Jason LeeWe find more hits than misses in Blizzard Entertainment’s new character-driven first person shooter game, Overwatch.
More than 9.7 million people have tried their hands on first person shooter (FPS) game Overwatch since its American developer Blizzard Entertainment released an open beta in May. UrbanWire also jumped onto the bandwagon and learnt first hand if the online multi-player game’s been overhyped.
How it works
Overwatch is a team-based FPS game. You start by choosing an avatar from a squad of heroes (or vigilantes) who each possesses a unique power. Then, you’ll be placed in teams of 6 and deployed on various “maps” to fight `different missions. The missions, ranging from Assault (in which teams compete to capture territories) to Escort (in which a defending team tries to stop an attacking team in their way), are very similar to those featured in Team Fortress 2, another popular multi-player FPS game by Valve Corporation.
The Hits
We love fighting vicariously through the array of characters in Overwatch. The game boasts a total of 21 heroes from 4 categories (Offense, Defense, Tank and Support), which means it will probably hook you in longer compared to Team Fortress 2, which has only 9 classes of characters for you to choose from.
The Overwatch characters are well-designed and brilliantly animated, making the game play experience extremely immersive. Our personal favourite, Mercy, is known for her healing and resurrection abilities and is extremely effective against other aggressive charcters like Reaper. Most importantly, we like that no character is designed to be more powerful than all others – a powerful reminder of our limitations as individuals.
Overwatch also allows players to change their avatars to tackle different opponents and overcome different threats within the same session. This really adds excitement to the game and sets it a notch above other fantasy role-playing games.
The Misses
If you are a competitive gamer (just like us), you’re likely to find Overwatch’s tutorial a sore point. The tutorial covers only the basic features of the game using just one character’s vantage point, omits important clues about each character’s unique strengths and weaknesses, and leaves you to figure out on your own that you can morph into different characters to take on different opponents. Casual gamers may enjoy the exploration but serious gamers would appreciate a more useful guide on winning strategies, or a “cheat sheet” such as this.
We also wish that Blizzard Entertainment, famed for its World of Warcraft and Diablo series, could have developed a richer storyline in Overwatch. Its characters’ unique attributes are well-illustrated, but their personalities and motivations are not as clearly-defined. This makes it harder for players to connect with the characters on a more emotional level.
Final Verdict
Given the brilliant game play experience, Overwatch does live up to its hype. We just wish its characters get a chance to be developed more fully in its sequel – if that’s in the pipeline.
Catch the Overwatch trailer below!
Photo Credits: Gypsyfangirl