First Impressions On Titianfall 2’s Technical Test

First Impressions On Titianfall 2’s Technical Test Demo

                Respawn’s new game Titianfall 2 is set to release on October 28, 2016. With only 2 more months before the game release, they have put out a technical test demo on the PS4 and Xbox One for the public on the weekend. I got a chance to play about 5 hours of the game. This is my first time with the Titanfall series, so I was curious to see how fast and smooth the Titans felt in multi-player combat. Respawn has the background talent to create a great first-person shooter. Titanfall is a really fast-paced, vary vertical, and engaging futuristic shooter. The technical test ended on Sunday, but will be open to the public again on August 26-28.

               

Titanfall 2’s technical test had limited option on your load out, maps, modes, and titans.  The amount they showed was enough for me to get a feel of the game and how the gameplay was. I spent, and have found myself liking more of the Bounty mode. Pilot vs Pilot (8v8) is the first mode, then there’s Amped Hardpoints (6v6), and Bounty Hunt (5v5).

Each mode consists of 2 maps, Boomtown and homestead. With the grappling hook you can move freely on walls, terrain, building, and even titans. Your loadout allows you to mod and change your weapons you unlock with support items, like the grappling hook, healing packs, or location of deaths; every mod is purchase from in game currency. That’s not they only loadout you need to worry about. Your titan loadout is also customizable too. Like your pilot loadout, you can change your weapon and pick a support skill or item. One thing the titan loadout has that the pilot doesn’t, is each of the 2 titans has their own special ability.

Respawn added a feature I never thought or saw before, the mechanic that at the end for every match the losing team needs to reach a checkpoint and escape the battlefield before the enemies kills them, or before the enemy destroys your escape ship. That is such a smart way of making the losing team feel like they can win if they make the waypoint. It creates a friendlier environment for the community. 

                My first few hours of playing the game I notice how dramatically fast the game is compared to other first-person shooter games. The technical test was limited to what I can use, but was enough to give me what I wanted during my time with the early build of this game. I found myself enjoying more of the Bounty Hunt mode out of the 3 modes the most. 

          

            Bounty mode, is a 5v5, 15-minute matches. Every match will start with waves of AI enemies. Each AI will produce money, once killed. Once you build up a collection of cash on your pilot you will need to go to the bank and deposit the money, banks will appear after each wave is over. All deposit will build up as a team pot of cash. To win the match you need to fill it up or if time expires. Each AI has a cash value to it, $10 for “Grunt”, $20 for “Specter”. Over the course of the match AI titans will appear and you will get a bounty for hunting the AI titan down. Now this is where things get fun. If an enemy happens to kill you, half the money you are carrying will transfer to the killer. This allows for any player, even if they’re bad, can come back with just one kill. This mode gives players many was to participate and contribute in matches.  

Amped Hard-point, is a 6v6, 10-minute traditional capture the point match. I haven’t spent as much time on this mode as I did as bounty hunt, but it’s the old traditional capture the point. In Titanfall 2 there are 3 points to cover. This mode doesn’t provide a lot of titan gameplay, but has an effective role to play in hard-point.

              

          

             Pilot vs Pilot, is 8v8, 10-mintue team death match. I didn’t put any time on this mode, 2-3 matches. It’s just a normal team death match. The thing drew me away from it was, it doesn’t have Titans. Which is a big aspect of the game. Disabling Titan in Pilot Vs Pilot gives the player more freedom to swing, climb, and run. But the reason to play Titanfall is the Titans.

The game is really fast-paced, I’m always moving, staying in one place for a long period of time will expose you to more enemies. Moving through the terrain, grappling on buildings and jet packing is clean and fluid. The titan gameplay as clean and smooth, the mechanics for the titans are smart as well.

Climbing the titans is fun, depending if the titan is an enemy or friend you can affect the titan in other ways. With enemy titans you can climb on the back on the titan and take out its battery. After ejecting from the battery, you can climb up again the throw a grenade inside the pilot pit. And for friendly titans you can take a battery from the enemy titan and replace it as your titan’s battery.

So far I had a fun time with the Titanfall 2 technical test, because I didn’t play the first game, I didn’t really know how Respawn improved on old mechanics, or what they kept from the first game. From what Respawn allowed us to play with, it was a great experience. I’m going to come back to the technical test next weekend, hoping they would add something else or add upon what they have now. After playing this game I’m excited for the release for Titanfall 2 with the new ideas and new story in place for the sequel.