Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Overwatch Review

So several weeks ago, I had gotten me an Xbox One. One of the first games I had for it was Batman: Arkham Knight. Last Sunday, I got two more games for it: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, and... Overwatch: Origins Edition, which comes with these exclusive costumes.



Well, a lot of people play Overwatch, and I just wanted to post my experience with it. I bought it because it honestly looked fun. Best of all, once I played it, it lived up to my expectations. Its just pure fun. Once I started playing it, I couldn't stop. I'm already level 8, and I have gotten several likes for after matches ended. I just love it. The characters, the gameplay, everything.


I guess this is more of a review of the game based on my experiences. As I've said before, its fun. It has high replay value, it has memorable characters, it has TEAM-FOCUSED GAMEPLAY for once, and the execution of it is just really good. That's what I like most about the game: its objective. No longer are players on a single team striving to become the best individually. No longer are players ranked by kill-death ratios or by what prestige they are. Its almost pure team effort, and its satisfying knowing that what you're doing is potentially bringing your team to victory. Cooperation is important. Communication is important, and knowing your role is important. Also, while you may have to reload your weapon, all of your characters basically have unlimited ammo, which means that you don't have to desperately look around for ammo pickups. The only pickups that do spawn are health pickups, although they're almost useless if you have a healer. On top of that, good teammates aren't so mythical anymore.


One thing that makes the game really shine: the characters. As of the last major update, there are 22 characters, and thanks to an ongoing ARG (Alternate Reality Game: video-game related events happening in real life... somewhat. Just look it up), we might be getting a 23rd character on October 16th. Anyways, each character feels different, and each have a unique playstyle. You've got four types of heroes: Offense, made for going out on the front lines and dishing out big loads of damage. Defense, made for staying in the back lines and backing up the Offense heroes, as well as holding down choke points and important objectives. Tank, made for soaking up loads of damage and chucking it all back in your face Wobbuffet style, accompanied by their own sets of offensive and defensive abilities. Support, with their aim being to give, well, support to their on-field allies, heal their allies, and provide debuffs to the enemy team. Each hero have their own set of abilities, and each one has an Ultimate Ability. Think of Ultimate Abilities as Final Smashes: game-changing. The only difference is that while Final Smashes need a Smash Ball and are uninterruptable, Ultimate Abilities are charged over time, and are charged faster simply by doing what you need to do, but they can be interrupted. Each hero, whatever type they may be, are different wit their own set of regular abilities that truly make them different. You have Genji's Deflect Ability, which allows him to deflect nearly any projectile, including most Ultimates, Ana's Sleep Dart, which puts enemies to sleep for 5 seconds, Reinhardt's Defense Barrier, Which creates and incredibly large and durable force field in front of him, and Bastion's Turret Mode, which switches him on and off into a stationary turret which unleashes a hail of bullets that shreds anyone who gets too close. You can also acquire cosmetic items from Loot Boxes, which you get by leveling up. You can equip different Emotes, different Victory Poses, Sprays, Voice Lines, and even Skins.



Not gonna lie, the lore behind this game is interesting with some of the characters, but its not like "WOW" or anything. Its one of the weak points of the game. I would very much like to see a story mode implemented into the game later on in the future, because I think that would make the game much more enjoyable and interesting. In fact, thats what I like about Overwatch: once you buy the game, any update that comes along, be it adding new characters, new maps, new items, new anything will be completely free. Its like a refined version of Team Fortress 2, and TF2 is still being updated and played to this day, despite coming out about 9 years ago. Plus, since this was built in a similar vein to TF2, and seeing how it was almost overwhelmingly praised for its many mechanics, gameplay, vibrant, colorful characters and locations, I have a feeling that this game will go on for a very long time. That is unless they devs do something that completely ruin the game. Then again, the game was made by Blizzard Entertainment, which I've heard cares about the games it makes. 


