Defiance Review

There are also other aspects to Defiance’s gameplay that work well. Arkfalls are random events where a piece of alien technology crashes to Earth. Players and enemies will both be attracted to these events as they have a high payout for success. When I experienced these events, it boiled down to shooting the fallen debris, while defending myself from the bug-like aliens that are attracted to the Arkfall. What started as me and a couple others, soon turned into dozens of Ark Hunters working together. Some Ark Hunters were firing at the debris, some were trying to protect others by battling the aliens. After these events, players are ranked based on their contributions, dealing damage to the Arkfall and killing enemies. This is just another way that Defiance does a decent job of inspiring cooperative play between players in a natural setting.

Defiance also includes a couple multiplayer modes, both team based. The first mode is your standard deathmatch in an arena map, the second is a capture point mode set on the single player map. Unfortunately, neither of these modes are very good. The EGO abilities aren’t well balanced for the multiplayer, giving major advantages to players who are damaged dealing tanks. Rockets and shotguns also feel overpowered in these modes, which hinders the variety of loadout options. At its best, this is just another run-of-the-mill multiplayer mode, and not the best multiplayer experience that Defiance has to offer.

Defiance’s design is another point that feels uninspired. While the terraformed wasteland starts off as original and unique, it never changes. The pine tree hills give way to some farmland and rolling hills, then you cross a bridge into the city of San Francisco. Given the time expected from an MMO these three different locales become boring before long. The terraformed world with alien plant life is another example of something that is cool at first, but grows passé over the course of the game. There is some nice variety when you come across towns, workstations, or other encampments, but again they are so few and far between that they don’t lend themselves to the belief that Defiance is a world you can immerse yourself in. It feels like Defiance had some good ideas on how to set itself apart from other sci-fi worlds, but only dipped its toes in the water.

I played Defiance on the Xbox 360 and for the first week, the game was plagued by server issues. This would make it hard to get into the game or - maybe worse - made it so that controls lagged heavily. This lag was terribly infuriating, enemies would do damage when they should have been dead and the action button wouldn’t respond, among other headaches. While I am glad to report these issues have mostly cleared themselves up, the Xbox 360 version is still technically underwhelming, with flat textures and plenty of bugs. There are times when solid objects will disappear, making driving difficult, or where the frame rate will drop significantly. I have also watched a few hours of the game on PC and these issues seem far less prevalent. As of right now, PC would be my recommendation for preferred platform. I have not played or seen the game run on the PS3.

If you’re looking for casual gaming experience, aren’t too particular about graphics, and simply want to cruise around shooting up post-apocalyptic San Francisco, Defiance is a perfectly enjoyable experience. After the server issues got squared away, I had plenty of fun roaming around the world breezing through missions. However, Defiance is very much a one-trick pony. While other MMOs offer deep experiences with many customizable options, Defiance has about as much to offer as a standard single-player action-RPG. The art direction, narrative, and character customization all start off feeling original, but quickly lose their lustre. While the game should be applauded for its ambitious ideas - being multiplatform and tied to a TV show - it is fairly pedestrian in almost every other way.