The second of three planned map pack expansions, Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge adds three new maps to your Titan vs. Pilot experience. Each map features newer design ideas that Respawn has finely tuned through their experience with the base game, and the last expansion, Titanfall: Expedition. Even with Titanfall’s already stacked collection of fantastic maps, the ones included in this set stand out as some of their best work and truly add new value to the Pilot vs. Titan experience.
The three maps included in Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge are titled Dig Site, Haven, and Export. Each of these maps has its own strengths and weaknesses, with Respawn making sure to include a nice variety of locales and environments with this pack. They even threw in a few new game mechanics just to spice up the package. The best way to review Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge is to simply break down all three maps individually.
First up is Dig Site, an isolated mining outpost that places you inside a gigantic cave. Visually, the map is rather drab using lots of muted brown and yellow colors to accentuate the dark, semi-underground environment. While there is open sky to be seen, the large rock walls close you in, changing up the feeling usually associated with Titanfall in a pretty interesting way. You feel much more confined where you used to feel so free. Buildings and other large structures are present, but they never feel like they reach as high as many of other maps’. This creates a more close-quarters style of combat, unless you stick to the open streets and alleyways.
The standout feature of the map is the giant rock-saw
The standout feature of the map is the giant rock-saw, which you can climb on to reach the highest point on the map. This is a great place to perch if you’re looking to pick off a few minions, but you still have to watch your back as other Pilots can easily sneak up on you using the cover provided. Titan combat has its usual areas of the streets, but there are also small pockets on the outskirts of the map that allow for isolated Titan vs. Titan brawls.
The second map, Export, is a much smaller arena than most of what Titanfall’s other maps offer. Utilizing multiple levels of terrain the map sections itself off into a few hotzones. Pilots have a lot of buildings to go into, walls to run on and ziplines to slide down, all allowing easy and quick movement across the map.
Titan’s can use the upper area to get good shots down below, but this is dangerous due to the new trap system added for Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge. By shooting a large electrical turbine near the bottom of the map a surge of electricity will shoot through the wires and kill anyone in the top area. Unfortunately, while this mechanic is interesting it ends up not getting used all that much in actual play.
The close-quarters nature makes this a perfect fit for Hardpoint and CTF
The close-quarters nature coupled with great parkour paths makes this a perfect fit for Hardpoint and CTF matches. However, it also allows for one team to get easily and quickly dominated due to the other team being able to control much of the map with ease.
Finally comes my favorite map contained in Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge, Haven. So many of Titanfall’s maps have been war-torn and destroyed, the simple change of making Haven a previously untouched beach resort adds some nice diversity to the game. Bright sunlight shines down on massive hotels, complete with bright neon signs. While it isn’t a total revolution like War Games was in Titanfall: Expedition, it is a fresh change of pace that allows the map to feel unique.
Gameplay on Haven is also extremely solid. Most of the buildings feature large interior sections for Pilot vs. Pilot combat, while the outside of the buildings serve as excellent parkour platforms. If you know what you are doing you can get from one team’s base to the other without ever touching the ground, which is always the sign of a great Titanfall map. There are outer areas meant for Titan combat, but most end up right in the middle of the buildings. This can cause a bit of a chokepoint, but the outer areas are still there for flanking, so it is just a matter of the community mixing up their strategy.
Titanfall: Frontier’s Edge feels like a more well-rounded package than its predecessor, Titanfall: Expedition. While I would still say that War Games trumps the three maps included here, Dig Site, Export, and Haven are all excellent maps that I haven’t grown tired of even after playing them exclusively for over a week. Which is something I cannot say about Swampland or Runoff. While the same criticism of the pack not having enough content might apply, Respawn has continued releasing large changes to the game for free, so these expansions only having maps makes more sense.
