Movement shooters are more common now than they used to be. For about a decade after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, practically every shooter was what you could call a ‘positional’ shooter.
In positional shooters, players move slowly and die quickly, thus making each player’s position at the start of a firefight a significant factor in the outcome. Players would spot each other, start shooting, and within a couple of seconds one of them would be dead.
The domination of the positional shooter of FPS began to loosen around the release of Titanfall, a game with movement so fast and versatile that Call of Duty soldiers appeared to be wading through invisible mud by comparison.
Respawn Entertainment would improve upon these mechanics in the sequel, Titanfall 2, a movement shooter that has yet to be beaten for the speed, versatility, and fluidity of its mechanics.
Movement shooters focus heavily on manoeuvre during combat. In combat, movement is only effective if you are fast. Move slowly, and the enemy will kill you before you can get anywhere. But if you move fast, complex manoeuvres during firefights become a viable tactic.
Titanfall 2 enables players to move faster than in any other FPS except for some arena shooters. It pushes the limits of how fast players can move without having players move so fast that they become impossible to shoot with decent aim. Almost every action from sliding to wall-running to getting blasted by a grenade builds momentum and increases the speed at which pilots move.
But the ability to accelerate quickly and move at high speeds isn’t enough to create a sound movement system. Unless a game’s mechanics are designed around rapid movement, firefights will always result in two or more players frantically strafing side-to-side and jumping up and down like hyperactive monkeys – not exactly the most engaging or immersive gameplay the FPS genre can offer.
Titanfall 2 achieves something greater by combining rapid speed and acceleration with a versatile range of movement mechanics.
Pilots can run on walls, double jump in the air, alter their path of descent while falling, grab onto ledges, slide, sling themselves with the grappling hook, rappel along cables, propel themselves with explosions, cling to walls, hover, stim themselves for a temporary burst of speed, and ride on the backs of titans. There are also some more advanced movement techniques I won’t even list because I do not have the skill to master them. Check out footage from people who speedrun this game to see what I mean.
These abilities can be chained together so that momentum gained from one manoeuvre can be preserved and added to the momentum gained from another.
None of these moves involve scripted animations, nor do they require skill to pull off at a basic level. Transitions are fast and fluid, enabling pilots to adapt smoothly to various terrain and buildings.
The maps are large and usually have a strong aspect of verticality to accommodate pilots’ manoeuvrability. With all the walls, vantage points, alcoves, and small buildings most maps have, the environment usually offers plenty of opportunities for spontaneous evasion when the shooting starts.
And when it starts, you will want to move fast. Pilots have low hit points, meaning they are easy to kill. The best way to avoid damage is by moving rapidly and unpredictably, ideally at angles where your opponent will struggle to track you. If your opponent is moving, but you’re not, that gives them a clear advantage.
Firefights in Titanfall 2 thus frequently develop into frantic dances of two or more pilots sliding along the ground leaping through the air, bouncing off walls, ducking in and out of buildings, and darting to and from cover.
When the pilots are unskilled, fights can devolve into a series of awkward and uncoordinated hops and strafes. When two skilled pilots meet, however, their duels can be artful–even if they only last a few seconds, unlike in high time-to-kill games like Apex Legends where duels will regularly last ten or more seconds.
The utility of rapid skilled movement effectively renders camping and slow, plodding playstyles obsolete. Pilots move so fast and can come from so many directions that by the time people register an enemy passing through a doorway, the enemy is already halfway across the room and the camper’s initiative is lost. It’s rare to find a player who camps in Titanfall 2, but when you do, they are always at the bottom of the scoreboard.
One last reason Titanfall 2’s movement system is so good is that it just looks cool.
It is simply not possible to skilfully route your way through a chaotic battlefield of clashing titans and exploding explosions and not feel like a speedrunning god as you do it. Moving at high speeds, conserving your momentum through leaps and slides and bounces and slings, watching the map rolling in a blur beneath you, and taking out enemies as you go could make even your paraplegic grandma feel as free as a bird.
Titanfall 2’s movement system is so enjoyable that standing still for more than a few seconds is like mental torture – something parents would tell their kids to do when they’ve been naughty. (‘Billy! I told you not to hit your sister! Now you log onto Titanfall 2 young man and spend three matches camping in a building! Keep that crouch button pressed mister!’)
All this isn’t to say the slow movement of positional shooters can’t be enjoyable in its own way. It absolutely can be.
But if you’re in the mood for some smooth, fast-paced, movement-intensive action, no shooter does it better than Titanfall 2.