The greatest trick Electronic Arts ever pulled was convincing Titanfall fans that a sequel was happening without ever uttering a word. Amid all the rumors and reports, including a purported extraction shooter, it just never materialized.
Which is a shame because few games really make me want to go back and experience them in their prime like Titanfall 1 and 2. The Smart Pistol arguments. Riding on the back of a fellow Titan, or calling down one on top of an enemy. Steamrolling an entire match with Titans as your opponents struggled to fight back, and in the same vein, coming back against overwhelming odds, no matter how many Grunts required farming in Attrition
And yet, there’s a reason why we haven’t seen similar movement-based shooters: They don’t last. The high skill floor and ceiling can make for a massive struggle if you don’t master the art of hanging out in the sky box and shooting your hapless enemies below. But that hasn’t stopped other developers, like 1047 Games of Splitgate fame (and Splitgate 2 infamy) from trying.
Enter EMPULSE, a game that unabashedly borrows Titanfall’s fundamentals and really didn’t spend the time on cultivating an identity. Sure, you have the wall-running, sliding, grappling and even the mechs, but the approach is equal parts intriguing and eyebrow-raising rather than a true successor, much less the next big multiplayer shooter.
“Non-descript buildings and characters, uninspired environments – it fails to really get you raring and willing to dive into the action. It’s like futuristic dystopia-lite that’s not really sure if it wants to commit to the Mirror’s Edge aesthetic.”
Because while EMPULSE certainly apes many of Titanfall’s core essentials, it lacks the finer points and nuance. I’ve seen people call this a Splitgate title repurposed into a movement-based shooter, and it’s very hard to unsee. And while this is early access, one of the biggest reasons for its lack of identity is the absolutely lackluster narrative. Or context. Or really anything to explain what’s going on, or why you’re doing what you’re doing.
You’re thrust into Freehold, competing across urban maps of varying degrees of verticality, and tasked with completing objectives (or simply gunning down the opposition). Now I’m not expecting anything even close to Titanfall 1’s “campaign”, which drew considerable flak at the time, but there really is nothing to guide you in. Are you playing as vigilante graffiti artists, fighting against The Man (who presumably manufactures these giant mechs)? Is the opposing team akin to a corpo force of graffiti taggers?
Again, not saying I need anywhere near the lore surrounding the IMC or Frontier Militia, which wasn’t much to begin with, but something, anything is desperately required instead of simply tossing players in with a goodbye and good luck (and they don’t recall wishing you good luck).
Then there’s the presentation. For what it’s worth, EMPULSE’s performance is pretty solid, and the fidelity is good even at Medium settings. The art direction is a completely different story. Non-descript buildings and characters, uninspired environments – it fails to really get you raring and willing to dive into the action. It’s like futuristic dystopia-lite that’s not really sure if it wants to commit to the Mirror’s Edge aesthetic. The less said about the generic rock music in the main menu, the better.
That isn’t to say the layouts are all completely terrible, which brings us to the gameplay front. As with Titanfall, you can wall-run, jump, hover, grapple, and slide. Chaining these together can result in some pretty slick momentum while making you much harder to hit. And to EMPULSE’s credit, some of the levels have extensive verticality to leverage that. Crossing is perhaps the most visually notable – it’s two buildings with a sky bridge in between with multiple avenues for flanking.
“Imitation is the best form of flattery, but it still feels pretty bare-bones, perhaps because of the lack of a signature ability. On the plus side, at least the perks offer some decent variety…”
Running straight down the middle often feels like a death sentence, but wall-running on the sides? Or navigating away from a jump pad’s trajectory to access the boost pads near the arena’s edges? Those offer some more creative routes. Meanwhile, something like Plaza or Elevation will reward you more for scaling higher and higher, locating hapless fools on the ground to then pounce on them. Even if these locations don’t feel nearly as organic or memorable as their inspiration, at least they’re designed to lean into all the movement possibilities.
Of course, 1047 Games adds its own movement mechanic into the mix with P.A.I.N.T. These are essentially paint bombs which grant different benefits, like boosting your speed or recovering health when you pass them. Or like straight-up bombs that explode. Initially, I was a bit mixed on these since the Speed P.A.I.N.T. felt like the best option overall in the demo. The early access version has toned down its overall effectiveness, and now I’m unsure whether that was the right call because it still feels essential – just not as good as before.
Otherwise, EMPULSE delivers on its promise of verticality and relatively high-speed movement, even if it doesn’t feel as polished or crisp as Titanfall. The grapple seems especially weird at times. For all those moments where you’ll smoothly swing around behind an opponent, there are more than a few others where you won’t seamlessly transition into a wall-run from a grapple. Instead, your momentum halts, killing the flow before it even gets going.
When it comes to loadouts, 1047 Games doesn’t stray far from the tried-and-true formula. Limited slots for attachments. Three perk slots (and you can only equip options within that slot instead of mixing and matching across the entire pool). A single grenade, or rather P.A.I.N.T. type. Imitation is the best form of flattery, but it still feels pretty bare-bones, perhaps because of the lack of a signature ability. On the plus side, at least the perks offer some decent variety, whether it’s restoring health and obtaining a speed boost with kills, extending your grapple range, refueling your jetpack faster, and so on.
The weapon variety is also pretty solid overall – between the assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns and rifles, there’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but they get the job done, and gunplay feels responsive enough. Some balance adjustments are still sorely needed, especially for the DMR-like Resonance, and progression feels somewhat slow when trying to unlock attachments. I’m also not a fan of the ADS view since it feels more like Splitgate’s magnified zoom rather than actually aiming down sights (unless you have a scope, of course).
“And that’s really the core issue with EMPULSE. All its little gimmicks like P.A.I.N.T. and mech camping aside, it’s not Titanfall, nor does it approach the highs that it provided.”
Last but not least, there are the mechs. With how easy it is to steamroll in Titanfall with a Titan, I was curious how EMPULSE would approach this. Instead of awarding mechs to each player, two will spawn on the map at timed intervals. In theory, this would mean both teams have equal opportunity to obtain their own. In practice, an enemy mech will immediately camp the other, preventing opponents from evening the odds.
But that shouldn’t be too much of a problem because the mechs themselves are surprisingly easy to kill. Leaving aside how difficult it is to hit opponents with its mini-gun, it feels very fragile – even more so when the entire team is focus-firing on it. There’s only one dedicated anti-mech weapon, and a sledgehammer that feels incredibly awkward, and leads to moments where an enemy is simply smacking your toes, and you can’t get a bead on them. No, you can’t crush players underfoot, much less run over them, or self-destruct or even climb on a mech’s back. Even ejecting sees you hopping out rather than soaring sky high.
And that’s really the core issue with EMPULSE. All its little gimmicks like P.A.I.N.T. and mech camping aside, it’s not Titanfall, nor does it approach the highs that it provided. There are plenty of ways for 1047 Games to improve the experience, whether it’s providing some actual data on the weapons that killed me, adding more mechs with different abilities, or expanding on the map pool. For now, it’s what everyone pretty much expected – a no-frills movement-based shooter with mechs to scratch but never fully satisfy that Titanfall itch. Nothing more and nothing less, for now.
This game was reviewed on PC.
