Overwatch Launch Review

One rather disappointing part of Overwatch’s gameplay is its limited game types available, none of which are really breaking new grounds in terms of uniqueness. With the four game types available (technically, there’s only three game types, but one of them is a mix between the two), we have Point Assault, Payload Escort, Point Control and Assault + Escort). Taken directly from other objective game modes in other Team-based shooters, they play out exactly how you would expect. They very much are fun engagements that require complete and solid teamwork in order to be experienced to their fullest, but ultimately, it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. Even more so: the game features absolutely no story campaign, co-op or even a wave defense mode to experience with friends (unless one would count the game’s Vs. AI as a co-op mode, but the AI in this mode is so bland and unchallenging, even when played at the highest difficulty setting, it’s almost not even worth mentioning.) There is, however, one mode that Blizzard decided to borrow from their popular CCG title Hearthstone known as “Weekly Brawls,” which basically challenges players to one of the four existing game types, but played under specific conditions each week. Some examples we’ve seen in beta included “Support heroes only” or “Mystery Hero” where players are given a random hero every time they respawn. While these help to mix the gameplay up a bit, these brawls are generally unbalanced and can lead to some wacky situations they may or may not be enjoyable.

Super serious story, whacky wild nonsensical gameplay.

Focusing back towards some more positive aspects of the game: The map design in Overwatch is a clear strong point. While each map is very pretty just to look at, the maps are well balanced enough to give attacking and defending players many different opportunities, with different spots with viable cover, and special paths that only specific heroes can reach, allowing them to sneak behind enemy lines. There’s also opportunities to use the environment to defeat your opponents, with characters like Lucio being able to push players off cliffs, or Roadhog being able to pull enemies into bottomless pits. Thanks to the good map design, even when certain situations seem bleak, there’s almost usually a way to play each situation at a different angle. You won’t see slow trench warfare battles going on at the higher levels of play.

To its core: Overwatch is at its best when played with a casual mindset and with folks that actually know their hero’s role. Things can be a bit frustrating at times when odds are clearly stacked against you and your team with an enemy that has all their bases covered. A lot of times players may end up getting stomped, but there’s also plenty of opportunity for teams to just come together and nothing is more satisfying when everything your team does just clicks into place to secure a well-deserved come from behind victory.

Customization

Surprisingly, Overwatch does in fact contain some character customization. Customization isn’t on the same level as Team Fortress 2 where you can change hats, costumes, and equipment, but you can still stand out from the pack in various ways. In Overwatch, players can change their hero’s skin/color scheme, poses during the post-game victory screens, highlight intros for whenever they earn a Play of the Game, animated taunts and various different voice lines. Players can even earn decal sprays, a feature pulled straight from Team Fortress 2 and other past Valve Software games featuring graffiti or mini-art based on their hero or other Overwatch themes.

There’s a ton of customization pieces to collect and select, with each hero having 54 pieces to collect at launch, totaling up to 1,134 pieces. However the way players must go about collecting these cosmetic goodies can be hit or miss. The main way to earn these items is through RNG-based loot boxes, and the only way to gain loot boxes is through leveling up. While it sounds like a harmless way to go, the RNG is well… RNG, so it’s completely possible to earn things like legendary skins as early as LV2, or earn tons of duplicate items all the way to LV50 and beyond, OR straight up collect unlocks for heroes that a player may not even like to use. Another way that players can work towards unlocking the cosmetics they want is through an in-game credit system, but these credits are also locked within loot boxes in varying quantities, as well as a consolation prize if you end up getting a customization piece that you already unlocked.

Personally, I would have rather preferred a more slow but steady approach to earning these items, such as offering a small amount of credits for each match played to completion instead of earning credits through random chance, That way players would be far more invested in the game’s cosmetic rewards, knowing that the more they play, the closer they’ll be to getting that legendary skin of their dreams. Overall, its simply a way to keep players focused on unlocking something worthwhile and working towards some elements that ultimately won’t hamper down on gameplay balance, but it could use some improvements.

Visuals and Presentation

Without a single doubt in my mind, Overwatch is by far one of the best looking video games of 2016. Using an in-house game engine designed specifically for Overwatch, the visuals of the game are displayed with such vivid detail that it’s very easy to get sucked into this world of super heroes and villains. With bright colors, detailed character models, rich environments and so many other details, it almost feels like watching a movie created by Disney’s Pixar Studios, or rather, playing a game created by them, which is certainly a justified feeling as a lot of promotional material presented outside of the game world is very much on the same level.

