Overwatch Review

It is time to make room for another FPS.  It is time for Overwatch.

Blizzard Entertainment has launched themselves into the first person shooter genre, and it has done so with the polish and form that we’ve all expect from Blizzard games.  They have a tried and true system of making quality franchises, and that is taking the best elements from other games and making it accessible for everyone.

We’ve seen them do this with Hearthstone, and we’ve seen them do it with Heroes of the Storm.  If you have ever been hesitant about playing a first person shooter, Overwatch is an excellent in.  If you were one of the 9.7 million players who tried out the open beta, you got a good idea of what it has to offer you.

There has been some comparisons to its MOBA-like play, and while there is something to be said about it’s character design, the same is first and foremost a shooter.  It would be a closer cousin to Team Fortress 2 than it would be Heroes of the Storm.

What makes Overwatch the big kid on the block when it comes to videogames?

The time Blizzard has put into the polish and balance shows.  This game could have been released a year ago, but Blizzard took the extra time to make sure that characters were balanced and the net code was solid.   It’s no mistake that over 7 million players have registered to play Overwatch.  With those numbers, Overwatch runs into a few of problems.

While the learning curve isn’t steep, there is still one for people new to the game.  This means that you will be playing with folks who don’t know how to play for the objective, or that piling in one at a time is a quick trip back to the respawn area.  If you can tough it out through the hard gaming moments, there is a bountiful amount of fun to be had.

That’s the core of the game, fun.  It doesn’t matter what skill level you have going in, there will be a character that you find fun, or who want to get better with playing the game.  Terrible at aiming?  No problem, Roadhog can shotgun some faces for you.  Love to snipe?  Hey, we have Hanzo and Widowmaker who can rain arrows and bullets on anyone’s parade.  There is room to improve for everyone, and there’s that one character that you latch onto.  You can use your CS:GO skills to drop head shots, or you can noob tube it up with grenade and rocket spam, there is something for everyone.

The other detriment is the matchmaking system.  Blizzard has announced that there will be ranked play after release, the match making system seems to follow the World of Warcraft Battlegrounds approach.  They find a slot for you, regardless of the status of the game, and toss you in.  While it can’t be expected to be put into a fresh match 100% of the time, it does get frustrating to join a game only to see the words “DEFEAT” scroll across the screen.  It’s also hard to keep a streak of matches going, it only takes a few people to drop from a match to dump everyone and find a new game to play.  With the negatives out of the way, let’s focus on the positives.

Blizzard has made a promise to the player base that any maps or characters included will be free.  Once you buy the game, it’s yours.  This is great to see, because in previous FPS’s like Battlefield, Battlefront, and Titanfall, you’d split a player base because different maps were only available to some of the base.  We saw this happen in both Battlefield: Hardline and Titanfalll; where the map expansions weren’t picked up by everyone, and the populations plummeted due to match making system not being to group gamers together.  With access to everything for everyone, Blizzard has set a new tone for gaming.

Don’t worry luvs, cavalry’s here.

While there are only 21 characters and 12 maps to dive into, is it worth the $40 CDN for the PC or the $60 CDN for the consoles?  Yes, hands down you are getting your money’s worth.  There has been a distrust built up by gamers in the past few years with titles that have been release not ready for launch.  Blizzard has a history of making some similar mistakes, but they also have a history of learning from their mistakes.  This is a reputation you can bank on.  If you can still pick up the Collector’s Edition, do so.  When Blizzard offers you concept art books, always take the concept art books.

Why can Blizzard sell a franchise title for relatively cheap, compared to the current market?

Micro-transactions for everyone.

They have not employed a pay-to-win scenario for Overwatch.  You can buy loot crates, or you can earn them through levelling, and the loot crates will only drop cosmetic items.  You can go on Youtube and see gamers dropping hundred of dollars on loot crates.  To some it’s money well spent, because the design team have some beautiful skins and animations that people will pay for.  On the other hand, you can just level up and collect loot boxes that way, it’s all up to how you want to do it.

While Overwatch is still fresh in our systems and PC’s, it will stick around for a while.  Blizzard puts out something they will support.  They also will put a title out that has improved on an existing concept.  It is a fun game to play.  There’s something satisfying with uncorking an ultimate with your favourite hero, or holding onto an objective while overtime ticks down.  It’s fun and exciting to see teammates combo their skill sets together.

If you want to join me in playing Overwatch, you can find me on the Xbox under FotoGuy79, I’d love to team up with you.

Have you picked up Overwatch?  Do you agree with our review?  Is there something we missed?  let us known in the comments below.