Overwatch

Overwatch sits at the intersection of design and art, a crossroads where pure visual joy meets refined, clever design to create a rare spark of magic. As an objective-oriented 6v6 multiplayer shooter, it proves to be accessible not by lowering the level of talent required, but by broadening the very definition of it. Thus the player with the lethal trigger is no more privileged than the one able to predict when to use his ultimate abilities to change the outcome of a confrontation, or the one who has a 6th sense to find the best places to place his sentry turrets. While it didn't exactly give me a deluge of options, maps and other game modes, Overwatch comes with a plethora of tactical layers, and none of them came in between me and me. the pleasure of taking part in these intense team clashes with frenetic and thrilling action.

Overwatch does a lot of good things, but its success rests above all on the shoulders of the various characters it introduces. Its main menu is permanently dominated by one of them; their various appearances, origins and personalities are reflected in each new pose they take. Reinhardt's jet hammer lands on his shoulder with a characteristic clatter of a sword against the armor of a medieval knight, and Tracer's jovial smile is just briefly interrupted by his rebellious fuse getting trunked, obliging our heroine to blow on it to put it back in place, before resuming winking at the camera. There's also a smart, scientific gorilla, an agile blue-skinned assassin, and a Zen-adept cyborg healer. They're all as different as you might imagine looking at them side by side, but subtle visual cues scattered throughout their gear and clothing make you feel like these different characters share a common universe, even though they are. come from all four corners of it.

This sense of diversity continues to grow as you choose a hero before joining his or her cronies on the battlefield. Although the 21 characters available (all unlocked from the start) are grouped according to four “roles”, the handling of each of them is unique. If the robotic Bastion, able to transform, and the anarchic explosives launcher baptized the Jackal are both technically Defenders, they play out very differently. The former searches the map for strategic locations where to transform into a minigun turret to create points of defense while the latter prefers to throw time grenades over long distances that flash on the battlefield before exploding, an aggressive way of tell other players "Look elsewhere!" This strong sense of character differentiation is important, as it keeps the usual strategies around your team composition from drifting into simplicity. No, two Tanks, two Supporters and two Attackers is not the magic formula that leads a team to victory. You need to see beyond - and when you get there, the true beauty of Overwatch gameplay is finally revealed to you.

All you need where you need

One of the surprising ways the game uses to balance these many nuances remains the refusal to offer the player a crutch to lean on. With a few rare exceptions, none of the characters are focused on a single skill or skill that would allow them to achieve victory. Tracer's dual pistols have a high rate of fire but are not very precise, their magazines are reduced and the damage they inflict limited if you do not chain headshots. Genji's shurikens, on the other hand, cause great damage and feature near-infallible accuracy, but their low speed and rate of fire make them particularly ineffective against a moving target. Overall, the majority of primary weapons follow this pattern: they are useful, prove powerful enough when used for the right situation, but are never versatile enough for the player to rely on them alone. While these little details help to differentiate the characters, they mostly pushed me to explore their other abilities in my quest for success.

It is by looking at things more closely that I have multiplied the discoveries. Take the example of Jackal's equipment, this one does not have a reliable enough weapon to attack the enemy head-on. Obviously, he can blast grenades along the way to his target, but even if you were skilled enough to win an explosive head-to-head this way, you probably wouldn't realize the full extent of his potential.

At first glance, her other two abilities - Steel Trap and Incapacitating Mine - seem simple to master. Theoretically, one immobilizes enemies crossing it and the other sends enemies flying through the air when triggered. However, in practice they have other uses. Steel Trap can thus become an escape tool that allows you to flee from fast enemies coming your way. Once activated, its alert message lets you know when an enemy is trying to bypass your defenses, and the object immobilizes them long enough for you to retaliate. Alternatively, you can also plant an Incapacitating Mine on top of a Steel Trap and trigger its detonation when you are far from the trap and an enemy is immobilized by it. You can also use your Incapacitating Mine as if it were a good old grenade, throwing it at a group of enemies before manually activating its explosion. Its most fun use is probably being able to trigger its explosion when your character is above it, in order to rocket-jump to reach certain inaccessible areas. If only two of the same character's abilities give you so many possibilities, I let you imagine what happens when 12 characters attack different objectives using their abilities to help or attack, and the many tactical possibilities. nuances resulting from it.

