The rise of battle royale and extraction shooters over the past few years has come at the cost of the 6v6 arena shooter. What was once the dominant form of multiplayer in the 2010s following the explosive release ofCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfarehas taken a backseat over the past few years with only Call of Duty and Battlefield catering to those fans. Even then, both franchises have had their questionable releases at a time when players' hunger for arena shooters is returning. EnterXDefiant, Ubisoft’s attempt to satiate that hunger. With a marketing angle focused heavily on the lack of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), the free-to-playXDefiantaims to capitalize on the woes of Call of Duty and Battlefield, all while taking some shots at hero shooters like Overwatch. Does this mishmash of Ubisoft franchises and game ideas coalesce into a great competitive FPS experience or is this another trend-chasing game destined to be shut down?
XDefianteschews any form of narrative or lore cohesion to explain its setup. There’s no overarching narrative to explain why various Tom Clancy and Ubisoft IP with clashing tones are suddenly battling in environments ripped from the franchises. Why are the spy faction Echelon going loud? Why are Dedsec, a faction known for hacking and not firing guns (usually) engaging in open conflict? Doesn’t matter.XDefiantkeeps it simple at the cost of its identity.
It’s Call of Duty. No, its Overwatch. No wait, its both?
That sense of simplicity extends to the core of the FPS design.XDefianthearkens back to the early days of Call of Duty in terms of its shooting mechanics, movement and map design. The frenetic, hit-scan gunplay that rocketed Call of Duty to popularity back in 2007 is fully present here. Movement has an inherent clunkiness to it compared to modern Call of Duty’s smoothness. Maps maintain a three-lane design, yet also prioritize various power positions. There are even three game modes that feel ripped straight from Call of Duty: Domination, Occupy (Hardpoint) and Hot Shot (Kill Confirmed with elements of Cranked mixed in). Oddly, the game is lacking Team Deathmatch, a no-brainer for this style of game.
Weaponry is basic and familiar, but it gets the job done. The M4A1, AK-47, MP5 and the Desert Eagle are all common weapons and are all here. While it may take some time to master the guns’ recoil patterns, the lack of bullet velocity and the hit-scan nature of gunplay, once mastered, you’ll find a fun experience reminiscent of older Call of Duty titles. The 25 base weapons are fine, though Ubisoft missed a key opportunity to diversify the weapon pool and inject some much-needed character into the game. For example, where areFar Cry 6’sResolver weapons,Ghost Recon’sfuturistic weapons or Dedsec’s numerous hacking tools? It would have been nice to see weapons and equipment in the pool that can’t be found in any other shooter.
XDefiantclearly wants to be like old school Call of Duty, and mostly succeeds at this core level, but then there’s the other half of XDefiant.XDefiantdoesn’t just want to be Call of Duty, it also wants to beOverwatch. Each of the five launch factions plays a different role in battle with two active Abilities to choose from, a Passive Ability and an Ultimate Ability. The Cleaners (The Division) act as attackers, Libertad (Far Cry 6) as healers, Phantoms (Ghost Recon) as tanks, Echelon (Splinter Cell) as recon and Dedsec (Watch Dogs) as disruptors. It’s important to note that Dedcec is locked behind a paywall or a massive XP grind. Paired with these hero shooter mechanics are two game modes focused on teamwork: Escort and Zone Control.
The game launches fourteen maps ripped straight from locations across various Ubisoft titles, with ten focused on the Arena modes (Hot Shot, Occupy, and Domination) and four on the Progression modes (Escort and Zone Control). Overall, the maps are well-designed with only a few stinkers, though the map selection pulls a little too heavily from The Division. Holding back the maps is a questionable spawn algorithm that’s far too happy to spawn players in enemy territory, especially in faster-paced modes like Occupy and Hot Shot. It’s hard to imagine a spawn system as aggravating asCall of Duty: Modern Warfare IIIat its launch, butXDefiantmanages to come close.
