As readers of our lengthy preview of the Titanfall beta know, we quite enjoyed our time with Respawn Entertainment's freshman effort, and can't wait to spend even more time with it this weekend. Titanfall scratches a very particular, multiplayer-focused itch, and it does so with an experience that is incredibly fast-paced, dynamic, and a ton of fun.
In addition to that hands-on time, however, Respawn Entertainment also unveiled a new feature for Titanfall called Burn Cards. Burn Cards are single use "cards" that give a player some form of upgrade, be it a weapon, ability, or stat boost. And not only are they single use, but they only last until the player dies.
While Burn Cards are not an entirely new creation, they work well within Titanfall's framework. It's easy to get overpowered or outmatched quick in the game, especially once an enemy team has a fleet of titans going, but smart use of a Burn Card can turn the tide back in the player's favor.
One Burn Card, for example, gives the player a powerful light machine gun that makes quick work of any ground troops and does a surprising amount of damage to titans as well. Another card knocked about 30 seconds off my "time to titanfall," helping me even the score much quicker than if I was just completing objectives. Regardless of what it unlocks each Burn Card is a slight advantage, with an emphasis on slight. These are not going to completely change the tide of a battle, but they could help one player get out of a slump, which, in turn, might put the whole team back on track.
We only saw a few cards as part of the hands-on preview, but that was enough to leave us intrigued. The cards are easy enough to earn that using one never feels like a risky proposition, even if the more useful ones are harder to come by. And, like Respawn promised, Burn Cards will not require microtransactions.
Burn Cards are an added dose of flavor to a game that's already brimming with it, one more piece of nuance to a game where giant mechs beat the crap out of each other. The individual Burn Cards are by no means game changers, but they have the potential to, at the very least, turn a player's individual match around.
Do you think burn cards are a smart addition to Titanfall's multiplayer? What types of burn cards would you like to see in the game?
Titanfall releases March 11, 2014 for the PC and Xbox One. The Xbox 360 version will follow on March 25th.
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