I think I've played enough of the beta today to have a fairly good idea of what the final product has to offer.
While it's fun for a few hours, it quickly shows how straight forward it is after a couple multiplay matches, and it's a real "rinse-wash-repeat" game mechanic. Maybe I shouldn't ding it entirely on that... I've grown long since tired of games like Battlefield 4, and *cringe*, Call of Duty, where the singleplay is horribly subpar, scripted, linear... and the multiplay is like your own personal hell... the same thing over and over and over again each match and each release, with small confined maps that only throw in a lot of fluff to make it appear more large scale and free than it actually is. And when I mean small map... I mean COD sized maps. Battlefield's maps are a bit larger, but still too focused to one central area most of the match. It does become repetitive, and I kind of lost interest after only a shortwhile. Strangely enough, it heavily reminds me of a scaled-down, simplified "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" or "Battlefield: 2142", minus all the wall running snazz. For something like Titanfall, I was hoping to see more maps and level design based on games like Unreal Tournament 2004/Unreal Tournament 3's onslaught/ctf or even Halo-sized vehicle maps. Huge outdoor areas with ALOT of ground to cover and larger scale terrain. And speaking of vehicles.. this game feels like one that should have some form of them other than just mechs. And they're not there. You get a titan of course, but it kind of feels a bit clunky and limited, and nothing to zip-zoom away with. It's quite literally Call of Duty with big guys and small guys, with a bit of Mirrors Edge parkour thrown in for some odd reason.
Which brings me to my next point... the wall running/jumping aspect. It was a novel idea. It looked useful when you were doing it in the training modes. Sadly, it has no place in multiplay. I never saw anyone really using it, and there really wasn't time to use it, nor were the levels designed for its use. A cool effect, but kind of a useless feature that you're going to forget about and really not even bother using once the match gets going. I do, however, like the double-jump modes of your player and quick dash moves of the Titans, but even the dash is a little awkward to use, especially when things get going.
Moving forward we have sound, performance and graphics.... Audio is fine. Performance is awesome, but that's the source engine under the hood. It won't take anything groundbreaking to run it. Graphics are definitely not next-gen, though not terrible by any means, and look like the usual Source engine game that we've seen on PC for years. It can look pretty on certain scenes, but it's definitely not going to win any awards for best visuals. I know they chose the source engine because of its support, netcode, stability and optimization, so not a bad choice from a technical aspect.. though I still think they should have gone with CryEngine for better visuals overall. Unless you're a diehard "call of duty"-style gamer, I think most will get bored with it in less than an hour, coming off a bit shallow when you look past all insanity going on during a fight. Which is what the game really is... just a bunch of fluff to hide the fact there's not much more to it than that. And it's not reinventing the wheel on anything Call of Duty has already done prior, it's just defining it and expanding it into a more futuristic approach.
But, what it does... it does well, and adds a short-lived freshness to that genre of game, as it will likely attract the attention of COD fanatics. But that's exactly what it is... Call Of Duty with optional Mechs. I know your probably tired of hearing the words "Call Of Duty" in this writeup... but there's literally nothing else I could compare it to, since it's feels almost identical to that (albeit mixed in with a Quake Wars-design, which I mentioned earlier). And truth be told, the Mech's do not even really feel all that "Mechie". So if you're not into COD, or appalled by the thought of it, then this game is probably a pass. I know it's advertised as a killer FPS app for Xbox One, and seeing how the Xbox One can barely handle it, and it's really nothing graphically impressive on the PC nor multiplay intensive as its limited to 6v6 matches, I'd have to say it's overall very underwhelming compared to the hype that it somehow pulled out of nowhere. Also on that note, I think they kind of missed the marked on labelling it as a "classic barebones-style competitive FPS", as it really doesn't feel competitive at all... in fact there's just too much automation and fluff to really consider it as a "competitive" title, even more so than, say, Battlefield. The fact they tossed in AI bots and AI mech control kind of brings it back out of a competitive state, which adds a chaotic edge that breaks team oriented focus.
Of course when I think "competitive" FPS gaming, I think back to Quake or Unreal Tourney days of PC gaming, or Halo for the console. My personal feelings are that when you start adding in all this extra fluff and automation (drone and air strikes in COD, ridiculous "back from the dead" perks, auto mech control, in-match AI bots intended to be fill-ins for real players that the game doesn't support and to score extra kills, etc), you're diluting the competitive edge with entirely too many automated control & kills, thus making it anyone's game at that point, not entirely just the single most skilled players, which is less than rewarding. If you want a "true" classic competitive FPS for a far cheaper price, I'd personally recommend Strike Vector, which can be found on steam.
Titanfall.... I'm going to go ahead and give you a 7.5/10... fun, but only enough to keep you distracted for a short while. On a high note, I'd play this over COD any day of the week. I know people are going to scream "IT'S A BETA!". Well, yes and no. This far in... there's not much that's going to drastically change or alter the game style and visuals. At this point, only a few weeks before release, it's about bug cleanup and stability (surprisingly very few, if any, that I experienced). I'm fairly certain its highly suggestive of the final form of the game. Keep in mind, just my opinion.. and we all know what opinions are like