As someone who didn't play Titanfall 1, this whole
Titanfall 2® Pre-Alpha Tech Test™ was....eh. Many people have already touched on Titan mechanics, Pilot mechanics, wallrunning velocity and momentum, etc., so I'll touch on a few things that I feel are deeper rooted issues that can't be adjusted with some value changes.
1. My biggest problem is map design. Boomtown was the best one available, and even that was merely ok. The parkour lines weren't that great and the trees in the middle leading to "Out of Bounds" popups are ridiculous, but generally it was the best playing map. Homestead and Forward Base Kodai though....
WOOF, these are aggressively poor maps IMO. Nothing about their design makes sense for the kind of gameplay possible with Titanfall 2's mechanics. The field, brehs, THE FIELDS. What the hell is happening here? How can there be so much open space in a game that relies on wallrunning and momentum to get around? In a game that relies on cover for Pilots from Titans, and cover for Titans from other Titans. This creates a hard distinction between "Titan Areas" and "Pilot Areas." Tight funneling leading to a no man's land with very weak to non-existent interplay. Lots of open air that encourages long range pecking from wannabe Battlefield snipers (aided by the super obvious "I'M RIGHT HERE" glow on enemy Pilots). Lots of boring traversal made worse because one of the modes forces you to head out to these areas in order to do well (I'll get into this in a minute)
Now I'm not going to judge the entire game off these maps, but when 2 of the 3 we've had a chance to play are outright bad (or at least bad for this game), this leads me to question what the philosophy behind the game is. Maybe if there are like 15 maps and the rest are all great, filled with long wallrunning lines and good flow for both Titans and Pilots, we can look back on this and laugh at how worried we were. But for now this is a huge black eye on the experience.
2. The other major issue I had were the game modes. Hoo boy. I'll just assume you all disregard Pilot vs. Pilot like I do, so I won't even speak on that. I'm not interested in Titanfall to play Diet Call of Duty.
Amped Hardpoint: I only played a few matches of this, and that's because they were.....well, boring. The "Amped" part of this mode makes no sense to me. In a game with these mechanics and potential for very high paced chaos, you're tasked with not only capturing fixed points like any other territory capture mode in any other shooter, but to sit there even more to "Amp" the point for a higher score. Waaaaaat? It's so slow and uneventful. Combined with the lack of AI, it makes for a game mode that doesn't feel very dynamic. Not a fan. Admitedlly though, I'm not a big fan of static territory capture modes in general unless they're mixed into a rotating objective game type, so I'll accept that people might enjoy this and it's simply not for me. That's fine.
Bounty Hunt: This mode though.....nah, fam. Huge potential, but it's being fumbled at every turn. Now before I get into this, I'll list 2 things I like about the mode:
+ Money and Banks. This is a cool concept. Doing things during the match grants you a bonus that you can bank to add to a team wide pool and push that total a little higher. Great. Alternatively you lose part of your bonus when being killed leading to a back-and-forth between players who are basically always carrying some kind of prize. Good idea.
+ AI Bounties. Again, in concept this is great. Though I don't like the execution (AI should not be a 3rd faction), I do like the idea of dropping these big MOBILE hotspots onto the map, bringing both teams together in a little quasi-set piece, and slightly shifting your immediate objective from "kill players" or "farm grunts." Notice how I stress "mobile." Yeah, more on that in the next section.
The flipside to these positive ideas is that the mode is completely predictable and frequently dull.
- First of all, the banks being static points on the map is problematic. Titanfall should always be promoting MOBILITY. Not only do the banks lead to predictable player movement and camping, but when you add the layer of AI spawning in waves, having to run back to fixed points on the map to bank your cash makes for poor match flow. Sure, sometimes you'll get moments where two sets of players will cross paths at a bank, but the majority of the time teams head back to where they started after the first wave, then head towards wherever their teammates have congregated for subsequent "open bank periods." These moments are frequent and add nothing but dead air to the mode. I think if the banks were drop ships or drop pods that spawned in different areas (or if the banks actually crawled along the maps), this would be much, much more interesting, and make for more dynamic encounters, but only if the next issue is also dealt with...
- AI waves and highlighted spawn locations kill match pacing. Recall how I mentioned open spaces in my map design criticism? Well here we go. Because of this whole "bank" concept, AI has been made into a high value resource rather than a Titan booster and aesthetic/atmospheric addition. What that means is teams rush those spawn locations to farm AI so they can bank their money. Spawn locations which alternate between the most congested middle points, which is ok, and "Resourceville"- 2 spots on clear opposite sides of the map where nothing happens. Resourceville is where Bounty Hunt falls apart.
In Resourceville you farm AI. When you farm AI you'd rather feel safe. To feel safe you need to head towards your teammates. Resourceville is where teammates gather to feel safe and safely farm AI in safety. You see what I'm getting at here? After the banks open and kill the flow of encounters, forcing you to either look for your team at a bank or deal with campers, you then head out to the most logical AI spawn point, alongside your team, to farm in safety in preparation for the next "open bank period." This. Is. Boring. There are chunks of Bounty Hunt matches where nothing is happening. Teams are on opposite ends of the maps building their Titans and Core Abilities in this weird pre-battle Grunt Sacrifice To Harambe ritual, just to either hide so they don't lose their money, or clash with a team that's also equally powered up and watch Titans die left and right (also because there are no Titan shields and they're so slow RESPAWN PLS).
I think spawn locations should be spread throughout the map, continuous, and unmarked. The visual and sound cues associated with drop pods are enough to draw players, then the spread of AI throughout the map and continuous spawning would ensure there are no dead spots or weird games of hide and go seek to end waves.
- AI as a 3rd faction removes an interesting wrinkle found in the first game, detracts from the atmosphere, and is honestly very strange from a narrative perspective. Why are these bloodthirsty Pilots murdering Grunts (who all have families) for money instead of fighting side by side with them against the other faction? Where is that feeling of all out warfare as grunts fight grunts? Wouldn't it be more interesting if each team got their own AI Bounties to capture or protect like a dynamic VIP mode? I think having Bounty Hunt be strictly about 2 factions going at each other is a much more simple way to go about this that also leaves the matches open for more dynamic combat and player driven match flow.
So Bounty Hunt, in my view, is flawed. The flow of matches is awkward and uneven, and awkward flow + awkward maps makes for a mode that never comes together. I compare the Tech Test to videos of compatible scenarios from the first game (let's say, Attrition?), and the difference in atmosphere, pace, and flow is very apparent. There's an energy in that game that this one reached only sporadically. I could deal with whatever changes made to Titan combat and rodeos if the maps were great and the modes were fun, but they're not. Bounty Hunt as the new flagship mode is fine, but it needs fixin'.
Also, Scorch has to be nerfed, obviously. The flame shield defense has completely destroyed rodeo attempts. To be fair, there are more Titans in the full game, but still. Pilots are at a disadvantage already, having to grab batteries instead of being able to shoot Titan guts, so they need to be able to reliably rodeo Titans after dodging the initial defense.
On the extreme positive end of the scale, the game feels amazing. Running, SLIDING, aiming, shooting... all great. Cutting through people with a sprinting Alternator hipfire kill was the only thing keeping me going. Wall running and parkour is also smooth as hell, far beyond whatever I was capable of doing in other "mobility shooters." I only wish there were more lines and less crap in the way so Pilots could flow through these environments.
Respawn please. Let me love your game.
