About the game
Titanfall is a 2014 first-person shooter developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Windows and Xbox One on March 11, 2014. The Xbox 360 version, ported by Bluepoint Games, followed on April 8, 2014. The game was anticipated as the debut title from developers formerly behind the Call of Duty franchise.
Players fight as free-running soldiers called Pilots who can call down mech-style robots called Titans, in six-on-six matches set on war-torn colonies at the edge of space, as either the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation or the Frontier Militia. Online multiplayer is the only mode, but it carries single-player elements such as cutscenes, plot, character dialogue and non-player characters. There is no offline, single-player or split-screen mode.
Pilots build momentum while running, double jump with a jet pack and run along walls. Titans arrive on a timer that shortens as you get kills, and each team is also filled out with computer-controlled soldiers, with up to 50 characters active in a match. Non-player activity is handled by Microsoft's cloud servers, which keeps the load off the console.
After Activision fired Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella in March 2010, they founded Respawn Entertainment with much of the former Infinity Ward staff. Pre-production on Titanfall began in 2011 with a team of about 65 people. Their influences included Blade Runner, Star Wars and Masamune Shirow. A single-player mode was prototyped but scrapped for lack of time and manpower. The game runs on a modified Source engine, and the composer was Stephen Barton.
Titanfall launched on Xbox One and Windows in North America on March 11, 2014, in Europe and Australia on March 13, and in the UK and New Zealand on March 14. A limited edition Xbox One controller styled after the game's C-101 carbine launched with it, along with an Xbox One bundle that included a digital copy. The game was feature complete in December 2013 and went gold on February 26, 2014. A closed beta in February 2014 had two million unique users. Respawn sold three paid map packs after launch, and a Deluxe Edition with all three followed in late 2014.
Titanfall won over 60 awards at its E3 2013 reveal, including a record six E3 Critics Awards. It received generally favourable reviews. Reviewers praised the balance between Pilots and Titans, the Smart Pistol, the player mobility and the accessibility, but criticised the thin campaign, the computer-controlled soldiers and the small number of modes. A sequel, Titanfall 2, came out in 2016.
Respawn ended sales of the original Titanfall and removed it from subscription services on March 1, 2022, and said that anyone who owns the game could still use its servers.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 86 out of 100 (Xbox One). Metacritic 86 out of 100 (PC). Metacritic 83 out of 100 (Xbox 360). Individual reviews: Electronic Gaming Monthly 10/10, GameSpot 9/10, Polygon 9/10, IGN 8.9/10, Official Xbox Magazine 8.5/10, Edge 8/10.
Extra content
Three paid map packs were sold after launch, each costing 9.99 USD or covered by a 24.99 USD Season Pass. Their achievements are part of the Xbox 360 list.
- Expedition: Three maps: Swampland, Runoff and War Games
- Frontier's Edge: Three maps: Haven, Export and Dig Site
- IMC Rising: Three maps: Backwater, Sand Trap and Zone 18
- Season Pass: All three map packs
Good to know
- There is no offline mode of any kind, so even the campaign is played in online matches.
- A limited edition Xbox One wireless controller styled after the C-101 carbine launched alongside the game.
- The Xbox One launch bundle included a digital copy of Titanfall.
- The South African release was cancelled because there was no nearby Microsoft Azure data center, which the game needs.
- The achievement list has 88 entries worth 2000 gamerscore: 35 in the base game, 53 from the three map packs and Title Update 8.
- The Gen 10 achievement is worth 0 gamerscore, as is Too Legit To Quit.
- A Deluxe Edition with all three map packs came out for Xbox One, Windows and Xbox 360 in late 2014.
Made by
Developer Respawn Entertainment, Director Steve Fukuda, Producer Drew McCoy, Designer Justin Hendry, Programmer Richard Baker, Programmer Earl Hammon Jr., Artist Joel Emslie, Writer Jesse Stern, Composer Stephen Barton.
