Where the Halo franchise was quite famously built around a core 30 seconds of fun, Titanfall feels like it’s based around never letting things stay the same for 30 seconds. One moment you’re on foot, the next you’re in a hulking mech, then you’re back on back and running from an enemy mech, or hurtling across the map, and so on. It’s a frenetic pace of change, and one which is worked together quite brilliantly.
Picking a load-out before battle offers the potential for twice as much tweaking as in most shooters, quite literally. You pick not just your pilot’s weaponry, but can also customise your Titan to a honed list of specifications.
From this, the combat has to be a very finely tuned mixture, aiming to give each player (with whatever load-out) the ability to contribute to every situation they might find themselves in. You will at all times have a primary, secondary and heavy weapon with which to battle mechs.
However, I didn’t get to see the full extent of what’s on offer, with just a few preset examples to try. Each had their own particular quirks, with the Tactical pilot taking a Smart Pistol into battle, which would auto-aim and hit targets, compared to the more standard assault rifle.
On the Titan side of things, the Battle Rifle Titan lacked the punch to really go after other Titans with its weaponry, so was given the ability to catch incoming rockets in a force field, and hurl them back, if you time it right. The High Explosives Titan, by contrast, came with a rocket launcher, which fires four rockets in a spiral with each pull of the trigger.
When all of this is taken to battle, it gives the player a never ending source of things to do. The real fight might be between teams of six, but this is bolstered on the ground by AI troops, who act as a kind of cannon fodder. They help to even the playing field for new players, I feel, and let you find your feet with the battle mechanics whilst earning points for yourself and your team – killing AI earns less than a human or a Titan, mind.
Traversing the world in particular takes a bit of getting used to. When on foot you can use your jetpack to jump, double jump and wall run. At its best it will see players performing a kind of souped-up parkour, allowing them to get from one end of a map to the other through chaining wall runs and jump together. Simple traversal can quite easily see you get to the top of a building, but it will need you to know the map to put it all together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04aYzNw1iYY
In truth, everyone will really want to get into a Titan, and thankfully these are metered out after a flexible length of time. From the start of the match, I had to wait a minute or two, with background chatter notifying me of the time, before I was able to summon my own Titan. Should you lose your Titan, you’ll have to wait a while before you get another go.
Hopping in – jumping at the Titan and being unceremoniously shoved into the cockpit by its hand – gives an entirely different experience. You’re a hulking beast with a huge weapon, and more than capable of taking out the foot troops with your much, much more powerful weapons.
It also makes you a prime target, and I found myself besieged by heavy gunfire from both rival Titans and those on foot. Quite quickly could you find that you’re forced to try and eject, before being able to really use the mech to its full potential, and this is especially true when an enemy can jump onto your back, rip off a panel and pour gunfire into a rather sensitive area of the machine.
The subconscious desire to really go after each and every enemy Titan adds another layer to the gameplay. There will be a niche for pilots to stay on foot and take out those who are fixated on the Titans, as an example, and specialise in a particular style of play. Though at the same time, you will always need to be able to handle a variety of situations and opponents.
What’s quite intriguing is how Respawn is tying all of this multiplayer core into a form of story-telling. Missions will be preceded by an element of story, setting up what you’re trying to achieve from this particular battle, and in this case our round of Attrition – Team Deathmatch – was trying to facilitate the escape of a captured pilot. Though it was really just a straight up fight, the story said that I was attacking and the other team defending.
However, there are still questions left unanswered about how the story will actually unfold. My team narrowly lost both rounds of Attrition we played, and this led to the frantic battle epilogue, wherein the losing team must reach an extraction zone and get into a helicopter whilst being hunted and slaughtered by the winners.
It’s a delightful little element which raises the stakes once more, whether you’ve won or lost, with bonus experience and points at stake. It’s also quite difficult, and I found the extraction zone rather tricky to get to, both times needing me to find a place to wall run and jump from to reach. I only managed it once.
However, when I asked how the wins and losses would affect the story, the Respawn guys at the show refused to comment for the time being. Certainly, the in-game dialogue said something along the lines of needing to try that mission again later, but with the developers remaining tight lipped nothing’s certain. I’d bet on some form of branching story or mission structure coming into play, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Titanfall has really affirmed its position with this showing, I feel, taking so many little elements and weaving them together so artistically. There’s still plenty more to learn about it, but this is shaping up to be one hell of a game, and a vital part of the Xbox One’s exclusive line up.
Scythegpd
If I was into online shooters this would interest me … but I’m not so it doesn’t.
Although I can see why it’ll appeal to the XBox hardcore, the people who spend hours on games like Halo, Gears and CoD. Won’t bash the game just cause its not my cup of tea.
But I just don’t have the time any more to dedicate to an online game to become competitive at it.
Not to mention I refuse to pay for online gaming on principle, so next gen I won’t be playing online on either console.
Starman
The setting & look of the maps makes me think this is kind of the x1’s answer to killzone.
Stefan L
It’s nothing like Killzone, in regards to how it plays, really.
wonkey-willy
so EA have not heard of crysis or cryengine3 then?
KeRaSh
If that is their story integration for their multiplayer only game then it will be as expected… not good. I don’t consider mission briefings before a match to tell a rich story and this doesn’t seem to be more than that.
TSBonyman
It’s sounding like it could give COD a run for it’s money. However i shall remain blissfully ignorant as an offline gamer.
WESTHAMUTD1
I’ve decided to opt for ps4 this time round,having previously owned both ps3 and 360!not a lot to split both new consoles,but this looks brilliant!but as a vita owner and some of ps4 exclusives coming I’m sticking with ps4!
Part of of me wants this to fail though,haha!doubt it though!
Nate
Although Xbox bashing seems to be the in theme at the moment, this does look pretty good fun. Hopefully it will turn out to be a timed exclusive and find a way onto the ps4.
2ofclubs
I get the feeling that, for launch anyway, this could be the game that swings people to the One. If it literally comes down to just games that is, not features or cost.
Nate
Yeah definitely, nabbing the new IP from the creators of COD was a genius, if not annoying, move. If I didn’t have so much faith in the long term exclusives that Sony provides it would be a serious lure for me.
Stefan L
This isn’t a launch day game, but rather coming some time in 2014. Still “Launch Window”, I believe, but we’ll have some more strong PS4 titles along around about then, too.
2ofclubs
I meant more the launch of the console as opposed to the game launch. By that I’m on about this being THE game, so far of course, that people are excited to buy a console for.
I’m sure Sony will show off even more but I wouldn’t of thought there would be any new AAA PS4 games that’ll be revealed before November. I could be wrong but the big conferences have mainly been and gone.
bunimomike
I’ll sit tight and wait for it to show on the PS4. Sounds great so far, though.
Stefan L
Well, it’s always on PC too, if you can’t wait…
cleric20
Just spotted at the albeit not totally legit VGChartz pre-order chart that all of the top 10 PS4 games including Knack are currently ahead of Titanfall… I thought TF would be up there with BF4 / COD but its currently being outsold massively!?
Eldave0
Shaping up to be my game of 2014 already. Looks so awesome and exactly the sort of game I like.