"...abilities that are not oppressive or overpowered leave the gameplay feeling fresh enough..."
PC | PS5 | XBOX SERIES
HOW I PLAYED: Mostly on the PS5 with some matches on PC, Connected via Wi-Fi to my ASUS Modem Router with 100/40mbps Internet connection.
STORY - 15/15
INTRO
Ubisoft went with the easy win here by deciding to make XDefiant be a shooter "hub" for all their IP to be added with each as their own "Faction"; its genius. Allowing them to slowly add more of their IP and add extra operators and to each Faction. This also helps draw players across from their other games, like Rainbow Six: Siege, which has been very popular for a long time. I do wonder if they will add Assassin's Creed to the list of Factions in the future... This may ruffle some feathers.
CUTSCENES
Cutscenes are of Ubisoft's high quality. They are short and serviceable, but are not trying to be something they are not and it's appreciated. First person shooter players looking to play a fast paced shooter are not likely wanting a full "movie experience" from this game.
WORLD BUILDING
This is where the choice to have XDefiant as an IP hub has paid off beautifully. The world building was done in other games and then transferred here and because it is a hub it means Ubisoft has removed the risk of people not liking the overall World of XDefiant. No real world building in the cutscenes, but for a game like this, players didn't come for the lore or story.
GRAPHICS - 12/15
CHARACTER MODELS
Highly detailed with slightly less polish than Call of Duty. Definitely has the look of a Ubisoft game.
ENVIRONMENTS
Maps are well designed and polished. Each map has its own look and feel. They are a little forgettable or generic.
SPECIAL FX
There is a good amount of fire and explosions in XDefiant. Ubisoft have done a nice job to polish these animations well and make the gameplay feel solid.
PERFORMANCE - 15/15
FRAME RATE
The term "Rock Solid" comes to mind. The only recorded dips were when the game would end and the dip was from 60fps to 58fps. Definitely appreciated in a fast-paced FPS game.
STABILITY
During my playtime I have had no major issues with stability. There has been no crashes or lock ups at all.
NETWORK STABILITY
I have been getting consistently low ping and no major lagging or rubber-banding during matches. I have, however, been kicked out one match upon entering; unsure on the reason for this. Afterwards I was put straight back into matchmaking.
AUDIO - 8/10
ADJUSTABLE OPTIONS
You won't be able to turn "footstep" sounds up and lower all other settings to get an edge, but XDefiant still has a few options to tweak for those of you wanting to perfect the sound levels for your sound system.
SOUND DESIGN
Sounds are immersive and from the footsteps to the commentator, the sounds are all of good quality. Snipers to handguns, weapons all have their own unique sounds that makes them feel nice to use. However, the sound quality does seem a little less "impressive" than I had hoped.
REPLAYABILITY - 16/20
MATCHMAKING
I played every match in the "Welcome Playlist". All matches had nice, low ping for everyone, and matches were not overly "sweaty"/competitive. A good spread of wins and losses. Some close matches, some blowouts; each way. I found that I met up with different people nearly every match too. So, in Australia at least, there must be a big playerbase already.
INCENTIVES
The Battle Pass is the main incentive to keep progressing. Secondary is to complete various weapon challenges to unlock different skins for those weapons. The third main incentive was to unlock the only locked Faction, DedSec from Watch Dog 2, with experience. The game does allow you to purchase the Dedsec Faction with in-game currency to skip the experience requirement. But more on currency later.
NEW CONTENT
Even being Preseason, there was still a Battle Pass. Which has 50 tiers. 9 tiers (along the 50 tiers) being available for free players, but the rest of the tiers required buying the Battle Pass. The Battle Pass does not unlock ANY weapons or abilities or characters. Ensuring no one can call it "pay-to-win". The Battle pass, if you completed all 50 tiers, will have given you the 700 coins of currency you spent on it back. So, if you did complete it, you effectively got it for free. But more on currency later.
