Titanfall Benchmarked

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

Passionate gamers waiting for a graphics bomb in the style of Battlefield 4 or Crysis 3 will not find what they are looking for in Titanfall. The source engine has been massively revamped in recent years and embellished with new features, but the graphics technology is still not really modern. For one thing, the texture quality does not meet 2014 standards: Most of the object wallpapers are too sludgy upon closer inspection.

Another shortcoming is the lack of a detailed physics and destruction system. Yes, in some scenes the screen is bursting with effects and explosions, but you will not see any crumbling walls or collapsing houses. Considering this, it is even more surprising to us that Titanfall takes up 50 GB worth of hard drive space. Even Battlefield 4 only occupies about 25 GB at the moment (Crysis 3: ~14 GB).

However, we do want to praise the developers for the easy-to-use, well-designed menus, though some of the graphics settings can only be altered in the main menu, not during a running match. That includes the resolution and texture quality. Speaking of textures: Because the maximum setting, "Insane," screams for a graphics card with at least 3 GB of VRAM, we chose not to use this level in our benchmarks and just stuck with Low, Medium, High and Very High.

Besides texture quality, the video menu offers a number of other options. Be it light, shadow, effect and model details, or bullet holes, or ragdoll physics, they are all there. The brightness, picture mode, aspect ratio and field of vision can be adjusted as well. Thanks to the integrated anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, far-away objects still appear relatively sharp and without jagged edges. V-Sync, which prevents bothersome screen tearing, was deactivated for our benchmarks.

Unfortunately, the maximum refresh rate aligns with the frequency of the monitor. While 120 Hz panels cannot display more than 120 frames per second, an ordinary 60 Hz monitor, like you find in more devices, will not exceed 60 fps. It may not be the best etiquette, but due to this issue we only tested our graphics cards in each setting if they did not hit this limit. For example, if model xy reached 59 fps on the High setting, we simply recorded 60 fps for Medium and Low.

In terms of the feel of the game, Titanfall is quite enjoyable. Despite some deficits in atmosphere due to the antiquated graphics technology, the roaring battles are staged in a way that is stylish and thrilling. The fast game tempo paired with the uncomplicated controls and fresh gameplay ideas make for a very fun experience. At least for a few hours, anyway -- after a while the mechanics will get a little monotonous, whether or not there are new upgrades and improvements.

Whether you will be motivated to keep playing Titanfall for an extended period of time depends very much on your personal preferences. In the end, like with most multiplayer games, you just find yourself fighting your way through masses of opponents. But as an uncompromising action-shooter game to play every now and then, Titanfall is exactly what it should be. The fluid and very comfortable controls and the crisp sounds are huge contributors here.