Have You Seen Titanfall?
It had to be one of the most overheard questions during PAX Prime 2013. Whether it was on the show floor or on Twitter and Facebook, seemingly everyone wanted to know if their friends had experienced the highly-anticipated first-person shooter from Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts.
Did it merit its record-breaking six Game Critics awards at E3? Did it deserve the “Best Next Generation Console Game” award at gamescom, or the glowing praise from the industry’s most prominent critics, including IGN, Destructoid, the Verge, the Penny Arcade Report and many more?
After playing it at PAX Prime (and then getting back in line to play it four more times) it’s easy to understand what the excitement is about. It’s unique, blisteringly fast, exhilarating, intense and, most importantly, a whole lot of fun.
It’s a new generation first-person shooter, only made possible by the power of the Xbox Live Cloud, for a new generation of fan itching to embrace the future of gaming, and it’s coming only to Xbox and PC.
Read on to find out more about “Titanfall,” and be sure to check out a special PAX Prime podcast interview with Xbox’s Major Nelson and Respawn Entertainment’s Abbie Heppe.
Titans Among Men
Matches in “Titanfall” revolve around teams of elite soldiers (Pilots) and massive bi-pedal robots (Titans). There are multiple Pilot characters and Titans to choose from, and loadouts can be customized to fit your preferred play style.
Pilots are fast and agile, thanks to jump jet technology that allows you to gracefully run up walls and leap across buildings without breaking your stride. While Pilots have weapons, including varying flavors of rocket launchers to damage Titans, speed and mobility are their greatest assets. Creative players who have memorized map layouts will be able to swiftly bounce from one obscure ambush spot to the next, or make quick getaways from unfavorable exchanges. Pilots are extremely squishy, though. All it takes is a few bullets to put one down, but it’s hard to kill what you can’t catch.
Titans play differently than Pilots. They come strapped with enough firepower and armor to dish out and sustain significant amounts of damage, making them a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. However, Titans are huge targets. A booster pack offers bursts of mobility to escape sticky situations, but it’s easy to become overwhelmed once you attract enemy gunfire from every direction.
Titans and Pilots complement each other well. Titans can one-shot or trample Pilots who are caught in the open, but a Pilot can use their agility to avoid gunfire and even leap onto Titans to cripple them single-handedly. When they coordinate, though, that’s when things get interesting. Titans can provide cover and heavy artillery, but Pilots will need to protect their mechanical brethren and ensure nearby ambush spots are cleared of enemies. Like any good multiplayer-based shooter, teamwork is paramount to success.
Fluid, Frenetic, Fun
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