Titanfall Frontier Defence - New 4 Player Horde Mode

Respawn announced their biggest Titanfall update today and it includes the brand new Horde mode called Frontier Defence. It's a 4 player mode, similar to your usual survival experience, where players fend off countless waves of enemies that include enemy Titans as well as the pitiful grunts and Spectres.

The new horde mode is available on all of the Titanfall maps including those which came packaged as DLC. Smaller maps are actually more fun than the larger ones thanks to the confined spaces and a more intensive firefight.

Gameplay

Here's some gameplay I recorded about a hour after the update was released. Shows the 4th and 5th waves where Nuclear and Mortar Titans start appearing, this is when the fun really starts!

About Frontier Defence

In Frontier Defence, players have to defend a vital objective, usually the Harvester, from increasingly intensive waves of AI opponents. The objective has a limited shield so players must work together to keep enemies away from the objective or else risk failing the mission.

The Harvesters shield has several different states ranging from Perfect to OK and then Damaged, but it will automatically heal so long as it's no longer under attack.

For each map, players have to see through a total of 5 waves, with each wave consisting of a different variety of enemies, which is displayed shortly before the wave starts. A nice little enemy counter is also shown on the left of the screen so you know how many you've got left before the wave ends.

Successfully completing the defence will reward you with a star rating from 1 to 3. Try your best to earn a 3 star rating on all of the maps for a special achievement.

Frontiers Defence

No revives, just time penalties

Unlike horde modes in other games, players cannot be revived but are instead teleported back to the drop ship where they're automatically re-entered after a short penalty of about 20 seconds.

Placeable Turrets

Another new addition - you can earn placeable turrets in Frontier Defence to help you defend a particular area automatically. Shown in the image above, these turrets can be strategically placed near the Harvester to provide some backup in times of need.

Full Screen Map

There's a whole host of other improvements in Update 8 but one of the best additions is the full screen map, shown above. Unlike the mini-map the full screen version displays a much larger chunk of the map, helping you determine where enemies are located and where your team mates are also under pressure. It's a very helpful addition that goes hand in hand with the new horde mode.

Post game review screen

After every game you'll see a nice review screen showing your teams progress through the waves. The Harvesters health is plotted on a graph against each wave, immediately telling you when you suffered the most. Your usual kill stats show who inflicted the most damage and a death tally shows which players took the biggest beating!

Enemies included in Frontiers Defence

The full range of enemies that you'll see in the new survival mode are shown below. Nuclear Titans come equipped with a deadly payload, the Arc Titan has devastating energy shields whilst the Mortar Titans have long range rocket attacks.