The game will send you and your squad of badass soldiermen all over the globe, as you battle for the glory of the motherland (usually ‘Murica) and defeat the evil foreigners, for reasons that usually have something to do with nukes. The campaign is usually short and incredibly scripted, but no one really cares about all that. The real draw is the multiplayer, which is just as predictable.

You’ll create a class, choose a weapon, its attachments and a few perks, and sprint around a bunch of maps searching for enemies to kill, all while earning experience points by performing basic actions and completing challenges. Earn enough experience, and you’ll level up, which allows access to new perks, weapons, attachments, and abilities. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam until you hit level cap, and then you can prestige, and do it again and again and again. Carrot, meet stick.

"The game does run you through a quick tutorial that does a good job of showing you the basics, but learning the intricacies of the system and the options you have available to you at any given time are up to you. Ultimately, what you can do is only limited by your imagination and skill."

So when Respawn Entertainment, which was founded by former members of Infinity Ward, and EA announced Titanfall, a futuristic shooter that revolves around giant robots and their pilots, many wrote the game off as little more than “Call of Duty with mechs,” myself included. In many ways, we were right. Like Call of Duty, Titanfall is a multiplayer-focused, create-a-class first-person shooter that revolves around leveling up and unlocking new weapons, perks, and attachments. Dismissing Titanfall as Call of Duty with mechs, however, is to do the game a disservice. No matter how familiar many of these elements are, Titanfall always feels like a unique experience and a breath of fresh air in a genre that seems content to rehash the same ideas again and again.

The biggest difference is the level of mobility available to pilots. Pilots are equipped with jump jets, and can run, jump, double jump, climb, hang, and wall run around the map. Of these, the wall run and the double jump are the most important. The latter is pretty self-explanatory, and allows you to clear tall obstacles and leap into second story windows. The former, however, is the meat and potatoes of Titanfall’s movement, and what makes the game something truly special.

Simply jumping at all a wall head on won’t get you very far, and you’ll be stuck trying to make your way to a window, or pull yourself up onto a roof or ledge if you want to make progress. Approach that same wall from an angle, however, and you’ll start running across it horizontally. Planting your feet anywhere, including a wall, resets your jump jets, and once you realize that, your movement capabilities increase significantly.

Want to cross a courtyard? Wall run across a wall, double jump to a nearby billboard, wall run across that, and then double jump to the roof of a building. Trying to get the top of a certain building from an alley? Just bounce between them until you get enough height to double jump to the roof. Getting shot? Double jump to a nearby wall and wall run behind him. These are just a few of the combinations you can perform, and the more you experiment, the more you’ll discover. The game does run you through a quick tutorial that does a good job of showing you the basics, but learning the intricacies of the system and the options you have available to you at any given time are up to you. Ultimately, what you can do is only limited by your imagination and skill.

"Of course, movement isn’t the only tool a pilot has at his or her advantage. They also have tactical abilities. One allows you to see through walls, while another speeds up your movement and health regen. The final, and perhaps most useful, is a tactical cloak that makes you all but invisible to titans."

Titanfall’s freedom of movement means that you’ll have to throw a lot of your ideas about shooters out the window. Each of the game’s fifteen maps features a number of billboards, buildings, ziplines, and streets to navigate, and the maps themselves are extremely varied. Some might take place in the middle of a futuristic city, while another might take place in the ruins of an old outpost or an industrial complex.

You can enter pretty much every structure you see, which means you’ll find yourself popping in and out of windows fairly often, and changing elevation almost constantly. Most shooters require that you learn their maps if you hope to be successful, but Titanfall takes that logic a step further by requiring you to discover all of the ways you can use your expanded mobility in those maps as well. Verticality is important in Titanfall, and the best players will be the ones who excel at every level of the map and transition between them as fluidly as possible.

This level of mobility also means that your enemies can, and will, attack from any direction or height. As a result, things that are standard fare in shooters, such as natural choke points, are not present in Titanfall. Instead, you’re constantly moving, flanking, and pursuing your enemies. For all their mobility, pilots are pretty fragile, and can be taken out with a few well-placed shots, so you always have to be aware of your surroundings. That said, however, your mobility means that you’re never at a disadvantage, unless an enemy is directly behind you, and even then, you can still escape and even kill him, if you play your cards right.

