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I typically don’t get too excited about First Person Shooters, but whenever I got my Titanfall Beta code, I was a little over-joyous. For the most part I find the FPS genre kind of bland and often recycled, and to be honest, the last FPS I was genuinely excited about was Bulletstorm. Titanfall however, reminded me of the days when I was a simple collegiate who enjoyed casually playing online and murdering everyone I came across.

To start with, I suck at FPS games nowadays. I think I’ve been far too gone and out of the loop to be considered a competitor, but I can still kind of hold my own. I was never a camper in my golden days of ruling CoD4, but they always irritated the hell out of me. So needless to say; the best part of my Titanfall experience so far is the lack of campers, simply because it’s seemingly impossible to really hold down a position in this game. With the free-running and vertical combat, it’s difficult to garner a camping position which fully protects you on most sides. Add in the quick respawn times, and you’ll find that most campers simply dig themselves an early grave.

The weapons presented in the Beta were fairly simplistic, pistols, assault rifles, anti-Titan guns, etc., but the Smart Pistol stuck out the most to me. If you’re close enough, it’ll lock on to your enemies (up to four at once) and will hit them no matter what. It seems like a cheap tactic, but the lock on takes a bit of time (3 seconds) to engage, which can easily get you killed for waiting too long. It has an odd balance I suppose, either wait for the insta-hit, or die trying.

But the best parts of the game however were the Titans. You’re able to call in a Titan of your own on a whim after a certain amount of time has passed (Normally three minutes), but that time can be greatly reduced by killing your enemies quickly and staying alive. If you prove to be valuable to your team, the game rewards you kindly. In your hands, the Titan can be used either as a type of combat vehicle (in a sense), or you can jump out of the Titan and have it follow you around like an aggressive puppy. In the hands of an enemy though, they were brutal tanks that seemed to find me no matter where I hid. The Titan aspect is great though, and going from the ground as a pilot to the cockpit of a Titan is rather seamless. Word of advice though; as soon as you start to enter your Titan, start walking around as soon as possible in order to step on anyone who’s preparing to hijack your Titan.

The game as a whole though was not only fun to play, but it was incredible to watch. There were a few circumstances in which I would simply climb to the top of a large structure and watch a couple of Titans duel it out before I re-engaged in battle.

Overall though, the Beta was a great experience. I know I left a lot of minute details (pilot/Titan abilities, loadouts, etc.) out in this blog, but I just wanted to give my overall impressions real quick. As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of the FPS genre as a whole, but Titanfall has restored my faith a bit. I just hope to see more FPS games out there that show no fear in terms of change.