One of the highlights of E3 this year, at least for me, was in a small
room in the Trion Worlds booth. After its success with
style="font-style: italic;">Rift
they've certainly gained the eyes and ears of the media. As it's
shaping up the new title,
style="font-style: italic;">Defiance,
will be ensure that attention stays locked on Trion Worlds.
The team has partnered up with the Syfy network to create an MMO
shooter that shares a world with an upcoming television show on the
Syfy network. The game and show will share personalities, events, and
on occasion, locations. We were also told that players who play through
specific parts of the game and somehow impact its dynamic world could
even end up becoming a part of the lore within the television series,
having their character names written into the show's script.
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This is all fairly alluring when considering new MMOGs, but I found the
real star of the show turned out to be the game's technology. For the
first time ever, a MMO shooter will share servers between the
Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Players on all three platforms will
share the universe, which takes place in the near future in the San
Francisco area.
As has come to be expected from shooters, the game will offer
traditional power ups such as stealth and speed abilities. However, all
of this will take place in a persistent, online, seamless world. There
are no zone lines or loading screens, and the world is open for you to
explore.
But what does Trion Worlds mean by "persistent?" The world evolves
around you. Based on your actions as well as those by other players the
world itself can shift whether you're online or offline. If you log off
in a wooded area that seems quiet at the time, you could end up logging
back in with a new population of NPCs to greet you. This adds
exceptional value to the game as you will never have the same
experience twice, even if you're playing an alternate character
starting off in the same area you've played before.
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Defiance.
There will be multiple servers at
launch, each of which will be able to
support thousands of players at once. The players on these servers will
be able to group up as in traditional MMOGs and will be able to
adventure forth together, sharing experiences, stories and missions.
Yes, the game is mission driven, which work similarly to quests, but
missions are quick to obtain by simply entering particular areas. Each
player in the group will receive the same mission at the same time and
be able to progress through it together.
To Trion Worlds, the game's atmosphere is comparable to
style="font-style: italic;">Halo,
Red
Dead Redemption, and
style="font-style: italic;">Borderlands,
taking elements of each of those games and rolling it into its unique
flavor of shooter. The added bonus here is by taking that approach the
team hopes to add a level of accessibility that will make it a snap for
any player who's had even limited experience in various shooters and
other games to get into the game, involved and on their way to
adventure.
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Team work is a big focus of the game. As we watched the demo one player
would have to provide cover fire for the other teammate to be able to
progress further into their objective. This kind of design can make
grouping not only enjoyable, but a fundamental part of the overall
experience.
Now, enter Rift's
persuasion. Events known as Arkfalls will take place throughout the
world in a somewhat random order. This event happens when a piece of
space debris falls to earth which contains valuable technology or
equipment. These Arkfalls are so valuable, in fact, that players will
find themselves competing against other alien forces to get to it
first. From what we saw, it was hard not to see these Arkfalls as a
Death Rift in TW's flagship:
style="font-style: italic;">Rift.
The mechanics looked similar, but that can be a welcome feature for
many gamers.
We'll be keeping a close eye on Defiance to see how it all unfolds over
the next months and/or years. There is no estimated date for release or
beta.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Defiance Game Page.
