Defiance Review - Great Concept, Generic Game
- Thread starter WMDogma
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The score seems a bit low for the review that was given. A 2.5 out of 5 when no real negatives were given? Just that it doesn't live up to the premise and the shooting/objectives are kind of generic?
Edit: ESPECIALLY considering A:CM got a 3 out of 5. I mean c'mon now.
Edit: ESPECIALLY considering A:CM got a 3 out of 5. I mean c'mon now.
As mentioned in the written review, we were given a screener of the pilot episode to watch - I like it so far, and I think it has potential, but the game in its current form barely ties into the show at all. The episode missions, which the game encourages you to complete before the show's premiere, aren't much more than a basic character intro for Nolan and Irisa, two of the main characters from the series. Irisa barely says anything the entire game, and there's almost no references in the pilot episode to events she and Nolan participated in during the game.ecoho said:
Then if they're going to have them, the scores should at least be somewhat consistent.fozzy360 said:
Thank you for responding but i think you missed my point(or i worded it wrong if so sorry) they have stated that new missons will be added that are more connected to the TV series after each episode and as such will be referenced in the following weeks episode if people manage to complete them.(they would be world events like rift has)WMDogma said:
I get that, and if Trion does start releasing tons of show-related content on a weekly basis, then later on down the line we may revisit Defiance the game to see if the interaction between it and Defiance the TV show has improved at all. But the game/show crossover material is still just one aspect of Defiance, and there are many other parts of the game that could use improvement besides introducing a stronger relationship between the two mediums.ecoho said:
so it's average? but isn't that what everyone expected from this game? everything i read about this beforehand was about the connection to the TV series and that is what interest me, if this works, maybe we can have more interaction like that in the future, even if it would make more sense to have the game side of this be in a >20? downloadable title than a full blown MMO since you could probably get people to download that when after they watch the show
A friend of mine gifted me this over Steam for my birthday, and he keeps on going on about how amazing it is... it's just kind of 'meh' for me.
Once you get a few hours into it you realize just how little there is to do. There are the little challenge things you can play but they're not worth the frustration of getting anything higher than a bronze ranking. The timed racing bits are especially annoying due to the wonky way in which the vehicles control. You can be driving down a flat stretch of road and then suddenly go flying fifteen feet into the air for no reason.
A lot of the dialogue is kind of painful to listen to as well. Every time I hear someone say stupid made up words like "shtako" I grind my teeth a bit.
The gameplay is okay for what it is. I do however hate when I'm trying to shoot from behind cover, and even though your weapon is visibly clear of any obstacles you're still hitting the cover you're hiding behind.
The best part of the game I've seen so far are probably the Arkfall events, I was literally awed by how cool it was the first time I took part in one. Unfortunately those start to lose their novelty after your first few.
It's decent and by no means a bad game, but it's definitely not worth $60. Had I not gotten it as a gift, I wouldn't have paid full price for it.
Once you get a few hours into it you realize just how little there is to do. There are the little challenge things you can play but they're not worth the frustration of getting anything higher than a bronze ranking. The timed racing bits are especially annoying due to the wonky way in which the vehicles control. You can be driving down a flat stretch of road and then suddenly go flying fifteen feet into the air for no reason.
A lot of the dialogue is kind of painful to listen to as well. Every time I hear someone say stupid made up words like "shtako" I grind my teeth a bit.
The gameplay is okay for what it is. I do however hate when I'm trying to shoot from behind cover, and even though your weapon is visibly clear of any obstacles you're still hitting the cover you're hiding behind.
The best part of the game I've seen so far are probably the Arkfall events, I was literally awed by how cool it was the first time I took part in one. Unfortunately those start to lose their novelty after your first few.
It's decent and by no means a bad game, but it's definitely not worth $60. Had I not gotten it as a gift, I wouldn't have paid full price for it.
