Comparing Titanfall’s futuristic warriors: Pilots vs. giant robots (preview)

Notable weapons and perks

Pilots

The smart pistol is a pilot’s best friend. It automatically tracks and locks-on to multiple targets, so all you have to do is pull the trigger (you can still manually aim it if you want to). For Grunts, it’s a one-hit kill, and with enough practice, you can take out a small group of them at the same time. Pilots aren’t as easy: You have to shoot them more than once, and the smart pistol takes a lot longer to target them, so you have to make sure they don’t see you while you wait.

Titans

Titans have some nifty abilities. The three loadouts I played with — Assault, Tank, and Artillery — all came with a Vortex Shield. By holding the left bumper on the Xbox One controller, your Titan will emit an energy shield with its left hand and absorb any incoming bullets or missiles; if you let go of the button, it’ll fire them back.

Another deadly perk is Nuclear Ejection. The Titan will detonate after you eject, causing a huge explosion that damages any enemy caught within its wide radius. It’s perfect if you’re planning on sacrificing your Titan anyway. If you’re on the receiving end of the nuclear blast — you’ll see a bright white light coming from the dead Titan before it explodes — you better start running.

How Burn Cards affect your performance

Every match earns you experience points. Once you get enough to reach level seven, you’ll receive your first pack of Burn Cards, which Titanfall describes as one-time “favors” that you can redeem during battle. They benefit both pilots and Titans, and you can get more by completing in-game challenges. These are the three cards I got from playing: 

• Prosthetic Legs: A card that increased my pilot’s movement speed.
• Amped Mag Launcher: This replaced my anti-Titan weapon with an automatic rocket launcher.
• Decisive Action: It reduced my Titan’s two-minute build time by 40 seconds. You can also use it to trim 40 seconds off of a Titan’s core charge, a special ability that temporarily increases its firepower.

Moments that make you feel like a badass

Pilots

It wasn’t until near the end of our play session that I found out I could jump on top of a Titan that wasn’t mine (known as a “rodeo”). So in my next match, I immediately hitched a ride on a teammate’s mech and … the result was a bit chaotic. I couldn’t tell what was going on. Explosions were everywhere as I we engaged another Titan, and I just kept shooting until I had to reload.

Despite my poor marksmanship, the sheer intensity of the moment made me feel like a bona fide action hero.

Titans

This may sound silly, but when I ran over a grunt for the first time, it grounded the whole illusion for me — that I really am piloting a 20-foot tall robot and everyone else better get the hell out of my way. It’s not an effective way of killing players, but man, does it feel good. Another fun way of showing your physical superiority is to tear someone out of their cockpit right before they can eject and then toss them against a wall, where they explode into a bloody mist.

A new way to play

One of the reasons why I found the Pilot-Titan relationship so refreshing is because it ignores almost everything you know about online shooters. Titanfall players have to start over from scratch. That’s a rare and exciting feat for a game that’s part of such a crowded genre.