Of course, movement isn’t the only tool a pilot has at his or her advantage. They also have tactical abilities. One allows you to see through walls, while another speeds up your movement and health regen. The final, and perhaps most useful, is a tactical cloak that makes you all but invisible to titans. It isn’t nearly as effective against human opponents, but it can get you out of a tight scrape and does allow you to sneak around if you use it properly. None of these things are particularly new in and of themselves, as each has been done to some extent in other games, but they take on new aspects when combined with your pilot’s incredible movement abilities.

"The game’s single-shot and burst fire rifles are good all-around choices, and the snipers are there for those who prefer their murder to be of the ranged variety. Naturally, pilots also have a number of side arms to choose from, as well. All in all, most of them feel familiar and most people will find a number of guns that fit their playstyle."

The game’s weapons are much the same. Unlike many military shooters, Titanfall features only one or two takes on most weapon types, and each gun fills are role. The assault rifle, for example, is almost unmatched in mid-range combat, while the SMGS and shotgun rules the roost up close. The game’s single-shot and burst fire rifles are good all-around choices, and the snipers are there for those who prefer their murder to be of the ranged variety. Naturally, pilots also have a number of side arms to choose from, as well. All in all, most of them feel familiar and most people will find a number of guns that fit their playstyle.

The one exception is the smart pistol, a primary weapon that will lock on to enemies as long as you keep them within its targeting reticule. Killing a pilot is as simple as allowing the weapon to lock on three times and pulling the trigger, which will fire all three shots. The downside, however, is that acquiring all three locks takes a decent amount of time, and it’s easy for a pilot to kill you or get out of range before the gun is ready to fire. It’s a risky weapon, but it really shines when it comes to killing grunts and spectres.

Titanfall is primarily 6 on 6 game, but you’re not just fighting other players: there are a number of AI controlled soldiers that deploy over the course of the match, as well, known as grunts and spectres. Grunts are relatively weak human enemies, and spectres are slightly stronger robotic soldiers that can be hacked by the player.

They’re mostly there to add a sense of realism and scale to the game, and in many ways, they’re like minions from a MOBA: they’re not really a threat to a pilot unless that pilot is already wounded or is facing a large group, and they spend most of their time fighting other grunts and spectres and helping to secure buildings and objectives. But just as in a MOBA, it’s important to pay attention to them, as killing them gives you points, unlocks attachments and modifications, and even lessens the time it takes to call down your titan, a giant mech that only you can pilot.

"Put simply, titans are awesome. They come in three classes – light, medium, and heavy – and can be equipped with a variety of weapons, ranging from chainguns and 40 millimeter cannons to rail guns and shock cannons, as well as shoulder mounted rocket launchers. Just one of them, piloted well, can spell the difference between victory and defeat for a team."

Put simply, titans are awesome. They come in three classes – light, medium, and heavy – and can be equipped with a variety of weapons, ranging from chainguns and 40 millimeter cannons to rail guns and shock cannons, as well as shoulder mounted rocket launchers. Just one of them, piloted well, can spell the difference between victory and defeat for a team.

Like pilots, their weapons are complimented by special abilities, which include a shield that can catch rockets before throwing them back at the titan that fired them, a cloud of smoke that is harmful to pilots, and a shield wall that will absorb enemy fire. Titans also have the ability to dash, which allows them to perform tactical maneuvers in combat, and can perform a powerful melee attack that deals heavy damage to other titans and instantly kills any pilot unlucky enough to be in its way.

Titan skirmishes are among the best parts of the game, as they’re very tactical affairs that demand accuracy, precision, and good judgment, and losing one can come down to something as simple as using your shield too early or incorrectly timing a dash. Of course, pilots and titans don’t fight independently of one another, either. As you’d expect, titans are a natural threat to pilots, but pilots can fight back, too. Each pilot comes equipped with an anti-titan weapon, ranging from a rocket launcher to a rail gun.

In addition, a pilot can “rodeo” a titan by jumping onto its back, ripping off some protective shielding, and firing his weapon into some delicate machinery. Titans who have the smoke ability equipped won’t have much trouble with this sort of thing, but everyone else will have to get out of their mechanical behemoth and deal with the other pilot personally. Even without its pilot, a titan is no pushover, and will be piloted by an AI that can be commanded to either follow the pilot around or hold a position.

"For all of its unique gameplay, however, Titanfall’s modes are pretty standard. Attrition is basically team deathmatch, but you earn points for killing grunts, spectres, and titans, in addition to pilots. Pilot hunter is more traditional, and focuses entirely on killing pilots."