Initially that is what I thought as well. But that is a wrong assumption. Weapons, shields and grenades are all practically the same. Same damage (or resistance), reload speeds ect ect. Levelling is just a number and occasionally you get to put a point into a perk you will never use (since you are so limited on how many you can equip). I am level 600+ and I don't feel like I am really progressing my character. They aren't really any better than my partners lvl 500. The only difference between us is I have access to more co op maps than she does. Oh and I have 1 more perk slot than her. It is not uncommon to jump 10+ lvls in a matter of minutes. Then for some reason it takes hours without seeing a level increase. Like they are saving up til you hit 40 levels in the bank before they give them to you. It is more like EDF 2017 with a bunch of other players running around. Well they might as well be NPCs for the amount of social interactions it allows on the 360. Trying to talk to anyone during combat sections is a death sentence.Neronium said:
Now here is what I understand of the story only playing the game. Your ship crashes while carrying a piece of space magic that is going to save the world. Save it from what you may ask. Well I am asking the same thing. But it looks like at least San Fransisco area needs some saving. You wake up with a voice in your head who instructs you to kill things. People seem to know this voice and use it to make you do what they want you to. Now if you kill enough (1 of each class) you get a piece of intel that tells you all about the things you have been killing. And why you should be killing them (other than they are trying to kill you or because you are at the whim of the voice in your head). Oh and there was some famous battle at Defiance that shit happened. Don't know what all the fighting was about but only a few survived. And now they are famous. It gets mentioned alot but with no context. The only thing I know about the battle of Defiance is the few lines at the beginning. Aliens and humans defied orders to save innocent lives. Full stop. If you want to learn more about the world, lore whatever you will be scrounging around looking for intel collectibles to fill you in on the story. And even they just leave more questions than answers
*edit*
And just 1 other thing I should add. Your guns have xp bars. The more you use them they will level up. Which gives that gun an extra skill. So say you have a legendary SMG which you love it will eventually get even better. Now you also have a character skill with gun types. That also levels and gives you bonuses (like faster reload or extra melee damage with that specific type equipped). So the more you use your legendary SMG the more bonuses you get with SMGs in general. Until you level up your legendary SMG (which can be done only once). Then you character progression with SMGs also comes to a screeching halt until you pick up a new SMG and start using it.
Oh but wait it gets even better . I had a nice grenade launcher I planned on saving til later when I was going to work on my GL skill. Well my partner was using GLs so I thought I would do a nice thing and lend it to her, she could work on her skill and when she maxed it out just give it back. Reasonable right? No says Trion. When she gave it back to me it was still maxed. Even though I had never used it it would not help me if I wanted to. And as of right now there is no banking system. Hitting certain levels gives you more inventory slots (I am up to 47). So you will have to stock up on as many guns of the same type as what you plan on using and hope you can find decent guns of the other types later. And those sold from vendors (barring the hourly specials) are usually a bit weaker than the ones you find in terms of damage. But you will also want to save a maxxed out good gun for pvp (which right now is 2 map 16 man DM and 64 man capture and hold)
I don't believe that is such a great idea. It seems to me that the game is relying way to heavily on the show to tell the story and the game is just there to say "hey remember this setpiece from the show well now you can play in it." The game lacks context for the lore it throws at you. I am in the 4th act and still have really no idea who or why they trashed San Fransisco other than "terra forming". I think that giving this game a better score when the show gets around to putting everything (the who, how and why) into context would be doing game journalism a huge disservice. Just my 2 cents anywaysWMDogma said:
Honestly the interaction between the show and the game isn't negligible. I was involved in the defiance testing since it started (Pre Alpha, Closed Alpla, Closed Beta (which was actually still Alpha), then open beta). The show missions just basically show how a character from the game moves to the show, or how a character from the show needs help in the game. The show and the game take place in two completely different (and distant) locations because of the wishes of the show producers. The writers didn't want to deal with people in the game doing things to upset the balance of the show.ecoho said:
Something that the OP didn't touch on with the review is that the game is separated into phases (shards) that change based on what all you have done in the world. The problem with this being that if you want to team up with some of your friends just starting the game, you will likely end up in different phases than they do.
Another thing that was disappointing to me is there is no real gear progression in the game. No reason to ever look for loot once you have a full set of the guns you like (there are about 5-8 different versions of every weapon type). They do not "level" or gain power, they will be just as powerful at Ego level 5000 as they were at Ego level 1. The only reason for continuing to loot is to continue gaining experience in the weapon specializations, which only give you minor boosts to your effectiveness with said weapon.
As to what that all means, to give an example. I was able to complete the entire game using the starting pistol, including being in the final area, killing the final boss, and at only Ego level 250 (far below the recommended ego level 800).
