Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Tested on: PC
Overwatch – Preview
Originally, Blizzard was working on a new MMORPG called ‘Titan’, but after a lot of work they didn’t find the passion to work on the game and decided to scrap it. However, Titan brought a lot of inspiration and experience to the teams and then they decided to create Overwatch with all of the futuristic ideas they’ve gained. Overwatch is a new futuristic first person shooter that promises to bring a lot to the table, let’s check it out.
Overwatch is a futuristic FPS that features fast-paced gameplay in tight situations and with the closed beta now stopped, it’s time to bring our preview of the game. In Overwatch, you’ll play in one of two teams that try to achieve their objectives. Each team is six players big and there are several different heroes to play, each belonging in a different character role. In total there are four character roles, offense, defense, tank and support. These roles are pretty clear, offense has high-speed, high-damage characters that have low health while defense has higher health but still a fair amount of offense. Then there’s tank heroes that have a lot of health and armor to draw enemies away from the other players. Last but not least is the support which can give speed buffs, healing or bring debuffs like receiving extra damage to an enemy.
As of right now, Overwatch has three game modes: assault, escort and control. In the assault mode, there is an attacking team and defending team, where the attacking team tries to capture two points and the defending team has to stop them within time. Escort mode features a payload that one team has to bring to the opposite teams’ base, while the other team has to stop them. There are certain maps where the attacking team has to capture a point first before releasing the payload. Control features one point that both teams have to try and capture, the longer a team has the control point the more score they will get. The first team that reaches 100% will win the round.
There are also a couple of different game configurations you can join. There’s quick play which matches you with players of your skill level, play vs. AI which will team you up against AI-controlled heroes, competitive play which unlocks once you hit level 25, custom game and a weekly brawl with a different objective every week.
Furthermore, you can also level up your account. The better you do in a game, the more experience you will gain which will ultimately allow you to gain levels. Apart from that, there are also loads of accessories and hero skins to make your heroes look unique. There are also unlockable emotes, poses, voice lines and highlight intros. These can be unlocked through loot boxes you get every time you level up or with points.
The gameplay itself is surprisingly a lot of fun. Whether playing assault, defense, tank or support, the game is always filled with action and skill. To have a good team you’ll need a bit of every role, and the game will warn you if there are no tanks or too many assault characters etc. This helps to maintain a fairly good team composition throughout the game even if some players are new.
Every hero is also completely unique and they all have different skill levels. Some heroes can be really easy to play while others require quite a bit of practice before you can wreak havoc with them. Also, all heroes have their own skills they can use which can make the difference in battle. Most heroes have about two normal skills (can be a passive skill as well) and an ultimate. The ultimate charges faster the more damage or healing the player does. To give an example, Hanzo is an assassin with a bow. His bow can be charged to do more damage and shoot further and he also has a passive skill as well as two active skills and his ultimate. His passive skill allows him to climb walls, while his first active skill reveals enemies in sphere where he shoots his enemies and the other skill releases a volley of arrows that shoot everywhere once it lands. His ultimate fires a huge dragon out of his bow dealing a lot of damage to enemies that stay in the line of sight.
There are numerous of other heroes and they provide great variety while playing. One game you can be an unstoppable tank, another game you can be a sniper and the game after that you can be a healer but still do a lot of damage and help your team our tremendously. If you do really well during the game, you even have a chance to be in the “Play of the Game” cam once a game ends, which is extremely satisfying.
Conclusion
Overwatch was a fun game to play from start to end. It features great fast-paced gameplay, a whole lot of variety and collectibles to make each and every one of your heroes unique. Even though it’s not released yet, it already feels like a polished and finished game except for a few balancing issues (some heroes are really difficult to deal with depending on your pick).
Overwatch - Preview,
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