A lack of focus, a lack of polish, a lack of earnable content
XDefiant’smajor issue, outside technical problems, is in its lack of balancing its competing mechanics. As a competitive arena shooter in the vein of Call of Duty,XDefiant’shero shooter elements create balancing issues where certain abilities are clearly better than others. Echelon’s wall hacks, invisibility suit and undetectable passive make the faction great at staying off the radar and finding enemies quickly. Meanwhile, Libertad’s healing items, Ultimate and quicker health regeneration make them hard not to pick in a game where the time-to-kill is fast. All of the other factions are either situational or downright useless compared to Echelon and Libertad, especially given how short cooldown times are.
On the flip side, however, as a hero shooter, the fast time-to-kill and various weapons don’t promote the type of team gameplay and cohesion necessary for it to function. There’s not much of a point in being a team player when it’s going to be easier and more beneficial to your stats to take out as many enemies as possible. This extends to the current meta, where the sniper and marksman rifles reign supreme thanks to their one-hit kill potential, low recoil and low flinch when shot.
Assault rifles and SMGs languish in the middle with decent fire rates and range, but its the shotguns, LMGs and pistols that feel useless with major drawbacks when compared to the other weapons. Why would anyone pick the Phantoms to set up defensive maneuvers when it’s just better to pick a sniper and Libertad to go on a killstreak?XDefiantwants to be both a fast-paced competitive arena shooter and a hero shooter, but is unable find the balance to stand out in either category.
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Yara may be an awful place to live, but playing Far Cry 6 is well worth the trip to the rotten paradise.
Of course, it’s impossible to talk aboutXDefiantwithout mentioning its lack of SBMM. It’s the one feature Ubisoft has marketed most heavily, and to their credit, the game does deliver, though it’s a double-edged sword. Lobbies do focus on connection, ensuring that lag is kept to a minimum. The game does annoyingly stop what you’re doing to “Create a Match” every time you search for one, but the results are always matches that prioritize ping rather than skill.
The lack of SBMM, however, highlightsXDefiant’sbiggest technical issue: its server sync. Hit registration is hit-and-miss, the TTK oftentimes swings back and forth between being horribly slow and lightning quick, and poor tracking leads to deaths from around the corner. It’s aggravating how often you’ll get hit markers but do no damage or how often you’ll think you’ve escaped around a corner just to drop dead. It too often leaves manyXDefiantmoments feeling unpolished, cheap and unfair.
XDefiantalso doesn’t have much to do beyond its five game modes. All weapons and palette swap characters are locked behind basic challenges. Meanwhile, weapon attachments and three mastery skins are locked behind some of the worst grinding in any competitive shooter. Other than that, all other weapon and character skins are locked behind paywalls and the Battle Pass. There’s no suite of camos to unlock, no additional character skins to earn and no additional earnable factions beyond Dedsec, who themselves are held ransom behind a ludicrous grind or a $10 charge. WhileXDefiantis a free-to-play game and microtransactions are expected, it’s disappointing to see how little is available for players to earn and unlock through normal gameplay.
Closing Comments:
The world of competitive arena FPS titles needs fresh blood. Call of Duty is still mostly good, but the genre sorely needs an injection of new titles and ideas.XDefiantdoesn’t offer that, instead preferring to package together disparate ideas for better or worse. WhenXDefiantclicks, it clicks. The core mechanics that are so reminiscent of old school Call of Duty feel good and deliver an exhilarating experience. Weapons and maps are solid, though don’t do much to helpXDefiantstand out amongst the military shooter crowd, something that could have been helped if the selections leaned more into what makes each Ubisoft franchise unique. WhereXDefianthurts is its lack of identity, lack of polish and its hunger for cash.
Ubisoft’s attempt to blend two disparate genres together backfires, creating massive balancing issues and diluting both experiences. Its lack of polish on the server side leads to outright aggravating and uneven experiences. Finally, whileXDefiantis free-to-play, the fact that there’s little earn and outright unlock leaves little incentive to stick with the game beyond a couple of matches occasionally.XDefiantprovides that solid, fun FPS action in small doses, but is sorely held back by a lack of focus, polish and earnable content.
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Ubisoft’s XDefiant is an online PvP shooter that focuses on fast-paced team-based gameplay. Taking inspiration from the publisher’s popular IPs, the game features factions and characters that represent franchises like Splinter Cell and Far Cry. Available on most modern systems, XDefiant is a free-to-play project.
