Defiance Really Snuck Up On Me

Defiance Bug Swarm
Third-person shooter PvE goodness!

I knew OF Defiance’s existence. Some MMO being developed that also had a TV series tie-in. I’ve actually been seeing a lot of commercials for the TV shows lately. Still, I just put it out of my mind. To be completely honest I haven’t played an MMO in a while. Several of Keen’s most recent treks through the genre have actually been lacking my presence. So like I said, out of sight and mind, I really didn’t care all that much for the next wave of MMOs, even though I really did find the TV series idea to be very intriguing. PC gaming is just something I’m not overly fond of participating in, at least not when it comes to MMOs.

A week or two ago, maybe more — I have no idea — I made a post detailing my disappointment with console MMOs, or lack thereof. In the comments section somebody mentioned that Defiance is actually coming out for consoles as well and that it’s releasing April 2nd. I found that to be pretty shocking. You’d think I’d have my finger on the pulse of what games are coming out and when, which I usually do for the most part, but somehow I completely missed this one. Ever since then I’ve been browsing around, reading wikis and watching videos to learn as much about the game as I could and what I found out actually has me pretty intrigued. To be completely honest I haven’t gotten my hands on the game at all so I can only remark on what I’ve seen and read.

The first thing that really surprised me was that Defiance is mostly a PvE game. Don’t misunderstand me, though, I like to PvP and the open world Shadow War stuff sounds really cool but my interests usually tend to align more often with PvE content. There seems to be a lot of it too with multiple mission types, co-op instances, raids, and even some stuff that looks like public quests. The gameplay also seems to be pretty close to a regular third person shooter. Again, I haven’t tried it yet, but from what I’ve seen and heard it works really well. I usually find combat in MMOs to feel floaty and disconnected, which would translate even worse to a game that is entirely dependent on shooting. I’m very anxious and excited to try it out for myself on either my 360 or PS3. Maybe I’m alone in this but when I was watching one of the 4 player co-op instances I got a serious Borderlands vibe. Maybe that’s a bad example, seeing as Defiance is a third person shooter, but the online co-op shooting seemed very familiar and welcomed. Especially in an MMO package.

It’s a bummer that all versions can’t play together and that’s really my only worry so far. I have zero interest in the PC version so that leaves me to riddle out which console will have a better population. I guess I can understand why PS3 and 360 can’t play together, even though they kinda already do with FFXI, but I see no reason why 360 couldn’t play with PC. They claim that they have already done it and demonstrated it so I really don’t know what’s holding them back in that regard.

I’m actually getting a little hyped up for this game and can’t wait to try it out. I think I heard something about an open beta on consoles before release so I’ll be looking forward to that and I’ll make sure to post about it any time I get my hands on the game.

  • That was me! 🙂 I’m glad you looked into it. I’m admittedly a little biased since my fiance is Lead Systems Designer on the game, but from my experience it’s a lot of fun. It’s an attractive game and the shooting mechanics are fun and a nice change from fantasy MMOs. And it’s cool that it will be tied in with a TV show as well.

    I hope it offers what you’re looking for. 🙂

  • I too have been looking forward to this though I am still uncertain whether I will end up playing it on the PC or on a console (I believe it’s coming out for both PC and console at least). I too would not mind an actual console MMO, as I use to have everquest adventures and loved that game, but haven’t really played any since. Hopefully this looks good, and since I love shooters and sci-fi it should be right up my alley.

  • Unfortunately this game just seems as hollow as most of the crop of new MMO’s (infact worse in my honest opinion). I’ve played the beta weekends hoping for something else to take shape in the game but it suffers from being dumbed down to the point where it is just down right insulting at times. One thing that just makes me cringe everytime I play the game from the outset is the voice acting (or lack of the acting part), I’ve heard rumours that it’s all place holder (which I really hope it is), but right now I’d rather turn it off if possible (which of course it’s not). There are a whole load of other things that annoy me so much about it, if just a few changes were made (and yes I’ve given a metric ton of feedback and information in game) it would make it a marvelous distraction of a game.

  • @Cuppy Me too.

    @Ghiest For now I’m giving the game the benefit of the doubt. I haven’t been able to try it yet so I can’t really comment on anything other than what I see, which so far seems to be mostly good things. It may not be the kind of game that appeals to everybody but I’m eager to find out for myself.

  • Interesting really since firefall is basically the same sort of game but i guess since you wrote the firefall piece and this one you have changed you mind on PvE 3rd person shooters…

    Still its only your opinion. And not a review

  • I don’t think I’ve ever written anything on Firefall? Not quite sure where you are coming from.

    You’ll have to pardon me if my memory is failing me.

  • Cool idea, but I was really struggling with getting into it. It felt very… generic, I guess. Maybe I’ll give it another try (Haven’t uninstalled yet) but I think it’s like most F2P indie MMOs.