Case in point: Pharah can become a real headache for her opponents when she launches into the air and hovers while raining death and rockets on the opposing team from angles making covers and positioning unnecessary. But Pharah becomes a whole different kind of problem when she receives support from the winged support named Angel. The latter's Guardian Angel ability allows it to swoop down on any ally within its range, even if it is in the sky. Thanks to her Angel Leap ability which allows her to slow down her fall, she is the only character able to follow Pharah wherever she goes, even in the sky. You eventually find yourself up against a dynamic duo flying all over the place - the first raining rockets at the enemy while the second heals and protects them from damage.

Overwatch is rich in this type of synergy and filled with similar duos: Reinhardt and Lucio, Zarya and Reaper or even Torbjorn and Symmetra ... There is no shortage of opportunities to strengthen cooperative play, and when you reach an experience level where the change of character "on the fly" seems natural to you in order to gain the upper hand on a failed composition of the team, you really have the feeling of being a fine tactician.

You can spend a lot of time on Overwatch before you get to that, twisting your brain with all those little subtleties behind a seemingly accessible approach, but it doesn't have to be for fun either. The simple act of switching characters, using their abilities, and roaming their world always proves incredibly appropriate, and that is due in large part to those tiny (and almost imperceptible) details. The lid of the grenade launcher worn by Jackal snaps and resonates with his every move, and Lucio's are characterized by a slight inertia that makes you feel like you're really skateboarding. Zenyatta's reload animation is probably still my favorite: I never tire of seeing him spread his arms to materialize a new set of orbs, before soldering them together in a pleasant metallic rustle. Granted, that's not much, but the sum of these minute details makes every action almost magical even if you repeat it over and over again.

The Path to Victory

Overwatch's 12 maps, all filled with lush detail, also play an important role in leveraging with some depth the unique characteristics of each character. The particularly oppressive first bottleneck on Hanamura requires the use of static defenses like Torbjorn's turret or Symmetra's Sentries, and attackers must have the right movement skills (see Pharah and Angel duo above). The gap between the left flank of the first and second capture point thus becomes a tantalizing opportunity to bypass defenders before they have a chance to reset. Other maps such as Route 66, focused on escort and assault, offer high areas on either side of the route taken by the attackers, which greatly facilitate the setting up of scenarios. 'ambushes in which Winston's Shield Projector becomes essential to protect against attacks that can come from several angles at the same time. Again, this adds another interesting layer of strategy and forces you to make some crucial decisions when forming your team. You should not only think about your character's interest in the team, but also think about the opportunities offered by the card, and how to exploit them.

Each card is directly linked to a specific type of objective, so that its construction is perfectly suited to the required action. You will therefore never know this feeling of inconsistency that can be felt when playing for example the capture of the flag and team deathmatch modes of certain shooters who share the same cards. The benefits are subtle, but significant. The cards are small without ever appearing cramped; the question of "where to go" or "how to get there" never arises, since every roundabout passage or door taken leads you exactly where you need to be. This way, Overwatch's map organization allows you to choose your vector of engagement without the risk of getting lost in areas with no action. The result is simple: zero waste of time; you are always at the heart of the clashes and you never wonder where the fight is taking place or how to take part in it.

Assigning each map to a specific mode or objective still has a small drawback, since unlike some games of the same genre, Overwatch does not have a slew of modes allowing it to offer a different experience of the maps. We're a long way from Halo, where most maps support different objectives, team configurations, and other modifiable rules. There is only one way to play on the Volskaya Factory map: you will have to attack the first point, then the second. While this lack of customization allows for finely tuned action, it limits the overall breadth and variety of experience the title offers when compared to other modern multiplayer games.

