Home Gaming Overwatch hands on: crazy characters, crazy fun

Overwatch hands on: crazy characters, crazy fun

4 min read
19

Anybody who’s spent time with me knows that I really dig Blizzard. Ok, that’s a bit of an understatement – I love them! When I first saw them announce Overwatch in November last year though, I felt absolutely nothing. A shooter… really? What are they thinking? That’s not a RTS/MMO/Card game! I wasn’t sold, not in the slightest, and no amount of gameplay footage I saw post-reveal persuaded me otherwise. You know what did? Playing the game…something I got to do at Gamescom. My 30 or so odd minutes with Blizzard’s brand new IP not only eliminated any doubts I had for it, it also made me want it rather desperately…

I didn’t experience Overwatch behind closed doors. I had to make the time to get my hands on it. At a rough count, Blizzard had set up around 200 stations for both public and media to play the game. Thus, there were no scheduled times. I had to resort to dashing off to the large stand when I had a free moment between all my other appointments.

I’m glad I did, because I ended up going back to play Overwatch another two times, dragging Alessandro with me on both those occasions simply to confirm that I wasn’t being a Blizzard fanboy for giving it such high praise. I’m happy to report that I am not being helplessly biased – he was equally enchanted by the game after his time with it too.

SO PRETTY

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I fell in love with the Overwatch after my three brief sessions, and no immediate answer came to mind. The title isn’t doing anything drastically different, at least not in terms of core gameplay.

I mean, the two confirmed game modes are payload, where a team has to push a vehicle along to it’s destination while the the other defends, and point capture, which, as the name implies, is about a team attacking a point while the other protects it. These two are hardly innovative and different from what we have seen in other similar titles like Team Fortress 2.

What Blizzard are nailing however, and I think this is where I became infatuated with Overwatch, are the visuals, and the characters. The latter in particular, really caught my attention. There’s just something about the way the characters move and play that has sealed the deal for me, convincing me that Overwatch is really something special.

PEWPEWPEW

Pharah for example, comes equipped with a rocket launcher. Being a fan of titles like Quake and Unreal, I was immediately drawn to her. Her one ability, jump jet, launches her high into the air (it’s essentially a rocket jump, without the rocket).

I can’t even begin to properly explain how ridiculously satisfying that ability alone is. In the one map, there is a short building in front of the capture point where the defending team all horded, picking off people silly enough to try run around it.

As Pharah, I was able to launch over the building and glide over the enemies, raining sweet rockets from above, raking in a ton of kills in the process, and gaining momentum for my team in the process.

reaper-screenshot-005.1GcKT

Another character I tried was Tracer. She comes equipped with dual pistols – handy for riddling enemies full of bullets. Her real strength is her speed though.

Tracer’s abilities are all about dashing in and out of combat. The one called blink, comes with three charges that replenish fairly quickly. Using one “teleports” Tracer a short distance in the direction she is running. Chaining all three together means she can cover a lot of ground quickly, or be an absolute nuisance to an enemy as they attempt to get a clear shot at her. Again, I can’t really effectively explain how much fun this was.

I would dash around a corner, fire a fire shots off, and dash backward to safety. That or I could just run in, guns blazing, and make use of her other ability, recall, which rewinds her a few seconds back in time, and back to safety.

DJ

Honestly, I could spend the rest of this preview going on about the other characters I played (Widowmaker, Hanzo, Soldier: 76, and the newly unveiled, Lúcio), but each section would be the same: all are varied, all are fun. That’s really all you need to know.

I can’t wait to get the game, I really can’t. My only real concern is that there may be a lack of South African servers.

Even if that’s the case, I’ve seen the sort of network wizardry Blizzard have pulled in their other titles like Heroes of the Storm for example, where playing on a European server feels almost entirely lag-free. If they can apply the same magic to their shooter (in the event of no local server support), I would be so happy!

SO PRETTY OMG

If you, like me, were skeptical about Overwatch, I implore you to swallow your doubt. I’m convinced Blizzard have a winner on their hands here!

Get excited… Overwatch is going to be spectacular! Were it not for the fact that I know I am a shameless Blizzard fanboy, this would be my game of the show. I enjoyed it that much!

Last Updated: August 12, 2015

19 Comments

  1. I like shooting games… Not good at them but I like them. I’m usually the crazy nut that just runs in and shoot anything and everything!! Will be getting this game… One day!

    Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 12, 2015 at 11:17

    You keep that cabbageswallop & I’ll keep my skepticism. ;P

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      August 12, 2015 at 11:59

      Be nice to him! He’s special!

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        August 12, 2015 at 13:22

        Of course, I’m nice to you aren’t I?

        Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    August 12, 2015 at 11:20

    I swallow nothing!

    Reply

    • Sageville

      August 12, 2015 at 11:44

      I dispute that!

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        August 12, 2015 at 11:55

        Speaking from experience?

        Reply

        • Sageville

          August 12, 2015 at 12:49

          I was actually going for something different to “That’s what she said”…

          Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        August 12, 2015 at 11:55

        Oh right, booze

        Reply

  4. Viking Of Science

    August 12, 2015 at 11:33

    ….Crazy Narrow FOV, unless they’ve changed it….

    Reply

  5. Mossel

    August 12, 2015 at 11:52

    Blizzard has never had SA servers that I know of. This will be ruining the game in SA. Just my opinion.

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      August 13, 2015 at 09:09

      Na that’s my concern too 🙁

      Reply

  6. RinceThis

    August 12, 2015 at 11:57

    Eish, he sounds like Umar talking about anything with a tentacle in.

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      August 13, 2015 at 09:09

      SHUTUPITSAMAZINGANDIWANTITNOW!

      Reply

  7. HairyEwok

    August 12, 2015 at 12:09

    Epic Art style and colour palette win for me!

    Reply

  8. SmurFyZA

    August 12, 2015 at 12:43

    So my Battle.Net Desktop App has added Overwatch to my games list, but no download option yet. I am camping that app daily, hoping to get beta access soon. FFS Blizzard stop bait and gief game already!

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      August 13, 2015 at 09:09

      Me too 😛 I kinda shat myself with excitement when it popped up, thinking I got access!

      Reply

      • SmurFyZA

        August 13, 2015 at 09:18

        Hahaha! Likewise buddy

        Reply

  9. GooseZA

    August 12, 2015 at 13:15

    It’s Blizzard. Of course it’s good.

    Reply

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