I played in the beta for Blizzard’s new title Overwatch. It was a lot of fun, and had its own ups and downs. I wanted to share my thoughts on it.
It was a beta.
What some people in the Overwatch community are crying about are flaws that go away thanks to this beta. A beta serves two purposes; first it generates hype for the game which means popularity and higher sales, second it allows the developers to polish the game where it’s rough. These rough spots are what people fail to understand are there as a result of how large of an undertaking making such a game is. Beta testing games exists because nothing tells a developer what nooks and crannies they’ve missed in making the game than letting thousands of people play and discover them firsthand.
This includes some characters being too good (Bastion) or too bad (Zenyatta). Character health pools and abilities will be changed for release to make them more balanced than they were in the beta. I really hope that the Play of the Game mechanic is reworked to take into account more than just kills per second, otherwise only the high damage dealers are likely to get those plays. I enjoy playing support characters, and if this isn’t remade I feel like a lot of people will pull away from support and tanky roles just for a good PotG.
It’s not TF2
The first thing I did after I saw Overwatch videos was compare it with Team Fortress 2. I’m not at all the first or last person to do this, either. After having played the beta I can see how different it is, and I’m glad for these differences. TF2 is a more silly game than Overwatch. In TF2 you have silly hats, weapons, and sound effects; ridiculous, hectic, and fun gameplay. This feels like a wild party where people are flying overhead and yelling strange things about ham. The popularity of TF2 is unquestionable, so there is value to this party-like wildness. Overwatch isn’t nearly as silly. It has a few voice lines and emotes that are humorous, but it seems to try to fill the word ‘epic’ more than ‘silly.’
Overwatch’s emphasis on the amazing is thrilling and I think it will end up having more longevity than TF2. Eventually you out-grow the party life, and many famous TF2 players have said that they get tired of it eventually. I don’t feel like this will happen so much with Blizzard’s title. Another thing I think this game will do better is in the addition of new heroes. TF2 is famous for never straying from the 9 character roster it started with so long ago. Overwatch will be adding new heroes for us to play with, and each new hero will extend the longevity and variety on gameplay over and over.
Is it unique?
Overwatch’s uniqueness was something that I was worried about. However, after I thought about it, my mind strayed to other Blizzard titles. Each title Blizzard owns can be seen as a remake of some other existing and popular game. World of Warcraft was likened to Everquest when it came out, and Heroes of the Storm is their MOBA after the popularity of League of Legends. Blizzard has been known to really hone in on a genre, and wash over it to make their own version while trying to make it better than the original. Their takes on games are more or less always universally loved and popular. Now they have come to the perfect imbalance FPS genre that TF2 has made popular.
The feel of the game is definitely easier on the eyes, and feels simpler and more stable. I could see this being the game that introduces some people to the FPS genre for its simplicity. I’ll be getting Overwatch on the Xbox One when it comes out, and I suspect many YouTube videos will be made from it as a result. I am more than excited to play this game, and pray that my internet connection will hold steady on launch day.
Originally published at kionay.wordpress.com on May 12, 2016.