As you can imagine, all of this makes Titanfall a very dynamic game. You might be pursuing a pilot in your titan only to have him sprint around a corner into his own, and engage you on more equal ground. Likewise, you might time your titanfall so that your titan crashes atop an enemies’ titan and kills it instantly, or you might be fighting a titan only to have your titan’s health deplete to zero.

When this happens, titans explode after a brief countdown, taking their pilots with them unless they quickly eject. Equip the nuclear ejection perk, however, and your titan turns into a walking bomb, which might allow you to take out the other guy before you’re shot to safety. Of course, you also have to make sure that your opponent doesn’t execute you with a melee attack when you enter the danger state, which kills both you and your titan. And really, there’s nothing like rodeo-killing a titan when it’s at full health, or winning a duel because of a perfect dash.

For all of its unique gameplay, however, Titanfall’s modes are pretty standard. Attrition is basically team deathmatch, but you earn points for killing grunts, spectres, and titans, in addition to pilots. Pilot hunter is more traditional, and focuses entirely on killing pilots. Hardpoint is a territories mode that tasks you with capturing and holding specific areas to earn points, and capture the flag is exactly what it sounds like.

The only mode that is somewhat unique is last titan standing, in which everyone spawns in a titan. As the title implies, the team with the last titan standing wins the round, though it should be noted that players can continue to play as a pilot if they escape from their titan before it explodes. It’s a fun mode that requires a lot of strategy and teamwork, and the most unique take on what Titanfall has to offer.

Between each match, players can equip up to three burn cards, which are single use items that give an advantage in battle. One might allow you to call a titan at the beginning of the match, while another might spawn you with an enhanced weapon or grant you a special perk. This may sound unbalanced, but it’s not. Activating a burn card is risky, as its effects only last until you die, and it’s entirely possible to activate one without ever getting a chance to use it.

"The game never quite feels as unique as I’d like - it always seems like it’s missing a game mode or just one more idea that is distinctly its own - and the campaign feels tacked on at best. Still, it’s hard to deny how well Titanfall comes together, and how unique much of its gameplay is, especially in an industry overcrowded with “me-too” games."

There’s a campaign, too, but it’s little more than multiplayer matches bookended by audio-only mission briefings and the odd cutscene. You’ll occasionally get some in-game dialogue or video, but it’s usually hard to pay attention to both the match and the story segments at the same time. The story itself is pretty simple, and follows a group of freedom fighters as they rebel against the government that seeks to control them, but it feels so tacked on and threadbare that it’s difficult to care about the plot or any of the characters.

You can play both sides of the conflict, but the missions remain the same no matter which side you’re on, and only ever ask you to play attrition and hardpoint. The whole affair doesn’t add much to the game, and it would be easy to skip over the “campaign” entirely if the game didn’t force you to complete it twice, once on each side, to acquire the light and heavy titan chassis.

Much has been made about the game’s graphical performance on the Xbox One, but I’m happy to report that, by and large, Titanfall looks good and runs well on the platform. Sure, there’s the occasional framerate drop and the game occasionally tears a screen or two, but those sequences were fairly uncommon and I rarely noticed them. The game’s resolution has also come under fire, but I doubt that most players will notice it. Everything looks crisp and clear, and the game’s art design more than makes up for any of the game’s visual shortcomings. In addition, the sound design is top notch: weapons are loud and pack a punch, while titans feel bulky and powerful thanks to the loud booming of their footsteps and the crash of metal on metal in close combat.

Ultimately, Titanfall is a mixture of the old and new. The game modes, weapons, character customization, perks, level system, and much more are lifted almost wholesale from Call of Duty 4 and other military shooters, which isn’t surprising considering Respawn’s history. If it weren’t for Titanfall’s additions – the way you move, the titans, and the map design – it would be easy to write the game off. But those things are there, and everything just feels right.

It has its problems, to be sure. The game never quite feels as unique as I’d like – it always seems like it’s missing a game mode or just one more idea that is distinctly its own – and the campaign feels tacked on at best. Still, it’s hard to deny how well Titanfall comes together, and how unique much of its gameplay is, especially in an industry overcrowded with “me-too” games. Let me be clear: it’s not the next big thing, and it isn’t the revolution that Call of Duty 4 was. In that regard, it doesn’t live up to the hype. But it does give the first-person shooter its swagger back. If that’s not a victory, I don’t know what is.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

Are you a sucker for limited edition consoles that look awesome as all hell? Are you looking forward to TitanFall? Do you want an Xbox One? Well, suck it.

