Hype is a helluva thing, and nobody does it better than Blizzard. After all, they are the only video game company who could rival Disney in terms of generating traffic in the city of Anaheim in early November. There are only three (now four) unique IPs under their belt, and I paid fifteen dollars in parking to join thousands of others in celebrating them.
A quick rundown. Overwatch is a first-person, 6 versus 6 team-based shooter. Every map is objective based, so deathmatch junkies need not apply. My experience with the game was limited to a single map, set in an Egyptian bazaar. The goal was to defend one of a series of control points while the opposite team attacked. I immediately felt bad for anyone on my team, as my mouse was awfully close to the computer tower, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I was also bad at video games.
The first thing I noticed was just how polished the game looked in such an early state. Characters were colorful and instantly personable. Have you read about Winston yet? He’s the giant gorilla in a space suit. Or Tracer? The cockney female pilot with issues of a quantum nature. Blizzard’s ability to create fully realized worlds is in top form here, and I don’t mean that sarcastically.
In terms of the gameplay experience, don’t expect to be able to run. The diverse cast of characters are all united in their unwillingness to go any faster than a pleasant jog. Blizzard seems to make this intentional; after all, the objective in this game isn’t to rack up the most kills. Each character, however, does possess a skill to help traverse the map more quickly. Tracer, for example, can teleport in quick bursts across the map—it was here I noted that Blizzard should take a page from Dishonored‘s handbook; her Blink ability is limited to the ground in front of her. The first character I played as, Reaper, turned into a shadowy form that allowed me to move slightly faster across the map—and I do mean slightly.
Movement aside, the game is fun. You can swap heroes in the middle of a match, so if Tracer’s cockney accent gets tiresome, you can always switch to Pharah, soft spoken but packing quite a punch. I had a lot more fun playing as the team’s Heavy—though I’m pretty sure I wasn’t that helpful. A small meter at the bottom of the HUD fills with every damage dealt and received, and when it was full I leaped into the air and unloaded a volley of rockets, Macross style, onto the unsuspecting Heroes below. I had to stop myself from high-fiving the monitor.
We won the match, and everyone on my team celebrated as if they were veterans. “How many times had they played this game?”, I thought, “It was literally just announced.”. I left the room feeling satisfied that I got the hype out of my system.
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In a way, Overwatch feels like a first-person MOBA. Heroes have much more survivability than any mainstream FPS game, and there’s a strict adherence to teamwork over personal skill due to its format. Meshing the strengths of each class to tackle objectives is a lot of fun, and bodes well for social gamers.
After playing Overwatch I’m not convinced that it’s the next big thing, but it certainly has spirit. Blizzard is famous for not releasing a game until it’s ready (any World of Warcraft fan waiting for the next expansion can attest to that). I find the story behind Overwatch to be more fascinating than the game itself at this point. How that’ll be tapped into with an online match structure remains to be seen.
Its rise from the ashes of Titan is a testament to Blizzard’s loyalty to delivering quality for its fans. Given time, Blizzard’s FPS debut could be an electrifying one.
Matt Utley is a freelancer for CraveOnline, a comedian, and an avid video game player despite being bad at them. You can follow him on Twitter @mutleycomedy.
