What we want from Titanfall 2

Titanfall 2 is finally official. Now, we can begin dreaming.

Three of us at GamesBeat played a lot of the original Titanfall, which came out in 2014 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC (a game which publisher Electronic Arts has been shy about sharing sales figures for). Now that we know a sequel is on the way, we each wanted to talk a bit about what we wanted to see changed and improved in the successor (which hopes to leave a bigger imprint in the $99.3 billion global gaming industry).

Above: It’s a testament to Titanfall’s design that playing as a human pilot is almost as fun as playing as a mech.

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Dean Takahashi, lead writer

I loved the fast-action gameplay, powerful weapons, and the plentiful bots for lesser-skilled players to kill in the first game. The vertical combat, wall-running, large levels, and speed of play were awesome.

I also felt like it needed a real story, told through cinematics, that would have made each fight more meaningful and emotional. I’m pretty sure that the Titanfall team agreed, and now they should have both the budget and team members to build a larger story in the Titanfall universe.

I felt like it was too easy to lose your mech, once you had worked so hard to earn it. So maybe it should have an option for extinguishing your flames and repairing it on the spot.

Titanfall also didn’t have enough incentives to start the battle all over again once you hit the level cap. It should offer more rewards for getting to the top — and then starting over. I need a reason to start over without all of the great gear I earned the first time around.

Above: After a match ends in Titanfall, the losing team has a few seconds for “extraction” — any players who can escape to the dropship without getting killed by the other team will get some bonus experience points.

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Jeffrey Grubb, reporter

I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what I want from a Titanfall 2. The original really worked for me, but I don’t know if I want more of the same. After playing every Call of Duty from Modern Warfare through Advanced Warfare, I think that I may just need an extended break from this kind of game.

But maybe Titanfall 2 will give me a reason to jump back in.

The single-player campaign doesn’t really mean anything to me. I never play those. They seem so boring compared to the multiplayer, and I don’t want to pretend that a six-hour story with big scripted moments is going to get me excited. Maybe having that kind of content will give Respawn more reasons to vary the look and feel, which is something I do want. Hopefully, we’ll get a range of assault rifles and shotguns instead of just the one or two types of each kind of gun while also getting more interesting environments.

More than anything else, I want Titanfall 2 to nail multiplayer progression. I know people are sick of upgrading their characters and their weapons, but Titanfall didn’t eliminate or fix that — it half-assed it. Either remove progression or do it right. Give me fun reasons to switch up my titans and weapons, and I’ll probably end up very happy with this game.

Above: Maps for the first Titanfall weren’t huge.

Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment

Mike Minotti, community mananger

I appreciated what Respawn was trying to with the multiplayer story mode, but it didn’t really work. For one thing, the story advanced whether you won or lost, so your skill was meaningless. The great thing about video games is how you have to work in order to get things (story, victories, emotional moments, whatever) out of them. In Titanfall’s story mode, you could just walk in circles, die every 5 seconds, and still see the “ending.”

I’d rather just have a traditional campaign with unique levels built around Titanfall’s distinctive mechanics — specifically, calling in and piloting giant mechs. I also hope the universe will feel less bland. Right now, the world of Titanfall is another futuristic military game, bleeding in with Halo to Call of Duty. I’d like to see Titanfall 2 do more to make the setting stand out.

As for multiplayer, I’m not so sure. I actually loved the original Titanfall’s mix of traditional team-deathmatch with computer-controlled robots filling in the maps and giving players other ways to score points. I would like to see some larger modes, though. The first Titanfall only had maps that supported up to 12 players at a time. It would be to see larger levels that have 40 or something players fighting it out. I still think 6-vs.-6 should remain the standard, but having the option for larger fights would be interesting.