The new hit first-person shooter (FPS) game, “Overwatch,” by Blizzard Studios, is not your ordinary shooter game. This is why it’s breaking game stores all over the world. The Blizzard workers are some of the most popular in the gaming industry, and all of their ideas are always highly anticipated. Some of Blizzard’s most well-known franchises are “Diablo” and “World of Warcraft.” Blizzard’s new first-person shooter perspective, “Overwatch”, is a must play game for it’s unique design, exciting array of heroes to choose from, and addicting multiplayer modes.
Overwatch has attracted gamers and non-gamers, of all ages, mainly because of its flawless design in both heroes and maps. In Vince Ingenito’s IGN review of the game, he says, “Overwatch exists at an intersection between design and artistry, a crossroad at which pure tactile joy meets refined intelligent design.” In this comment, Ingenito is stating that Blizzard’s main focus, after the gameplay of course, was to make the game as clean and colorful as possible. We think that they accomplished this for sure. The maps are a main part of this. We guarantee you’ll love “Overwatch” just for its beauty alone.
Furthermore, the 22 unique playable heroes will have you falling in love in no time. From a gorilla rocket scientist with some very fragile glasses, Winston, to the high flying egyptian soldier from Egypt, Pharah, there is truly a hero for every type of gamer. What separates these heroes from each other are their unique weapons and abilities. Every hero’s partner in crime is their main weapon. Main weapons are the reloadable, usually projectile, firing weapons that each hero primarily uses. All heroes have around two to three abilities, which help them out in battles. Some well-known abilities in “Overwatch” are Reinhardt’s “barrier field”, Soldier 76’s “helix rockets,” and Genji’s “deflect”; these abilities are helpful, but a hero’s ultimate ability (ults) can easily change how a match plays out. Ultimate abilities are usually for taking out a whole truckload of enemies, like Mcree’s “deadeye” and Junkrat’s “drip tire” ability, which is a controllable tire bomb that deals crazy damage. Some ults, though, are used for healing, shielding, or other purposes. All of the support class heroes have these kinds of ultimates. The 22 playable heroes, and their backstories, are magnificent and extremely addicting to play with.
Despite the main heroes, “Overwatch” provides many smaller elements that complete the game. The most popular side factor is loot boxes. In the typical FPS, a loot box, or crate, is equipped with guns and boosts, but Blizzard decided that there would be no boost or extra weapons for heroes. Instead, there would be alternate skins, emotes, highlight intros, sprays, and more. Loot boxes are each filled with four items of different frequencies: common, rare, epic, and legendary. Players can achieve these boxes in multiple ways like leveling up, winning their 3rd, 6th, and 9th games in arcade mode (it resets each 7 days), and other ways. Another exciting addition is the seasonal events. Seasonal events bring new loot box items and the most recent event, Chinese New Year: Year of the Rooster, has brought capture the flag, an exciting new game mode. Other events have been the Summer Olympics, Halloween, and Winter Wonderland.
Many have said that “Overwatch” has certain flaws like no solo champaign, the matchmaking process, and others. This is a somewhat valid argument, but every good thing comes with flaws, and unlike a movie, Blizzard can fix these “problems” in the future considering that this game is fairly new. Besides, this game has received extremely high ratings from IGN, Metacritic, Common Sense Media, and has won best game of the year. What I mean is that if this game is one of the best of all time, with just multiplayer options, then does Blizzard really need to make any big changes? The answer is no.