Initial Impressions: Defiance (Beta)

I'm going to come right out and say this. From what I've seen of it this past weekend, "Defiance" is a great game. Not only that, but this is one of those exceedingly-rare cases where I can say that with almost no qualification.

So often when presented with a new game, I find myself conflicted about it on some level. I may like 90% of what it does but then some nagging shortcoming or fatal flaw rears its head and forces me to temper my enthusiasm for it.

"Defiance" is the first game in a very long time where I struggle to find the flaws in it. Beyond that, it feels fresh and exciting and compelling in a way that no MMO has for me since "World of Warcraft" (WoW).

A lot of really epic stuff happens in "Defiance" and I suspect that
most people would enjoy experiencing it.

But that's not because "Defiance" is anything like WoW. It isn't. If anything, it's more like the MMO offspring of "Borderlands" and "Fallout 3," with a little something extra swirled in for good measure, and almost nothing bad or tedious allowed into the mix.

Okay. Okay. I'll be a good little blogger and point out the handful of warts I've seen– like how the enemy AI can be a bit thick at times, or how some of the vendors could use filtering or sorting options to streamline access to their extensive wares, or how steering vehicles with the keyboard can be a bit twitchy, or how the user interface is occasionally cryptic– but none of that really matters.

As I've often said, there's no such thing as a perfect game. What's amazing about "Defiance" is how good it is prior to its release.

Oh, there are technical issues to be sure. Players in the same group can get out of sync and lose track of each other if they get too far apart or there's a hiccup in the game server. A friend of mine had the "View" and "Delete" buttons on the inventory screen not appear for him when he pulled it up once and I had to log out and back in a couple times to interact with the occasional quest objective. But again, that's not the point.

Everything that's technically wrong with "Defiance" in its current beta state can and likely will be fixed, and is overwhelmingly outweighed by what's right about it.

The only real question is whether or not players will find the core gameplay appealing. "Defiance" is a game about shooting things in a somewhat tactical manner. Dodging, taking cover, switching weapons, flanking, retreating, focusing fire, hitting weak spots for critical damage– all these things and more are required at various times during the game. Brute force may get the job done but it's not usually the best option for success.

Additionally, this is a game built from the ground up for co-op. While it's certainly possible to solo most of the content I saw in beta, you're rarely going to feel overpowered as an individual. To me, this represents the best kind of co-op, where you drastically benefit from the help of your friends and are often rewarded both experientially and via better loot for playing as a team.

Simply cruising around the game's world with your friends
can be a fun and exhilarating experience.

The gunplay, the weapon variety and customization, the mixture of traditional and dynamic questing, the sense of scale and exploration in the game world, the social systems, everything that really matters and is fundamental to the game's nature is just plain sublime. It's that once in a blue moon game that manages to take things you've done a million times before as a gamer and make them feel new and exciting again.

If you like shooters and you don't have this game on your radar or if you were dismissive of it, thinking there was no way that a game built to tie into a "SyFy Channel" TV series was going to amount to anything, it's time to reconsider. There is something to this game– something special that doesn't come around very often and it would be a shame to let it pass without due consideration.

Having said all that, I'm acutely aware that I've only experienced part of the game as a beta tester and that it would be irresponsible to recommend that you folks purchase it based on that; however, I've also gotten more satisfaction and enjoyment out of that beta than I have out of most of the "finished" games I've played recently. It's simply that good and that's not something I say lightly.

Defiance (via Steam)