XDefiant
It’s been a while, but Ubisoft’s arcade FPS XDefiant is finally out today on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Ubisoft Connect (frustratingly, the game isn’t coming to Steam at least for now).
This is a big deal simply because it’s the first first-person shooter in a long time to actively go up against Activision’s behemoth, Call of duty. The gameplay is very similar in both titles (with some pretty big differences), but Ubisoft’s shooter boasts one big change: No skill-based matchmaking in casual games. SBMM caused great divisions among mechanics Call of duty and other shooters. It’s intended to keep matches as competitive as possible by grouping players of similar skill levels, but many players believe that a system that puts more emphasis on ping makes more sense and leads to more enjoyable matches.
We’ll find out today when the game goes live at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Here’s the trailer:
I played XDefiant during several of its pre-release betas and server tests and I have pretty mixed feelings at this point. Like huge Call of duty fan, I’m generally much less critical of SBMM than many in the community. I also find common online complaints about modern Call of duty mostly quite silly. In addition to SBMM, these are usually:
- “There hasn’t been a good Call Of Duty since [insert Call Of Duty game here]” often from people who haven’t actually played the franchise since said game.
- “The game is just trying to be Fortnite now” because it sells skins and Battle Passes. I’m never sure why this is worse than the paid mappacks that share the install base, but ok.
- “Modern Warfare III is simply an overrated DLC” for a game that has brand new weapons, a completely overhauled perk system, tons of new maps on top of the MW2 2009 map, and the smoothest movement and tightest gameplay of any game in the entire series.
I’m pretty sure a lot of fans just haven’t followed the series or haven’t played a single beta weekend and passed judgment without getting used to the new systems, movement, and so on. Nostalgia is all well and good, but blind nostalgia—like blind adoration—makes even the best of us act like idiots. The fact is, if you go back and play the older Call of Duty titles, they are much more shabby and less smooth than the current games. You don’t like them more because they’re better, you like them more because you played them at a certain, important time in your life. You miss those days, and that’s okay. (And sure, some of the older single-player campaigns were better, no doubt about that; I’m talking about multiplayer here, because XDefiant is multiplayer only).
This is also a big reason why people are mad at SBMM. The fact is that there are more, better players now than ever before. Lobbies are sweatier than ever. People were playing Call of duty For two decades now, children have been growing up with these kinds of games. SBMM might make it worse, but I guarantee it XDefiant it will have a bunch of sweaty players and frustrating matches.
Still, I think it will be a great experiment. I do not think XDefiant is Call Of Duty killer but I’m happy to have competition and I’m happy to play another game when I get bored Call of duty. This is also a good time. Modern Warfare III/Warzone we have a week left of season 3 before the big launch of season 4, and it gives XDefiant all week to catch as many CoD players as possible.
I’ll play today and report back with my findings.
UPDATE:
I’m actually not going to play because the servers are apparently down! Whoops! I guess he’s back on Call Of Duty, which is doing just fine. . . .