Titanfall 2 has a grappling hook and it’s the best thing ever

My hands-on experience with Titanfall 2 was a short one. Not because I got bored with it or I ran away crying after a devastating defeat (my team actually won), but because the game is so fast, the multiplayer match in the demo was over before I knew it. However, even in the short time I had with the game, one thing was abundantly clear – the faster Titanfall is, the better.

At the beginning of the demo, as with most online shooters, I needed to select a class for my pilot. I chose the one with the grappling hook since, you know, grappling hook. It came with a pretty standard set of assault rifle and other stuff that weren’t a grappling hook. The hook feels like a natural edition to a game like Titanfall, and it allows you to get up things way more quickly than the wall-running and the jetpack can. You can even use it to get on the back of titans fairly easily, and either ride them if they are friendly or remove their battery if they’re hostile.

Speaking of titans, in the demo I had access to one of two new titans – Ion or Scorch. Ion is laser-focused, with the ability to fire precise laser shots and deploy trip mines to strategically take down its opponents. Scorch is about about fire, thermite and more fire, so of course I chose it as my titan.

The mode I was playing was Bounty Hunt, which is an evolution of Attrition. It involves both AI and human targets, and the goal is to kill the marked pilots to gain points. Titanfall 2 plays very much like the original title, with lots of running, jumping and titanfalling. It’s fast, it’s intense and you have to be really aware of your surroundings if you want to survive, as enemies can come from pretty much anywhere. While I was on foot, I had a great time – taking down pilots one after the other while zipping around the rooftops with my new shiny grappling hook. But the first time I got into my Scorch titan, I realized I made a terrible mistake.

Apparently, Scorch is much better at killing pilots than it is against other titans. With abilities like Firewall that creates a wall of fire on the ground, Heat Shield that melts incoming projectile and hurts anyone close enough, or an devastating AoE special move that burns everything around it, Scorch is perfect at taking down and hold its own against tiny humans. When it comes to one-on-one fights against Ion, however, its slow firing thermite canon doesn’t quite cut it.

So most of the match I chose to forgo the firepower of the titan in favor of the increased mobility of the grappling hook. I was able to gain the height advantage in many critical situations, make my escape when a titan got me in its sights or pull enemies towards me for a quick kill. Using it felt really intuitive and streamline, and the short cool down period prevents you from exploiting it, while still letting you use it often enough to make a difference.

My time with Titanfall 2 came to an abrupt end as my team decimated the rival players and won fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try Ion, nor the two other pilot classes that don’t use the hook, but come with gravity-altering bombs and a double-tap sniper rifle. I also would’ve loved to try out the game’s newly announced single-player campaign, but EA has only brought the game’s multiplayer component to E3.

Overall, what I experienced with Titanfall 2 felt pretty similar to what its predecessor has to offer, but with much needed variations in both pilot loadouts and the different titans you can choose. The gameplay is still insanely fast, and it was fun while it lasted, but to truly determine if the sequel is more than a cool expansion, I’ll need to try other modes that aren’t the same as the ones in the original. But that grappling hook is surly a step in the right direction. Why are we only getting it now?

Titanfall 2 will be out on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 28.