REVIEW - xDefiant is a solid but unremarkable effort that lacks meaningful differentiation
Overpowered goggles.
By Jonathan Garrett
28/05/24
Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
xDefiant is a smart conceptual play from Ubisoft. Leveraging their substantial and well supported IP in a fast paced, COD-esque shooter is a great way to turn heads in an era when the same selection of previous gen titles have captured the lions share of ongoing play. Unfortunately, the end result is a game that skews far too closely to its counterparts, with a lack of a meaningful iteration that feels hollow.
There are some redeeming qualities to be found here. The three lane map design is largely a winner, and a wonderful antidote to COD’s recent painful obsession with intricate death boxes populated by endless peaking spots. xDefiant will make you feel as though you’re being outplayed by skill rather than camping, with character visibility and hit detection that appears more consistent than most.
Character abilities are generally secondary to the gun play, with a significant build up required for most ultimate moves to be unleashed. A couple of the classes could do with some balance tweaks (curse you intel suit!) but moment to moment it’s more about controlling sightlines and playing the objective. The absence of killstreaks ensures that higher level players are primarily serving the teams goals rather than their own stats.
But if you put in the hours, the cracks begin to reveal themselves. Performance is solid but the visuals are lacklustre. Given that they’re using the Snowdrop Engine, which powers the sumptuous Division titles, this feels like an odd step back. It looks like a previous gen game, which is even more egregious since it’s current gen only.
Three of the five available game modes are variations on zone control, with the others replicating Overwatch’s Escort and Modern Warfare’s Kill Confirmed. The lack of meaningful differentiation is particularly apparent, and extends to the challenges, menu design, and overall feel. xDefiant is competent in the areas that matter, but there’s not enough in here right now to justifiably tear you away from other things.
That drill is as satisfying and crunchy to use as it looks.
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
NAH.
xDefiant is a by the numbers shooter that doesn’t do enough to carve its own identity.
BUT
If you’re looking for something to replace Call of Duty multiplayer, the map design is certainly an improvement.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
