Titanfall drops a gameplay demo at Gamescom

Details may still be a little slim about how Respawn Entertainment's fusion of multiplayer and narrative actually works, but that's not stopping the former Call of Duty studio from showing off the rescue of your friendly neighborhood drunk in a new gameplay demo.

The Titanfall demo starts off with the rebels “recruiting” an ex-Titan pilot named Barker, who sounds like he put a little too much Jack Daniels in his coffee that morning. It's not long before the sinister Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation warps in a carrier full of troops to make what should have been a routine job just a little more difficult. All of this is happening while a cast of support characters feed you information on which tide the battle's turning and whether or not your spiffy-new Titan is ready to drop.

The demo does a good job portraying the mix of campaign set pieces with multiplayer randomness, though the question of how many set pieces there actually are still remains unanswered. Pulling Barker out of the fire too often could break the narrative element Respawn's striving to achieve. If the studio can keep things feeling fresh, however, I can see Titanfall becoming something truly special.