I Want YOU to Play Overwatch!: Ultima's Overwatch Review!

Call of Duty. Battlefield. Bioshock. Doom.
What do all of these shooters have in common?
I have no idea, because I don’t play many shooters! Though Bioshock is one of my fav shooters.
Now here we have Overwatch, arguably the biggest shooting game phenomenon since insert ultra popular shooter here. Overwatch has garnered praise from critics and gamers alike, but can it truly be the shooter that makes me want to play it more and more? Does it want me to become a hero?

Story:
Overwatch. It was an organization built with the same goal in mind for everyone: to keep the world safe and make it a better place. It was worldwide and had several different branches. Unfortunately, something was going on. Was it a dispute? A mistake? Breaking of the rules? Overwatch inside was looking more grim as time went on, and soon disbanded. However, according to Winston, a genetically engineered genius gorilla, the world still needs help! He calls out to all former Overwatch members, hoping to do good again.
At least that’s the jist of it from the intro of Overwatch when you boot it up. Most of Overwatch’s story is actually told through inside lore, comics, and even animated shorts from Blizzard themselves instead of a simple story mode or campaign like most games. Personally, I think the story is pretty deep and effective, but Honestly though, whether you find the story good or not due to x amount of reasons, that’s not what Overwatch is about.
The characters are memorable though, with each hero having their own personality! Personalities can range from quirky, to fun, to energized, to even serious or kind. Every hero is likeable in many ways. No character is dislikeable honestly.

Gameplay:
Now this is what Overwatch is about!
Like previously mentioned, Overwatch is a shooter, a team based shooter to be precise. The goal is to complete specific map objectives. These objectives include pushing a payload, capturing a specific point, or both!
To do this, you first have to select your hero, and this is where the fun begins.
Heros are placed in 3 categories. Damage heroes deal effective amounts of damage, and are usually the one getting kills because of this. Tanks can take a lot of hits, and they are very capable of either protecting teammates or sponging attacks for them. Supports are healers, and they are in charge of keeping the team healthy.
You can shoot, you can move around, and you can use your heroes’ special abilities inherent to them. The Ultimate Ability AKA Ultimate is a powerful ability heroes can use after charging it via time passing, kills, dealing damage, and healing. Each hero is unique from each other, and play differently, creating loads of variety in hero selection. Quite literally no hero has any ability that is greatly similar to another’s.
In practice, Overwatch’s gameplay is incredibly solid and plays super well, with arguably no one hero being overly used due to each hero being carefully checked or countered by other heroes and heroes checking other heroes. It’s important to be able to play multiple heroes in case your team is in need of a specific type or hero or other reasons! Outside of MAYBE one hero personally (cough Pharah cough), the game is super balanced. Even if imbalance did exist, the game is constantly being patched, which is one of the best aspects of Overwatch. It’s constantly changing, being updated, and being improved, making the game feel fresh and overall better!
The maps are well made. Each map has something to help them stand out, whether it be by appearance or layout. This helps keeps the maps and gameplay feeling fresh despite the arguable lack of different types of objectives. Some heroes will perform better on different maps as well!
There is also the Arcade mode! There you can play Overwatch in many differrent ways, like 3v3, capture the flag, and more! Each mode is fun in its own right.
Oh, and remember to use teamwork when you play.

Is that a hamster I can play as?!

Graphics and Sound:
I play the PC version, so the graphics vary depending on your hardware. However, for the case of this review, let’s just say the PC version is on par with the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the games.
Overwatch looks excellent! Graphics are sharp, detailed, and just beautiful looking. It’s not just the game that looks good, but the overall design of the heroes as well. The heroes are as distinct as their gameplay, unique and individualized. You have a soldier, a ninja, a doctor, a dj, a monkey, a huge armored person, a reaper like person, and more.
Maps look great, and some are based off real life locations, like Egypt, giving each map their own style, look, and feel.
The music in Overwatch is effective. It’s exciting and does its job well, it is just not the most memorable thing in the game. It is not a flaw, however. I rather enjoy getting pumped up to battle thanks to listening to the music before I enter the fray.

Conclusion:
Overwatch is Game of the Year of 2016 for a reason. It’s near perfect, with excellent gameplay, wide cast of characters, crystal clear graphics…
You should definitely give Overwatch a shot sometime. You might become the next hero Overwatch needs!

Score: 9.5/10