Challenge review

Presentation

Almost everything in Defiance seems to be a year or two behind everything else. Textures and patterns certainly look dated and there is a distinct lack of detail in what appears on screen. Additionally, animations have a stiffness that prevents movements from flowing smoothly as you wish. Even at high settings, draw distances don’t improve and the rest of the graphics don’t improve at all.

Likewise, the soundscape isn’t exciting in terms of both the soundtrack and the effects you hear as you travel the game world. Voice acting is an advantage, with performances consistently good, albeit too short and infrequent.

Final verdict

Defiance’s core gameplay and setting have a lot of potential. It definitely offers a chance to have some senseless fun while shooting many bad guys.

However, you can’t help but feel that this is a missed opportunity to create a truly exceptional game. All the problems mean that most players are unlikely to want to invest too much time in what is a flawed game.