IT may revolve around clunky, cumbersome war machines.

But games rarely come with as much finesse and sophistication as Titanfall 2.

Improving on its predecessor in almost every way, everything about the first-person shooter feels intuitive.

From wall-running and sliding to using grappling hooks to propel yourself around the battlefield, your abilities feel natural, are easy to pull off and make you feel superpowered in the game's unshakeable 60fps frame rate.

And that is before you earn enough points to summon the giant mechs known as titans.

There is no game experience that compares to stomping around the battlefield causing carnage as you fire salvos of rockets.

This time around there are six new titans which a whole host of new abilities like Scorch which has fire-based attacks and Ronin which can wield a gigantic sword.

And some of the touches of the original game feel just as cool as they did before – like ejecting from a titan or seeing your mech break the atmosphere as it drops from orbit.

Responding to requests from players, there is a lot more customisation on offer now too.

Almost everything in your loadout can be changed, modified and upgraded from your appearance and weapons to your ability boosts and gadgets.

In that sense, the game rewards committed players but the experience is well balanced with newcomers never truly feeling outmatched – especially in a titan.

Most of the game's community can be found in the 'attrition' mode – six versus six combat with added computer-controlled soldiers.

The only downside is that it is sometimes difficult to get a match in other modes. Weekend tested Titanfall 2 on Xbox One where matchmaking on the free-for-all setting was pretty hopeless.

The other big change for Titanfall's sequel is the introduction of a campaign and great fun it is too.

The team at Respawn Entertainment includes former employees of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward and it has that similar frenetic, polished gameplay but with level design that might remind you of old school shooters like Quake.

The graphics are gorgeous and with everything from parkour to mech battles thrown in, action games do not come much better.

RATING: 8.5/10

DAVID MORGAN