We did a Community Review on the Overwatch beta roughly a month ago, but now that the game is very much in the wild — how are you finding it?
I’ve played a little bit here and there, but I’m hardly equipped to discuss the early meta, or potential imbalances and whanot. I’m finding that it’s very possible to suck at this game and still enjoy it. That’s an early plus. There’s also potential for players to be good at Overwatch in a variety of different ways — which bodes well for Overwatch being a game that works well for insane sharpshooters and sluggish dads alike. Again, another early plus.
Overwatch also allows you to develop your own style of play. I like shotguns and I like the mid-range of games like Halo. So my favourite characters are Reaper and Soldier 76. Boring I know.
But others are able to just… do some weird shit with some of the other wilder Overwatch characters. It’s very much a game that caters to ever possible taste without feeling watered down at all.
In a lot of ways the game really is a true goddamn miracle.
How are you finding it so far?
Comments
60 responses to “Community Review: Overwatch”
It’s pretty great. Playing solo is a mixed bag, community seems a lot better than other FPS.
Characters are fun, still have a few i need to try out, looking forward to the new ones as they emerge.
I was in a game on Friday with randoms that all chose Mercy. After some hesitation I just rolled with it so we had probably the quickest loss on Temple of Anubis defence ever. On the brighter side, I got a gold medal for eliminations and something else, because apparently I was the only guy using the blaster…
Feels like a game that’s easy to learn, difficult to master. Really enjoying it so far, managed to convince two friends who I didn’t think would actually like it to get it, and now it’s pretty much all we play together.
Originally I thought it would get very old very quickly, but somehow we’ve managed to play enough that we feel we’ve got our money’s worth. Personally, not a fan of the microtransactions in a game which you already pay full price for, but you can’t really argue since they’re all cosmetic and it makes sense from Blizzard’s point of view.
Mei is baeI’ve put in about 55 hours now and played about 425+ games. I still like it and haven’t bought any microtransactions. I now have a handful of legendary skins so I’m less fussed about the rarity of them.
B.Va is baeI ran into the same problem I did playing Dota – I no longer want to play this game unless I have friends online. Trying to get randoms to actually contest the objective, as opposed to running off trying to get solo kills all the time, is very frustrating.
Also fuck McCree.
McCree’s OK as long as you don’t let him get the drop on you. His slow-firing revolver is crap at medium to long distances if you are dodging about. If you stumble upon a McCree going around a corner or something, or if he gets behind you and ults, then yeah it is annoying. So funny playing as McCree though, getting behind a team pushing the payload, ulting, and watching them all scatter like chickens.
I’ve played it for about 40-odd hours, and it’s a lot of fun when I do play it, but I’m starting to notice the little backend flaws/questionable design choices more and more as I do. The matchmaker still seems amazingly hit-and-miss, and that’s not something you can avoid even when playing with friends.
As I said, it’s fun for a bit when I do play it, but the frustrations like character movement, the inconsistency of knockback attacks and hitboxes do grind pretty quickly.
Having a blast so far. I am not really a huge fan of online multiplayer in general (outside Rocket League) but this games really works for me. I love changing characters mid battle, trying the best character to compliment my team. I also love the fact that I still have a fair chunk of the roster I have never played waiting for me if I get sick of my guys.
Early favourites are Reinhardt, Mercy, Hanzo, Torbjorn, Pharah, Junkrat and of course Winston!
In my 55 hours the most I’ve put into any character is 5 hours on Lucio (out of necessity) but I’ve put at least 2 hours into each of the others. It’s fun to learn new game play styles and also if you learn all the characters it gets easier to counter them. Changing characters mid battle is pretty much required. If you are going after second point on Hanamura and find three turrets waiting for you, Widowmaker can be a great choice to switch to.
As for favourites I’m liking Soldier 76 for his mobility and self-sufficiency, Torbjorn for the strategy involved in turret placement, Winston for his… er… guerilla tactic prowess, Junkrat for the indirect fire and baiting ability… there’s something really great about pretty much all the characters. I’m only struggling a bit with a few. Genji and Hanzo in particular I find challenging to use well.
I’m enjoying it, but the more I play the game, the more I realise how fundametally broken the game is, and that ultimately, its a bad TF2 ripoff.
Yeah the impression the console beta left on me was that I wished I was playing TF2, then I realised hell I could do that whenever I wanted no money down!
Broken in what way?
It was fun for the first week but not long after hitting 25 all the little problems started to annoy me. It just all feels very unrewarding, especially with the amount of really cheap ways you can die with literally nothing you can do.
Its also hard to keep motivated when the only source of progression in the game is 100% random.
Shit it’s sad that for some people if a game doesn’t have some sort of unlocks/rewards it’s no longer “fun”. *sigh* just playing the game should be enough fun that you’d like to come back. If it’s not then the game design is either flawed or it’s not your cup of tea. MP gaming existed and flourished without unlocks\rewards and imo for the better (that said i have no problems with cosmetic unlocks that overwatch uses).
