Preview: Zampella makes his grand return with Respawn Entertainment and Titanfall

The outing of Infinity Ward general managers Vince Zampella and Jason West was not only ugly -- it was public.Everyone who was everyone knew that Activision harshly kicked them out of the studio over some hubbub regarding an "internal EA email." What followed was even uglier, with lawsuit followed by countersuit, finger-pointing and a whole lot of ugly accusations. Eventually, though, the dust settled, West and Zampella got paid royalties from the project, and the team moved forward with its new company, Respawn Entertainment – which West left soon thereafter for personal reasons.

But Zampella soldiered on with his devoted development team in tow, and last week, the fruit of their labors, the much-anticipated Titanfall, was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo at EA's booth. Some people were concerned with what was happening with the game, as it was deemed an online multiplayer-only project (right alongside the likes of Warhawk and SOCOM Confrontation). However, all those doubts were washed away the minute the team kicked off its multiplayer demo. This thing is nuts.

The game takes place in the near future, where it appears two warring factions are fighting over territory, using both on-foot soldiers and giant mechanized soldiers. (Think of it as Call of Duty: Future Warfare, but with several twists on the gameplay.) The excitement ranks up there with Zampella's prior work, with plenty of engaging firefights to keep you entertained and cool little after-effects you can pull off with your soldier for extra points, including yanking a soldier out of a mech unit and flinging him across the battlefield, or making him explode and shooting his head as it flies through the air.

Read more about Titanfall at GameZone >