If video games have taught us anything it's that grappling hooks make everything better. Nintendo knew it with Zelda, Avalanche Studios knew it with Just Cause, and Respawn Entertainment knows it with Titanfall 2. With one simple addition, Titanfall—which pitches humans against mechs on the battlefield—goes from an already fast shooter to an even faster one for the sequel, a shooter where rodeo riding a ten foot Titan before chucking a grenade into the unsuspecting pilot's cockpit is a mere flick of a grappling hook away.

Titanfall was always stupid fun. Titanfall 2 is even stupider fun.

That's good for shooter players like me who, not for want of trying, aren't exactly skilled when it comes to hitting rapidly moving targets with a virtual gun and an analogue stick. Accessibility has always been Titanfall's forte, despite being a multiplayer-only game. And while Titanfall 2 does introduce a story mode for those that don't want to play online at all (it's not on show just yet, but you can see the trailer here), I'm relieved to find the accessibility of the multiplayer hasn't suffered as a result. If anything, it's even better.

There are still grunts and droids and various other bots that provide hearty cannon fodder for the casual player, and they're still just as fun to hunt down on the sly while everyone else tries to smoosh each other on the foot of a tetchy Titan. But with the grappling hook and the extra mobility it brings, those players can now bring down Titans without the well-timed wall jumps or pull themselves out of hairy situations without fuss. They might even grapple onto a building, slingshot themselves into the air, and then glide towards an enemy with their jetpack before sending it to bullet hell. Well, with practice at least.

The grappling hook is a revelation, one of those gameplay mechanics you feel has always been there, even though you've only played with it for five minutes. Sure, it doesn't quite have the silky smooth inertia of Rico's hook in Just Cause 3—and if there was one thing I would change about Titanfall 2's grappling hook, it would be the physics—but it's still a valuable addition. And, more importantly, it's a fun one, too.

Using the grappling hook to extend jetpack boosts or to sail over the top of fighting Titans is thoroughly satisfying. I imagine that pros will find their own unique ways to use it (and combat it), too, executing the sort of crazy kills that make for perfect million-plus YouTube fodder.

Other additions to Titanfall 2 are less obvious. With just 10 short minutes in which to play, I couldn't pick out changes to Titan and pilot load outs or any new weapons. But I can say with confidence that the game felt no less inviting. Titanfall was one of my favourite shooters at launch, thanks in no small part to the fact it made piloting a giant mech and blasting people with an oversized lazer gun accessible to everyone, good player or bad.

And so, despite those limiting 10 minutes, I still managed to assail and ride on the back of a flaming Titan, zig zag between two buildings with my jetpack while evading a stream of enemy bullets, and slingshot myself through the air before crashing down spectacularly into a pair of enemy players (it did not end well).

The original Titanfall wasn't the twitchy, sophisticated shooter seemingly designed for 12-year-olds to hurl abuse down a microphone while you sobbed uncontrollably into your controller because you couldn't get a single shot in. It was the shooter for the average joe, the person that couldn't spend every waking minute perfecting headshots and grenade throws because they had to go to work in the morning. That's why I loved it, and that's why I'm excited for Titanfall 2—it's lost none of that magic.

Titanfall 2 is launching on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 worldwide on October 28.