I’m sure by now you may have seen a commercial, ad banner, or poster somewhere for Respawn Entertainment’s upcoming AAA Video Game Titanfall. While the game doesn’t have a massive social marketing campaign or TV Show behind it does have a significant number of developers from the team that turned Call of Duty into the Multi-Billion dollar franchise that it is today. At first glance you might think that the game is just a run of the mill first person shooter like Halo, Killzone, or something else that seems to be a dime a dozen these days. However, it is far deeper and is taking some risks to breathe new life into this genre of game.
The game takes place in the distant future where the human race is divided in Civil War. The two factions at odds with each other are the Frontier Militia and the IMC or Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation. The game has not yet been released so, it is a little too early to tell the “Bad Guys” from the “Good Guys”. Going from the press and the information from the Beta, neither faction appears to be Black or White. Keeping this game apart from the other shooters in the market is its use of near 20 foot tall Mechs called Titans. The “Titanfall” refers to the act of the a Pilot’s Titan being dropped from orbit on to the playing field. Â The other interesting thing about this game is how it is going to have a story but, no offline single-player campaign. Â The campaign will be multi-player online only and not just an option that most players skip over. The game promises to have a relevant storyline and not just cutscenes in between battles that attempt to give meaning to what you do in each match.
The game keeps things interesting by how the balance between Titans and Pilots is maintained. In most ways one could see who ever gets their Titans first wins but, that is not the case. Everyone in the game starts a match (or most matches) as a Pilot. Your Titan is being built as indicated by an in-game timer (in the beta it was 2 minutes). Gaining kills and points lowers your timer letting you get to your Titan faster. The game boasts 6 vs 6 combat but, to keep things interesting there are NPC (or computer controller) characters on the field called “grunts”. Killing grunts don’t count towards your team’s overall kills but, will lower the timer for your Titan and increase your score. Grunts will keep spawning so there will be plenty to kill on the map. As a Pilot you are able to run, jump, and perform wall-runs courtesy of you jump pack. As a Titan you are slower but, have access to heavier weapons and more armor. A Pilot can easily out run a Titan, use an Anti-Titan weapon, or climb on top and attack its core forcing the Titan into a self-destruct sequence. A Titan can soak up normal weapon fire like a sponge, trample a Pilot (for an instant kill), or use an incredibly large gun to make short work of the minimal armor a Pilot wears. Checks and balances are in place to give the game a good sense of balance and keep the playing field level regardless of what you play as.
I’m looking forward to playing this game. I’m not the biggest fan of First Person Shooters because they have gotten stale over the years. Titanfall promises to offer fresh new mechanics and storytelling that immediately grabbed my interest. I wasn’t much on board with the Xbox One at first until Titanfall. Microsoft has even sweetened the deal by releasing a Titanfall bundle (which can be pre-ordered) for $499.99. The bundle basically is giving you the copy of the game for free. I’m sure this game will give the Xbox One the much-needed push to move more units off the shelf and bring over people who are on the fence about the console.
Titanfall is Rated “M” and Releases on March 11th for the Xbox One and PC and on March 25th for Xbox 360.
