This past weekend I had the chance to play during the Overwatch Beta. Not sure what Overwatch is? Take a quick look at the gameplay trailer…
Having only recently returned to the gaming scene after over a decade’s absence, this was my first time playing with the characters from Overwatch. Having given the Battleborn Beta a whirl, I kind of expected the same… a confusing, dullard, and sub-par experience that left me both unfulfilled and uninspired to play more. Needless to say, by the very existence of this blog post, that wasn’t the Overwatch experience.
Overwatch is a genuinely fun game to play. They have a great tutorial system with practice modes available to help you dive into the plethora of characters that are offered. The two online modes I played was as a team against AI opponents and then a 6v6 team battle with objectives.
The characters are broken down into groups highlighting their strengths into various roles on the team. The subdivisions are Offense, Defense, Tank, and Support. Although everyone chooses who they want to play, a diverse team will be essential to earning that victory. I appreciate the fact that the system warns you if you have too few or none of a certain type of character. Some people will ignore that choosing to be the character they want for competitive reasons, but as someone who’s in it recreationally I still want my team to have a fighting chance so I’d often end up changing to choose a character for a better balance.
One of the things I LOVED about Overwatch was the “Kill Cam” sequence you get after dying. As someone who tends to die a lot, this was SO cool for me to see. It not only answers the question of “how did they get me?” but, after you die enough, you start to see things you didn’t realize (like a dark corridor that allows flanking) and can alter your gameplay to either deny that advantage to your opponent or take advantage of it yourself.
All things said and done, Overwatch is a really fun game and I look forward to it’s official release later this month even though I was someone else’s Play of the Game…
… because not only can I take it, but I can deal it too…
Check out Overwatch for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments…
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