Every character looks awesome. And you unlock right from the start!

Usually, I wouldn’t bother addressing any of the outside promotional material for a game such as trailers and artwork that are used to build up launch hype, but in the case of Overwatch, an exception must be made. Taking a huge playbook nod from, once again, Valve Software’s Team Fortress 2, Blizzard has placed so much effort into fleshing out the world of Overwatch with character backstories in the form of digital comic books and animated shorts, lore, and history. Those that have kept up should know a surprising amount about the events and timeline leading up to the launch of Overwatch. Blizzard Entertainment really wants their players to care about the characters in Overwatch and the world they live in, which is very interesting considering that it’s a multiplayer-only game. No not interesting, rather disappointing. With so much investment made into these trailers, comic books, and other promotional materials, it really makes me wonder why they didn’t attempt to include some sort of single player campaign, or at least a co-op campaign to tie all of this together. It’s also a bit silly when it doesn’t make much sense for certain characters such as Reaper and Windowmaker to be working on the same team as Winston, Tracer and several other members from the Overwatch task force. Reaper especially since he’s trying to kill all the remaining members of the Overwatch task force according to his backstory. Overall it seems we’re presented the questlines and world building a full fledged MMO Shooter like Project Titan would have provided, trapped inside an arena shooter with no immediate progression from battles.

(I haven’t particularly taken the time to mention this beforehand, but I really do feel that Battleborn by 2K Games, one of Overwatch’s main competitors in the Hero Shooter sub-genre, is better than Overwatch in that one particular regard. It showcases how you could include a single player/co-op campaign. While I do not believe the world of Battleborn has the charm that Overwatch brings, at least it seems intent on providing a resolution to its story.)

Still, the lack of storytelling through an in-game campaign can easily be forgiven as Blizzard Entertainment has managed to present in-game story and lore in a much different way. By including bits and pieces of art in each map that tell players more about the game world, as well as possible hints to future story characters and even future playable heroes, you get a feel that the world still has a story to tell. While it’s not a huge substitute for a single player campaign, it still helps to keep players interested in exploring their environments as every map holds a little Easter egg and a clue as to what may be coming next. Even when players aren’t looking around the map for hidden lore, they’re still fun to explore on their own right. As the maps are based on real world locations such as Japan, Nepal, Russia, Hollywood and more, they’re teeming with so much life and energy that I occasionally find myself ignoring the objective just to stop and appreciate the places I get to visit in the game.

You needed a cybernetic samurai mech rider from Japan? Of course you did.

Focusing on the character designs for a bit: The heroes and villains of Overwatch pay homage to various comic books and anime that today’s generation is so fond of. Vigilante soldiers, dark and mysterious death dealers, cyborg ninjas, spunky superwomen of all kinds, and a ton more trends and personalities can be found here, each feeling like near comical caricatures of what they’re spoofing. Still, this helps to give the game itself a ton of personality, and chances are that most players will simply look at a hero and find a favorite pick right away. There’s also a huge diversity of body types from average sized adult males, bodybuilders and complete and total fat asses, which makes every hero in the roster stand out individually, without forcing ideal body type stereotypes on the audience. It’s all comical and in good fun, plus it helps Overwatch feel more approachable to everyone. Simply put: Overwatch as a game does character diversity right, and I would defy anyone who disagrees.

Lastly, Overwatch contains some quality tunes that players will hear during key moments of the game, from triumphant fanfares of patriotism, to international melodies played when traveling to each of the different world locations at the start of each match. While these songs are only heard for a few seconds at a time, they’re very memorable and help to drive home the amount of global diversity they’ve built up for this game. The voiceover work for each hero ranges from decent to comically stereotypical, with prime examples being Hanzo with his “super serious Asian warrior” tone and Tracer’s “What American People Think British People Sound Like” accent. Occasionally, some heroes will also speak in their native tongue to give their characters a bit of international flavor, but all around, the cheesiness of the voice actors are charming to listen to, especially since their voices fill the battlefield a whole lot. Also it’s important to note that their voices actually help players out in combat, as they give various voice cues to relay information to players, such as each hero letting out an audible gasp or groan whenever they’ve taken a lot of damage. In the rush of gameplay you might not notice you’re on the verge of death otherwise.

