Defiance Review for Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Reviewing Defiance, a new third-person shooter MMO from Rift developer Trion, reminds me why reviewing an MMO around or shortly after launch is generally a waste of time. There’s a lot of cheap xbox 360 controllers things that I really enjoy about the game, but there’s also a hefty amount of stuff that just doesn’t work right too, and detracts a lot from the overall experience. While patching video games isn’t exclusive to MMO’s to fix problems around launch, it’s certainly a more likely scenario to encounter, with larger and more frequent patching required in order to iron out issues and fine tune the final product.

But isn’t that what beta testing is for you ask? Well yeah, obviously it is. And Defiance certainly had beta and alpha tests where certain issues were defined and fixed. And I think it’s safe to say there were known issues in beta not fixed when the game launched. Part of that, I would assume, is that the time table to get Defiance out to the public was also tied closely to the Syfy channel T.V. show that ties into the game. There are probably additional factors at work here that kept the game from getting some additional layers of polish prior to launch as well. And Trion as a developer isn’t a stranger to launching large scale MMO’s, their PC exclusive Rift MMORPG didn’t have a completely smooth launch either. Most online only games rarely do.

And it’s not just bugs that keep Defiance down either. There are some odd cheap ps3 controllers design decisions in place that are worth talking about too. But there are also a number of good things about the game, and Defiance as a whole is a really unique experience in relation to what most MMO’s tend to offer. It’s one of the few large-scale MMO’s available for consoles, with swds3FSD full on patching and installation functions for PS3 and Xbox 360 that for the most part work smoothly.

While server issues and disconnects were an issue for the first few days after launch, Trion has also done an excellent job of tackling those problems and making the general online experience feel pretty smooth. The copy of the game I’ve reviewed was on Xbox 360, and while the visual fidelity doesn’t match the PC version, I am pretty impressed with the scope of the game and how well the interface works with a controller. Outside of few people using either voice chat or the in-game chat channel, there are not a lot of differences between the PC and console versions of Defiance.

There’s an assisted aim option useful for console players, but cool gadgets can also be turned off. Enemies generally pose a sizeable threat, and while they’re not often very smart, they will remain mobile and prevent you from being stationary most of the time. The difficulty from one area of the map to the next, as you advance the story at least, has a pretty decent curve to it. But death and failure are rarely punishing events, with the ability to auto-revive once every few minutes, and with plenty of checkpoints spread across the map to start over at.