Luckily, as with characters, Overwatch's maps are filled with nuances that take time and practice for you to tame, and that's not just about the purely playful aspect of the title. So, bits of history and information about world-building can be found amidst these beautifully designed environments. Movie posters in the spawn room of one of them reveal for example that the real name of the mecha pilot PGM D.VA is none other than Hana Song, and that this one is also incidentally actress. Another map also offers a row of arcade machines, and if you have the chance to browse this map at the controls of the cyber-ninja Genji, he will remember the many hours of his "lost youth" spent playing. Finally, certain characters with a common past and who do not like each other can sometimes find themselves in the same team, and you will hear about it. Overwatch uses almost every opportunity it presents to transform its characters and maps into real people and cohesive environments, instead of vulgar puppets and other landscapes.

In terms of features, Overwatch is admittedly a bit light, but it meets most of the basic expectations for a multiplayer shooter, and in some ways exceeds them. Its impressive statistics system, assignment of controls for each character and its many accessibility options make it stand out. It also does a great job when it comes to identifying and highlighting the great deeds of your allies and enemies via a praise system and a nifty feature called “Time of the Game” allowing you to relive the game. best action of the game. The matchmaking is fast and reliable, while the cosmetic items to unlock are surprisingly attractive and regularly add to your inventory without having to spend a dime in the virtual store of the title. Having said that, I enjoyed the standard appearance of the different characters so much that I didn't want to stray too far from their original looks.

Yes, because, thanks to the size of the screen, of course, for the first moments of the game the brain struggles to perceive differences from the PC version and is convinced of having all that level of detail. Then, of course, we go back down to earth.

Will 30 fps be enough?

The first to fall under the hefty but lean technical specifications of the Nintendo console is the frame-rate, which here cannot exceed 30 fps with rather evident effects on the fluidity of the action. If on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 the games slip away which is a pleasure at 60 frames per second, and on PC of course the only limit is given by your budget, here you have to settle for a halved update frequency that in fact significantly slows down scuffles. Which, mind you, is not necessarily a completely negative fact (and here we come to the second compromise) since the minute display of Switch is not always perfectly legible, precisely because of its size.

When the going gets tough, in fact, you risk not capturing every detail of the action perfectly, especially when it takes place in the frame of the most detailed architectures that end up confusing the screen image. The dimensions also count on the front of the interface, then, which in certain situations is really too much, too small in portable mode. Of course, having enlarged it would steal precious space for action, but we must admit that we are on the edge of acceptable, with unfortunately decidedly negative peaks (activate advanced statistics on the quality of the network and try to read the numbers in the upper left corner, you will lose four diopters but you will understand what we are talking about). And then there are some compromises on the effects front (very diminished, some of them completely), of the shadows (disappeared) and maybe even on the sound level (the acoustic feedback of the hits sometimes misses, but it is probably only a passing bug). Net of this, however, we are facing a more than sufficient conversion and on Switch in portable mode we could not have hoped for anything more. Well, good, but connecting it to the TV, how do things change?

Fuzzy fun, but still fun

Well, they change a little bit in the positive and a little bit remain the same. The good news is that the extra space makes the action more readable, now beautifully clear, and even the menus must no longer be deciphered as ancient miniatures. On the other hand, however, it is undeniable that a larger panel highlights the technical compromises and emphasizes the halved frame-rate (now even more evident) and the cleanliness of the image, which is obviously blurred. It should be noted that in our experience there have been no perceptible slowdowns in docked mode or in portable mode, so in terms of the solidity of the code we have very few grievances, but it could only be luck to read the opinions of early adopters around. The only sign of fatigue from Switch's hardware comes when, entering the game, it takes a few seconds to load the character models, but it is something that also happens on less performing PCs and it resolves itself within moments.

