Defiance: superior sci-fi shooter or mediocre MMO?

Features

April 18, 2013

Defiance may not be on your gaming radar, however, the game is trying to achieve one of the most ambitious things this year – a cross-medium sci-fi experience through a crossover video game and TV series.

Five years in the making, the joint project is the most high-profile and big-budget attempt at ongoing “transmedia” entertainment, promising characters and storylines that criss-cross between the Syfy network show and Trion Worlds game.

The game has been receiving some international reviews, and things look pretty up and down for the new title.

Defiance currently has Metascores of 63, 57, and 61 on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 respectively.

GameRankings’ ratings include percentages of 64.11, 62.78, and 59.29 for the same above platforms.

What are critics actually saying about the game though?

IGN: 5.9/10

“It’s just not very good. Rare well-designed quests are overshadowed by a host of others that feel phoned in, and though the fundamentals of shooting are competent, weak enemy AI makes the PvE combat a bore.”

Edge: 5/10

“A bigger problem still is the absence of a motivation to work with other players. Objectives are usually thinly disguised fetch quests or encounters where you must defend a character, usually Cass, against waves of enemies.”

Eurogamer Germany: 8/10

“Defiance does more things right than you might initially think. The MMO shooter does take its sweet time until it gets going, but the collecting of weapons and the massive battles kept me engaged even when not doing some quest. It’s a surprisingly eclectic title, that managed to do away with my skepticism and that still holds my attention, even after many hours of play.”

Gamespot: 6.5/10

“Defiance is the B movie of massively multiplayer games: rickety and unrefined, yet a good time all the same.”

Polygon: 6.5/10

“Even with its blemishes, there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had in the creaking world of Defiance 1.0. Its creators have banked on the “fun shall overcome” school of game design which, with exceptions, Defiance achieves. I only wish it didn’t have to overcome quite so much.”

PC Gamer: 62/100

“A competent MMO shooter marred by a lack of polish, whose TV tie-in ambitions only seem set to cause problems.”

What do you think of Defiance? Will you be checking it out a little more, or are you already swamped with all that 2013 has to offer? Let us know below and in the MyGaming forums.