XDefiant’s core modes offer temporarily fun stabs at the competitive multiplayer arena shooter, but Ubisoft’s latest attempt to carve out a slice of the lucrative esports pie feels half-baked. Basic modes such as training mode and ranked queue are closed by construction tape at the time of writing. This leaves a boring combat pass with dizzying progression decisions and standard weapon-based leveling systems as the only tangible means of reward for playing the game or doing much more than a one-on-one match. And with questionable netcode and missing basic features and modes, even its interesting character-shooter-like abilities and slight tweaks to the run-and-gun, low-time-to-kill formula invented by Call of Duty don’t make me want to go back to XDefiant.
Ubisoft’s crossover shooter couldn’t have picked less interesting properties to clash together. While each of the five factions currently available in the game add a cool approach to the game, they aren’t exactly the superstars you think of when you hear Ubisoft. Instead, players step into the arenas as unknown characters from Ded Sec (Watch Dogs), The Cleaners (The Division), Libertad (Far Cry), Echelon (Splinter Cell) or The Phantoms (Ghost Recon); there’s no Sam Fisher or Danny Rojas to recognize or be excited to pick because you liked their game. Each faction has three playable characters (two or more of which you have to unlock in each faction), but they have no distinguishing features between them other than some cosmetic stuff.
Combat is fast, with quick kill times to make every shot count and almost non-existent respawn timers that constantly push you back out of the gate to chase the target and increase your K/D ratio with its hyper-realistic arsenal of weapons and devices. The standout here is XDefiant’s selection of 14 maps, each boasting an abundance of cleverly laid out lanes and chokepoints, with open areas and narrow corridors in various locations to encourage and reward different playstyles.
Getting enough kills in one life unlocks a cool ult to help your team in battle and rack up a few extra kills or extra time on the objective. Here’s where things start to change from the familiar: Ultras, along with a less powerful but still useful secondary ability and useful passive power, vary depending on the faction you choose. Each faction is based on an organization or group from another Ubisoft property and has its own set of specialties and abilities. You can switch between them at any time during gameplay, allowing you to adjust your strategy based on the task at hand.
Let’s say you’re playing Domination, but the other team has a sniper on a perfect line of sight to pick off you and your teammates one by one, keeping you from capturing the point. Placing one of the Phantoms’ magic barriers can help absorb sniper fire long enough for your team to grab a solid foothold and return fire. But as tactical as these abilities can be, XDefiant’s basic setup doesn’t do enough to encourage strategic play instead of simply rushing to the objective and trying to beat the enemy team to a draw until the score limit is reached.
This tug-of-war game doesn’t always feel good, though. The XDefiant’s netcode and hit detection are a long way off; I can’t tell you how many times my game has registered a shot at an opposing player as a hit, only to have them kill me and the game tell me they were at full health after I was knocked down. Even with a wired connection and the best ping in my lobby, I’ve been shot through walls while moving and even killed while hiding behind cover that’s supposed to block my entire body.
It’s only been a week since I first installed XDefiant, but I don’t think I’ll miss it from my hard drive. While the gameplay is fun enough at its core, the game is barren compared to most other shooters – including free-to-play – with even core modes like team deathmatch and free-for-all or features like a ping system or skill-based matchmaking nowhere to be found. Its maps are well made, sure, but with no rank to aim for, daily missions that keep me committed to playing ten full matches, and very little to look forward to in the battle pass, I don’t see why this game will gain some appeal over others besides the fact that it is free.
