Defiance

Defiance is an online MMO shooter that allows thousands of players to participate in a story that at the same time is being unfolded in a TV show displayed in an American SyFy station. Both the Trion Worlds Studios production and the TV show belong to the same universe, and the events from the TV screen have direct impact on what happens in the game world - and vice versa.

The game takes you into unspecified future when the Earth has become a target of an alien invasion. The planet has been subjected to strong terraforming processes, and its flora and fauna got mixed with samples of organisms imported by aliens from their homeland. Defiance takes you to San Francisco, which is changed almost beyond recognition (the TV series, in turn, is set in St. Louis).

The game’s world is entirely open, and you can move around it practically without any restrictions. The game is a mixture of a dynamic FPS game with elements of classic MMORPG - inspirations from the latter can be seen for example in the combat system, where the accuracy of shots is largely determined by the abilities of characters, as well as in rich possibilities of equipment and weapons modifications.

The main advantage of Defiance is undoubtedly its connection with the TV series of the same title aired simultaneously in the American SyFy station. This allows the developers to draw players’ attention primarily on the story, which intertwines in both cases - on your way you meet characters well-known from the series, take part in major events shown or only mentioned on the screen, and the most outstanding players have an opportunity to be mentioned in a new episode. At key moments in the story there are special events that throw players directly into action of the show.

The game is available not only on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but also on PC. Unfortunately, there is no way for players playing on different platforms to ever meet one another in the game’s world - each has its own set of servers. Defiance has also some other platform-related differences - for example, the PC version has a completely rebuilt interface.

Last updated on 21 November 2014