75

Incredible.

LiamAnarchy | May 8, 2013 | See all LiamAnarchy's reviews »

I have never been a huge fan of MMO's, but this game is amazing. It's like a 3rd person borderlands, but with the random events that keep it fresh. This is not a lazily finished game, it looks good, it's fun, and rather cheap at the moment too. One bad thing I will say is you're limited with the social interaction. I've been in an area with 50+ people and no one is talking, which is disappointing for an MMO. Overall I'm having a great time with it, and even if it were a solo campaign game I'd highly recommend it.

96

This game is stupidly fun!

Cooberstooge | May 6, 2013 | See all Cooberstooge's reviews »

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Fallen Earth and the Mad Max movies made a baby, then it got mutated by something from the Aliens movies? No? Well, neither have I, but I think that's what the developers of Defiance were going for here.

This game somehow looks like the Borderlands titles, even though it makes no use whatsoever of the same graphical style. The crazy insanity of most battles can have you laughing and screaming at the same time, not to mention marveling at how well the whole thing runs while the proverbial junk hits the fan. Characters and vehicles look great, but it is the alien monstrosities that really shine - they have some of what I'd easily say is the nicest texture work of any MMO thus far on them.

Control-wise, Defiance isn't all that different from any other similar title, yet it all seems to work better here. Perhaps that's due to the almost-zero lag I've encountered while playing, but the urge to rage-quit thanks to garbage controls when you're getting hammered in a PvP match due to a highly-skilled opponent is just not there. Sounds are great, with larger gun battles being especially loud, which is a nice switch to the fairly quiet arms of most similar games.

Definitely can recommend Defiance. Not a game to miss, especially if you want to see an online title that shows how it's done properly. None of that half-baked sissy stuff here, and a worthy investment to boot.

85

Just awesome

DarkTanner2 | May 6, 2013 | See all DarkTanner2's reviews »

Borderlands meets Fallout 3 meets Rift. Pros: -fantastic gameplay -some of the best combat I've ever experienced in an MMO -no subscription fees -looks great on high settings -PvP is very fun, especially Shadow Wars -4 man instances are superb -some fun vehicles to cruise around the map in -Arkfalls (world events) -tons of tons of weapons to customize and use .

I really enjoyed the openness of this game, jumping from one quest to another while other people helping me take on some grotesque alien boss! It may take a little while to actually get into, but once you get in the action it becomes a great deal of fun.

85

MMO meets story!

skyforger | May 3, 2013 | See all skyforger's reviews »

I went into this blind, a few days before it was out I decided to pre order it and I am so glad I did.

Most mmo's you grind to the end paying no attention to surroundings or story only to xp and your abilities. Well that has changed with this title, I loved the story from start to finish. I did every main mission and side mission before I tried anything else, and that took me about 50 hours alone. It is so engaging if you like sci fi, very well done and can be humorous at times aswell. There is also a tv show tie in on syfy atm, which is very well done so far. You will be watching it and quotes from the game will pop up and put a big smile on your face. One of the only mmo's where I was hooked on the story.

Now onto the mmo features, you have about 5 dungeons, that play with 3 other people, you kill stuff get xp loot. They can be very challenging and the boss fights are amazing, and very rewarding to beat, you have to hit certain points make it vulnerable and work as a team to take it down. You can res each other as well, so team work is important. You then have two different pvp maps, that play out very differently, and will reward xp and loot badges to buy chests to obtain guns and shields from.

You will go through alot of guns, and that is one of my favorite parts of the game. Its like borderlands, but there are so many different "classes" of guns, that will keep changing the game up. You can choose from 4 main abilities, stealth/speed/distraction(illusion)/increased damage, all last for a certain amount of time. You then expand on those by putting "ego" points into other choices to build your character. This is the equivalent of a skill tree in other mmo's. You also have shadow wars which is a large scale 60 person pvp match that is hectic and alot of fun. You have challenges scattered all about the maps of this game aswell, to compete and earn more ego rank. Even driving about in this game is a complete blast, taking in the scenery and trying to jump gaps.

I put 200 hours in the first 2-3 weeks easily, this game is very addictive, the only downside and why I think its not perfect is atm there is not alot of end game content. I really do hope this will change, though atm I would say 200 hours is a great amount of content for a one off payment.

I whole heartedly recommend this game, if you like sci fi/mmo's/loot fests/3rd person shooters.

86

This game pulled me back in!

Deathraiser898 | April 26, 2013 | See all Deathraiser898's reviews »

I had just about given up on MMOs for good. I am a former WoW player (from original until Cataclysm) and simply got burned out. I got tired of the grinding/farming and also the $15 subscription fee. I tried Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, and they are okay but too much like WoW and unless you have lots of friends to raid or do dungeon runs with it just isn't much fun and feels like a grind. I play occasionally. I even tried The Secret World and although the puzzles are fun, the click for action skill for your character just makes it look like a gimped version of WoW. I was hoping TSW would be more like Defiance as far as combat (I hope Defiance copies some puzzle ideas and story elements from TSW) and that's where Defiance delivers, with it's fast paced third-person shooter action.

Defiance is a Buy to play Shooter MMO, which you can play with friends, but also which you can play solo with just random players joining in to complete quests. I have been playing the game since launch and have had lots of fun in all the different gameplay options (from driving challenges to blitz kill stuff challenges). You don't really need to group to help each other out on quests (so far) and grouping will only happen automatically on co-op maps. I have enjoyed the co-op instances which are very much like dungeons only there is no tank or healer!(awesome) I have noticed that for the PC version there is no problems with lag even when 30-40 payers get together to kill huge enemies. The servers were down minimally on launch day and the servers have been on each time I have played during peak hours since then without a hitch.

I haven't tried PvP yet, but look forward to that. Defiance is the only game I have played since launch day and so far I am very much looking forward to see which direction the game goes. The shooter aspect can get a bit repetitive, but the enemy types have varied so much and tactics chosen to defeat them that so far, at least for me, that hasn't been a negative. It's a shooter, you shoot things. And I love to shoot things after a stressful day at work.

I would compare the game play to a mix of Mass Effect and Borderlands (especially the loot system). You can crouch and get behind cover (not sticky cover). Sometimes you have to rush the enemy and sometimes stay back and some weapons types will work better against others just depending on the enemy. I find that getting a good high ground with cover usually works well, except when an enemy has a RPG or similar explosives that can knock you from a specific area. There are also different kinds of snares involved. The graphics are pretty good for an MMO (better than the major ones out there right now). But of course, it will not be as good as Bioshock Infinite which is a great game in it's own right. The cutscenes are not the best I have seen (especially compared to TSW) but they aren't as bad as GW2 or WoW and they are usually short. You can skip them, but I am trying to enjoy the story and I hope it gets better as I go along.

There is a lot of customization just like many other MMOs. Some review claims there are only 4 faces and 4 classes. I think that is a gross mischaracterization. There are many face options, true there are only 2 races and you can be either male or female, but you can then modify the look of your character from the nose, to the lips, to the hair, to the skin tone, etc. And as far as I can tell, there aren't really classes. You can have one of either 4 skill trees. However, there are many weapon types and each can do elemental damage and can be modified. There are also tons of different clothing options, vehicle options, and title options.

I highly recommend this game. I think if you love Borderlands or Mass Effect you will like this game which adds an MMO twist which makes it more exciting. And if you hate grinding and the whole bland tank /healer / dps (same old tired MMO archetype) then you should give this game a try. I love it and I am definitely going to get the season pass. Just when I thought I was out, Defiance pulled me back in.

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