It's pointless to have this "review" for Overwatch up at this time since the game has already 7 million players running around, but I have to say something about the game cause it's something really special. Knowing Blizzard and their history I wouldn't expect any less from their latest release. With each game they set a new standard, they did that with the RTS, MMO, RPG, Card game and last, the FPS genre so yeah they know what they are doing.
Now Overwatch really is a very simple game and yet quite deep, a fast game yet very strategic, but more importantly it is a very fun and enjoyable game. 21 heroes duking it out with all sorts of crazy weapons and abilities in intelligently designed maps with excellent shortcuts and some exquisite chokepoints. These chokepoints offer a weird satisfying feeling, no matter if you are attacking or defending, cause blasting people away with Pharah's rockets or raining down bombs with Junkrat's granade launcher or just mowing down everyone with a level 3 Torbjorn's turret is oddly satisfying. And that feeling only amplifies when you successfully breach the defence or survive Alamo style for a couple of minutes.
Each hero and villain, I guess, is completely unique and in contrast to some other game *cough Battlebor(ing)ne *cough, each and everyone of them is memorable. You know what to expect as soon as you see them. Hanzo wish put an arrow through your skull from someplace high and so will Widowmaker. Genji, Roadhog, Reaper, Winston will rush towards you deflecting bulllets, grappling you, obliterating you etc. Then you have the "more" defensive ones like Mei which will freeze your a$$ and block your escape, McRee will blind then fill you with lead, Reinhardt will nullify your damage and hit you like a literal truck etc. Of course you'll have to keep an eye for Symmetra's annoying mini laser turrets and get the hell out of Torbjorn's turrets line of sights cause it's bye bye if not. Tracer will annoy the hell out of you, but not as much as some of the ultimates the heroes have.
Yes, an ultimate ability that charges throughout the match and depending on the character can have some devastating results. Hanzo's "Ryuu ga waga teki go fu*k yourself" unleashes two dragons that decimate everything. The "I got you in my sight, b*tch" of Soldier 76 or the now infamous "It's high noon" of McRee will insta kill you. Roadhog ultimate will clean up a room and there's no escaping Winston's "Red Hulk" ultimate. Now, no matter how annoying they seem to be or better say, are, it doesn't really matter and wanna know why?
Well, even the most filthy casual or worse player will at least have the opportunity to unleash it once. I know this because I suck at playing the Reaper, I don't know where to place myself and how to shoot other players, don't know when to use the teleportation or the wraith form correctly, but I know once that ultimate is ready, I will rush out to the enemy team, teleport behind them and "DIE, DIE, DIE" the bejesus out of them. That redeems the whole time of me sucking while being the Reaper.
And this does apply to all of the heroes, no matter how bad you are, you will shine at least once during a match or you can switch to another character as many times as you want. Really the guys or geniuses at Blizzard have thought about everyone, from the most hardcore player to my mom and dad, everyone can play the game and everyone will enjoy it. Doesn't really matter if you choose offense, defense, tank or support, you'll have fun nonetheless.
However you must abide to PTFO, really, you have to play the objective. There is no straight up team deathmatch so don't expect that. Since the characters play well of each other, there's a lot of strategy to do. Buffs, shields, turrets, healing etc. there's always a winning strategy, but there is also a lot of adapting. If something isn't working you can try something else immediately and you'll have to do that since the different modes kinda require you to do so. There are 3 modes: Control, which is the king of the hill type, Escort, where you push a "truck" around the map and Assault, which is something similar to Rush from Battlefield and these are spread out evenly throughout 12 maps. Yeah, that's not a lot of stuff to do and this is my only gripe or better say, fear for the game, there is not enough content.
You kinda see everything the game has to offer in the first hour of gameplay, then it's rinse and repeat. Don't get me wrong, as I said, that's nearly perfect, but it will get old soon and we might have another Titanfall situation in our hands. The game is exceptionally good, but there's not enough of it to keep you hooked for a long time. I see this in myself as I played the game for 8 hours or so the first days I got it and that number has dropped to maybe a two-three matches before going to work or before sleeping. Yes, there are 1000+ vanity items to unlock, new skins, new emotes, new voicelines etc. but I doubt anyone will have time for that especially since you get a loot box by levelling up and that takes a lot of time. Sure, you can buy boxes via microtransactions and I'm sure Blizzard would love that, but I wish there were some other ways of getting loot like daily challenges, events, codes etc.
So should you get Overwatch? To be honest it doesn't matter what you say cause you either have bought it and you are enjoying it or you are waiting for the next allowance/wage or the moment it goes on sale. The game is perfectly balanced, vibrant and awesome looking running at a smooth 60fps everywhere, but most importantly it's a lot of fun for everyone and it is going to get only better with age. Thanks for reading!
