Overwatch: First Impressions from BlizzCon
by djtyrant - 9 years ago show comments
Blizzard announced a brand new IP for the first time in seventeen years. Overwatch is a significant departure for Blizzard Entertainment and as such if you were to sit down and play this without knowing if was a Blizzard game, you’d have a hard time really knowing it was. This is a whole new world that lacks Orcs, Terran’s, or a Reaper of Souls.
The first thing that comes to mind from the trailer is Team Fortress 2, and this wouldn’t be too far off from the feeling I got from the game. But along that line, it has that Blizzard polish that they are so well known with this game having the variety and amount of classes so far looks to lend some depth and variety this genre.
One thing I also noticed during the trailer and gameplay is this feels like a very family friendly game. The game doesn’t seem to have any blood or gore, and more fun looking textures.
In the one match I’ve played I got to play a five on five with others on the map Temple of Anbubis. The first round I got to play as Tracer, a super fast assassin that can completely boost around the map. Round one we were tasked with advanced and attacking on the point capture map. We had two points to take over in about ten minutes. With Tracer you’re able to boost around the map (using shift) and have three charges initially that rebuild over time after using them. She is a class made to have her boost ability used often. I was able to boost over crumbled bridges and flank the enemy get a kill and get out with relative ease.
Second round, we were on the defense this time and I chose Mercy this time, designated as a support class. She has two weapons, the primary that is a gun thats primary fire is a heal for your team, the secondary fire boots your targets damage by 50%. The second weapon is a gun so if things get hairy Mercy is able to defend herself. Her ultimate power (which you can see progress on your power below your reticle) will instantly revive a fallen teammate. This can quickly change the tide of a battle and allow your team to get that edge for victory.
Some other items they’ve adapted from other games in this genre are the kill cam (which didn’t seem to be able to be skipped) where you’re given the view from the enemy who killed you and you get to see how you died. This could be used by players to help them learn and adapt to strategies. What was the really cool feature is at the end of a round (there was two rounds alternating from attacking and defending) one player is selected by the game as an MVP and you get to see what appears to be their best eliminations.
From the first play through, this game looks to be something significantly different for Blizzard, but with all that polish we are sure to get what look to be an exciting entry into the class based FPS genre! I can’t wait to check out more!
