (or armoured view screen).

But the problem with Titanfall comes sometime after the initial novelty has worn off, somewhere between 10 and 20 hours in. I noticed it when having a conversation with a couple of my fellow Titanfall-owning colleagues recently. We were all discussing how much we enjoyed the combat and how much fun the game was to play. But when asked about how much and how recently we had played it, none of us had played it for several days and for no more than an hour or 2 at a time. Now while this may not sound like a small amount, when you consider we are all avid gamers, 2-4 hours of a new game in a week’s period is hardly the proportion you would expect to be dedicated to a killer new title. Hell, when you consider that I write about games and host a radio show about them, 2-4 hours on a game in a week is a pretty small output.

The thing is, while Titanfall is a stupendously fun shooter to play, that’s pretty much all its got. While this is not necessarily, on face value, a bad thing (you want a shooter to be good at, well shooting, after all right?) it does make for a fairly repetitive experience.

Now before people start pointing out how online shooters work, yes, I know that online FPS games are, by their nature, repetitive. There’s only so many ways you can run around a map and enthusiastically introduce your boomstick to other people’s faces, but Titanfall offers a particular brevity of experience. It’s hard to put your finger on one specific thing that is lacking; it’s really just across the board that the game feels a bit thin on the ground. Perhaps it’s due to having experienced Battlefield 4 recently, but Titanfall just feels very stripped-down and bare-boned. Be it the limited weaponry options with just a few weapons to unlock and a uniform smattering of accessory options, or that there are just the three titan classes to pick from, or the extremely basic selection of mission types; the game just feels like the same thing over and over and over and over.

The thing is, while yes the same could be said of other online FPS titles, they seem to have much more variety of game options, along with greater gameplay variety. The small scale of the maps in Titanfall, combined with the paucity of weapon choices beyond the fairly standard loadout options makes every match feel pretty similar. Really, if you’re using the same weapons and same few Titan options, the slight change of scenery doesn’t distract from the fact you’re basically running around a small box with obstacles shooting at rapidly moving sprites. The rather quick lethality in the game also makes it little more than a twitch-reflect shooting gallery too; not exactly aiding the tactical aspect.

Keep on running and running and running…

Perhaps another detrimental factor has been the apparently very low headset/voicechat take-up in the game. With very few people willing to get on the mic and chat, the game does feel a bit soulless and isolated. It can’t help at any rate.

The thing is, the game remains enjoyable throughout and in small sittings continues to shine, but the longer you own it, the less you’ll play it. True of any game of course, but the drop-off for Titanfall seems to begin much quicker than with most games and subconsciously too, if my small sample group is anything to go by.

This aspect is not something that would or could realistically be picked up on for initial release reviews of course, as it takes some time for the initial novelty and newness to fade; a time luxury release reviews do not have. Indeed, the short-stint action gameplay and frenetic combat are perfectly suited to impressing in a short-window review scenario.

Once again, Titanfall is by no means a bad game. It’s not even an average game; it’s superb at what it does. It’s just that what it does doesn’t go much beyond a single, repeated experience and there’s little variety to be had. That makes for a game that you’ll come back to intermittently, but only for a small session at a time. It boasts superb action high-notes, but lacks the depth and intricacies the industry has come to associate with big-name online titles.

It may be that it never intended to be a long-term gaming experience and intended to focus on a fast-burn design, but the issue of longevity seems to have been lost among the clamour to acclaim the game and I, for one, think the issue should be at least acknowledged.

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