I don’t understand why people want gaming to be like a job 🙁 The reward should just be playing it, not earning virtual currency for a better “gaming” experience.
It wouldn’t be big deal if the game had no reward system, the point is that the one currently in game is obnoxious and constantly gives you a feeling of disappointment.
But don’t let that stop you from looking down on people who get their enjoyment outside your approved guidelines.
I don’t think I’ve ever died (except to lag) and thought that I couldn’t have avoided it if I’d played better. What examples are you thinking of?
Just various ults, its hard to counter reaper when he can so easily get behind your team and by the time you hear “Die Die Die” you are almost dead, DVA self destructing while you are between her and a wall. Pharah being extremely high up and raining down on you while you are a close range class.
All of these things you cant really deal with without first dying and changing to an appropriate counter. Its like the worlds most shiny version of paper scissors rock where you can pay 60 bucks for a chance and painting your rock a different colour.
I think that’s part of the charm of the game, that either somebody else in your team takes care of your mismatch (eg. McCree flash-banging Tracer to stop her annihilating your Reinhardt) or you can change your playstyle/character.
I agree with you about D.Va’s self destructing though: I have actually been on another floor of a building and died a number of times with her using the self destruct ult.
Depending on what your character is, there will be ults that are devastating to your character: eg. Reinhardt not being able to get out of the way of Hanzo’s ult or Symmetra/Zenyatta/Mercy being stuck in Zarya or Mei’s ult and being decimated by opposition attacks.
I agree with the unrewarding comments, need more of a carrot on a stick. Whether that’s unique skins that are ranked locked, or something else.
I’d also love solo queue vs group queue when ranked comes out, that would deal with the solo vs group issues in games.
Lastly, I really like the random hero arcade queue, I wish it was a permanent option.
Yeah, the random hero is quite fun and forces you to play characters you wouldn’t normally play.
Except McCree.
ITS HIGH NOON.
Its so satisfying when you hear “ITS HIGH N-AAARRGGHHH”
“JUSTICE RAINS FR……………… *silence*”
“DIE, DIE, D–“…
“Pass into the Iri…”
I think its great. However once the initial sheen comes off, playing on your own with a team of randoms gets very annoying very quickly. Most of the time people dont play the objective or pick stupid characters for the objective. Had a team yesterday playing Offence on Anubis with 3 windowmakers. Ended up being 3v6 cause all the Widows would just sit back trying to snipe. Either that or the matchmaking puts you up against ridiculous teams. Had a couple of games now where one team’s highest level was 37 (me) and the other team’s lowest level was 40+
At the end of the day it’s really fun, but probably needs a bit of time to settle down and get some work done on it. If they support it well and tweak it a bit this could be one of the greats.
Having a Widowmaker on offence on Temple of Anubis is actually great if the rest of the team pushes forward. Having more than one is a bit stupid though.
I’d really like a replay option where you can watch the match as a spectator. I’d love to see how I play from another point of view and also check out some of the good players I run into.
I understand why Widows are good, and why having them on offence can help, but you certainly dont need 3, simply because there is no push. You’re left with (at best) 1 tank, 1 heal and 1 Offence if the team is setup right. It just annoys me when people dont pay attention to team composition.
Checking out livestreams is good for that. You can see new areas you may not have noticed in the map, and also some tricks that other players use.
Ha ha, yeah. I love learning new tricks. Except by the time I learned a good spot to let off a RIP tyre from Junkrat on Hollywood defence, everyone else had learned how to avoid it… Oh well, it’s a constant game of one-upmanship, which is a reason I love it.
Learning to climb walls with it makes it infinitely more annoying. Most people dont look up when they’re looking for the rip tire so dropping it on their head is a great tactic.
It is a good game, there is lots of fun to be had. As is par for the course with Blizzard – it is very polished. It is best with friends, it can be hit and miss when playing with ransoms. However it is a bit sparse on content, for the price. And that is my biggest gripe – it is way overpriced and still has expensive IAP’s. I have voiced my opinion on that in other comments, so there is no point getting into that here!
Overall I would give it a 6.5/10, there is good fun to be had, but it feels like a bit of a cash grab.
I’d give it a 9/10 because:
+ Amazing game play
+ Pinnacle of art design for levels and characters
+ Very well-balanced
– Slightly lacking in content (modes)
– (for now) microtransactions – although if Blizzard follows through on its promise to give free maps and characters then I’ll consider it a neutral aspect.
I am loving overwatch but I can’t wait until they nerf McCree. I dislike McCree so much that he is the only character I never play.
Matchmaking could be improved and some of the achievements don’t work.
The thing I like best is the community. There is very few toxic people I have encountered. Those few that are seem to get jumped on. =D
My exact sentiments.. Mccree is a bitch..
My exact sentiments.. Mccree is a bitch..
Obviously you dislike him so much, you had to post it twice!
It’s high noon
I’ve played about 60 hours so its fair to say I’m in love with the game. The only problem is the matchmaking, even with a full group a lot of the time, especially the last few days its wildly inconsistent. Steamrolling one game getting steamrolled the next game kills some of the fun.
