Titanfall beta: EA and Respawn open next-gen development to the players
After a weekend of hardcore mech rodeo, VG247's Matt Martin and Dave Cook come away impressed by Respawn's vision for next-gen gaming.
Like most of you we've been hammering away at Titanfall since it went live on Thursday night, with Dave Cook and Matt Martin taking on the Xbox One version in particular (we'll have more on the PC version later in the week). Here, the two discuss their experiences of the shooter, why it's definitely not just "CoD with mechs", how EA and Respawn have dealt with online demand, and where they hope the franchise will go for launch and beyond.
"Once I'd got the hang of wall running and climbing it's clear those - and the double jump - are just as important to gameplay as the Titans"
Dave Cook: I'm a big Call of Duty player so naturally the first thing I did was sprint forward into the map, clipping the heels of the chap in front of me in that irritating way only CoD games allow. But I quickly learned that taking the 'sprint blindly approach' is a good way of getting killed due to the wider open spaces. I initially felt that the pace, balancing and damage levels were similar to the original Black Ops, which is a good thing in my book. You don't die after two hits and there's time to take damage and either hide or compose yourself before returning fire. I like that. Aesthetically, the action on Fracture was just nuts. Explosions everywhere! I was impressed, even though I've found a few areas lacking since then. I'll dive into those later though. Oh, and the first time I called in a Titan from orbit was actually pretty arousing
Matt Martin: I approached it like Call of Duty too and got whipped for it. There's no reason to stand still at any point or you'll get popped in the head - I don't think I've come across any campers, which is refreshing. It took a while to click for me, but once I'd got the hang of wall running and climbing it's clear those - and the double jump - are just as important to gameplay as the Titans. You can almost treat it like an extreme sports game where there are these defined lines in the environment that you can bounce and trick off to move swiftly from one location to the next. Anything on street level for me just seemed to be a killzone unless you're piloting a Titan.
I'm impressed with the scale of this beta. Until I got to around level 6 it seemed a little limited, but it expands significantly once you start opening up Burn Cards or start unlocking other weapons and perks. It's early days but I can already feel the right loadout for me and I'm refining my skills more. The ability to stop dead during a wall run and hang can really screw with enemies tracking you with their sights. What advice would you offer to someone in their early hours of the game?
Dave: I'd say hang back definitely. It's actually easier to get kills by letting human pilots charge blindly towards you than simply sprinting in guns blazing. I got a ton of kills by being very crafty - hiding in structures and holding high vantage points - so use the roofs to pick people off on the ground for sure, I think the key to winning this thing is being quick to your Titan. All too often I was running around trying to kill human players ahead of the 'cloud-grunts™' because they offer more Attrition points, but really; you need to be sprinting to clusters of AI troops to kill them, shave seconds off your Titan's build time, while also taking down Pilots as you encounter them. It's a fast game that rewards being among the first to get your mech. You mentioned the Burn Cards there. I really like that system.
I felt that they're a good antidote to 'unfair' perks in Call of Duty - those that punish lower-level players who haven't unlocked them yet - seeing as they only last one spawn and are burned upon use. I'm sure I'm not the only player out there thankful to see that Ghost perk jettisoned into memory, but by keeping the Burn Card traits small and finite there's less chance of the balancing being spun off its axis. I really do like that concept, and the best cards I've had so far include automatically respawning as a Titan even if you haven't got one built yet, shaving 80 seconds off your next Titanfall, and unlocking a more-powerful LMG that wasn't even in the create a soldier options. It was a monster.
Matt: I'll welcome any new spin on something familiar. Burn cards also add a neat, almost tactile element to customisation that I like. It's easy to be wowed by the big graphical punch of Titanfall but the small illustrations on those cards are just as important to me.
How about the Specters and Grunts? They feel like a smart addition - the battlefields are busier and give the sense of a full-scale conflict, without the madness of 12-a-side real-world players. I'm not the greatest at online first-person shooters and this limit to 6 versus 6 is perfect for me. The Grunts and Specters are also handy for those extra points. Although they're not just cannon-fodder - I've been killed by them a couple of times and felt deep, deep shame...
"I hope the way EA has handled Titanfall online is representative of changes that have happened at the publisher since Sim City and Battlefield 4"
Dave: Yeah the AI grunts are a nice touch, and I really feel they're more about fleshing out the play-space. They're fodder used to chip seconds off your next Titanfall. If you had 64 versus 64 in those maps the game would suffer. I always use the example of the zipline in Black Ops map Kowloon. You were so visible and open to many players while using it, without the option of returning fire, that nobody used it. Now, if you had 32 players looking skyward for jumping or wall-running Pilots in Titanfall, you'd be melted by their gunfire every time you left the ground. Jumping and going up would lose its advantage, so 6 versus 6 is ideal for now.
