The very first game I played at E3 2016 was Electronic Art and Respawn Entertainment’s highly anticipated Titanfall 2, and what an incredible impression it made. Everything you love from the first game–it’s fast, fluid action, powered-up mechs, and momentum-based gameplay–are back and better than ever in Titanfall 2.
Grappling hook is a game-changer
Titanfall 2’s inaugural trailer showed off the all-new grappling hook, which was used to clasp onto a rival Pilot and send your character hurling towards them for a dramatic take down. That maneuver can actually be done in-game and I pulled it off in my first demo, smashing my enemy with a devastating shoulder ram. That’s just one of many uses for the grappling hook, which can also be used to rodeo on top of a rival Titan to inflict serious damage (unlike the original Titanfall, rodeo-ing isn’t an insta-kill this time), or to reach the top of buildings fast. When you combine the grappling hook with Titanfall’s traditional jet pack and wall-running mechanics, you have virtually unstoppable momentum across the entire battlefield.
New Pilots and Mechs
The aforementioned grappling hook is used by the Front Rifleman unit class of Pilots, but there were also two other classes available in the demo–the heavier unit Hard Tracker, and the long-range Counter Sniper. The Counter Sniper doesn’t possess the grappling hook, instead wielding Gravity Stars that can shift gravity and trap enemies, another attack we saw in the E3 trailer.
All Titans are new in this game, with some of them being more 
powerful versions of the mechs that appeared in the original game. Respawn has said there will be six new Titans, and two of them were playable in the demo I tried. The first was Scorch, a fire-based Titan that has a powerful area of effect attack call Flame Core that shoots a stream of fire ahead of you, he also a mortar shell that explodes into incendiary flames, a flame shield that can melt incoming projectiles, and a defensive move that sends a ring of fire around you. I say “he” because in Titanfall 2, the Titans have more personalities, including gender roles. The next Titan I tried was a female named Ion that possess strong laser attacks, including a Splitter Rifle that fires three shots at once, a Vortex Shield for defense, and its powerful ultimate attack sends a devastating red laser beam straight ahead.
A strong impression
The map I played on was called Boomtown, and the mode was “Bounty Hunt,” which has you track down marked Titans for bounties. I was extremely impressed with my hands-on time with Titanfall 2, particularly enjoying the improved graphics, new grappling hook, and awesome new Titans. Gameplay runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames-per-second, so the action was very fast and furious. As noted in the EA press conference, Titanfall 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 (for the first time), along with Xbox One and PC. The game will release on October 28, 2016–I can’t wait!
Have thoughts on Titanfall 2? Let us know in the comments section below!
Check out Best Buy’s coverage of E3 2016 for more great articles, links to preorder games and more
@PaulH What are your thoughts on the addition of campaign mode?
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