Another aspect where we record obvious changes while playing on TV is clearly that of the controls: now you can finally use the Pro Controller for greater convenience, or take advantage of the gyroscope included in the Joy-Con for greater precision. This second option proves functional as we had already appreciated in Splatoon 2 and Paladins , so much so that the comparison with those who play only with analog sticks seems almost unequal. Sure, we're a long way from the mouse and keyboard, but it's not a discovery.

Playing in portable mode, however, the controls are the classic ones from the pad, with the added possibility of using the gyroscopes to help you aim, which is not so immediate since, to move the console without losing sight of the screen, you are forced to contortionism not suitable for maintaining concentration. Another aspect to consider, then, is related to the fatigue that occurs after prolonged sessions: Overwatch requires the pressing of several keys during the games, and the portable configuration offers the side to such extensive control schemes (but clearly here Blizzard does not has faults).

A complete package for a few recipients

On the content front, however, the work of the developers brings the complete package to Switch. There are all the arcade modes, the classified ones (from level 25), the social functions and the voice chat (nice comfortable via console, the Nintendo app is not used). You can also link your Blizzard and Nintendo accounts, but unfortunately your progress is not transportable from one platform to another. Did you already have a nice collection of legendary skins? Too bad, we start from scratch.

In this phase it is also worth noting an unexpected difficulty in finding companions of online games. Usually the launches are accompanied by predictable (and sometimes you look for) crowds outside the virtual gates of the servers, with queues, collapses, disservices and consequent social complaint that for marketing departments is only advertising. In the case of Overwatch on Switch, however, none of this. Of course, the fact that Blizzard isn't starting from scratch with this version helps, but it's a bit strange anyway to have to wait a few minutes too much more or less in every game mode. A possible explanation could be in the difficult media moment that Irvine's house is passing after the ban on Wai Chung "Blitzchung" Ng for his pro-Hong Kong statements, with the consequent cancellation of the launch event at Nintendo World in New York.

A look at the subreddit dedicated to Switch suggests in fact a certain annoyance from the community (the threads most discussed in the last few days talked about issues related to the Blitzchung affair), but from here to talk about a boycott capable of impacting the online population of course it passes. Then the doubt remains that maybe it is simply a matter of timing: Overwatch is no longer on the crest of the wave as a few years ago, and the majority of those who wanted to play it may have already done so on other shores.

At this point it's time to ask yourself the most important question of the review: who is Overwatch recommended on Switch? Without major difficulties we can respond by identifying two macro groups of people potentially interested in this porting. First of all there are the fans of Overwatch , those who are hardworking, those who at the thought of being able to always have it with them (obviously alongside a smartphone as a hotspot) feel a shiver down the back. Here, for you Portable Overwatch will be perfect to calm the monkey when you are out for a walk, but watch out that the progress on Switch is proceeding on a dedicated track. The second group of recipients is clearly made up of people who only use the Nintendo laptop to play, and who therefore have to choose this port if they want to try the best hero shooter in recent years. If you have PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One it is difficult to recommend this version, but if you only have Switch there is no alternative.

MODUS OPERANDI
After spending hundreds of hours on the PC throwing bowls with the trusted Junkrat and treating the team with a little all the support, I tried the Switch version of Overwatch thanks to a code provided by Blizzard. I played in the portable mode of sitting, lying, standing and balancing on one leg. And then I played it in 4K on a 65-inch Sony Bravia KD65XE8596 TV to see what it does.

Differences of opinion are normal in games - but it is rare for the opinions out there to be so disparate. It boils down to the Shakespeare question: 90, or not 90? So then: let's throw ourselves into the wasp's nest and find out which criticism is justified. And which ones don't.

First: the criticism

In the marketing of Overwatch, Blizzard played with open cards from the very beginning: Here a pure multiplayer team shooter starts that relies on classic virtues. The heart of the game are the actual matches, the focus is on a working team balance and convincing hit feedback.