Overall: Great 4/5

As it stands, Overwatch is a fun and engaging title for anyone that’s a fan of team-based shooters or are looking to hop onto the bandwagon of Hero Shooters presented so far in 2016. It’s also great for those who love comic book superhero worlds or Pixar movies as the visuals alone are worth checking out. While I do feel that the amount of content available for a multiplayer online game is incredibly lacking for a full-priced retail game, this will inevitably get better with age as more content and features will get added to the game down the line. Just how much and how often they plan to roll out new content is questionable, but in a few years’ time, they’ll probably be able to address each and every concern I have with the game from this starting point.

While the lack of in-game story telling through gameplay is disappointing, it’s still very forgivable with all the effort that was put into the outside presentation in general. Most will feel some sort of connection to Overwatch’s world with so much super powered flash and flutter, while using real world locations to make it relatable so there’s something for every player to appreciate here.

Still, I have this strange feeling in my gut about the game’s lasting appeal to the masses. Despite all my praise for the game, I cannot deny that there’s a lack of any real innovation in terms of core gameplay mechanics. I’m reminded of EA’s Titanfall in this regard, because while the game looked very cool and interesting from its initial reveal, once gamers got their hands on it, they quickly realized that Titanfall was just a re-skinned CoD: Modern Warfare with parkour and “mechs” which didn’t take much time to learn or effort to play at a high skill level. As we know, the game got abandoned by the masses a month later, because it ultimately just presented an old game with a new coat of paint and gimmick here and there.

Everything done here in Overwatch’s gameplay has already been done well enough in Team Fortress 2, and while it doesn’t have the same bells and whistles in regards to its presentation, the gameplay in TF2 still holds up pretty well to this day. The consistent continuation of updates, balance patches, and new content does much to maintain that lifespan. This isn’t to say that players should disregard Overwatch because TF2 still exists, but it’s just something to consider.

Overall, when looked at with a critical eye, I certainly hope this review gives enough details to make folks consider whether or not it’s worth their time. As for me, personally, it certainly is.

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Tl;dr Edition – For everyone that just wants a cheat sheet to this review

Controls

• +Simple control scheme; Very standard for FPS titles.
• +Movement feels good, controls feel responsive.
• +Shooting controls also feel very quick and responsive.
• -Some passive movement abilities take some time to get used to.

Gameplay and Features

• +Features 21 distinct heroes, with more on the way.
• +Features 12 maps, with more on the way.
• +Core gameplay is easy to pick up and play.
• +Gameplay is moderately-paced. Hero switching is mandatory. Team play is essential.
• +Hero balance is surprisingly good (Yes, even Bastion is fair and balanced).
• +Map layouts feel fair and balanced.
• Majority of gameplay challenge comes from hero counter play. Very little room for player individuality.
• -Hero and Ultimate Stacking can lead to frustrating moments.
• -Only features a few game modes, none of which are innovative (Assault, Escort, Control, Assault + Escort).
• -Core mechanics for each hero is fairly shallow; Doesn’t take very long to master each hero (Compared to TF2).
• -No story or co-op mode; Makes the initial $40-60 price tag for a multiplayer only game seem a bit high (will be justified once more content is included for free).

Customization

• +Contains a small but surprising amount of customization.
• +Can change character skins, victory poses, highlight intros, taunts, sprays and voice clips.
• +Customization can be unlocked with in-game credits.
• -No option to customize each hero’s weaponry or skills.
• -In-game credits can only be earned from loot boxes (RNG chance rate).
• -Small worry when micro transactions are introduced in the future.

Visuals and Presentation

• The bright and colorful visuals really stand out in today’s market; Pixar quality visuals (Makes a whole lot of fans out there wish the game would be made into a movie or at least an animated series).
• +Map designs are very exciting to visit and play through (Occasionally find myself ignoring the objective just to take a closer look at the map I’m in).
• +Game world takes a noticeable nod from TF2 in terms of story telling.
• +Lore is also presented through game environments; Very charming.
• +Small amount of music, but what’s presented is very distinct and memorable. Character voiceovers are cheesy but enjoyable, and also assist with gameplay.
• +Character designs are incredibly detailed and diverse.
• -Out-of-game lore and storytelling just makes players wish they could experience it themselves (Again, no story or co-op mode; missed opportunity).

Overall: Great 4/5

• It’s a fun and engaging title for those that are into comic book superheroes and team-based shooters.
• Will inevitably get better with age as more content gets rolled out (How much and how often they plan to roll out new content is questionable).
• Lack of in-game story telling is disappointing, but forgivable.
• Gameplay is great overall, but its lasting appealing to casual players is a bit worrying (EA’S Titanfall comes to mind).