Titanfall 2 was one of my favorite games of the past few years. The multiplayer is intense and the single-player is miles better than it ever needed to be. But not many people played the damn thing since EA threw it in the mix with Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. EA gambled that they could control the market for both historic and futuristic games, snuffing out Activision, which they didn’t.

If you haven’t been able to convince yourself to pick up this masterpiece, now you can play the damn thing (parts of it) for FREE this weekend, July 28th-30th.

The entire multiplayer will be available, including the new Co-op 4-player Horde Mode Frontier Defense. You can also the sample the excellent opening mission “The Beacon” as well as the fun training gauntlet.

The trial is available on every platform, and the PS4 version is $25!

XBOX ONE: http://store.xbox.com/xbox-one/games/Titanfall-2-Standard-Edition/a26a9ef0-78cf-48ff-87a5-92313ed3c5c9

PLAYSTATION USA: https://store.playstation.com/#!/cid=UP0006-CUSA04027_00-TITANFALL2DEMO00

PLAYSTATION EUROPE: https://store.playstation.com/#!/cid=EP0006-CUSA04013_00-TITANFALL2RSPWN1

PLAYSTATION JAPAN: https://store.playstation.com/#!/ja-jp/cid=JP0006-CUSA04064_00-TITANFALL2RSPWN1

ORIGIN: https://www.origin.com/store/free-games/trials

Here’s what’s coming in the new Frontier Defense mode (from the official site)

• Co-op 4 player mode.
• Defend your Harvester against 5 waves of increasingly difficult enemies.
• Earn cash for defeating enemies that you can spend in between waves to purchase tools like Batteries, Arc Traps, Sentries, and more.
• Choose from Easy / Regular / Hard / Master difficulty.
• There will be an Insane difficulty as well that will exist in a separate tile as a Featured Mode.
• New Titan Progression – ‘Aegis Ranks’
  • Earn Aegis Ranks by completing matches of Frontier Defense. Aegis Ranks can unlock powerful upgrades for your Titans, helping you succeed at higher difficulty levels. For now these Ranks will only apply to Frontier Defense.
• New, challenging enemy types to battle.
• 5 maps supported at launch
  • Homestead
  • Forwardbase Kodai
  • War Games
  • Rise
  • Blackwater Canal
  • We are currently testing additional maps and will add more in future
• We’ll be showing more of Frontier Defense in an upcoming tutorial video around launch.

Map: Rise

Long sight lines and tight quarters dictate the battle in this abandoned desert reservoir. The towering, sheer walls and a system of convenient zip lines provide Pilots with means to get around quickly while Titans do battle in the long corridors below. Pilots can also set up ambushes in the guts of this complex pipeworks, while titans can lock down large sections of the battlefield at critical junctures. Tread carefully.

Live Fire Map: Township

A new modular construction of a residential firefight. Cover is sparse for Pilots bold enough to leave the safety of a few houses. Windows and rooftops decide who controls the map, but dense interiors can always hold surprises.

You can download the demo right now ahead of the 28th and play the single-player components. This will give you some time to practice up for the online competition that awaits. Hopefully, a ton of new players will be injected into the multiplayer scene, freshening things up and providing a few more easy targets to get your confidence up.

If you enjoyed Half-Life or other intelligent PC shooters from the ’90s, I’m confident you will love Titanfall 2. There’s plenty of exhilarating platforming and stunningly unique design choices.

Here’s the deal on the Horde Mode