Game Play
Titanfall was the game of choice for me as I’ve loved the game since its release. Having some previous knowledge of the game meant that I could focus my attention on the device and how it affects gameplay, rather than trying to learn a new game on top of everything else. It also helps that I’ve logged dozens of hours on the PC version, so it gives me a bit of a baseline to compare it all to.
Loading up the game, the keyboard and mouse worked inside the menus as can be expected. The first step: crank the sensitivity in-game. As previously mentioned, this is a must. With a maximum DPI profile loaded on the mouse and the in-game sensitivity set to Insane, this should emulate the average sensitivity for a PC gamer in a first person shooter.
With all the settings now good to go, it’s time to get in a game! Titanfall’s match making service is quite fast and within minutes my character is on screen, crosshairs up… and for some unknown reason, constantly sliding to the right. This isn’t going to work, so I fiddle around with a few things to no avail. Still sliding. I unplugged the device, the input devices, etc. Made sure there was nothing bumping the Xbox One controller when it turned on, still nothing. Obviously this is no good and will prevent me from dominating the pubs with my enhanced hardware setup. So I go to the World Wide Web for answers.
First stop: the ReaSnow website support forums. I look around for an answer and none were to be found so, I posted my issue in hopes that someone would answer. Minutes go by, then hours, then almost a day and not a single person had even viewed my post, never mind replied. Finally, an answer had been posted by the admin, suggesting that I “move around the left stick up down left and right a few times” in hopes that returning it to its zero position will fix the problem. Seems like a rather silly fix, but in practice it worked. Took a few tries but after fiddling around with the left stick on the Xbox One controller, the moving finally stopped. However, if I would try to move the stick again, the movement would start again. A bit frustrating, but whatever, a fix is a fix, right? So now that this issue is out of the way, I can get back to testing out the product.
The mouse movement was quite smooth actually. Not as smooth as on the PC, but just as smooth if not smoother than other similar products I’ve reviewed. As mentioned previously, the sensitivity isn’t quite as high as I prefer for my mouse/keyboard shooters, but it’s a heck of a lot higher than the average console gamer plays at. Those who enjoy twitch shooters on the PC platform will find the sensitivity sluggish and frustrating, but the average player will adapt quickly once they see what kind of an advantage this gives them.
The first thing I noticed was that the auto-aim assist in game wasn’t as frustrating to deal with as it has been with other similar products. It actually didn’t get in the way of my aiming. For PC shooter games, there is no auto aim; players learn to position the cursor on the opponents head and pull the trigger. In consoles however, the auto aim will take a cursor that’s somewhat near the intended target and ‘snap’ it into place. Combining mouse and keyboard players with that kind of ‘feature’ often means moving the mouse too much and the shot missing the target. Not the case here though.
After about 4 hours of play time, I was able to come to a few conclusions about the device and how it affected my score. First off, using automatic weapons with the CrossHair gave me an INSANE advantage over the opponents. By the time my opponent had identified me as a target and started moving his crosshair towards my head, I’ve already put two rounds into his, reloaded, and moved onto the next target. 99% of the time, when my opponent and I saw each other at the same time, I came out with little to no damage and an extra kill on my score sheet. Average kill-death ratio: 5 to 1.
Second, using semi-automatic weapons and bolt action style weapons, I actually noticed that the CrossHair affected my score negatively. Im not the best sniper in the world on the PC platform, but by no means am I the worst. I can usually hold my own and still come out with a kill-death ratio that one can be comfortable with. However, using the CrossHair in this game, I had a hard time coming out with a 1:3 ratio. Yes, you read that right. One kill per three deaths. For whatever reason, aiming and firing with this device made it more difficult than had I been using the controller, or, playing on the PC with the same input devices.
Third, map knowledge had a huge impact on my scores, regardless of the type of weapons I was using. I hadn’t played any of the DLC maps and that really affected my average score. 2 to 1 kill death ratios were the average on maps that I had never played, 8 to 1 on those that I knew and was comfortable with. Which goes to show; knowledge is power!
When I play Titanfall on the PC in public games, I average a 1.5 KDR. Clearly playing with the same input devices in an environment where the opposition is (we assume) using a console controller, my scores vastly increased. One could argue that the skill of the opponents would have a bearing on these scores and it’s true. However, match making on the PC is done in the same haphazard way as match making on the Xbox One, so after enough hours logged, I figured I would have had an equal chance to go up against high-ranked players as I had against low-ranked players. Ultimately, I felt like I was cheating. And so did a few people on the voice chat in some of the games I played. Thankfully, we have a mute button for them.