A Limited Edition TitanFall Xbox One would have been something people would have rushed to spend money on in droves, but unfortunately, Microsoft, EA and Respawn don’t see it that way. Microsoft has made a limited edition Xbox One for the upcoming release of Titanfall, but it’s exclusively for the employees who worked on the game at Respawn Entertainment.

“Almost hate to post this cause they aren’t for sale but @Xbox brought our studio something amazing today,” Respawn said on their Twitter page along with the photos they upoaded.

How good does this look to you? We think it actually looks really good. Tell us what you think in your comments.

The Xbox One’s graphical prowess and ability to run games at a consistently high resolution has been one of the strong talking points of the system’s fanbase ever since those specifications were released, but it seems that the console’s flagship title, TitanFall, will not be taking advantage of those abilities. Yeah, TitanFall will not run at a resolution of 1080p on the Xbox One.

Vince Zampella, co-founder of TitanFall developers Respawn Entertainment and previously of Infinity Ward as well, was asked on Twitter if the game would indeed run at a resolution of 1080p, to which he replied, very simply, “No.”

TitanFall went gold a little while back and its release is almost upon us, so  this being one of the most anticipated releases of the year, we’re obviously just as excited as you are, but this news comes to us as a bit of a disappointment.

What do you guys think? Tell us in your comments.

Despite not yet being available for purchase yet, Titanfall has won in excess of 60 awards since being revealed at E3 2013 during the Microsoft press conference. These awards range from (a record breaking) E3 Critics Awards to “Best of Show” award from numerous media outlets. This was extended further when Titanfall continued to claim awards at Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show in 2013.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story
• 4. Titans

Development

The development cycle for Titanfall’s pre-production period began in 2011, but the series of events behind its creation stem from a legal dispute when Activision fired the co founder of Infinity Ward (Jason West and Vince Zampella) for “breaches of contract and insubordination” in March of 2010. Their firing later caused a number of lawsuits and staff departures. Later in 2010, Jason West and Vince Zampella founded a new independent video game development company named Respawn Entertainment.

This newly formed studio was then staffed with many of the employees who left Infinity Ward. It was around this time that the pre-production stage of development began, during this period Titanfall was planned for (what was at the time) current generation consoles. But this plan was scrapped in favour of taking the already existing property to the next level,(the decision was also partially rooted in the decision to work with stronger technology rather than work to fit the limitations of the 7th generation of consoles).

“(Moving to next-gen) was a great excuse to take what we had started with and push it a little further,” the developers revealed. The idea behind the mech suits that players will make frequent use of, came from both a great deal of internal debate and artists experimenting with “kitbashing” (a process involving multiple real plastic model kits having their parts interchanged to create a new and unique item), one staff member has been quoted as saying “We started off with a human-sized suit, and then the designers started going into ideas of going bigger, and asking ‘what if we could take cover around buildings and stuff.’ I took (a) plastic model kit and threw a little guy in there and said ‘let’s try this.’…”.

With this in mind it’s easy to recognize the inspirations drawn from the 1982 Harrison Ford film, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Abrams Battle Tank (the Sega Megadrive game) and the mangaka who famously created the “Ghost in the Shell” anime. As the game progressed deeper into the stages of development, two of the project leads departed from Respawn Entertainment to begin their own studio in 2012, with Jason West retiring in march of 2013. it was confirmed in January of 2014 that part of the development process (specifically the Xbox 360 build of the game) was being developed externally by Bluepoint Games, Inc with assistance from the Respawn Entertainment staff.

Soon after, Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen announced that Titanfall would remain exclusive to Microsoft “for the life of the title”, meaning that PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Wii U will never receive a port. Despite this on February 4th 2014, Vince Zampella commented via Twitter (in response to “@Dag Cerberus” also known as Titanfall Fanboy”) that Respawn Entertainment were discussing a port to OS X some time after launch, thus invalidating the Microsoft exclusivity claim.

