Overwatch Review

Overwatch Review and Opinionated Impressions

Blizzard Entertainment. Remember those guys? You know, the guys that made this[Starcraft]? Or this[World of Warcraft]? Or this[Hearthstone]? Or even [Heroes of the Storm] - actually, we won't get into that one.
Well, Blizzard, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make a new game, saw what Valve was doing with Team Fortress 2 and the trend towards MOBA in general and thought "I like that. But (Why can't we have both? taco advert)".

And BOOM! Battleborn was born! (Wait, what do you mean that's the wrong game? It's called Overwatch? Really? Overwatch? Well, that's a fuckin' stupid name. And don't even try and explain that shit away with literally a paragraph for backstory, along with Pixar quality animations featuring the characters!)

As you've probably already gathered, Overwatch is a video game that's part of the recently massively popular "hero shooter" genre, taking aspects and cues like heroes with specific skillsets from MOBA titles such as League of Legends or DOTA 2 and throwing them into a fast-paced first-person shooter melting pot like Team Fortress. So fuck it, let's jump right into this fucker and have some fun!

So, you buy the game, figure out how to use Battle.Net and fill your hard drive with a whole bunch of files that contain the thing that you just paid $90 goddamn dollars for. (Sidenote: Keep in mind I'm talking Australian Dollary-Doos here, but Overwatch is not worth $90. $60 at maximum.) But anyway, you load it up for the first time, and you don't bother doing the tutorial because YOU DON'T NEED THAT SHIT and you're all "What do I do? Who do I play?" Well, you gotta get into a game and choose a hero, dummy! Here's the full list so you don't get confused, okay? You got:

Standard FPS Shoot Man (76)
Robot Gandhi (Zenyatta)
Dubstep Man (Lucio)
Demoguy from Team Fortress 2 (Junkrat)
Nazi Ubermensch Thor (Reinhardt)
Clint Eastwood (McCree)
Emo Kid (Reaper)
Planet of the Apes (Winston)
That Russian Bitch(Zarya)
Ice Climbers (Mei)
John Goodman (Roadhog)
Gimli (Torbjorn)
Bullshit Ninja (Genji)
Legolas (Hanzo)
A Literal Fucking Tank (Bastion)
An Asari Justicar from Mass Effect (Widowmaker)
Elton John's Rocketman (Pharah)
Shock Rifle from Unreal Tournament (Symmetra)
The Hot One (Tracer)
The Other Hot One (Mercy) and
An Actual Gundam (D.Va)

and when you throw all of them together in a six versus six arena where the objective is to move a VIP in a limo through the streets of Hollywood you honestly get a hugely fun, satisfyingly enjoyable time. But that's not saying that it's in any way balanced. At all. In the slightest.

Overwatch is full of what could be considered OP characters, with abilities that when used can lead to a hugely bad time, especially if you're on the team getting thrashed. Literally today I was playing and a team full of Zarya's showed up, absolutely decimating us. There's no countering 6 Zaryas, that's fucking mental. Another problem, at least for a downright idiotic Bastion player like myself is Genji. Motherfucking Genji, man. See, Bastion has a turret mode as one of his abilities, as well as being a literal fucking tank. Genji has a deflect ability in which he uses his ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT ninja skills to pull a Neo and return your volley of fire directly to your face. He can also deflect other certain ultimate abilities as well (even Hanzo's if you time it right). As a Bastion and Soldier 76 player, I may be completely biased, and I realise that, but that ain't gonna stop me from calling bullshit and asking GENJI NERF WHEN. Opinions on OP heroes aside, the entire roster does indeed have a place on the battlefield but it's all dependent on the rest of the heroes that comprise your team.

The metagame for Overwatch is incredibly deep and complex. I'm only just starting out, but the power relationships between every single hero is quite clear, and if you can drop two ultimates at the same time, you can absolutely destroy the opposition, which is fantastic for a push onto a point. Or keeping one. Each hero has a counter, and, while it's still being tweaked and in need of a bit more of a balance, it's a good enough roster at this point to make it fun, yet extremely challenging. This is a game who's play requires vast amounts of teamwork, cooperation and knowledge of team structure and everyone's abilities, and for that I applaud Blizzard for their efforts, as it's really paid off for them this time.

Remember the beginning of the video, where I said something about "Pixar quality animations" to introduce the characters? Well, they seriously are, and if you haven't seen any of them, go watch them right now. I'm not even kidding, pause this video, find one on the Tube of You and watch it. Right now. I'll wait. *wait a few seconds then clear throat* OK, you back? You see what I mean? Like, holy shit. These are amazing. Every single one is incredibly well produced and animated, and they all contribute to the overall lore of Overwatch as well as provide a clear indication of each hero's motives and vital backstory so as to, you know, make the characters relatable and stuff. Character building 101, people. Shit's important. Each character feels like they fill a certain niche in terms of personality, and you can really tell that they put a lot of time into them, as well as the visual design of the heroes themselves. Aestheticly, they are all incredibly pleasing to look at, especially a SELECT FEW OF THEM. And this stylistic choice translates to the games overall aesthetic as well. I mean, LOOK AT THOSE COLOURS! THOSE TEXTURES! DEM PARTICLE EFFECTS! OH! OHH! I can't even. It's...it's so beautiful... - This game really looks good, and unsurprisingly so. It's a Blizzard game, and they made this(Starcraft 2 footage), so what else do you expect?...probably not this artstyle, to be honest. Overwatch does indeed have a bit of a cartoony feel to it, but I actually like it all the same. It's by no sense original, but it suits the game. Yeah, there's not much else to say on the graphics and character design front. 10/10. Next.

Let's talk about the one thing that pretty much every single multiplayer shooter has in common these days, apart from being shooters - PROGRESSION. Overwatch does indeed feature a progression system, but it's not like COD or Battlefield, with unlocks that actually give you an advantage. Instead, they've taken more of a CS:GO route in that level doesn't actually mean much, but every so often (in Overwatch's case, every level) you will get a loot box or a random drop which contains cosmetic items. Vital difference between CS:GO and Overwatch is Overwatch's loot boxes are free to open, and you have to give GabeN TWO DAMN DOLLARS to buy a key so you can open the case. (If there's one thing I hate, it's microtransactions, ESPECIALLY IN A GAME THAT COSTS $90 GODDAMN DOLLARY-DOOS, but that's not the topic of this video.){Wheezy: LETS GET ON WITH THE SHOW}