Imagination is the essence of
discovery
(This
review is spoiler-free!)
Shooters are often a hit or miss for
me. Unless they do something creative and different with the genre, I never
really get interested in them. I couldn’t be bothered with this year’s
Battlefield 1, but Quake Champions caught my attention, although we’ve yet to
see any gameplay from it.
As for Overwatch, it fills nearly all
the boxes for what I want in a shooter. Creatively diverse character selection,
lots of unique and different game modes, plenty of maps, an overall bright and
colourful art design, and small teams of 4-6 players. I’ve called Overwatch “this
year’s Splatoon” many times over for this exact reason, plus the added fact
that it’s an absolute blast to play.
Overwatch is the most fun I’ve had
with a shooter since Splatoon came out a year ago. It’s true when they say no
two matches are alike, because you never know what characters you’ll be up
against, or what the objective will be, or how your team will play.
Speaking of the characters, Overwatch
features some of the most iconic, well-designed, and memorable original
characters I’ve seen in a game in ages. They’re all instantly recognizable, and
it’s not long before you learn all their names. They all play differently too;
there are zero clone characters in this game. I myself play D.Va mostly, but I’m
also partial to Junkrat and Winston, and I’m learning how to play Torbjorn and
Mei. The fun of Overwatch is that every character is so unique and different,
you’re bound to find at least one that you enjoy.
The art design as a whole is
excellent. It reminds me a lot of modern Disney movies, and that’s a good
thing. Each character is very expressive, in both their voice lines and
animations. The maps and backgrounds are all beautifully detailed as well, and
sometimes it can really feel like you’ve been taken to one of these places. My
personal favourites in terms of this are the Illios and Hanamura maps. You can look
out on the horizon and admire just how beautiful Overwatch can be.
The different maps are, for the most
part, very memorable as well. They’re all set in real-world locations, and each
of them is unique, both in the objective you must perform and how they feel. Granted, there are a few stinkers, like
Volskya Industries, but the rest are enjoyably unique.
There are 12 different locations in
total, divided into 3 for 4 different game modes. The first, and best, of these
modes is Control, where each team battles it out in a King of the Hill type
scenario, where you must hold an area for as long as you can while preventing
the other team from taking it. This is the most chaotic and fun of all the
modes, as anything can happen, and it’s just as much fun to hold the point as
it is to take it.
Then there’s Escort missions, where
you have to get a truck from the start of the map all the way to the end. This
is a fun one too, as there’s often a lot of difficulty to keep the payload
moving, and while hard, it’s extremely satisfying to get it to the end. I did
notice that I lost more often when I was trying to move the payload rather than
when I was stopping the payload, but I still enjoyed this game mode, especially
on the Watchpoint: Gibraltar map.
Next up are Assault missions, and
honestly, these are extremely one-sided and not fun to play. It’s similar to
Control, except there’s no King of the Hill aspect. One team has to take two areas,
and the other team has to stop them. That all sounds fine and dandy, but the
team trying to stop them has an enormous advantage. There’s a certain selection
of characters who essentially guarantee a win if you’re defending (primarily
Torbjorn and Bastion), and this can be extremely frustrating for the attackers
who can’t even get to the second point because it’s impossible to get through
the other team’s iron defense. Oftentimes Assault missions turn into throwing
yourself at the other team in hopes you’ll do some damage for 5 minutes at a
time.
Finally, there are Hybrid missions
that mix aspects from Escort and Assault missions. While these are okay, a lot
of the problems that plague the Assault missions are here as well, and it can
feel one-sided at times.
Overwatch also features a rewards
system, where each time you level up, you get a Loot Box. You can also buy more
with real world cash to get gear faster. Loot Boxes are similar to Hearthstone
packs in that you have no idea what’s going to be inside (the rarities are even
colour-coded exactly like Hearthstone’s. I guess Blizzard really likes white,
blue, purple, and orange). You can get character skins, different animations
and poses, and fun but ultimately useless cosmetics like spray paints, profile
pictures, and character voice lines. What I like about the Loot Boxes is that
there’s nothing in them that changes the game in any way, and you only have to
fork over money if there’s a skin for some reason you can’t live without. It’s
really exciting every time you level up to see what goodies you’ll get next,
even though it can often turn out to be 3 sprays and a voice line.
Despite the problems with the Assault
missions, when you get a really good map and a really good team, Overwatch is
some of the most fun you can ever have with a shooter. All the different
characters make this a game where you never know what can happen, and I’m
always looking forward to my next game.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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