Titanfall was one of the biggest surprises on the Xbox One and PC when it launched. The first title from Respawn Entertainment had a lot riding on its shoulders. When Titanfall launched, it was a great first person shooter experience even though it lacked a single player campaign or any real storyline and had very little content. Titanfall's community suffered because of this and in the long run, the game was almost forgotten except for a small die hard community. Fast forward a few years, and it seems Respawn Entertainment have learned from their mistakes with Titanfall, as Titanfall 2 was confirmed for an October 28th, 2016 release for Xbox One, PC, and for the first time, PlayStation 4. We got to go Hands On with Titanfall 2 at EA Play during E3 2016. Does the new Titanfall continue the reputation of fast paced and solid gameplay or has it evolved into something different? Let's find out, shall we?
AJ:
Titanfall 2 will finally give players what everyone was hoping for the first time around, a seemingly immersive single player campaign experience to go along with their polished multiplayer. As we reported earlier, a single player campaign trailer was released earlier today and had us drooling with anticipation and excitement for our play though of Titanfall 2's multiplayer. No real details were given at EA Play about the new single player campaign, but we weren't expecting much on that yet.
The real star of the show was the multiplayer experience. Titanfall 2 boasts 6 new Titans in total, two of which (Scorch and Ida) were playable on the floor. Scorch is a fire based Titan who can use thermite to destroy enemies by either blasting an enemy with thermite and then setting them on fire or dropping a gas grenade that when hit by rifle fire, causes the whole area to ignite. Ida uses pure kinetic style energy to power her every attack and move, from the giant Cyclops style laser beam she shoots out of her chest, to the shield she can raise to avoid damage - each of her abilities share the same energy pool so managing them is a bit of a chore at times.
Titans now are no longer on a timer, making them instead a Call of Duty style perk that you have to unlock via killing either grunts/spectres or other players and their Titans. It was a bit off putting that they removed the timer feature, as this at least assured that everyone in the original Titanfall had a chance to experience their Titan abilities at least once per match, but it's an understandable design choice.
The new grappling hook that was making major news rounds today felt... weird. When I think of a grapple hook, I think of Batman. Where you point the Grapple hook at the object you want to latch onto and it propels you toward that object. In Titanfall 2, the grapple hook is best described as a "Noodle Hook" that lazily lumbers towards the object you have it aimed and and leisurely pulls you up to your destination. Your destination had also better be in a straight line, because if you're at an angle or trying to grapple up and hit a wall or something obstructs you, it's curtains for you as you hang loosely until it registers your stuck and unhooks you from the grapple. I know that this is pre-alpha based gameplay but it felt really jarring. The gameplay overall felt solid besides that except for one other issue...it felt VERY slow to me. Maybe it was that I was playing on an unfamiliar setup, but the game felt very slow. It didn't have that "Titanfall feel" that the original had. It felt more like Halo did originally. Which was a bit odd. I can only hope they fix that before launch in October.
Titanfall 2 looks amazing. The sound design is wonderful. The music and guns all sounded incredible in the short time we had with the game and I can't wait to dig in more upon release.
Jeff:
As a seasoned player of the one-month-lasting Titanfall, I was eager to dive into the second installment at the EA Live event. AJ and I were shuffled into the Titanfall 2 booth where newly modeled pilots greeted us on screen and we jumped into a demo map, blasting away at AI grunts and enemy pilots. The parkour felt a little smoother this time around, and there were additions like sliding and grappling hooks that made escaping titans a little easier. I'm more of a keyboard-and-mouse fragger, (coughpcmstrrace) so handling the PS4 controller took a smidge of on-the-job training. However, the controls were intuitive enough that guessing often paid off, even in dire moments when sliding was the only manner of escaping a laser blast from a new titan around the corner.
I defaulted to my “grunt hunt” style of play, targeting the AI and gunning them down quick. Each pilot had two weapons—one sufficient for personnel, the other armed for a titan (a grenade launcher made quick work of a badly-played titan). We didn't see any little bonus features like grunt-locating radars or enemy scanners, and gone were the “bonus” cards many players loved using, but we're expecting that functionality to return in this game with unannounced twists and new features. I'm not expecting pre-alphas to reveal everything, as long as they're entertaining. This build was.
Titans are earned—it's a thorn in my side that separates the pro players from the not-so. Instead of a 2-minute waiting period, there was a kill requirement, treating your titan call like an achievement. This could prove positive for matchmaking sessions, as pro players that consistently call down titans quicker may be separated from the novice players (or people that just suck at playing) in order to keep multiplayer games as balanced as possible. Maybe that's just trying to justify why there's a kill count for titan access, but the winds of change could dictate a reversal for that. I liked having my titan early, and if there's a few matches where my trigger finger isn't bringing the heat, I might suffer if I can't call my titan down.
News from the game was delivered in snippets from the folks around us. There's a new single-player campaign that doesn't require an online connection, thankfully, and there's a much stronger story involvement rather than series of dialogue sequences slapped onto multiplayer bouts—a relief for a gamer of my ilk as I prefer story over hours of shooting.
There are six new titan classes bringing unknown weapons and abilities to the foray. Jumping into my titan, I utilized a massive laser cannon that destroyed enemies in it's path—and my teammates' ears as I laughed out loud with my reign of destruction. I'm eager to see more tidbits as EA unveils more in the next coming months, but there wasn't enough to get a solid grip on what we can expect. What we played essentially felt like the original Titanfall, just with a better polish and new abilities. I'm excited for the sequel, but I hope there's enough in this coming package to give this game some staying power. Titanfall was a blast, but resetting experience points to zero just so you can earn a “G” badge and a .1 experience multiplier isn't enough to keep us coming. If this sequel wants lasting power, we need more content than before. Bring it, EA.
Make sure you stay tuned to Senshudo for the latest updates on Titanfall 2 this week from E3.