PROGRESSION
This is very slow, after about 1 hour of playtime an "average" player, like myself, will likely have progressed 2 tiers of the 50 tier Battle Pass. This is extremely slow and I have seen a lot of comments reinforcing this. For a new emerging game, Ubisoft will likely want to make this a 100 tier Battle Pass for Season 1 and beyond, but make the same amount of experience get you twice as far. While you can enjoy a game without any Battle Pass, having new unlocks of customization items can keep people going "just one more match"; more often. (Update: Season 1 Battle Pass has 90 Tiers)
GAMEPLAY - 20/25
CONTROLS
Input is responsive and the ability to remap to 8 different button layouts and 3 Stick layouts shows that Ubisoft knows people want to customise their controls. Plenty of other controller settings allow for fine tuning of aim assist and so many other settings too.
MECHANICS
With
the different abilities the Factions control this really feels like the
best parts of Rainbow Six: Siege and Call Of Duty Multiplayer slapped
together, but dropping off the more technical aspects of Siege. For
example, the Cleaners Faction have the choice between having an
Incinerator drone that flies straight ahead delivering Napalm along
below it, or a Firebomb that acts like a Molotov Cocktail grenade, but
YOU are the grenade... This Faction also has Incendiary Rounds in their
guns doing burn damage-over-time. Cleaners are more likely to want to use
something with a high rate of fire, but the choice is up to you. Then
there are the Phantoms, this Faction chooses between a tactical Blitz
Shield, used for bashing enemies while staying relatively safe, or a Mag
Barrier. This is effectively a see-through shield that lets your
bullets go through but blocks the enemies bullets. This Faction was
useful for holding a point or pushing forward in an Escort mission. At
the end of the day, the best way to win is with good aim, but these
Faction abilities keep the gameplay varied and gives the player more freedom to play to the strengths of their play-style over just point and shoot ability.
UI/UE
Clear and clean UI. However, navigating through the menus at first was a little annoying.
SEASONAL MECHANICS
Being Preseason there is technically no season yet. But there is a locked Faction that I will consider to be the Seasonal Mechanic. This Faction has a drone that would run up and block your view, which you could shoot off. But after a patch that ability seemingly went away? Making it seem quite overpowered. I was unable to find confirmation if this was a bug or "working as intended" either way. A little bit disappointing.
BALANCING
Ubisoft has already responded to early player feedback and adjusted/balanced some things. Most notably, increasing flinching when being shot while aiming down sights of a sniper rifle. The choices for abilities
that Ubisoft has gone for feel useful but not game changing, so it
doesn't make the gameplay oppressive or toxic if all team members pick
Phantoms and there are 5 shields to shoot through.
BONUS - 1/2
MTX PRICING
All prices expressed here will be in Australian Dollars.
500c = $7.55, 1,000c =$14.95, 2,100c = $29.95, 5,750c = $75.95, 12,000c = $150.95.
The two prices I will show will be:
First - will be for it they purchased the BEST VALUE coin pack.
Second - assuming the player bought the WORST VALUE coin pack.
Battle Pass: 700 coins. $9 to $10.
RARE Skins: 800 coins. $10 to $12.
EPIC Skins: 1,000 coins. $12.50 to $15.
LEGENDARY Skins: 1,400 coins. $17.50 to $21.
Bundles(2 gun skins, a character skin & a "player card"): 2,900 coins. $36 to $43.
With current pricing for a big budget free-to-play title these prices are quite "reasonable" in the current marketplace.
IN-GAME CURRENCIES
Only one currency. This is the best scenario for a F2P game. However, no option to purchase exact coin amounts. This is normal practice because they need to be set up with the Platform holders (IE PlayStation store). But they have the Battle Pass at 700 coins but do not set up a clean 700 coin purchase option.
TOTAL - 87/100
GREAT
XDefiant is certainly worth my time and seeing how fast lobbies populate, it's clear others are of the same mindset. FPS shooters similar to Call of Duty always gets the pressure of "will this game be the COD killer??". But I really dislike this question. Games can co-exist. Not every new game needs to make another game obsolete to succeed. From my time in XDefiant's Alpha, Beta and Preseason (and seeing how Ubisoft is handling balancing and adding new modes) I can see XDefiant settling with a solid playerbase long term.
TL;DR 87/100 (GREAT) - If you love FPS shooters, there is no reason to not give XDefiant a good try. Fun abilities that are not oppressive or overpowered leave the gameplay feeling fresh enough but not anything like a "hero-shooter".
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