Thirty years ago a group of heroes were recruited by the United Nations to restore peace to the world and Overwatch was born. These heroes, chosen for their specific skills and abilities, effectively rid the planet of crime and corruption. Eventually the UN voted that the heroes were no longer needed, the Overwatch Headquarters were destroyed and the heroes spread out across our planet. Yet again the planet is facing chaos and Overwatch has been called back into action. The world needs heroes.
Blizzard has certainly risen to the challenge and it isn’t difficult to find yourself buried in both intense and diverse battles in 4 game mode types. The game modes include Assault, Assault/Escort, Control and Defend. Each battle offers its own challenges in game play and knowing which hero is best suited to the game mode will fair the player well. Overwatch is not designed to suit the solo hero, rushing out to save the team, but rather rewards a team that communicates and plays each objective well. This in itself can be a challenge for players as we learn to work with the individual hero abilities as to function as a team. There is a team voice channel available to facilitate the communication of the teams as well as “tips” on team builds as the game begins to queue. Overwatch will keep you and your teammates up to date on player hero choices and which areas are lacking from tanks to support.
Because of Battleborn, (GearBox), with a seemingly similar art style I had a concern with Overwatch that the “Pixar” style graphics would render the environment and hero abilities distracting. Thankfully that is not the case. The environments are muted (though destructible) enough to not cause player distractions during game play. Each of the heroes have been done in typical Blizzard format with the over exaggerated silhouettes and when a hero is using their ultimate ability it is just flashy enough to alert teammates of its use. All in all I have to say the graphics have been beautifully executed and with a multitude of skins available per hero it is easy to change their appearance without causing any additional distractions. Objectives are clearly marked with the only downside to being in game is there is no mini map to alert you of approaching enemies, though this only promotes that necessity in teamwork. Watch your teams back!
With 21 heroes to choose from and all designed to be played in very specific manners I highly recommend a few tutorials and AI games before jumping into matchmaking. Heroes are listed by their function (offense, tank, support and defense) all offer teams a cutting edge advantage over enemy players if played correctly. AI games and tutorials offer the chance to get a feel for movement, speed and abilities while gaining some map sense of the 12 different maps currently offered. Mechanically each hero is quite simple to maneuver. The trick to each hero is using their skills at the correct time and quickly. Mercy (support), for example, is a fun and easy healer to use that can also offer damage buff to teammates. If teammates spread out too far and charge ahead it can be difficult to effectively heal them all and Mercy heals herself through healing others. Her ultimate is a resurrection of a fallen hero that puts them right back into the game. There have been some games where I was able to keep my teams heroes alive, boosted and ahead of the game and others where I couldn’t save them much less save myself. It really all boils down to the team game play. Each of the 21 heroes are rated on a star tier scale. One being the easiest of the heroes to use and three being the most difficult. Widowmaker (sniper) ranks at two stars and can feel like a very difficult hero to use. Widowmaker’s placement, healers being able to reach her, and the ability of the team to control areas the enemy comes from keep Widowmaker in play and can easily lead to her player becoming MVP of the game. If you or your team are struggling and you need to change heroes it can easily be done before any respawn, a definite plus at times to be able to change up heroes to help your team.
Each game typically lasts anywhere from 5-12 minutes. It is a short time per game though the intensity of trying to reach and control an objective are what make it so fun. Teams that move with fluidity will reign victorious. As of now there are 12 map options which will take you to various points on the planet. In most of the game types one team is held in their spawn area while the defense team is allowed to move toward the objective and set up. Often times you will find the defense moving beyond the objective towards the offense spawn. In this case it quickly becomes a fight to get out of spawn and get to the objective. At times it is easy to move beyond and take the objective, others the game ends quickly in defeat. As mentioned above, I highly recommend a few AI games to gain the map sense and use of individual heroes. Overwatch also offers custom games so that players can reduce team sizes and lessen the amount of random matchmaking on their teams. A standard matchmaking game is 6-v-6 and matchmaking seems to be based on an average of skill level for the teams. A loss is understandably frustrating but hang in there as the victories will be that much sweeter!
Overwatch is absolutely an diverse, intense and fun team play game. I can easily rate this game at a nine with the only real downfall being the matchmaking. Matchmaking can be slow as well as unbalanced as I have seen level 2 players pitted against level 30’s and up. Not really “fair” in regards to a new player though options other than jumping straight into multiplayer are available. I absolutely recommend adding Overwatch to your list of must play games. Try out the different heroes, get a team together and have some fun taking the objectives! Rumor has it that Overwatch will enter competitive arenas and I could see that becoming a real possibility. With all the different ultimates offered through the various heroes it would be one of the most entertaining competitive matches I can imagine, after all, The World Needs Heroes…
