Overwatch: Beta Impressions
Overwatch is the upcoming title from Blizzard Entertainment set to launch on 5/24 less than a week away.
It is a six person team, competitive shooter with a variety of maps with different objectives from assaulting a key location while the other team defends it; to escorting a moving objective while the opposing team is trying to stop it, and many variations of each.
I got a chance to play last month during a closed beta weekend and then again on the open beta weekend beginning on May 5th so here are my thoughts on it.
Graphics
Overwatch D.Va Screenshot
While the graphics are very stylized and as some have pointed out “cartoony” as is normal for blizzard, they are also very well done. The quality textures and fluid animations bring a consistent feel and I really enjoy the style choice.
Playing on an older AMD Radeon HD 6950 video card I was able to play at reasonably high settings without any lag or slowdowns. And playing it on an even more outdated laptop with an Nvidia GTS 360M I had to drop the settings almost all the way down which left the graphics almost 2D looking but was still able to maintain a very playable frame-rate.
Controls
The controls in Overwatch will seem immediately familiar to anyone who has played many first person shooters. But it is also fairly intuitive to those of us who are not so into that scene and I was able to get used to it pretty quickly with either mouse and keyboard or controller. The tutorial and then the practice map give plenty of opportunity to get used to the controls and get a feel for each hero’s abilities. The controls in general seemed very smooth and responsive there was no delay between a button press and the action happening on the screen other than the intended cool-downs on skills.
While I personally preferred the mouse and keyboard where I feel like I have more control, that is not the game, it is me and what I am used to. With my Logitech G13 Game board and the Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse, that I have been using for years my hands are just trained to click that way. And mapping skills to the side buttons took all of a couple seconds.
Heroes
Overwatch Heroes
The Heroes in Overwatch all seem well thought out. Each one fits into a specific role of Tank, Support, Defense, or Offense. Each Hero also has its own set of skills to fit their play style which makes each hero within each role still have its own unique feel and play style.
I found that there were definitely some heroes I played better than others, and some that seemed to work better on certain maps and with certain strategies even when from the same role.
Game play
Playing the game was great fun for the short couple days I got to play cramming in as many hours as possible, I found myself wishing I had more time. Starting my first real match I had no idea what to expect or what Hero to choose, but there was guidance on the team make up pointing out that there were not enough of a certain role or too many in some cases. I also learned that if a particular hero was not working well in a match for me, after I died (which I did a lot) I could change heroes. So not only can you pick your hero in the beginning but you can change mid-match to adapt your strategy to how the game is going.
While every map has strategies that work well and certain heroes that seem to work well on certain maps. There is definitely a difference in the players you are matched up with; some teams will do great while others are a scattered mess. It seemed less to do with the “skills” of an individual player and more to do with how well the team worked together. Though I was often surprised by the unexpected skill of a single player in a match and I often fell victim to one of those better players feeling both frustrated and a bit in awe. There was also a definite progression in my skill, as I played more I got better and I had more kills and less deaths.
This brings me to another point. Progression in this game gives increased levels and each level is rewarded with a loot box. There is no increase in power at all other than just getting better at playing and the loot boxes contain only cosmetic items, different skins or voice lines or sprays etc… this keeps everyone on an even keel while still being able to show advancement and that “epic” look you got that makes you look different than someone else playing the same hero.
Conclusion
Over all I feel Overwatch is a great shooter. It’s very polished and runs smooth. The heroes are diverse and match many play styles and the maps are both beautiful and functional with well thought out objectives and use of space providing a variety of potential strategies to win or lose.
I did find that it got a little repetitive for me but this an issue I have in match based shooters in general, or really any team based competitive match system, not much different to how I find battlegrounds in World of Warcraft get a bit repetitive, Far less so in Overwatch though as there is far more variety in the maps and objectives and I would imagine this will only grow as they release more maps in the future.
Definitely the most fun I have had in a shooter in a very long time.
