Although Titanfall is a multiplayer-only game, it still has a story. Today the development team provided information on the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, one of the two warring factions in the game.
The IMC are the villains of the game. They're a greedy corporation willing to do whatever it takes in order to make a profit.
"Despite their reputation for exploitative behavior on the Frontier, they receive little criticism from their shareholders and customers living in the Core Systems – the material conveniences and widely used products provided by the IMC generate considerable ‘consumer inertia’, to the corporation’s benefit," Respawn says on the game's website. "With the Frontier’s valuable shipping lanes and vast planetary resources ripe for exploitation, the IMC is dedicated to maximizing profits and shareholder wealth, using the legal application of force when necessary."
Vice Admiral Graves leads the IMC forces on the Frontier. He's considered to be a very reckless commander who often personally leads soldiers in combat. I guess players will be seeing a lot of him in Titanfall battles. While he fights on behalf of a shady corporation, he has a reputation for being easy on Frontier citizens.
One of Graves' troops is Blisk, a mercenary from South Africa. He seems a little less likable than his commander. He had enough money from his previous contract to retire but he couldn't pass up another paycheck or a chance to hop in a Titan.
The third and final character detailed today is Spyglass. Spyglass is a robot with a direct connection to IMC's computer network. He's in charge of deployment, communications and all the other logistics of the operation. It's his job to provide IMC players with real-time surveillance and mission data.
The IMC forces are opposed by the Militia, a loose coalition of Frontier citizens. They're no saints - their numbers include pirates and thieves - but they're the closest thing the game has to a "good" faction. One of the leaders of the Militia is MacAllan, former executive officer of Graves. I'm sure those two gents will have plenty to talk about if they meet on the field of battle.
I'm sure there are a lot of players who are disappointed that Titanfall doesn't have a single-player campaign. More than a few people have referred to it as "half a game" because it's multiplayer-only. Still, I'm glad that Respawn's trying to tell a story through the multiplayer even if it's just another "evil corporation versus us reg'lar folk" yarn.
Titanfall is arriving on the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC next month. The game will be accompanied by a limited edition XB1 controller which is already shipping out to some gamers. Respawn is planning a beta test for the Xbox One and PC versions of the game but has yet to announce the timing of that yet.