In the one day I've played this game, I've had a few highlights, but this is my best highlight. On the Dorado map, I was playing as Ana, a sniper who can heal her teammates by shooting them, and hurts enemies by, well, shooting them. She can use Biotic Grenade to heal herself and allies as well as giving whomever was in the grenade's radius a boost in speed, defense, and attack. Her Sleep Dart, as I've said before, puts enemies to sleep, and her Ultimate, Nano Boost, temporarily boosts one of her allies, temporarily making them really hard to kill. One of my allies was Soldier 76. His abilities include the ability to sprint whenever he wants, put down a Biotic Field for healing, fire a trio of Helix Rockets, and his Ultimate, Tactical Visor, makes his Heavy Pulse Rifle automatically target the enemies within his eyesight with pinpoint accuracy. The payload was stopped by an enemy push, and the both of us were still alive. The enemy surrounded the payload and started pushing it back. After letting each other know that our Ultimates are ready (via in-game chat options), I combined my Nano Boost with his Tactical Visor. I followed behind and watched as he laid waste to the entire enemy team. After the rest of our team caught up with us, I had been sniped by an enemy Widowmaker, so I switched to Reaper, a dude with twin shotguns and excels at killing tanks once at close range. I flanked and eliminated the Widowmaker, but time was running out. With my Ultimate charged up, Death Blossom, they all died, died died. For the rest of the match, we managed to clutch it and deliver the payload. I unfortunately didn't get Play of the Game.


Now, concerning the parts I don't like about the game. One is the Loot Box system. You only get one Loot Box each time you level up. The contents of each are random, and come in the types of Common (Grey), Uncommon (Blue), Epic (Purple), and Legendary (Gold). You won't know what's inside the Loot Box until you open it. Unfortunately, I have a bad history of RNG not being on my side. Of the 8 Loot Boxes I opened, I only got one Skin, which was for Zarya, who I never planned on playing as. You'll mostly get Sprays and Voice Lines. Fortunately, if you get a duplicate item, you're given credits as compensation, and you can use those to buy the cosmetic items you really want. However, if you wan't more than just one Loot Box at a time, you have two options: Either A, get them via leveling up, or B, paying with real money. Another thing I don't like: the match ups. Obviously, when playing online, you're going to come across that one player that I now call "Dat Boi" (I regret nothing). No matter what you do, you can't stop Dat Boi, and it costs you the match. Whats worse than one Boi? An entire team consisting of Dem Boi's. I have so far played one game where there was absolutely no hope for us. We were the attacking team, and they completely held us back to our spawn. We didn't even at least get past the first arch because an annoyingly good Roadhog player just rekt everyone while a Junkrat player held us back with his explosives. Bastion tore us to shreds, Widowmaker kept us at cover, and a Pharah player rained justice from above multiple times, while I suspected that an enemy Ana was keeping in the shadows healing her teammates, which would explain why they seemingly wouldn't die. Not even my Reaper could repel them. We lost horribly mainly because of that damn Roadhog player, who always catches you off guard when you least expect it. Don't get me started on D.va's annoying asf Self Destruct Ultimate, in which she ejects from her MEKA and said machine blows up, but leaves her at the mercy of other players armed with a deceptively powerful Laser Pistol. As for Self Destruct, It has huge range and deals 1000 goddamn damage; more than enough to kill anyone easily. Even worse, if it kills even one player, in which it most likely will, her second Ultimate charges up to maximum, allowing her to call on a fresh, new MEKA and rejoin the battle. Still, both of the aforementioned Loot Box RNG and bad skill matchups are definitely a "me" problem, except fro probably the matchup situation. Lastly is the aforementioned lack of a Story Mode. I feel it would make the game so much more enjoyable, and make the lore so much more interesting. Plus, we need new modes and maps, but those will definitely come in the future. I just know it.


Overall, I REALLY like the game. The distinct characters, the online play, the vibrant, colorful maps, the cosmetic items you can acquire, its just pure and simple fun. While yes, it's not perfect, for it has some low points, its positives outweigh its negatives. Plus, this game is always getting updated, whether you're on the console or playing on PC. We'll have new maps, new characters, and new modes in the future. Judging how this game is still being played a lot, this game will probably go for as long, if not longer, than TF2 has been and is still going. If you like playing online, playing competitively, or just like playing online with people period, I recommend this game. Oh, and if you see me, my Gamertag is EnderAcer1337. I usually play as Soldier 76, Reaper, sometimes Bastion, Widowmaker, sometimes D.va, sometimes Reinhardt, Ana, and sometimes Lucio. I'll most likely be seen playing on the weekend, since my weekend's are usually free from school. This concludes my review. If you've made it this far, then I thank you for reading.

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