E3 2013: Titanfall Preview

If you want to get super reductive about it, Titanfall is Call of Duty to the nth degree, but with giant robots. That's appropriate enough, given that developers Respawn Entertainment largely spawned from Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward, but look deeper and you'll find a set of mechanics and systems that take that style of shooting to the next level. We as an industry have been waiting for someone to propel online multiplayer shooters to their next plateau, and while Titanfall certainly doesn't appear to be as big a leap as the original Modern Warfare was, it is undeniably a leap.

A Titan in Titanfall

My demo began just like the one at the Microsoft press conference, with a squad of soldiers being briefed in the bay of a hovering ship. Following the briefing, each of the players jumped out of the ship and landed with a thud on the ground. This is, as far as I gathered, how each match in Titanfall will begin.

On the ground, a soldier in a Titan mech gave the squad a word or two of encouragement and then sent them out to the battlefield. Their objective? Protect a series of sites in the level from their enemies in the monolithic Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation. 

On foot, Titanfall has many of the trappings of your standard multiplayer shooter. The soldiers onscreen blasted guys with assault rifles, pistols and shotguns, and when enemies died, points popped up. Where the game started to differentiate itself was in its mobility options. Footsoldiers are all trained in parkour and equipped with boost packs, effectively allowing them to wall-run and boost between rooftops. The increased mobility this provides could very well be a game-changer, but I'll have to wait until I get a hands-on opportunity to confirm for sure the impact these new mechanics will have. 

Freerunning and jetpacks are necessary because of the game's titular Titans, massive robots equipped with heavy weaponry who could easily dominate the battlefield if not properly balanced. Luckily, on-foot players can use their mobility to hop on the back of a Titan and mess up its wiring, resulting in a quick death. It'll be a fragile balancing act for sure, but it's one I'm very interested in seeing implemented.

Freerunning in Titanfall

It takes a few minutes to construct a Titan, but unlike Call of Duty's killstreaks, everyone gets one. When the player calls a Titan it, it comes hurdling from the sky and lands on the ground. It seems like the Titans will operate on a limited autopilot at first, as they roamed around and fired a few shots on their own. But when the player approached his own Titan, it would automatically pick him up and place him in the cockpit, creating much greater potential for carnage. 

Titans have three basic abilities. The first a standard rocket blast that arcs out in a flurry. The second is a dash, which can be used to deal damage, squish human opponents underfoot, or dodge. The final move is the most interesting - the player can activate a magnetic shield that collects enemy rounds, only to fire them back in a chaotic burst. One Titan in my demo used a pulse rifle instead of the standard machine gun, so it seems as if there will be some degree of customization to the hulking mechs.

Once a Titan is killed, its controller must wait for two real-time minutes before another can be constructed and deployed. 

Our demo team put up a strong fight, but eventually relented control of the three key locations to the IMC. In most multiplayer games this would be the end of the match, but in Titanfall it initiates a retreating sequence for the losing team in which they all make haste back to the dropship that let them off in the beginning of the match. This gives even losing players a chance to rack up extra XP as the match winds down.

I'm itching to get my hands on Titanfall, so expect further news as soon as I do. Until then, the game is currently set for a Spring launch across PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. 


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