Titanfall is receiving some serious levels of hype in the gaming community. Excitement for Jason West and Vince Zampella’s newest game has been building exponentially since it’s pretty epic announcement at E3. The mix of tight Call-Of-Duty style corridors and large, open spaces rich for giant mech-charged gun battles looks unbelievably enjoyable, appealing brilliantly to the mass market bang-bang-shooty-shooty public and balanced, and polish-loving press in equal measures.

These insane levels of hype have been matched with quotes and previews claiming that Titanfall is going to change gaming, especially in the online sector. The inclusion of jetpacks and free-running along with bulkier and heavier Titans is going to open up and entirely new sector for multiplayer; wonderfully balanced and poised online play that caters to every type of FPS player. The dynamic action adds another level of unpredictability to games apparently, requiring a stronger reliance on team-play and on-the-run tactical adaptation.

People say Titanfall is going to change the FPS genre when it is released in 2014. But, I have a feeling that Titanfall’s impact isn’t going to be change gaming in the ways which we expect, but it could change the entire online landscape for the next generation.

Humans vs AI

Vince Zampella recently confirmed that Titanfall will be 6 vs 6, a number which led to a million ignorant fanboy’s exploding simultaneously, spraying uncalled-for abuse and hatred to everyone who ever had anything to do with Respawn. Whilst the low number is certainly smaller than many people were expecting, myself included, it impressed me that Respawn have obviously found the ideal equilibrium between humans and AI. It shows a level of care and attention that transcends modern-day obsessions with 1 million players on the same map. But, how is this going to change gaming I hear you cry? Well, it is going to change the feel of online gaming.

Nowadays, when you jump in online, most battlegrounds feel like a testosterone filled paintball kiddy park, plagued by abuse-spurting kiddies in a mist of crackling bullets and shredding attack helicopters. Whilst the controlled mania of games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and Team Fortress are certainly enjoyable, you never forget that you are playing with other people and that really, it all means jack-all.

Respawn have obviously found the ideal equilibrium between humans and AI.

Now as I haven’t played Titanfall, I’m not going to automatically jump into hyperbolic praise about it’s battleground-feel, but from what I’ve seen and heard, the 6 vs 6 limit is hopefully going to lead to a much more involved fight that feels much more important on a bigger scale.

By utilising a healthy mix of AI and humans, it looks like Titanfall is going to feel like you are part of one huge fight with intelligent teammates at your side helping you instead of being tunnel-visioned on their 25 kill streak. The small 6 sided teams, beefed out with AI soldiers is hopefully going to feel more involving and epic, think last levels of World At War and Killzone; full on battlefields involving millions and many, many explosions.

The 6 vs 6 structure might also lead to a more focused multiplayer, one that is subconsciously controlled by the AI as it drives and pushes you into certain scenarios and areas. Much like the Battlefield series, the objective based nature of Titan Fall is going to move away from the run-and-gun-nature of the Call of Duty series towards a controlled, team work based style of play that is only going to benefit the online landscape.

Of course, when the game is finally released, the careful balance between AI and humans could dissolve into anarchy, ruining the team based nature of Titanfall whilst being hurtled with ‘your momma’ jokes from prepubescent teens. But if the public take and play Titanfall as it is, an epically sized, tightly paced, carefully controlled multiplayer experience, I truly think it can kick start a more friendly, team-orientated online trend where quality of players exceeds quantity.. even in the middle of a full-out mechanical war.

Online narratives

Titanfall might change gaming on some other fronts away from gameplay and structure. One of the most divisive chasms between single and multiplayer games is the inclusion of a strong narrative and story. Many developers just create the best online experience they can with little attention given to an integrated narrative, but that is fine. I would much rather a 60 minute intense flowing Battlefield game instead of a hour long experience interspersed with irritating, poorly acted cutscenes, hammering home some cliche and cheesy patriotic tale of ‘heroism’ and ‘justice’.

To relate this back in, apparently Titanfall is going to try and intertwine some kind of story into it’s game. As a fully online game, Titanfall does not have a huge amount of room to forge an engaging story, but interviews with Respawn show that they are going to try and make something work. Whilst it could turn out like absolute toss, there is a slim chance Titan Fall is the first example of a narrative-integrated online game, something which I am incredibly excited about.

With Zamplella and West behind the game (two men partially responsible for one of the generations most powerful scenes; the H-bomb explosion in Modern Warfare), there is a high chance that Titanfall may feature an intriguing narrative. If it works, Titan Fall could once again kick start a new type of online game featuring top-shelf quality gameplay along with a clever, interesting and well incorporated story.

Changes in marketing

The final reason why Titanfall could change gaming is perhaps the most basic feature; Titan Fall is multiplayer only. No online-only game has garnered this level of excitement, especially on consoles. It seems like the progressive growth of the online console landscape has resulted in Titan Fall receiving unprecedented levels of hype. The Call Of Duty tightness, influenced by Zampella and West is already hugely popular, mainly due to the COD series’ multiplayer being the most played game of the last 7 years. Most FPS players just play online, so Titanfall should be an easy sell right?

Well I don’t know to be honest. I think a little bit of the market still wants single player as the comforting training grounds of a campaign mode are still popular with gamers. Whether Respawn will be able to sell Titanfall to the entire same market whilst lacking a single player campaign is going to an interesting. Personally, I think the high percentage of online play on FPS games is going to result in Titan Fall selling just as well as Battlefield and Call Of Duty (give or take the exclusivity deal). The general public lap up multiplayer, so Titanfall ihas the potential to be huge.

Most FPS players just play online, so Titanfall should be an easy sell right? Well I don’t know to be honest…

If Respawn are able to market Titanfall’s online-only build in an effective and successful way, it could open up a new wave of multiplayer-only games over the next generation. The free-to-play model is becoming increasingly popular, so partner the model with a successful launch of an online game, and the FPS genre is going to completely change over the life of PS4 and Xbox One. If Titanfall sells well, the next generation of online gaming is going to change massively, mostly for the better.

You never know though, all of my predictions may be completely wrong when Titanfall is released. The gameplay could become an anarchic mess, the clever narrative could fall flat on its face and the market could simple remain in its stilted FPS obsessed state. But I hope, mainly for gaming’s sake, that some of my predictions come true. If Titanfall is as good as we expect, it could definitely change gaming, but just not in the way you think.

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