Review: New Defiance content offers little excitement
Early this week Defiance was given new free content entitled The Plague which in no way attempts to fix the game’s many problems including network outages, long patch times and overall repetitive gameplay.
The trailer for The Plague caused a good deal of hype within the game’s community, but sadly the gameplay is far less stimulating than depicted. The new content feels exactly like old missions, but this time with small cosmetic changes. The Plague is simply a larger patch for the game that gives enemies a new appearance to make them resemble the cliché zombie and grants the player a few more missions.
While the content is free to any owner of the game, it is still asking for more than anybody is willing to give.. their time. The content drags on for several hours with typical search and seizer missions, but nothing here is special. The content in Defiance still falls victim to mediocre cut-scenes, under-par voice acting and a general lack of purpose even several months after release and tens of patch updates. The gaming community has given this product their time and money and frankly the outcome is not worth it.
Developer Trion Worlds will be offering weekly episodic updates to the game that build upon the zombie-like content. The developer has also stated that gamers can change the outcome of the correlating SyFy show for the June 17th episode that will follow The Plague’s theme, but since the episode has already been shot one might question the validity of that statement.
The effort from Trion Worlds is nice to see, but the game’s structure is so pointless that no matter how they spin it the game still feels boring. Gamers need to feel that what they are doing matters and this content update fails to build on that major flaw.
Overall The Plague feels like a sad attempt at revitalizing a game that many have lost interest in. If Trion Worlds really wants to blow consumer’s minds, then one might suggest making the game a rewarding and interactive experience. If you love the game then this is a nice way to spend a few hours in the world, but if you were never a fan of the game then this is not a piece of content that will change your mind.
My advice is to skip it and spend your time elsewhere. The content is a rather poor addition to a generally lousy game.