Toronto Titanfall Launch Party

On Monday night, media and Xbox fans alike converged on the Tattoo Rock Parlour with one thing in mind: Titanfall.

Easily one of the most anticipated games of the year, Xbox provided a launch party for media and fans to come try out the game, take on celebrity gamers in matches of capture the flag, have their photo taken where the cover of the game is recreated starring you, and they even test your reflexes using peripheral vision. If that wasn’t enough, they made another game out of the games; the goal was to collect stickers from each station and after you got all of your stickers, you were rewarded with your choice of a glass water bottle or a toque and $25 in Xbox gift cards. For our staff members that got toque’s, I’m sure they came in handy in today’s snowstorm… I got the glass water bottle.

We had the chance to try a couple different game modes in Titanfall including Capture the Flag, Attrition (akin to Team Deathmatch in COD), Hardpoint Domination and Last Titan Standing. The line was the longest for Capture the Flag, as it was the longest match at about seven minutes while the others lasted about four. We had our choice of three pilot styles, a couple different load outs and three Titan choices as well, allowing us a good look at the game but wondering what more would be to come.

I hadn’t personally been able to play the Titanfall beta, so this was the first time that I ever had a controller in hand and was ready to play. The controls were familiar as I have logged ungodly hours into other FPS like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Ghosts. About thirty seconds in and I already knew which buttons did what – the things I had to get used to though were the parkour styled wall climbing and running, which is great when you don’t have someone eyeing you through the scope from three buildings away.

Everyone was having a great time but there were a couple lag issues during the event; nothing catastrophic though other than a couple disconnects during the game (one of our writers was unlucky enough to be disconnected every time he played the game) and everyone was having a great time talking Titanfall.

My personal favorite was Hardline Domination; something felt so right about the game the second I was launched into it with my chosen pilot. I only wielded an R-101C carbine (we didn’t have many options in the demo), but I quickly learned how to make use of my environments despite the very obvious fact that I couldn’t parkour if my life depended on it. I usually had an Atlas Titan which I favoured for maneuverability purposes.

My least favourite mode was Capture the Flag, which is unusual for me considering that’s my favourite in COD. I’m not sure what it was about it; it could have been the map or that our teams inexperience showed as we were dominated by higher ranking pilots.

The other GCE writers that attended the event found some pros and cons in the game; we all agreed that graphically speaking, it was an absolutely stunning game. The map turned into pure chaos when Titans began landing and it felt like a multiplayer game that had a couple double shot espressos. The cons were mostly that the highly touted ‘parkour feature’ didn’t feel like it made the game any different. Titanfall will also not be in 1080p, and there’s no news yet on whether or not this will be changed in an update down the line. The game can be choppy, and in some opinions it feels like Call of Duty with robots.

All in all, the event was a great one, and Xbox really does have a way of putting something on that everyone will love. After all, who doesn’t like the opportunity to play a game before it’s released, talk to fellow gamers, get some free swag and eat all the Doritos your body can handle? It was a great warming welcome for a game that is sure to be an incredibly popular FPS for a while to come. Now we’ll all have to patiently wait to see what the DLCs will bring us.

Look for an interview with game developer Steve Fukuda later this week!