When you hear the name Blizzard Entertainment a few famous games come to mind like World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Stagecraft. So when Blizzard announced they were developing a brand new title for a genre they have never released in before, the gaming world took notice. The hype continued to build and following the staggering success of a beta period it was now time to release the game to the world. That game is Overwatch, but can it live up to the hype and deliver a new very different FPS experience?
Overwatch grabbed my attention when it was first announced not just because it was Blizzard developing it but the first trailer really surprised me. Looking more like a new Pixar animated film than a game trailer, it introduced is to several of the Overwatch characters fighting it out in a museum dedicated to a once great team of Heroes. These heroes banded together during the Omnic Crisis, when the world and humanity was threatened by evil AI controlled robots. Once peace was achieved and the crisis over, the world turned against the Overwatch, banding them criminals and they were forced to disband and forbidden to form again or take any action. Years have passed and with the world enjoying a seemingly peaceful truce between humans and robots, Winston the super intelligent great ape is troubled with violent events breaking out. Following an attack on Winston by Widowmaker and Reaper, who attempted to hack into the AI Arena to steal information about the locations of former Overwatch members, Winston makes the decision to break the law and recall Overwatch to action once more.
Sadly this is as far as the story goes as Overwatch has no story mode to continue that story further and that for me is a huge shame. The back story of some of the characters is told in several animated shorts that released in the run up to Overwatch coming out, and really are big screen quality. The very fact that the game itself opens with Winston briefly explaining why Overwatch is needed again would be an ideal intro into a story campaign that would bring that world to life and its something that continues to bug me each time I fire the game up.
So what exactly is Overwatch as a game, well it is really a team based shooter at its core that pits all 21 characters against each other in a series of objective based matchups in multiple locations around the world. As you can see from the image above, Overwatch has a huge roster of very different and uniquely powered and skilled characters to take into battle. Rather than separating them into a traditional class based system, they are instead grouped together by their playing style and team roles into one of four groups; Offended, Defence, Support and Tank.
The character designs really are something special and each character has their own playing style and individuality that resonates long after you have stopped playing. It simply has that Blizzard magic that brings them to life instantly on-screen, even before the match begins. From the exquisite Reaper to the fast paced Tracer or the delicious Widowmaker to the tanks Reinhardt and Winston, the intricate design of each one really is something else for a first person shooter. Each has a standard skill sets that can be triggered in a fight and will combine their own powers or equipment and once used will have a cool down before they can be activated again. As you play, the character’s Ultimate move will charge up and depending on your character type will deliver a power move. Experimenting and trying out new characters and learning how they play is one of the most attractive aspects to Overwatch.
Once you have selected your character there are four game types to battle out in:
• Assault – One team Attacks a series of objectives whilst the other team must defend those objectives from being captured.
• Escort – The attacking team must protect and deliver a payload vehicle through its route through the map by helping it reach checkpoints before the final delivery point. The defending team must prevent the payload reaching the end goal and if they can prevent the other team reaching a checkpoint or the final objective they win.
• Control – Both teams must fight to control a specified area on a map, once under a team’s control the score counter begins and the first team to reach 100% domination wins that round. The team to win two rounds wins.
• Assault/Escort – This is a hybrid game mode which sees one team as Attackers who must capture a zone in order to release the payload vehicle and must then escort it to the end objective. The defending team can win by preventing the zone from being captured or by preventing the payload from being delivered.
The action can be fast and frantic and has a tremendous arcade feel to the pace of each game type. When attacking you must work together to break down and through the defences of the opposing team, who will have a minute at the start of each match to set up their defence, who often camp up right at the attacking Team’s base. Now that may seem harsh but it comes at a price for the defending team who if killed will respawn at their base often a long distance from the starting objective giving the attackers some respite. Respawn are pretty quick so you are never out of the game for too long and either on death or by returning to your team base you can change your character which is great if things are not going well or should the team need a change in tactics. You can also have more than once character on a team as selection is not locked down, which can be both very fun or extremely frustrating and the below video can show where purely at random the team I was on suddenly all selected the same character Me and during an Escort match on Dorado essentially brought an ice age to the other team!
With so many character’s to choose, it can be challenging to master all their playing styles to not just get the most of them when using them but also when competing against them to know how to deal with them in the different match types. I firmly believe that each character can be countered by another character, so even during frustrating matches when the other team may be all using the same character and really power playing their style, knowing which characters may be able to break through is as key as the team work needed to win the match. Should you face a line of Bastion’s or Torbjorn’s turrets and you are fighting to reach that checkpoint escort or to contest a capture zone, you could use Winston and his ability to leap or Reaper’s ability to teleport to get behind the enemy team and take them out. Knowing and understanding a character’s role in the team truly is essential to getting the most out of Overwatch.
The action is fun, fluid and at times can be frantic but as amazing fun the action is, I can’t help but feel something is missing for the full retail asking price this game has. The characters cannot not be leveled up, instead all XP earned from playing will level you up as a player. Each level will reward you with a loot box to open, each one can contain up to four cosmetic items that range from character skins to graffiti rags for each character and voice lines. But that is it, all you can unlock by playing are cosmetics which whilst great additions such as some of the legendary skins, gave me the niggle that Overwatch feels like a game you have already played to completion and that you are now playing just for fun. After playing the closed and open beta to death, the only thing that was added to the full release were new cosmetics.
Another issue for me is that the loot boxes can give cosmetics for any of the 21 characters, so you could open many and never get anything of with for the characters you use the most. I had to reach level 32 before the loot system rewarded me my very first legendary skim but it was for a character I rarely use. There is an ingame credit system to buy new cosmetics in coins which only come from loot boxes but again, these are random and the best looking cosmetics are rather pricey!
I really enjoy playing Overwatch both as a solo player with randoms but especially with friends that just takes the gameplay to a new level. It has a great tutorial system for trying out new characters and you can have custom games with friends or you can tackle the AI in matches, picking a difficulty that suits you. There is a weekly themed mode in ‘Arcade Brawl’s that is fun but it is the lack of a story mode that is absent which grates on me. The world created for Overwatch is superb and I’m thirsty to learn more about it and to also take up the fight that Winston has recalled Overwatch to face. Blizzard have confirmed that a competitive ranking system is to be introduced which will add a new dynamic for sure but, again the lack of a story mode leaves me questioning the price point for the game, much as I questioned Street Fighter V for releasing so light and for many was a off-putting feature for titles like Titanfall and EVOLVE.
Blizzard have created an outstanding multiplayer experience with Overwatch, but I’m left wanting the holes to be filed with more to do for the asking price. I want to learn more about the story and each characters role within it outside of the animated shorts cast. There is clearly more to tell about this universe and that in my opinion should be told within the game you have paid for rather than free media outside of it. But as a fan of FPS, Overwatch is something very fresh and inviting to all kinds of players who may avoid the usual suspects of CoD, Battlefield and HALO. It is very pickup and play but has a depth to learning and mastering each character that will keep me coming back time and again.
I really want to help Winston fight the good fight, I’m just a little disappointed that Overwatch currently doesn’t let me do so.
