Game Preview: Overwatch
- Michael Reynoso
- Apr 19, 2016
- 3 min read
The upcoming team-shooting game of the year, “Overwatch,” will be scheduled to release on May 24th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
When Blizzard announced its entry into a new genre, it was clear that it would captivate Blizzard fans. The legendary Californian developer has sat atop the strategy, MMO, and card-trading game thrones, and now its sights are set on the team-based shooter.
You’d be right in thinking that Blizzard is cripplingly late to the FPS party, but to say so would misunderstand what makes the company so terrifying. World of Warcraft was far from the first MMO, and Hearthstone is indebted to countless other card-trading games - Blizzard doesn’t owe its success to startling originality, but rather, to perfectionism.
Each title the company has produced is a study in the strengths of its genre, keeping itself atop the pile through its razor-sharp mechanics and intelligent design.
On the surface Overwatch is the clear odd-one-out of its siblings, promising as it does a fresh twist on a traditional formula: team shooting with MOBA-style abilities.
Overwatch is a six-versus-six, squad-based first-person shooter, and it’s online only – there’s no single-player mode. In theory, it’s similar to the likes of Rainbow Six: Siege, Star Wars: Battlefront and even some Call of Duty modes. But in practice, it’s more reminiscent of e-sports stalwarts such as Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
Game Director Jeffrey Kaplan took pains to describe it as “focused”, and it certainly is that, keeping things much simpler than its rivals.
Kaplan went on to say that: “The core, heart and soul of Overwatch is its heroes”, of which there are 23 from which to choose. The principle behind offering such a range of characters is to support gameplay diversity: whether you like to snipe, build turrets, focus on helping teammates, or zip around faster than everyone else dealing out melee damage, there is at least one hero for you. And Blizzard promises that, post-launch, new heroes will be released regularly.
Gameplay
Overwatch features squad-based combat with two opposing teams of six players each. Players choose one of several hero characters, each with their own unique abilities and role classes. The four character roles include: offense characters with high speed and attack but low defense, defense characters meant to form choke points for enemies, support characters that provide buffs and debuffs for their allies and enemies respectively (such as healing or speed alterations), and tank characters that have a large amount of armor and hit points to withstand enemy attacks and draw fire away from teammates. Players can also switch between characters in-game following deaths, which is encouraged by the game's overall design.
Game Modes
Overwatch currently has three main game modes, with some maps featuring a hybrid of assault and payload:
Assault: The attacking team is tasked with capturing two target points on the map, while the defending team must stop them.
Escort: The attacking team is tasked with escorting a payload to a certain delivery point before time runs out, while the defending team must stop them. The payload vehicle moves along a fixed track when any player on the attacking team is close to it. In some escort maps (referred to as hybrid), the attacking team has to capture the payload first before actually escorting it.
Control: Each team tries to capture and maintain a control point until their capture percentage reaches 100%. This game mode is played in a best-of-three format.
As the heroes would say, “We are Hope. We are Honor. We are Courage. We are Justice. We are Compassion. We are Determination. We are Harmony. We are Overwatch!
1st Video Credits: PlayOverwatch
2nd Video Credits: PlayOverwatch
3rd Video Credits: PlayOverwatch
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