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[Review] Defiance: Can Fun Overcome Mediocrity?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Now that we have finished our multi-week series of review in progress articles for Trion Worlds' Defiance, it's time to render the final verdict. See how Defiance fared in our exclusive review, then leave your thoughts in the comments.
Trion Worlds’ Defiance is a game that fights with its players to be loved, when there are likely plenty of reasons to be frustrated and demoralized. You see, the core of the game is hectic, pulse-pounding, explosive, and fun. But for every one thing that Defiance does right, several other bits are broken or half-wrought. It’s clearly the sort of game that will grow in time, given enough support from its fans and the studio. The show on SyFy is doing well in the ratings, which gives this gamer hope that some of those revenue dollars will flow the game’s direction. Because I want to keep playing and loving Defiance while watching the show. But whether I will or not largely depends on how quickly Trion can fix some major issues, and how quickly they can add more layers to the game and its systems.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Defiance: Can Fun Overcome Mediocrity?
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Arkfalls are one of Defiance’s best bits.
Comments
The review is correct imho. Defiance has some good ideas but also lacks in some serious parts of the game.
Edit: But compared to a normal single player shooter you get more hours of fun for your money. Therefore those 50 bucks are a good investment.
Hodor!
On a 1-10 scale wouldn't 6.6 be above average as in not exactly mediocre, just saying :P
While I agree with the review for the most part, this should be interesting. Wonder who some of the posters will be on this one lol
No signature, I don't have a pen
See it from the point of a school grade system.
Below 50%: You shall not pass!
100%: Get a life, geek!
66%: Pure mediocrity!
Hodor!
I was pretty much just poking fun, hence the stick out tongue at the end.
No signature, I don't have a pen
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
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I completely understand the score folks lol. Been playing games and reading reviews most of my life, It was a light hearted jab. Been here for years, I know the review system and what you guys mean with your scores :P
P.S. I agree DMKano,the game might not be the best thing since sliced bread but I do have fun everytime I log in and play.
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Personally I spent the whole time I was playing Defiance thinking "if this was more like Borderlands 2, and less like it is, it would be a good game."
The setting is quite compelling. The environment itself is fairly entertaining, and certainly quite refreshing. The gameplay is, however, somewhat lacking; it is in most ways a cheap rip off of Borderlands. There isn't enough gear. Monster AI is lame. The dialogue is not interesting, and neither is the story. There is also a distinct lack of compelling content there.
It should, and I hate to say this, have been a sandbox game with quest episodes to follow the series.
Then there’s the UI. It works, but it’s really obviously built from the ground up for the PS3 and Xbox users. It’s just clunky as can be.
When i read this i stay far away from this kind of games made for consoles and badly ported to PC and graphics dumbdown becouse for consoles no thx.
6.6? Really that high?
I would give it 4.5 at best.
You know I actually consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics and in my opinion Defiances graphics are very nice. However you know what they say about opinions though lol
No signature, I don't have a pen
Personally I don't think the graphics are bad, per se, not great but nothing really to bitch about in and of themselves. They do, however, suffer from two severe problems:
The first is model re-use. Rift was rather (in)famous for this, Defiance takes it to whole new levels. There is very little variety in what you'll see from beginning to end.
The second is a draw distance that would be more at home on an N64 than a modern PC. The lack of any real graphics settings is bad enough -- especially the lack of an FoV slider, but the draw distance is just... Sad.
Got it on Xbox & tried out the first few minutes so far. I'm a PC gamer for sure & I really struggle with aiming with a control pad in console games. Having said that, it isnt too bad as it auto aims when your pointing close enough to an enemy.
Hearing good things about the show, but I don't have Syfy so i'll have to try find it online.
I dont think i would have listed the arkfalls as a pro really.. i dont think they have done enough with them..
Still not a bad review..
The first 12 months for Rift was an amazing amount of improvements. If Trion can put the same effort into Defiance in a year this might be a pretty good game.
The down side of that is many people will have moved on by than and getting them back isn't a easy task.
For me, the real saving grace for this game is the value. B2P for me takes away the guilt of not playing if it were subscription. I will feel OK walking away from Defiance for a month or so and picking back up just before an expansion to gear up and then play the expansion. I did not buy the "Season Pass" since I really want to see what the include in the first expansion.
I do like to believe that Trion is still figuring out where their main player base is. If the console group drops off and the PC folks keep playing, they will begin to cater more towards that crowd. Money talks...
Overall, I'm really enjoying the game. It's got something fun about it. DMKano was right in that it can be almost instant gratification. You can get in close with one of the several types of shotguns, or sit back and snipe.
PvP battlegrounds, with the exception of Shadow War is essentially a mix of cloak and shotguns or bug infectors. They are making some advances in stopping the hackers, but I wish they had built a better client. Now if they would only make the bunny hoppers' feet take 400% more damage...
nice review.
I agree with all the ratings, except.
social.
the ui social needs a haul redesign or should i say copy over from anysucessful MMO or game shooter.
Also i see there is no mention of a Borderlands2 take Defiance has borrowed, I expected trion todo it justice considering Borderlands2 is already available for play!!!they really could of taken note from gearbox!
anyhoot- good review and fair.
my rating for the game overall= Fun.Because flying a Minmatar ship is like going down a flight of stairs on an office chair while firing an Uzi.
So the review score doesn't take into account that it's the only TPSMMO on the 360 and PS3 ? Also the fact that it's 1 of only 2 MMO's on the 360 and is it 1 of 3 MMO's on the PS3 ? I would have scored it differently for all 3 platforms personally. Obviously that would probably bump the score down a little for PC ( a vast choice of MMO's on there ) and the score would bump up for 360 and PS3. Otherwise keep up the great work guys!
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Psst:
"Then there’s the notion that the damage might be handled on the client side of things... yeah, it’s a thing. But without a fix, the PVP will wind up useless and frustrating forever, as opposed to the incredible fun it can be when it’s rolling on all cylinders."
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.