Overwatch

Blizzard was gracious enough to allow Battle.Net users free access to their newest IP Overwatch for a limited time last week, so I spent a whole lot of time playing it. However, I haven't had the best relationship with Blizzard as of late. Despite the impressive showings of Diablo III and StarCraft II, World of Warcraft only continues to disappoint me. I grew to love the series thanks to Wacraft III and I thought I liked WoW for the longest time. But then I came to the conclusion that I kind of hate WoW. It sterilizes the universe and the MMO formula just isn't for me.

Hearing about them making something new didn't really excite me. I didn't want to waste my time or risk falling in love with something that just going to be ruined down the line by a worthless MMO component. But then I started reading more about the world of Overwatch and then I got my filthy mitts on the game itself. Now I think I'm willing to open my heart to Blizzard again. Because apparently I'm the videogame audience equivalent of an abused spouse.

Overwatch is what you'd get if Marvel Comics and Street Fighter had a baby that was raised by Team Fortress 2. By that I mean its cast of playable heroes has the multi-cultural cartoon energy of the Street Fighter games, the down-home relatable attitude of the Marvel universe superheroes, and a more rewarding version of the Team Fortress 2 class-based shooter gameplay.

The world of Overwatch is one of advance technology. Robots are second-class citizens, people with cybernetic parts are common, and all kinds of wacky scientific experiments go on all the time. The central story that informs upon the game is about an international peacekeeping organization of what are essentially superheroes. A few years ago this peacekeeping force was disbanded due to an as-of-yet unexplained controversy. However, recent events involving terrorist attacks and assassinations have led many of these heroes to come out of their exile, band together, and defend the world once again. The game itself has nothing to do with this plot, but we'll get to that later.

Each character follows a classic archetype (the super soldier, the femme fatale, cyborg ninja, cowboy, ape scientist, etc.), but they have their own unique twist and backstory that builds a much more engaging universe to set the stage for these arena battles. Every single one of them is well-realized, designed, and unique. They're actual people with their own quirks and faults. More surprising is the fact that out of a cast of almost two dozen individuals, only one of them can be considered "evil," and even that's a stretch of the definition.

Take Tracer, the lovely young English lady pictured above, for example. She was a pilot until a test flight with an experimental jet went wrong (as they often do). Because it was an experimental teleporting jet and some of that time travel juice got onto her, Tracer is forced to wear that special blue chest piece to keep herself locked into the regular timeline or else she'll phase in and out of reality. But it also allows her to teleport a short distance and reverse her own timeline a few seconds. Tracer was the youngest member of Overwatch at the time it was disbanded and the first to sign back up when the bricks start to hit the fan. She's quick, energetic, and playful, but also annoying in that way Spider-Man constantly pesters his foes. Each cast member has a similarly well-rounded origin story and charcateritics that builds a world of endearing adventure.

The actual game of Overwatch takes these interesting people, and has them all murder each other in fast-paced, frantic team shooter madness. The player chooses one hero from the roster and in a team of five other players must accomplish an objective specific to each randomly selected map (either transporting a vehicle through a city or maintaining a hold on a specific area for a certain amount of time). The heroes each fulfill a role of offense, defense, support, and tank. Ideally, each team selects certain heroes from each category to beat the other team's selection of heroes and win the game. You're also allowed to switch to any hero you want during each match, allowing a great deal of freedom in strategizing your approach to whatever obstacles the other team throws your way. The result is something shockingly well-balanced and a hell of a lot of fun.

There's snipers for the impersonal types, damage-dealing bruisers for those who like the greet the day by punching it in the face, tricky mid-range fighters, healers if you just want to lend a helping hand, and even good old Tracer for the person who enjoys jumping deep into enemy territory, annoying the hell out of the opposing team, and jumping away. A game with this many variables shouldn't work, and yet it does. Blizzard has done as astounding job making sure every character has their own strengths and weaknesses to ensure a game that allows for endless excitement.

There were also other game, such as one you can personally tailor for matches against friends, against computer-controlled bots, and one where your hero is randomly selected for you. However, I wish there were more game types available for the main quickplay mode. Overwatch forgoes the standard team deathmatch so the game stays focused on strategy rather than mindless killing, but I still miss it. There is an option to allow for skirmishes while you're waiting to be placed in a game server, but it's just not the same. Plus it feels like there could be more game types than just "king of the hill" and "move the cart," but this was the beta. The final game will hopefully have more types at launch, or some time down the line.

A unique special touch that I enjoyed immensely is the play of the game. At the end of each match, the game with show you the most impressive player feat of the match (sometimes a kill streak or a bold resurrection of allies). Or at least it should. The algorithm Blizzard uses to detect just what counts as impressive isn't perfect and you'll occasionally get some plays that loosely define "impressive" at best, and curb-stomp that word into un-meaning at worst. But, once again, this is the beta, so hopefully the final game will have the ducks sorted into tighter rows.

Despite these shortcomings, Overwatch, even in its beta form, is very impressive. And with a forty dollar price tag for the most basic version, it's practically a steal. If you've never tried one of these kinds of shooters before, Overwatch is the one to get into. You'll never find a more unique, vibrant arena shooter experience. At least, just going by the beta anyway.

Even thought this was just the beta, I'm still going to score it. When the final game comes out, I'll revisit this article and decide if this score needs updating. Until then, consider this a tentative score.

Score: 8/10