On a world tour with Overwatch

Overwatch is more in depth than in breadth, so to speak. Sometimes we have to capture a checkpoint, then safely escort a vehicle and defend a "choke point" at another point. The scenery may change - we fight in Greece, Hollywood, Gibraltar, England and eight other locations around the world - but at the core we always do the same tasks. Blizzard loosens this up by combining some cards with two game modes and switching them within a match. For example, in King's Row we first have to conquer a point and then escort a cargo through the narrow streets.

Nevertheless - and the critics are right in the comments - the lack of variety in the game modes and framework conditions becomes one of the biggest weaknesses of Overwatch. Especially since the three variants remain quite innovative compared to other team shooters and in principle do not offer anything that has not been played somewhere before. There is no solo campaign either.

It's all a question of perspective

Because if you start together with five friends, coordinate things and win victories together, Overwatch shines as one of the best and most motivating team shooters in recent years. At the beginning of each game, we select from 21 completely different heroes, who can be roughly assigned to the categories of attack, defense, tank and support. Giant knight Reinhardt , for example, goes to the start with a gigantic shield and protects all team members behind it - if they don't rush forward impatiently. But he has practically nothing to report in long-range combat.

An offensive hero like Pharah, who flies over the map with her exoskeleton and fires missiles, scores here. Tracer, on the other hand, plays a completely different role, warping through the enemy ranks at lightning speed thanks to the mini-teleport and even turning back time for itself if desired. Trying out and using the heroes is a lot of fun because the skills differ so drastically, but the bottom line is that they all play well.

For »casuals«?

The next hurdle builds up when you hit Tank Reinhardt and the mobile turret Bastion when attacking - at the latest here you can't do anything as a solo player, because this defensive bulwark mercilessly throws down every frontal attack. In addition, there are some inconsistencies in the card design at such moments - some bottlenecks seem almost impregnable , the victory here mostly goes to the defenders. The team has to work together in such situations. And this is where most of the "casual" consumers will drop out in the long term.

The bottom line is that the heroes are very well balanced in the right hands, provided that two well-rehearsed teams are assumed. Overwatch is aimed (perhaps partly unintentionally) primarily at ambitious specialists and is really only fun for those in the long term, as long as the matchmaking is not optimized for soloists who do not put together a team privately and prefer to rely on good random combinations.

Finally: the trump card

But instead, we want to finish with the best aspect: the great feel of the game, which scores from the first minute. The learning curve remains pleasantly low - after the tutorial we instinctively feel at home in the Overwatch arenas and gradually learn more and more complex maneuvers . In addition, the game tries to reward the team and not the individual: assists are more important than kills, in the end both teams choose across the board who did the best.

The fact that so many players were already completely enthusiastic in the beta is due to the gripping "flow" : Every hero plays exciting, the hit feeling works, Overwatch controls itself incredibly handy, regardless of the platform. Blizzard has done the trick of crafting a gameplay out of all the individual pieces that feels direct and satisfying. Or in short: Overwatch is a well-rounded shooter in every respect.

Is that enough for platinum?

It's currently a game for team shooter fans, but it is also a fantastic entry point for those new to it. We can recommend Overwatch to all enthusiasts who find themselves in one of these two groups - for the really big catch, however, Blizzard still has to submit content, for example new maps. Then we'll talk again about upgrading .

The giant known as Blizzard has just woken up. After a late reaction to the boom in the MOBA gaming market, the American company is again dictating the terms. The first successful production in the genre of heroic shooters has a great chance to get what League of Legends can already boast of - the position of an unrivaled leader, unrivaled in its category - and all the associated "perks": huge popularity, thousands of viewers on e-sports tournaments and ... huge profits. Today, Overwatch is one of the most original FPS games in recent years, which, compared to other games in the genre, stands out due to its refined gameplay mechanics, flesh-and-blood characters and effective comic-book graphics .

