Enhancing Titanfall with Monsters .

Monsters and especially big monsters have always intrigued me and millions out there. When a game like Titanfall crashes down from the sky right into our hearts, with its faced pace moving, bringing us back to great games such as Unreal Tournament and Quake, and of course  with its huge mechanical robots  which we get to play. It is very hard to leave the battlefield and ponder on what could have made this game even better and if you for some reason still haven’t played Titanfall or read what makes this game so important and great, feel free to read the review here on MMOGames.  This article is not about the giant mechs called titans in the game, it is not about putting AI players in an competitive online shooter, this article is about those wonderful and intriguing monsters we can see both flying around us  and moving in the background of the all so intensive fights.

Somehow my ship never gets attacked.

One problem I found with the game is that they only use these monsters for a visual effect as we can see flying creatures attacking us at the end of airbase and then the same creatures can be seen flying away with grunts in boneyard. One question I keep asking myself is: Why have Respawn made it so the flying creatures only attack the AI players when the human controlled players are standing right next to them? I know one reason for this is because the creatures are programmed to only attack the AIs but why? Having them attack everyone, would add an extra layer to the game, which could make the game stand out from other online shooters more so than it does today.

I am fully aware of the game being a competitive shooter and the focus is and should be on killing other players. The game has already introduced bots called grunts playing together with other players, so making the monsters roam the maps as the same way that the bots does should not really be a problem for the competitive aspect. The idea of bringing bots in instead of players has split the community into two camps. We have the ones whom hate it and the ones whom love it. I belong to the latter. Giving monsters the ability to attack other players will be very different than having bots in both teams and I think that even the bot haters will like this and one reason would be giving the game an extra layer and an extra feeling of something real, but I will give you more reasons below.

Waiting for its prey, or at least for a grunt.

Using the flying creatures as an example, it is hard not to get excited by how they can add a whole different threat perspective for players making killing other pilots more fun. Imagine yourself running at the rooftops looking for that favorite wall to run on, the one wall you know for sure will lead to a pilot kill. As you cloak and jump onto the wall and start running not one but two flying creatures catch your scent from above and start diving down against you.  If you are that fully aware player I know you are, you will have taken a peek to the sky and noticing the creatures aiming for you, if not you would already be viewing the kill cam. While running on the wall you are now faced with the dilemma to save yourself from the flying creatures and miss a perfectly good kill and in the same time exposing yourself to other players. Or take a chance on killing whatever is below you and still having the bullets and time to kill the creatures. This would be something completely new compared to all other competitive online shooter out there, something which would make Titanfall even more intense and even more fun.

The Mist without the mist?

Leaving the flying creatures for a while I will instead focus on the other monsters we have seen in the game, the huge ones moving far away from the battlefield. First time I saw a screenshot of these huge beings my mind like so many others went to the movie The Mist. And just the thought of being in a huge mech fighting the monsters from The Mist totally blew my mind. Playing with this thought it would be more like the famous battle on Hoth from Star Wars meets The Mist, given that the big four legged monster in Titanfall looks very much like an AT-AT. So while the flying creatures would be a good addition to the multiplayer mode one can easily imagine the big monsters as more of a coop mode. And before you start objecting with this being a competitive fps, other competitive fps have coop and the coop mode are played by a lot of players. In a Titanfall coop mode everyone could play as mechs trying to take down the huge monster and even though coop might not be what Respawn or the fans are interested in but my fingers get all itchy at the thought of being in Pacific Rim or the hundreds of Animes and Mangas where mechs fight big monsters. One could easily imagine this mode in a more competitive setting where both teams engage the big monster and the first to bring it down can move forward to the enemy base.

The Isla nublar port of the furture

It doesn’t stop here though, at this moment we have only seen these two monsters moving about but bringing in more kinds of monster of different sizes and looks would be a great addition not only to a possible monster mode but as visuals in the background like they have now. Seeing how some of the maps give of that Isla nublar feeling, maps using dense forest with overgrown buildings combined with new monster moving around will give the game that extra feeling which is deserves. Just close your eyes for a second and imagine standing at the edge of a dense forest, enemies rushing behind and above you jumping between walls and trees, then suddenly the tress begin to shake heavily and you see a player body being thrown next to you. Then you see a cross between a T-REX and something from H.P. Lovecraft, it’s the frag stealer you don’t want to dance with when waiting for your titan. The scenarios we can think have are endless and I really think the game stories we tell our friends will be even better when monsters are included. These are just my own initial toughs and I know you will have your own scenarios and favorite shows which possibly could connect to game at some level.

Anything could be out there, but do Respawn dare to implement it?

Implementing active monsters in the game would be something perfect for three planed DLCs and I really hope Respawn dares to do more with these Mist like creatures and hopefully make the game somewhat feel like Starship Troopers did the first time I watched it. There is hope out thereand in an interview with Respawn’s community manager Abbie Heppe. She said “We are going to have maps added, and we’re trying to give players as much of a varied look at things as we can so that is definitely a possibility.” Bringing more monsters in the game as we have seen exists in concept art might be a high possibility. The next time you play Titanfall think about being attacked by monsters while hunting other players or fighting monster while running in your titan, then come back here and lets show Respawn what the DLCs should be all about.