Summary
XDefiantis an action-packed arena shooter that has factions from across the Ubisoft franchises doing battle in different urban settings. These intense fights aren’t devoid of rules, with each game mode bringing its own twist to how you face your opponents.
At launch, XDefiant started with five game modes, each with its own style and type of map to match. These themes are linear and arena battles, so with maps designed specifically for each type of confrontation, the game modes in XDefiant are mostly balanced, but not all areas fun as they can be.
5Zone Control
A Conga Line To The Finish
Out of the two game modes that take place on linear maps, Zone Control is the most simplistic. One team starts on the offensive, trying to take a point highlighted on the map, as the other team tries to stop them; if the attackers take the point, another one is revealed until all three are taken.
Zone Control is similar to various modes in the arena maps, but clearly balanced to use the design philosophy of linear maps. This means that each control point is always on the same spot, and matches move forward at the same general pace.
While there’s nothing technically wrong with that, linear maps are better in the game’s other mode, where the linearity of the map makes the mode shine. Arena maps are better suited for capturing objectives, so Zone Control ends up feeling like the lesser gameplay challenge when compared to those.
4Occupy
Fight For A Single point
Occupy is another mode of capturing a point on the map but on arena maps. Much like Zone Control, the area to take control of will change place, but it does so after a set period of time instead of when fully captured by a player.
While this gives it a more dynamic feel than Zone Control, the frantic chase for the point ends up getting in the way of the gameplay. You might be immersed in a fight, either defending or attacking, only to realize that the fight no longer has meaning since the point moved to a different spot ages ago.
3Escort
Move That Robot Buddy
Escort is the only other linear map mode, where players have to escort a four-legged robot from one point of the map to the other. While there is a time limit to do this, time is added to the timer whenever the robot reaches a checkpoint, changing each team’s respawn zones accordingly.
Each team will have an opportunity to push the payload, and if both teams get the robot to the zone in time, the one that does it the fastest wins. The shootouts are as tense as ever in this mode, and you can even take cover behind the robot as you push it.
The main downside of Escort is how long the matches can be, sincetwo teams of equally skilled playerswill have the longest matches with how the mode is balanced. Compared to how fast paced the other modes are, this one can feel like a chore, even if the gameplay is as tight as ever.
2Domination
The Ultimate Capture Mode
Domination is another arena mode about capturing points, but this time, there are three points from the get-go, and they never move. Instead, players have to capture a point to earn points, and the first one to reach the required amount wins.
Players don’t need to stay on a point once it is captured, it will earn points for them until an enemy player captures it back.
Since the points are always spread the same way (one near each team’s spawn point and one in the middle of the map), you’re able to plan your strategy while adapting to what your opponents are doing. Even when outmatched, you can still take a chance at taking the point on their base, making their team have to split between attacking the middle point and defending their own.
All these factors make Domination not only a great game mode but a better one for beginners. Shooter games can be daunting to get into, but having a mode where your deaths don’t matter as much as in others, you’re able to rush back into the action and feel like you’re truly defending a point.
1Hot Shot
It’s Kill Or Be Killed
Hot Shot is about pure skill and raking up kills since you need to make points by killing other players. However, you not only need to put them down, you also need to collect the token that appears once a player is defeated, otherwise the point won’t count.
If an ally player takes the token of a fallen teammate, the point is completely nullified. This means that, while the mode rewards individual skill more than other modes,there is room for team play and strategysince a lone wolf facing multiple players will have a hard time collecting tokens.
The token system, while not new to the shooter genre, helps avoid more boring styles of play, like constant sniping. They do reward hit-and-run tactics, cloaking, and overall ambushes, but that would only get old if this was the game’s only mode.
