Trion Worlds has balls. It's trying to do so many things with Defiance that it's near impossible not to take notice. This is a massively multiplayer online third-person shooter (a MMOTPS, then) set in a persistent world filled with thousands of players, and it's busy charting a perilous path through the murky MMO waters of infamously rigid Xbox Live and PSN online spaces.
You play the role of an Ark Hunter; a kind of 22nd Century Crocodile Dundee
Set in a violently terraformed future San Francisco, Defiance gives us a dystopic playground in which aliens have landed and there'll be no phoning home, thank you very much. The Votan, as they are called, are here to stay and while some, like the playable slant-nosed Irathients, are agreeable, others, like the tellingly-named Hellbugs, are less so. You play the role of an Ark Hunter, a 22nd century Crocodile Dundee, sent out into the new world to loot resources from giant, crystalline, bug-spouting rock spires that occasionally pop up in the landscape.
There are two story branches to follow: that of the game and that of the show. The first has your oddly silent avatar follow the escapades of your employer, Von Bach, poking sticks at ArkTech in a highly scientific (read: jibber jabber nonsensical) attempt at fixing the ravaged world.
The other, more arresting, story arcs come in the form of Episode Missions. These take cues directly from the TV show, and involve its more fully developed characters. How these will evolve with the flow of the series is still unknown. Aside from these stories there are also hundreds of events, time trials and challenges littered around a sizable map.
EGO-CENTRIC
Typical quests involve disarming bombs, hacking terminals, freeing hostages or examining dead bodies. Essentially this means reaching an area, clearing it of enemies and then holding a button over an objective marker. It's a bog standard quest offering, but one element which adds a bit of Bombay mix into this poorly disguised pub grub is the fantastic variety of the arsenal.
Weapons can be infused with elemental effects and a Halo-esque two weapon limit forces you to consider your loadout carefully. A deadbolt electro-sniper rifle and plasma-modded machine gun combo may be all well and good for when you're blazing across open ground towards a distant Arkfall. But head into a bunker, complete with rushing mobs, and you'll quickly find yourself wishing for that pump-action scattergun you sold off for easy scrip (the game's currency).
Other major choices to make come in the form of EGO powers. These can be activated off the back of a cool down and fuel your chosen gameplay style. Blur gives you a burst of speed and allows for meatier rushed melee attacks, which proves great for balls-to-the-wall types.
Out and out snipers can turn invisible with the Cloak skill, while Decoy and Overcharge send out holograms or power up your ammo respectively. As well as these there are myriad other passive abilities and buffs to peruse with each level gained.
Comments
14 comments so far...
ninja-key on 10 Apr '13 said:
Am enjoying the hell out it.
sammikid on 10 Apr '13 said:
Downloaded the beta, got bored, deleted it.
TheLastDodo on 10 Apr '13 said:
I watched a livestream of this on another website a few days ago.
One word: honking.
I turned it off after 15 mins, it was so boring, just go here, press X, shoot a few guys. Ugly game too (think it was 360 version), just completely unremarkable in every way.
But it's #3 in the charts so clearly there's a market for this kind of thing. If I were going to play it then it would need to be F2P.
theatticusera on 10 Apr '13 said:
Cool story, bro
metallicorphan on 10 Apr '13 said:
Yeah i thought the beta was so-so,i did get to the end of the main quest beta missions,but they were all very samey,CVG's score is about right(IMO)..I also hated how my character didn't say a damn word,even when people were either shouting at me or asking me a question,it was dumb that I didn't answer back
I did enjoy the Arkfall missions when there were tons of us all shooting
I am still going to give the show on SyFy a watch though which starts next Tuesday for UK..i have a feeling however that the $100 million gamble(NBCU) is not going to pay off
KK-Headcharge78 on 10 Apr '13 said:
Well if box art ever made a good or bad game this was f**ked from the start- colour me disinterested.
If you like it thought more power to you
TheLastDodo on 10 Apr '13 said:
b-b-b-but guns......and.......killing things........through the head KK???
EvilWaterman on 10 Apr '13 said:
I'm playing this and am thoroughly enjoying it. Yes it needs some work (two massive patches are inbound) but its fun.
Also, i have played missions where other players have activated the objectives which counted for me also.
KK-Headcharge78 on 10 Apr '13 said:
Ha, I'm not so one sided Dodo me old chum- sure I love 'dem guns and military, bang bang whizz, dead extremist etc etc etc...... but in my quieter times recently such fare as Dishonoured, Tomb Raider and Bioshock (ok it's shooting) have been the focus. Besides if you want an out and out, pick up and play shooter I'm yet to see anything that comes remotely close to BF3, COD series or Gears......
This game looks turd so you might like it mate
TheLastDodo on 10 Apr '13 said:
If it was japanese and the guns were called big boners then it would've been day one but it's not and the guns aren't called big boners so f**k it!
discostoo on 10 Apr '13 said:
Reminds me a lot of the Resistance 2 multiplayer, with a bit of Killzone thrown in, only without the smart execution of those titles. I'd think Defiance 2 will be very good though, this has been a steep learning curve for those developers.
TheRandyNinja on 10 Apr '13 said:
currently playing through this and enjoying the hell out of it would recommend it to anybody willing to give it a shot
RustySpoon80 on 11 Apr '13 said:
Had to re-order mine from Amazon this week after Tesco proper messed up my pre-order. Was sat in status "sent to fulfillment" for a week. Just have to hope that Yodel dont lose the order now.
Medven on 11 Apr '13 said:
I got it off the PSN last weekend and like it for now but, as mentioned in the article, it needs some work.
At least they have provided an MMO with a solid (if repetitive) gameplay, stable enough servers and a story which is fairly interesting.
The key to improving this game will be rapid expansions whilst people are still enjoying that 'new-game' buzz. If they leave all the improvements until their fans are at end game then it might come too late.
Others bugs I've noticed: Vehicles are fun but the terrain is out to ruin your day. Dodgey environments can have some awesome effects; e.g. I drove my little buggy directly at a HellBug Pheromone.....thing and it found it just catapulted me straight into the air. Thank god this game doesn't have fall damage!
Another vehicle gripe is the larger ones seem to have been designed with some douche-baggery involved. Once spawned there are no locational prompts around the vehicle to say a button(s) will do something apart from Square to enter. But upon entering the larger vehicles (Trucks, cars) your throttle button won't work. It's only after a jaunt onto Google that i found I was entering the car from the wrong side and was attempting to driver from the passenger seat! A little tooltip or prompt could have saved me this minor annoyance.