Gameplay

Titanfall is a purely online multiplayer first person shooter without a single player campaign. The game instead compensates for this by including doses of plot, character speech and NPC character development in the matches that the player takes part in. Combat is a fast moving procession of PVP (player vs player) that is divided into teams. These two opposing teams must complete a series of team based objectives to achieve victory. To this end, players will primarily play as “Pilots” who can traverse the terrain at a fast pace thanks to their free running inspired ability (an example would be wall running mixed with consecutive jumps to gain both distance and altitude without ever touching the ground).

Pilots can then interface with mech styled walker suits called “Titans”, large and agile mechanical suits of armour that are extremely agile and just as capable in a combat situation thanks to their varied array of weapons and abilities such as being able to trap incoming metallic projectiles in a magnetic field and fire them back at the foe in a field of shrapnel. Pilots are divided into types, with each bringing a unique weapon or skillset to the battle field. The Pilots and their abilities to gather momentum, chain their jumps and wall run obviously give them a great degree of agility which allows them to not only out manoeuvre lesser skilled players, it also adds a great deal of tactical thinking to the game.

Players are no longer confined to shooting gallery-esque  corridors and streets, they can now plummet through holes in ceilings, leap through windows as well as potentially hijack vulnerable Titans. Titans (though fast in their own right) are somewhat more limited due to their size, but the varying abilities offered by using a Titan tactically outweigh any potential limitations due to their large and easily spotted nature. Baiting opponents with Titans for ambushes is expected to become a tactic according to forum users. Titans can be evacuated and put into a guard mode where they will follow predetermined orders such as protect an area or tail their Pilot.

Story

There are no details surrounding the plot of Titanfall or the characters therein. There is however a focus on The Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) [the Mega-corp that manufactures Titans) and The Milita, opposer’s of the IMC and acting citizen army of the Frontier Systems that are set to be exploited by the IMC who will (if necessary to further their goals) apply force to the more resistant peoples of the frontier.

Titans

Thus far, only three class of Titan has been unveiled by Respawn Entertainment.

• Atlas Class: A lighter and more agile Titan.
• Ogre Class: A heavily armoured and slower moving behemoth.
• Stryder Class: Lighter armour than the Atlas Class with increased agility.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Respawn Entertainment has given some backstory information on the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, or the IMC, which features heavily in the upcoming TitanFall and its story, and the developer has also provided some information on Blisk, Spyglass and Graves, the three iconic characters of the IMC.

The IMC, says Respawn, wasn’t always a multi-national corporation. It started out as a small company called Hammond Engineering, but fifteen years later, with the help of increasing demand, cutting edge technology, map database rights, and “a series of acquisitions, mergers, and re-brandings” meant that Hammond was no longer just a small organization. It became the IMC.

Graves has the reputation of a bit of a maverick, whose policies and demand for changes have always been perceived as threatening to the IMC and too liberal for the citizens. Blisk is a South African mercenary, who cam out of retirement after he was promised a lot of money to do work for the IMC.

There’s a lot more information on the IMC’s backstory and the characters. Have a look at it all here.

TitanFall releases in March for the Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Respawn Entertainment have released a new making-of video for the upcoming online first person shooter TitanFall, and in the video they have talked about a variety of subjects, starting with the beginnings of the project and the company itself and ending with talking about what they hope the game will achieve once it comes out.

The first few minutes of the video are especially intriguing, as members of the development team talk about their experiences when Respawn first took shape and talk about the hardships the development team had to go through as a new venture in the market.

There’s also some gameplay footage shown in the video, and it looks interesting, so those looking forward to playing the game might want to check it out above.

TitanFall is a multiplayer only game that will have the kind of focussed gameplay and storytelling that would also appease single player fanatics. It comes out in March for the Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Stay tuned for more coverage.

EA has announced that the Xbox 360 version of TitanFall, Respawn Entertainment’s first title and a multiplayer-only FPS at that, has been delayed. It will now be releasing on March 25th in North America and March 28th in Europe. The Xbox One and PC version will be out on March 11th in NA and March 14th in Europe.

EA’s Patrick Soderland stated that, “To give [developers Bluepoint] the time they need to put the finishing touches on the current-gen version of the game, we are moving the Xbox 360 ship date to March 25 in North America and March 28 in Europe. The extra two weeks will ensure the full world of Xbox gamers has an awesome experience.”

While Respawn is busy developing the suitably next gen version of the shooter, the Xbox 360 version is being handled by Bluepoint Games, which is a great track record for porting games. Stay tuned for more news and updates on Titanfall as we approach release, including for the upcoming beta.