Overwatch is an uber popular objective based team shooter developed by the ever innovative and sometimes controversial Blizzard Entertainment. The goal of this review is to take a look at the game as it stands today and how it compares to others in the genre and whether or not it is still worth your time.

To be transparent, this perspective does not come from a place of a Blizzard fanboy nor a Neverwatcher (which is totally a term I just coined.) I have played the game for quite some time, almost since launch, but the question is a good one to ask: Is Overwatch still good to play?

About Overwatch

Overwatch is a team based shooter designed around completing a set objective. The game was released on Windows, Xbox One, and PS4 on May 24, 2016.It eventually came to Nintendo Switch on October 15, 2019. This review of the game is going to be from a PC player’s perspective, but I will note differences between versions when necessary.

When the game was first launched in 2016, it was praised as another victory for Blizzard, and rightly so. It is a huge hit sales wise, with over 35 million players as of 2017. Loot boxes have led to an incredible milestone of over one billion dollars from in-game sales. It is certainly Blizzard’s flagship game at the moment.

For me and many others, Overwatch replaced Team Fortress 2 for us, it was fresh, new, and fun. But with it being almost 4 years since the game first launched, does it still hold up, and is it still worth the purchase for those who haven't jumped the shark?

Overwatch Story

Promotional Art for Overwatch 2

Overwatch lacks a typical story mode, something its sequel, Overwatch 2, plans to fix. However, there is plenty of lore within and outside the game. From Comics to Shorts, the stories behind the heroes in Overwatch are ever expanding and are as important to the development team as the game itself.

The gist of it is that Overwatch is set 60 years in the future, and 30 years after the Omnic Crisis. Overwatch (the team) was formed to fight the Ominc forces, subsequently Blackwatch was formed to fight Talon, a corporation looking to start a new crisis. After Blackwatch is found to be engaging in illegal activity, both it and Overwatch are disbanded. In the future, (60 years from present day), another Omnic Crisis has merged in Russia. Winston sends out a call to get Overwatch back together. And as shown in the first cinematic of Overwatch 2, the members of Overwatch respond to the call and return.

While that may be the main storyline thus far, each hero has its own backstory that I implore you to go read on. As mentioned Overwatch 2 will have a story mode, but what it entails remains to be seen. Whatever it is, I and many others are intrigued to see it unfold.

Overwatch Game Modes

I think the notion of Overwatch being only a team based shooter sells the game a bit short, as since the launch, the number of modes in the game has increased exponentially. With the addition of the Arcade as well as Workshop custom games, Overwatch is much more than a simple team based shooter. From Deathmatch to Capture the Flag, the modes in Overwatch are not limited to the typical King of the Hill or Payload ones found in similar games.

The main modes of Overwatch include Quickplay, Arcade, and Competitive. Quickplay and Competitive see you and your party queuing up for one of 3 roles. The roles are Tank, Damage, and Support. Quickplay is just for fun and Competitive pits you against similarly ranked players after you complete 5 placement games for any role.

Arcade is a hub for other game modes including but not limited to, Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Quickplay Classic (Before Role Queue), and any special modes for an event. These modes rotate every week with some rotating every day.

The amount of variety in Overwatch’s game modes along with almost monthly events provides players with new and fun experiences for when quick play or competitive becomes too repetitive.

Overwatch Gameplay

The actual gameplay of Overwatch, as one might expect from Blizzard, is engaging and leaves you wanting to play more. While I won’t go into the details and movesets of every hero, I will explain the overall flow of gameplay.

In Overwatch, after queing up your preferred roles and entering a game, you choose one of 32 heroes.

These heroes fall into one of 3 categories based on role. D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Sigma, Winston, Wrecking Ball, and Zarya are the tanks.

Damage has the largest selection of heroes with Ashe, Bastion, Doomfist, Echo, Genji, Hanzo, Junkrat, McCree, Mei, Pharah, Reaper, Soldier:76, Sombra, Symmetra, Torbjorn, Tracer, and Widowmaker.

As far as support goes, there is Ana, Baptiste, Brigitte, Lucio, Mercy, Moira, and Zenyatta.

After you select the hero of your choice from the role you selected, you start the game. You begin in the lobby with your team; after a countdown has finished, you fight. There are different types of games in quickplay, which include Capture, King of the Hill, as well as Payload. These are the objectives of the game. Whatever objective type you are playing, the general premise remains the same. Fight for the objective by killing enemy heroes and securing points or moving the payload.

As you play you will learn that every hero has different abilities. These abilities can be executed at any time. After using them, they go into a cooldown phase where they cannot be used until they recharge.

There is also your ultimate which charges by doing damage,taking damage as well as some other factors. Your ultimate should be used during team fights and ideally when other teammates have theirs so you can combo ultimates. The game goes on until the objective is completed or until time runs out.

Overall, Overwatch’s gameplay is simple and intuitive, but can be difficult to master. The game is fun to play by oneself, or with friends. There are always other game modes if you get tired of quickplay.

Overwatch Graphics

Overwatch is a good looking, well optimized game. On consoles, the framerate is smooth and graphics look as good as any other FPS on the respective platform. On PC, as long as you are running the recommended specs, you can run the game at 60 fps on medium settings. Framerate can and will dip on older setups, especially when there is a lot happening on screen. Otherwise, the game looks great and runs fine.

Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard, the developer of Overwatch, has outdone itself with this game post-release.. Taking feedback from players to make balance changes as well as taking the best parts of similar games like TF2 and adding that Blizzard polish to it has made the developer widely respected amongst gamers. Patches are deployed to the game almost every other week, and new heroes come every 6 months or so. This is not to say that Blizzard is perfect, especially with their other franchises. However, in my view, when it comes to Overwatch, Blizzard is on the ball with this one.

Overwatch’s Value

Overwatch retails for $39.99 on all platforms, and often goes on sale for $19.99 or even $14.99 in some cases for the basic version. With the anniversary approaching, be on the lookout for sales if you haven't already purchased the game or want to get it as a gift.With a very active player base, it will be a long time before servers are ever shut down for this game.

Purchasing the Legendary edition also gives you goodies for other Blizzard games as well as Loot Boxes for the game itself so you can get the optional cosmetics that the game is infamous for. Speaking of loot boxes, that does mean there are in game purchases and if you’re the gamer that can't play a hero until you have that legendary skin, then you might be paying way more than MSRP.

For the base price, however, Overwatch is well worth it, from endless amounts of modes to fun and addictive gameplay, getting Overwatch is a no brainer.

Final Verdict

9/10 - Overwatch is one hell of a time, but no game is perfect, it does have some flaws that make it just shy or that coveted 10/10.

Pros

• Fun, addictive, and engaging gameplay,
• Runs great on modern hardware, and can even be played on older PC setups.
• Multiple modes make for variety and replayability.
• Goes on sale often.
• Get loot boxes from leveling up.

Cons

• Playing solo is not nearly as fun as playing with friends.
• In Game Purchases
• Sequel is coming out, might be worth waiting for.
• A lot to learn in terms of gameplay, heroes, and lore.

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