The Game
There’s a lot of nay-saying about the Defiance game, but I’ve liked it. Sure, it isn’t the most social game, but it takes a lot of pages from Borderlands’ playbook, which is a good thing.
First of all, I like shooter MMO’s. I’d be extremely happy to see a sequel to APB made in this fashion (with less hackers).
While I felt like I -had- to buy new weapons in Planetside2 every month, I’ve spent very little money in Defiance (one outfit and one inventory upgrade in the pay store). Nothing but the boosts are significantly game changing.
I like that getting a mount isn’t a money-grinding hurdle in this game, you get two ATV’s just playing the story line.
The fastest way to level in this game is through completing groups of achievements which is neat. You get your first four Perk Slots relatively quickly, and then the last couple take a long time. It’s an interesting balance, because you keep buying perks at a constant rate, so your builds gradually gain the ability to split off into completely different playstyles. You also level up with specific weapon types.
I’m looking forward to the first DLC, I’m already sold on it. We’ll get to become Castithans (at no extra race-change token charge), and they’re bringing in Charge-up weapons, energy blades, and a new 4-seater vehicle (which I believe will have a turret).
The Show
So the game-show tie in gimmick is carried out by “Episode Missions” that you can see on your map. Basically players get to perform off-camera chunks of storyline that carry into the show. Now there isn’t a direct impact (like if enough people succeed at the mission something happens on the show), but there are still moments when you get to think “I did that!”
Two complete languages were created for the show, and Bear McCreary works on the music (he worked on BSG). They do a pretty decent job of immersing you in the world as it now is, I hope that more of the “alien music” shows up in the show, it was pretty good.