Behind its identikit theme and terrible name, XDefiant is the perfect antidote to those tired of Call of Duty’s modern-day bloat

I’m having fun with XDefiant. There are caveats, but sometimes simplicity is best, something that Ubisoft seems to have grasped with the release of it’s newest free-to-play FPS, which incomprehensibly pits nameless mooks from the developer’s collection of franchises against each other in tense player vs player arena brawls that are fast-paced and just the right side of overwhelming. 

As someone hurtling towards his mid-30s and desperately nostalgic for a time when I could play Call of Duty...