Titanfall 2 Developer Explains Why It's Slower Than the First Game

The Titanfall 2 multiplayer beta or multiplayer tech test as it's called was disappointing. One of the game's biggest issues, its slow movement will probably not be fixed. Citing user feedback, developer Respawn Entertainment claims that the blistering pace of the first game felt "super exhausting."

"What it came down to was, it was difficult for players to have a predictably unpredictable kind of experience. It was difficult for players to say, "If I die here in this game mode, how do I get better?" Do I zig? Do I zag? What should I have done differently? It was hard for Titanfall players to answer that through their experience. So we went back to the drawing board so we could fix this," said Titanfall 2 Game Director Steve Fukuda in conversation with Shacknews.

For Fukuda, the way forward is to simply reduce the pace of play.

"We started by addressing the fact that you move so fast. You can't shoot out of the air so easily. So we slowed things down just a touch. Then also thinking more in terms of having players more proactive decisions, so instead of reacting to everything, they're thinking more like, "This match and this mode, this map, etc." They go, what things in the loadout menu will best help me fulfill that purpose," he said.

Furthermore, another complaint was how Titanfall 2's maps felt versus the original. It appears to be an attempt to mimic the likes of Battlefield and Call of Duty. This was a purposeful change in order to make the game easier to navigate.

"One of the big efforts there was trying to think of the degree of verticality, the sort of "swiss cheese" effect. But now we have a 3D "swiss cheese" effect. So we started thinking more in terms of simplifying the concept and using what the designers call a "window pane" effect, where we think in terms of lanes. Defined paths become the norm: the left, the middle, the right," Fukuda responded when asked how the approach to map design changed in Titanfall 2. "There's a greater simplification of the player's understanding of the environment, so that the environment becomes more predictable and becomes less about just drawing lines across the map from any point to any point where it just becomes a mess. We're trying to make sure the level is designed in a way that gets these trendy routes and feels more fundamental."

Titanfall 2 is out on October 28, sandwiched between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, with another multiplayer tech test due this weekend, it will be interesting to see if any of the feedback from a vocal fanbase is taken to account. It could very well be Respawn's last chance to make a positive impression on gamers prior to a busy release schedule or at the very least prompt a delay to a time that isn't more crowded, allowing for a better game.