When Respawn wanted to build a full-blown single-player campaign for Titanfall 2, the first decision they made was to allow the player exit the Titan – however foolish that may be at times. But beyond that? There obviously wasn’t much of a blueprint to follow from the first Titanfall, so Respawn’s designers did something all good creators know how to do: they started playing with blocks.
Action blocks, that is.
Every week for six months, the developers in charge of campaign design were tasked with bringing a new idea to the collective table. It could be a weapon, a puzzle, a mechanic, a small section of a level. Anything, really, as long as it was small, simple, and playable. These “action blocks” were discarded or set aside when they weren’t fun, but the ones that captured everyone’s attention or sparked their imaginations were dissected and explored. They’re only small ideas, sure, but six months of brainstorming is no small deal, and from what I saw, it seems to have paid off.
I played nearly three hours of Titanfall 2’s campaign, and before I was even able to ask the developers my questions (that part came at the end), I knew I wanted to ask about the game’s challenge and variety. In most shooters, with only brief exceptions, I’d say I feel anywhere from powerful to godlike. In Titanfall 2, I felt like a parkour ninja, a lab rat, a glass cannon, and helpless prey. I felt like an unstoppable 20-foot-tall Titan of death, and just moments later, I felt like a tiny human in a 20-foot-long metal casket. Put simply, Respawn did a lot of work to keep you from falling into the predictable shooter loop, and if that unpredictability holds true throughout the parts of the campaign I didn’t see, we’re in for something special.
If you’ve been following along with the Titanfall 2 news, you already know that the campaign tracks Jack Cooper, a standard rifleman who comes to pilot Titan BT-7274 after the mech’s previous owner is killed. This happens at the very beginning of the game, and it’s the first level I played.
Titanfall 2’s story is so humdrum that even the developers joked about it a bit during their presentation. Far in the future, humans have colonized resource-rich, life-supporting planets on the frontier of space. Everything is peaceful until the villainous IMC comes to town and begins strip-mining the planets, killing colonists, and generally making trouble all in the name of the next dollar. The people form a militia and rebel in a David and Goliath-type standoff.
If that unpredictability holds true throughout the parts of the campaign I didn’t see, we’re in for something special.
BT is really the main hook of the story, but it’s important for you to know how to manage without him. After saving your life, his pilot is fatally wounded and BT is left with low power reserves. Donning the previous pilot’s kit, you must jump, dash, and wall-run your way through the forests and wreckage on planet Typhon to find fresh batteries for BT. It’s a simple fetch mission, but the environments were so dense with paths to explore that I didn’t mind. The levels and textures were stunning (I played on PC), and I often stopped just to admire the work that went into making the world pop.
Weapons have a satisfying heft to them, and powerful sounds to match. This is (not in a bad way) at odds with how Cooper moves. If you head in a direction and mash the jump button, you will probably find yourself climbing or running along something, quite possibly by accident. It feels a bit loose at first, but after 15 minutes or so I was able to purposely make my way onto crazy paths that didn’t initially seem accessible. This allowed me to snipe enemies from a vantage point, turn invisible and take them out silently, or drop a grenade into a clump of them. If you wish to use them, combat options are definitely there.
Once you return to BT and insert the batteries, you briefly speak with him and yes, it feels like you’re making friends with Optimus Prime. He’s very down to business, and rightfully so. Within seconds, you’re ambushed by IMC forces, including an enemy Titan. BT’s no chump though, and his standard weapons and powers are enough to make short work of them.
One of my favorite things about the campaign so far is the ability to change BT’s loadouts on the fly. These include new powers and weapons, and you obtain them by exploring the environments or defeating enemy bosses. Much like Mega Man, knowing when to switch between loadouts for different tasks is not only a great tactical decision, but also one that keeps combat from getting stale. All six TItan loadouts from multiplayer are available – from a flame-spewing pyromaniac to a sword-wielding duelist – as well as two that are found in the campaign only. One of them is the Vanguard class, which is BT’s default loadout, equipped with a serious 20mm machine gun and dozens of lock-on rockets. The level design alone allows you to take fights how you want, and instant loadout selection further enhances your choices.
The most intense level I played took place inside a factory that appeared to be mass-producing homes – perhaps for colonists or soldiers. I was hopped around between different story moments, so the details weren’t always clear.
In this factory, which is, of course, incredibly dangerous and filled with lasers and crushing hazards, you start with a simple platform. As it moves from station to station, it’s outfitted with furniture, walls, a second floor, and other additions. You’re being pursued through the facility, and as more and more enemies attack, the new structures become welcome cover in an ever-changing arena. They also make you feel cramped, which limits your mobility and, in some cases, forces you off the platform and into the factory for a “breather.”
By the end, I felt like a tactical wizard. I’d ridden on conveyer belts, hopped along huge robotic arms, dodged (most of the) laser grids, and came out alive. It was a unique, intense challenge, and making it through felt great.
At the end of the line, you’re lifted into a bizarre, makeshift dome, complete with several freshly-produced floors and buildings. It appeared to be a training facility, but it was really a trap. A mercenary named Ash was working for the IMC, and she was testing my combat capabilities, again for reasons I’m not sure clear on due to the nature of the demo. I made short work of the foot soldiers she sent into the dome after me, but then she unleashed two mechs. Sure, they’re of the smaller variant (about 10 feet tall instead of the TItan’s 20 feet), but against a human in a confined spot, they’re terrifying.
I have seldom been more scared in a shooter, and they pursued me through that environment so relentlessly that my parkour skills were pushed to their limits. When I jumped into a building for cover, they ducked through the door and came right on in. I spent hundreds of rounds in hopes of bringing them down, taking shots when I could and running for dear life when I couldn’t. I eventually used some of the enemy’s anti-personnel mines against them, and the nightmare was over.
Respawn Senior Game Designer Mohammad Alavi was in the room with me, and when I finished the level he said “You know, you can actually stay in the house until that last part and you’ll be okay.”
I didn’t feel so smart after that. Occam’s Razor, everyone.
When BT speaks to you, you’re often given a few options for how you want to respond. Respawn says this isn’t exclusive to BT’s conversations, but that your choices won’t affect which levels you do or don’t play – instead, they affect dialogue and relationships.
You have the option to be stern and professional with BT if you’d like, but… seriously? He’s your robot buddy! The things you say to him affect how he talks to you, and after choosing several of the more positive, funny, or sarcastic responses, he changed his speech patterns to speak in a similar way. Tell me you don’t want a slightly sassy robo-friend.
From what I played, it seems like Titanfall 2 is not a game about corporate greed in space but with a cool robot. It seems like a game about a growing relationship between two very, very different warriors, set against some corporate greed in space. If Respawn can craft an emotional bond with BT and hold it all together with more intense, varied gameplay, Titanfall 2 may very much be worth it for more than its multiplayer alone.
Brian Albert is an IGN alum who we miss so much that we hold boomboxes over our heads outside his house, in the rain, in the hopes that one day he may return. Say hi to him on Twitter at @albinoalbert.
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