XDefiant - Review

Ubisoft have not been shy on creating games that have a focus on multiplayer, For Honor and Rainbow Six Siege are prime examples of that. Lately though they have more than dipped their toes into the free to play market, with their online games in order to welcome in more players. XDefiant is perhaps the most synergistic effort yet, as it brings in countless IP from across the company, initially it was just the Tom Clancy brands, but now it has more. With the range of IP and a very long wait, does this online shooter stand above the rest in what is already a crowded field, or is it just another shooter without much going on?

Coming into XDefiant, I knew the basics of what I was getting in for, team based shooter, with different factions having abilities based around where they came from, but the actual mechanics were an unknown. I also knew that there was no story to worry about, no reason why Third Echelon is teaming up with the Ghosts, like in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, they are just there. So with that all I knew, I was keen to jump into the game and learn the basics, before I jumped into a match, except that is where I hit the first roadblock, the practice mode was not activated. Now this has since been patched, somewhat, but not being able to work out which abilities did what, how each gun handled and all that other parts that made up the classes and weapon loadouts, did not fill me with confidence. So, without anything else to do, I jumped into the games welcome playlist and found out why the practice mode was not working, the game is messed up.

By messed up, I mean the actual shooting mechanics and as much as I would like to blame lag or a lack of skill, that is not the case. I have been playing online shooters since Counter Strike 1.6 and have put hundreds of hours into that series, Battlefield and even Call of Duty, so I understand how a shooter should work and this just didn’t. There were times when I would be near point blank with an enemy, the pair of us would fire at each other and I would come off second best. This is a common occurrence in my experience and sometimes the luck just isn’t with you, however more often here, my luck failed me as I would almost always die, only to be told my target had taken no hits. Now if I was shooting them from across the map and missed shots, then sure, but dancing around and missing all shots, no thanks. It wasn’t just those moments, there were times when I would be shot by someone with a pistol from a considerable distance, by a single shot or someone using a sniper rifle could pop me off from the tiniest glimpse of me.

The issues with the gunplay made it very hard to keep playing matches, which is sad as the actual maps and modes were fun. Escort was the mode I loved the most, yes other games have their own version, but here it was just something fun. Being given the task of guiding the package to the goal and then having to stop an opposing team from doing the same, it was a tense back and forth. Occupy, Domination, Zone Control were also a blast, all of them requiring a constant push to keep the score moving in my teams favour. Now none of the modes were entirely original and that is fine, I am sure the team are cooking up more, but combining the modes with the maps was great fun.

Speaking of maps, there are two types of them, Arenas and Linear. Arenas are where games like Domination and Occupy take place, they are generally large and circular, think the MCG. The Linear maps were more elongated and perfect for Escort and Zone Control, more like a river than anything else. I still remember the first match I played on Attica Heights, which comes from Ghost Recon Breakpoint, I was so confident in my approach, I leaped up over a small wall and plummeted to the ground far below. I was not paying attention to the intro video for the map and failed to notice it was atop a building. On the ground, Mayday, Echelon HQ and Showtime were fun, but the one I loved was the Division inspired Dumbo. There were just many long sight lines, perfect for snipers, but also lots of little alcoves and side passages to get around with. As far as the Linear maps go, I kept finding myself on Meltdown, which was fun and I eventually learnt some short cuts to try and get ahead of folks, but when I did get something new, such as Times Square, it was just as amazing.

One of the big aspects of the game is that you can pick a faction and then from within, a skill exclusive to them. If you pick Third Echelon, that is the Splinter Cell team, you can have a cloak to hide from the enemy or sonar goggles to spot them through walls for a bit. I often found myself picking the Ghost Recon team, called Phantoms in the game, as one of the abilities here was a giant shield you could deploy for a bit. Once your faction and skill has been selected, you can then choose a loadout, from Assault, Sniper and so on. You can also customise your own loadout, but I have never been interested in that aspect in any other game, so I didn’t both here either.

XDefiant got my attention when it was branded Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, but really took a hold of me when they started to included Watch Dogs and Far Cry into the mix. While the maps and modes were great, the shooting for me is just a mess. I can take a death at face value when the other guy has taken some hits, but there were just far too many instances of it not working out that way. The game hasn’t kicked off its first season so there is a chance that they might make changes, but I seem to be in the minority of wanting shooting that actually feels good in a shooter, so I doubt things will change. As the game is free to play and has no pay-to-win additions, it won’t hurt to give it a go, just know there are better shooters out there than what this is currently offering.

The Score

6.5

The Pros

The maps are fantastic, the linear ones especially feel like a real push to get from one side to the other

The modes are fun as well, Escort being one of the ones I loved playing the most

The Cons

The actual shooting mechanics are broken for me and far to often deaths feel more attributed to luck than skill

Launching without a practice mode for your new shooter, seems like a really bad decision