The cloud AI definitely got tripped up a lot for me. It rarely killed me, and sometimes it was just standing there doing nothing. In those instances I got some easy kills, but it broke the illusion of them being somewhat formidable and more than just easy points. You also see them grappling with bots from the other side, which looks cool but again it's like, 'Here's your free kill: brought to you by the cloud.' I think they need a degree of work, to make them feel more 'seamless' if that makes sense?
Matt: AI bots are always going to look out of place to some extent. It's like shifting from single player to multiplayer in a game like Call of Duty or Battlefield. There's no comparison between AI and real-life opponents and any training with bots is in no way representative of how the game will unfold online.
I wanted to talk about the whole online beta experience because I think it warrants praise. It's easy - and usually justified - to crucify games developers and publishers when they release a game that's a complete mess. We've been there before with EA, with the debacle that was Sim City and the online problems with the most recent Battlefield. But honestly, I hope the way they have handled Titanfall is representative of changes that have happened at the publisher since then. The beta process has been smoother than I would have expected and both EA, Respawn and Microsoft have been really communicative. I can't image some other big name publishers (who will remain nameless) taking such time and care to listen to and answer players' problems. It's easy to act privileged and forget this is a free beta. I've already played Titanfall and enjoyed it a lot longer than some games I've paid £40 for. It's too easy to say "this is how it should be done in the future" because not all games have such a mega budget, but it's clear to me that money is being really well spent, not just on the talent at Respawn, but the upcoming infrastructure to keep this game running smoothly come launch.
Dave: Yeah that's absolutely right actually; Zampella and the Respawn crew have been responding to fans on Twitter and forums with real transparency, and they've made no promises that - so far - haven't been honoured. They were even honest about 6v6 which, as we now know, got them no end of flack from those worried about the game's scale. The beta itself is chunky too. I managed to max out at level 14, fiddle around with my load-outs and more. They seem to get what a lot of developers don't; that to get the best kind of feedback from a beta phase you need to actually let players play your game and not restrict too much content. In a shooter that only has online play, this is utterly vital to ensure the balancing is on point.
Dave: I hope it works as a test-case for this kind of game too, because while there's a line in the sand over whether shooter campaigns - largely in Call of Duty and Battlefield - are worth playing, the fact remains that they are very labour intensive, costly things to produce. Multiplayer is all about long-tail play and in the case of add-on DLC; additional income for the studio. Now, we may not like that, but it makes absolute sense from a business perspective, and it taps into the whole 'games as a service' angle we're seeing much more of today. Titanfall is a service, and by cutting out the solo campaign Respawn can spend more on making online much sweeter.
"If it's successful and Respawn does a naked money-dance come March, how long will it be before EA orders the series to be annualised or turn bi-yearly?"
Matt: I'm one of those weirdos that likes single-player Call of Duty and Battlefield as well as multiplayer. I feel like I'm getting two games for my money when it comes to those releases. In some senses I'm a little disappointed there's not a strict single-player game but it's too early to see how traditional single-player elements might be incorporated into the full game on release. I'm kind of asking too much to see evidence of that right now, especially when multiplayer is clearly in a great place. We're only a month from release.
Dave: I like the shoot-from-the hip gun wankery of the Call of Duty campaigns too, basically because they fill the hole left by Arnie's relegation to mediocre action flicks. I have to agree that the lack of single-player is a little disappointing, but only because I'm wondering just how fleshed out this world will be without a strong narrative to tell the tale. Maybe the story playlist will do that wonderfully? It's a new-ish concept that we're yet to fully experience, so it could work out. I hope it does.
In terms of what I'd like to see changed or improved; I'd definitely like to see the parkour tweaked a little, but I appreciated how hard this form of first-person traversal can be to code. For example: sometimes you want to double jump through a window but you just happen to clip the edge of the opening and start running along the wall. In the heat of battle that's going to be a real problem, but luckily I never got killed as a result of my floundering. I'd also like to see the bots get a little more aggressive and responsive. I think that's about it, I was overall really impressed with what I played.
Matt: Even at this unfinished stage it's difficult to see Titanfall would turn out bad. What I also like about an open beta like this is it puts the games press in the same boat as the players, with access that levels the playing field. At the risk of sounding like a hippy, that's a beautiful thing, man. I don't know if the beta is going to be extended any significant amount of time, but I do know I'm going to miss it when it gets switched off. At least until the final game turns up.
Dave: It's totes a beautiful thing man and yeah, I'm keen to play more right now, mostly because I want to see how the final build stacks up. Tell you what though; if it's successful and Respawn does a naked money-dance come March, how long will it be before EA orders the series to be annualised or turn bi-yearly? Do you reckon that'd happen?
Matt: I still think it needs to be on PlayStation 4 to justify the high costs and reach the maximum appreciative audience. The beauty is that it's an online game so there's plenty of scope for DLC for the Xbox One version to keep Microsoft happy. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see some sort of PS4 version in the next 6 months. Electronic Arts isn't a one-console publisher, not when it clearly wants the game to be another mega-franchise in its portfolio.