Overwatch (2016)

Overwatch is an amazing game. No wonder it won game of the year, in 2017. The game is a very difficult and strategic game. You and your team of 5 other players must form the best team you can through the many choices of 26 very unique characters and take on the other team of 6 in many different game modes. All the gamemodes have different purposes and are very different from each other. Overwatch is a very complicated game with many different choices that the player and his team have to make, and It requires much communication. Some of the game modes include capture the point where both teams are fighting for a big point in the middle of map. There are three matches played in this gamemode and the best out of three wins the game. Another one is escort the payload. One team gets to prepare there defenses for a minute then the other team starts attacking once the attacking team breaks through there frontline they must escort the payload to the final objective. There are 4 different stops for the payload where the attacking team gets more time on clock to escort the payload. Another game mode that is much longer is capture the point then escort the payload. Just like the other, one team prepares defense on the point and the other team attacks it and if they get the point they must escort the payload to the final objective to win the game. When players die in the game they respawn back in there spawn where they can at anytime switch there character out. The last game mode left is secure the Hard points. One team has a minute to prepare defenses on the points and the other teams attacks and tries to take over the enemies Hard points. There are many different maps that are unique to different game modes because certain gamodes can only be played on certain maps. Now, onto Characters and their ultimates. There are many different characters in this very intense and exciting game. The game takes much communication with your teammates or friends. You must form a perfect team, balancing out what your team strategy is and what your team needs. There are many different characters including, attacking, defense, tanks, and last but not least healers. In the attacking category the characters are, Doomfist, Genji, McCree, Reaper, Pharah, Soldier 76, Tracer, and Sombra. For defense there are Bastion, Hanzo, Junkrat, Mei, Torbjorn, and widowmaker. Then what some people might say the best category and most vital category, is tanks. Which include, Roadhog, DVA, reinhardt, and Orisa. Then the last category which in my opinion is the most vital category is healers which include Ana, Mercy, Moira, Lucio, and zenyatta. All the characters in the game have very different and unique special abilities that can contribute to the team and help the team. Overall this game is very well put together and i very highly recommend it.

There is no doubt Overwatch is a fun game to play: its core battle mechanics are simple but interesting, especially with the great roster of characters catering to beginners and advanced players alike; and the presentation is great, with its stylized graphics and sound design. Even so, Overwatch is a game best played in small doses, especially if you play it alone as I have, because it does tend to get repetitive. The main problem here is partially the lack of map variety, but mainly the few game modes. The lack of variety really hurts in a game without single-player content. It also lacks a meaningful progression system - leveling up only grants you a random assortment of meaningless cosmetics, and without the draw of leveling up, there is no draw of gaining exp. Without the draw of gaining exp there is no draw of winning games by playing the objective, which in turn makes games play out like team deathmatch. As much as I hate to say it I do not think this game is worth full retail price at this point. Half price would be more reasonable for the content you are presently getting, but I'm really hoping this game will develop like Splatoon did in the months to come, giving people a reason to return every now and then.

The presentation is great, the general game mechanics are great, and it's just generally fun to play. However, there really is not that much content in this game: no single-player, few game modes, and not that many maps. It wears a bit thin as a solo experience, which means I'm not sure it's worth full retail price at present - maybe a few free updates down the road...