A Titanfall technical alpha test was conducted last weekend, and despite the NDA impressions and opinions are flowing on the unstoppable internet. YouTuber Chunky Gaming asked quite a few questions to one of the alpha testers nicknamed “Jersey.”
We learn about a lot of the elements of the alpha build of the game like sniping, gunplay, the skill of the AI grunts, the tutorial, the free running feature, the overall pace, modes, perks and killstreaks, the mechanics related to titans, character and weapon customization and more.
Here are the most relevant points Jersey made. Remember that they’re colored by personal opinion, so take them with the usual pinch of salt:
- The graphics are a “really nice mix” betweeen Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, and look really, really sharp, with really cool flare effects.
- The fast pace of the game is “phenomenal,” thanks to the parkour features and the double jumping jet packs.
- The players definitely impact the flow of the game. The AI bots called “grunts” are pretty inept and easy to kill. There’s a tougher version of them (named “spectre”), but Jersey never saw anyone killed by an AI bot. They add scale, but they’re almost defenseless at the moment.
- There’s no quick scoping and Jersey doesn’t recommend sniping at all. Given the fast pace of the game, unless there’s a really big distance between you and your target, it really isn’t that effective. It’s a one-shot-kill against AI bots, and can also instantly kill pilots depending on where you hit, but it’s hard to keep up with the movement speed.
- The two game modes in the Alpha were Hard Point (very similar to the classic domination) , and Attrition (Titanfall‘s version of team deathmatch).
- At the beginning of the game there’s a tutorial mode for the free running feature and Jersey defines it “jaw dropping.” It can be a bit too fast and buggy indoors. Outdoors it works great and you can get to the other side of the map very quickly.
- The game is very fast-paced. It never really stops. There are instant respawns and killcams, and it’s pretty much like Halo 4 where you can press the A button and go back into the game immediately.
- Gunplay is very similar to Call of Duty, but there isn’t much recoil for the weapons, so it’s very easy to get kills.
- There are perks.
- There were no killstreaks in the alpha.
- You have to wait three minutes before you can get in your titan, but killing enemies or dealing damage reduces the timer. The more active you are, the faster you get your titan, so camping is actually detrimental.
- Titans and pilots had no visual customization in the alpha. As for equipment customization, the alpha granted three loadouts that could be fully customized.
- Primary weapons included a assault rifle, a sub machine gun, a shotgun, a sniper rifle or a smart pistol. That choice did change the character’s appearance.
- Gun customization featured iron sights, red dots, holographic scopes, silencers, extended magazines and burst fire. There also were different types of grenades. There was upgrading via perks and challenges.
- Only the Atlas titan was available in the alpha. It was possible to customize its weapons like those of the pilot. For instance the rocket launcher had a rapid fire option.
The questions and answers, that you can see in the video below, are quite interesting, besides. I guess the only one that made me giggle was the one on why Titanfall won’t be on PS4. That’s not really a subject an alpha tester knows about any more than anyone else.
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