But when it works and you get nail biting close games its so dam fun. I honestly can’t see myself getting sick of playing it anytime soon. When I’m not playing it I find myself thinking about it/watching streams/forums.
Yep. Agree with you totally.
Needs more game modes and maps. CTF? I would really love to see some kind of 10v10 or even larger size games as well.
The game is almost TOO polished. Everything is so balanced for a certain style of fast constant play that it becomes repetitive. They seem very keen to avoid games getting bogged down (like say TF2 matches can) so the games maintain a breakneck speed. But this leads to a lack of variety in this pacing. I definitely could play the odd game mode which requires breaking through turtled defences. They seem to deal with the 6v6 limitation in OW by using bottlenecks in the maps. Defending at the parts where there are multiple paths is useless with only 6 players.
So I would like to see more variety and maybe less focus on ensuring every game falls within certain metrics.
I’m actually starting to see teams defending forward and then falling back to the choke points. It can be really effective because the other team will usually suit up for a break-the-choke-point scenario, not a skirmish scenario. It can buy the defenders a minute or so before the attackers adapt.
Yeah i often play as Symmetra and put some initial turrets around the enemy start and fire the big balls. If I can get my teleporter up in a cool spot close to the enemy entrance I can defend it and slow them down for a while longer by removing the respawn walk for my team.
Yeah, being aggressive with Symmetra helps get the teleporter up more quickly, which is always good. It’s risky though because if she dies you then need to slog back to your team.
She is one of the best close range combatants too. Circle strafe like a mofo.
Don’t forget to bunny hop while strafing too, for maximum survivability.
I don’t think ctf will work for Overwatch. Characters have such extraordinary powers compared to your average shooter. A good Tracer or Reaper could grab the flag and be halfway across the map before a turret registered. That’s why all the early maps are payload/king of the hill/fortress defence.
This problem seems pretty easily solvable by making the flag disable flying/leaping/roping/etc and limit speed when held. Say it is a very heavy looking object.
Or you could even even make the flag some kind of vehicle that has its own characteristics, or something that transforms the character into a special “flag carrier” character. I think there are options here.
Not a bad idea at all. I’d play that.
Is this game only for multiplayer? Doe it have a story mode? Will Blizz release a co-op multiplayer versus AI or an mmo-fps gameplay style in the future?
Its multiplayer only in the style of Team Fortress 2, it has Coop vs Bots but its really really dull, you can just camp outside their base and easily kill them over and over.
There is no story mode at all.
Here’s MY review: I’m not paying 90 motherfucking bucks for TF2 with waifus, especially with so much porn of them for free on the net already. I played it during the beta and thought it was OK, but for the wallet-shredding rip-off price Activision-Blizzard are asking for it (yeah, you forgot that the guys you lambast for CoD are basically the same company, didn’t you?) they can fuck RIGHT off, especially since they’re using that inexcusable scam “spray box” microtransaction gambling system they put into the last few CoD games to rip-off money from clueless kids with mommy’s credit card who just want a legendary skin and instead get 200 sprays and tags.
Make it F2P, then we’ll talk. Suck it, fanboys.
Have fun playing TF2 then. It’s simple as that.
I’ll suck it 😉
No microtransactions for me though.
I love it but it won’t last if it stays in it’s current state.
Not enough maps.
Not enough game modes.
Needs a better social experience. Community groups/clans/guilds which allow players to chat and form a party for play. I don’t necessarily won’t to add every single random person to my battlenet friends list just to have people to play with. but at the same time i don’t want to be paired up with fools that only want to get kills every round.
The hitboxes/tickrates/etc make the game easy to play half decent as it removes the skill ceiling like typical twitch shooters in place of group strategy.
I think the loot reward system is fine and doesn’t need messing with. Maybe add more skins though to keep it fresh over time.
Would love to see some sort of challenge mode for each hero based on their strengths, as long as it was a separate game mode like the brawl. Though they need to be careful messing with the formula too much…. example, the missions in CSGO have ruined that game, the number of times ive been playing casual and half the people are there just to get kills with a certain weapon or burn someone etc and don’t even attempt to play the game. Then the map they need gets voted over and over. CSGO is seriously broken in that regard and i hope overwatch take’s heed on what not to do there.
Fuck Bastion.
Fuck the ability to have more than one of the same character on the same team.
Mei is the greatest.
@blaghman votes for himself.
Sorry, i didn’t vote for Blaghs. D= =P
Play of the game
*Bastion holds left click*
Repeat indefinitely
It’s actually getting harder to play as Bastion now that people have wised up to ways of countering or getting around him. Genji just wrecks him and he can easily be sniped or evaded unless he has covering fire from teammates.
Loving it. There’s something really satisfying about getting Play Of The Game with Mei, since noone else seems to do it. Pop a blizzard and headshot everyone with icicle for a calculated 3 man kill. 🙂
This is true, I have seen maybe one play of the game as Mei?
I’d really like to see a statistic on what percentage of play of the games come from which character, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a POTG from a Mercy or a Zenyatta that wasn’t me 😉