Overwatch Review

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Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: Online Multiplayer First Person Shooter
Release: 2016

It’s May 24, and the servers for Blizzard’s new game, Overwatch, just went live today! I’m sure there are already thousands who already bought the game, but still there are many others who ask: should you buy this game? Is it worth the time and money? To be honest I’m kind of in the same boat since I only bought the game because my bandmates recommended it. So here’s a review to help you guys come to a decision!

For starters, Overwatch is an online multiplayer first person shooter game and Blizzard’s first take on the genre. This is also the game company’s first new franchise in 17 years. It is similar to Team Fortress 2 where you pick and control a character from a selection of 21 heroes divided with roles of offense, defense, tank and support, each having their own unique set of weapons, skills and ultimate attacks.

Let’s take a look at one of the famous ones- Tracer: being an offensive type, she has rapid-fire pistols, the ability Blink where she can teleport through space, Recall where she can go backwards in time for 3 seconds, also restoring the HP she may have lost or bullets she may have spent. Her ultimate is Pulse Bomb where it adheres on a surface or player then explodes a bit after deployment, dealing high damage to all enemies within the blast radius.

Tracer is just one of the heroes and we currently have 21, again, each having a unique set of weapons, skills and supers- from one shot sniper rifles, to booby traps, mechas, turrets, to bows firing arrows that turn into dragons. It’s insane! Definitely lots of content to learn to play.

There are four types of 6 vs 6 matches available:

• Assault – the attacking team is tasked with capturing 2 target points on the map
• Escort – the attacking team needs to escort a payload to a certain delivery point
• Assault/Escort – where the attacking team has to capture the payload and escort it to its destination
• Control – each team tries to maintain a common control point until the capture percentage reaches 100%

Each game mode will each have 3 breathtakingly beautiful and diverse maps inspired by real-world locations including wonders from Asia, Europe and the United States. I think we all can agree that these are cliche game modes. But things get really complex due to the countless possible team compositions a group can have in each instance. All in all we have 12 maps.

Let’s talk more about the story- to make it short and simple, think Terminator: humanity is at the brink of extinction caused by an oppressive artificial intelligence, so they gather up mercenaries across the globe to fight the menace- and thus the group Overwatch is born.

Overwatch suceeds, but years after preventing the crisis, the group had a falling out and they eventually disbanded. What we would see in present day would be former members of Overwatch fighting amongst each other.

I was quite surprised on the dedication put into the lore and story of each character- even going as far as making multiple cinematic trailers, animated shorts and comics way before release so we can know and love the characters more. Good move right there by Blizzard.

Overwatch is available for the Windows PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One- the game doesn’t support cross-play YET so make sure talk to your friends first on which platform you’re gonna play on.

The price is $40 for the digital download, $60 for the Origins Edition and about $130 for the Collector’s Edition You can also buy the game at your nearby Datablitz stores here in the Philippines- P2495 for the Origins Edition and P9,995 for the Collector’s Edition.

Overall, despite me not liking the cartoon-ish art-style so much, I have to say they’ve pretty much done a very good job with the game in terms of balance, quality and performance. Graphics are top-notch good while gameplay is fast, smooth and responsive!

Replay value? Personally, I get tired of FPS games easily so I’m not sure if I’ll even last continuous play for a year. And the way Overwatch is right now, having only 4 game modes will leave the players limited stuff to do. In terms of play time, we only have 6 things to keep us busy before we get tired of the game: (1) learning to play each hero, (2) achievements and unlockables, (3) map memorization, (4) playing with friends, (5) playing with strangers and (6) rising up the ranks by playing competitively. Hopefully they’ll add more interesting content soon- really hoping for a story mode here.

Do check out PlayOverwatch.com to know more about the game. Anyway I, hope I was able to shed more light about Overwatch for you guys as much as I did it to myself, and that you’re now able to decide whether you’ll buy it or not. So what do you think? Is overwatch worth the try? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

RATING: 8/10