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XDefiant<\/a> is Ubisoft\u2019s latest multiplayer title, a first-person hero-ish shooter that throws together characters from its multiple franchises into one big arena. I got the chance to play XDefiant, and one impression I formed is that Ubisoft is hamstringing itself by keeping the game so Tom Clancy-flavored. While it\u2019s no longer branded as such, XDefiant still carries a heavy Clancy vibe that smothers its charms.<\/p>\n
Ubisoft first announced the game in 2021, when it was called \u201cTom Clancy\u2019s XDefiant.\u201d It\u2019s a multiplayer first-person shooter, where each player selects a character from a faction based on one of Ubisoft\u2019s franchises. These include the Phantoms from Ghost Recon, Echelon from Splinter Cell, Yaran rebels from Far Cry, Cleaners from The Division and DedSec hackers from Watch Dogs.<\/p>\n
Each hero comes with their own abilities based on their home titles \u2014 Echelon spies can go invisible or use their goggles to spy enemies, for example. However, all of them felt similar during gameplay, and this is in part due to the fact that some of these characters are not from FPSes. They suffer somewhat in the transition. This also means that any differences between the factions, in terms of character and design if not gameplay, has been diluted.<\/p>\n
For example, I thought while loading up the preview, \u201cHey, I like Splinter Cell. Perhaps I should try playing one of the Echelon spies.\u201d I didn\u2019t expect the gameplay to be exactly similar, but I was hoping it would at least have the same sort of vibe, for lack of a better term. And it doesn\u2019t \u2014 the aesthetics, powers and shooting are all vastly different from that game\u2019s home series.<\/p>\n
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XDefiant needs to be more light-hearted<\/h2>\n
While playing XDefiant, I can feel a twinkle of hope for some of Ubisoft\u2019s lesser franchises to get a little love in a cross-franchise shooter. Imagine being able to play as someone from Beyond Good and Evil or Prince of Persia? Fans of those games have waited a long time for them to get some love, and Ubisoft has pushed them further and further onto the backburner.<\/p>\n
XDefiant has the potential to give those neglected franchises a breath of air, but it\u2019s held back by a lack of one necessary ingredient: Whimsy. That\u2019s the only way to make these franchises work together \u2014 a devil-may-care disregard for tone. But XDefiant doesn\u2019t have that, and I blame that on the Clancy-ish design decisions embedded in the game so far. While it\u2019s not entirely lacking in amusement, it has that dour, serious attitude so pervasive in works associated with the late author.<\/p>\n
To put it another way, I feel there\u2019s a version of this game where, say, Team Rainbow and the Assassins can be part of the same team and it\u2019ll look and feel right. But the version I played during the preview and beta isn\u2019t it. I look forward, though, to seeing what Ubisoft could do with XDefiant in the future as it adds more characters and maps. Perhaps there\u2019s hope for some levity.<\/p>\n
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\n Rachel Kaser<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
April 21, 2023 2:22 PM Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. Register here. XDefiant is Ubisoft\u2019s latest multiplayer title, a first-person hero-ish shooter that throws together characters from its multiple franchises into one big arena. I got the chance to play XDefiant, and one impression I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":634138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3883,46,121871],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-634137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-needs","8":"category-technology","9":"category-xdefiant"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Event<\/h3>\n\nGamesBeat Summit 2023<\/p>\nJoin the GamesBeat community in Los Angeles this May 22-23. You\u2019ll hear from the brightest minds within the gaming industry to share their updates on the latest developments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n