Of Titans and Men: Hands-on with Titanfall
From the moment it was announced at E3 in 2013, every Xbox fan has been dying to know more about “Titanfall”. Given the team’s impressive multiplayer development pedigree, we all knew that the first game from Respawn Entertainment was going to be something special. Every bit of news, every Titan reveal, and every announcement was met with excitement and more questions. Finally, some of those questions are going to be answered with the upcoming launch of the closed beta. We had the chance to spend some time playing the game at Respawn’s office a few weeks ago and we’re more excited than ever for the release of “Titanfall” on March 11.
Our time with “Titanfall” began on the map Angel City, into which we were dropped from a troop transport with a group of fellow Pilots. Playing the Attrition mode, our goal was the complete and utter annihilation of the other team using a combination of coordinated teamwork, combat savvy, and general coolness under fire. At least, that was the plan until the bullets started flying and all hell broke loose.
Angel City is an urban map filled with narrow streets and low buildings featuring lots of close quarters, so it was clear that most of the pilot-on-pilot combat would be happening indoors. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the sound of gunfire echoed off of interior walls and down hallways. Then the battle took to the rooftops, as players escaped the confines of the killing floors in favor of more open areas. After a few minutes of battling as Pilots, the first few Titans were called in by players that had earned them. Those of us who didn’t have our Titans yet leapt from one rooftop to the next to give ourselves a better chance of surviving.
One of the most striking features of “Titanfall” is the way that players can traverse the terrain while controlling Pilots. Much has been made of the wall-running and parkour-like abilities that the Pilots possess, but playing as one for even a few minutes really hammers those abilities home. Once you’ve got a good idea of what you can do, you’ll soon find yourself stringing together wall-runs, jetpack-enhanced double jumps, full-speed hurdles, and context-sensitive climbing to make your way across a map much more quickly than if you were just on foot. As mentioned above, it definitely pays to stay off the ground and out of open areas, so sticking to rooftops and running along walls is more of an essential tactic than it is a fun gameplay diversion.
Of course, there are bound to be times when you can’t avoid conflict, so it’s a good thing that there are a number of familiar (yet unique) weapons from which to choose. In the beta, players will have access to the Smart Pistol, which allows you to lock on to enemies from afar before firing tracking bullets at them, a Carbine that’s akin to an assault rifle, a nasty little submachine gun that’s perfect for …read more