Overwatch is Blizzard's first new franchise in seventeen years. The American studio has a lot of die-hard fans around the world for a reason - it is known for releasing almost all hits. His first shooter didn't disappoint either. So get ready keyboards, mice and possibly pads - the new king of online FPS is just settling on the throne and will not get off it quickly .

The power of simplicity

The most popular online games have one common denominator: simplicity. League of Legends is one map and one mode. Hearthstone is an easy-to-learn card game. In World of Tanks , we shoot enemy tanks in the same locations over and over again. This does not mean, however, that these are banal or quickly boring productions. Their rules are simple, but achieving the championship in them turns out to be a great challenge, which motivates to return to a given title. Overwatch is more than Hearthston's proof of how well Blizzard has done their homework. The Americans prepared the product to the maximum extent of unnecessary additives. This contrasts significantly with the recently released Battleborn , whose creators, trying to make a game for everyone (there is a single, and a co-op, and a few multi modes), made the game for ... no one.

What is the simplicity of Blizzard's first shooter? Overwatch is an online FPS in which two teams of six people compete in several similar game modes. During an average match of 10 minutes, players choose (and change at any time) one of 21 characters, each with unique types of weapons and skills. The whole thing is focused on team cooperation and it works best when a group of friends gives up the fun together. And that was it - it was just 61 words to describe the mechanics of Overwatch . There are more proofs that Blizzard appreciated the power of simplicity - from the names of all the animations accompanying the game (always one word), through only a few game modes, to the memorable names and nicknames of the heroes.

Bull's-eye

Overwatch is a dynamic and hellishly satisfying FPS. I have not had such fun shooting for a long time - probably in the times of the breakthrough Battlefield 3 . Characters usually don't die as quickly as in Call of Duty , but matches are still short and lively. We play the clashes in several similar modes - usually we have to get a point or escort the cargo (often both), and at the same time the opponents try to prevent us from doing so - it is an asymmetric gameplay system known from e.g. Counter-Strike . As a result, even if we have our favorite heroes, we often change them and play with others - and this is because they do not work in defense on a given map, or ... someone has already chosen such a hero.

It was a pleasant surprise for me that for a game where you can freely change heroes and the whole team has the right to decide on one and the same, the game does not seem unbalanced. Anyway, most often the characters are not juggled in matches (for example because it involves the loss of the special ability charge) - if the team has been chosen wisely, there will be no big shuffles during the game. So if you were afraid of chaos, let me calm down - it is not there at all. Except for that dose that makes the game fun and ... hilariously unpredictable.

Strength of character

Overwatch is a shooter game rich in story like no other. All of the 21 characters available in the game are created according to the best principles of creating heroes - they have strong personalities, their own characteristics (including country of origin) and even catchy sayings. Blizzard also made sure that we slowly learn about their past and the history of the entire universe - through technically perfect animations accompanying the game or nice comics. The world of Overwatch was clearly modeled on the Marvel comics that were experiencing their second youth. This decision was understandable as the heroes in the game are basically superheroes with supernatural abilities (e.g. super jump, teleportation or time manipulation). The story presented in Overwatch - although quite banal (especially the predictable movie Dragons ) - was created with the right momentum and simply entertains. Thanks to it, the heroes are instantly recognized and remembered. So I tell them a colorful life outside of Battle.net - in fan-made graphics, cosplays or even memes. Anyway - we are already witnessing this phenomenon. In this field, Blizzard has achieved a very high level.

One drawback

Overwatch's only weakness is its progression system. It consists in the fact that from time to time we reach the next level of our account, as a reward we receive a box with four loot - these are, for example, skins for characters, various graffiti or winning poses. It is a pity that Blizzard did not refine this element more, as many of the gadgets obtained do not give the impression of something glamorous or new. For example, each character basically has three skins - the rest are just color variations on them. This is not much, and in addition, the progress in getting loot turns out to be terribly slow (see the frame on micropayments), and even worse, completely random. So if we play mainly attack characters, it does not mean that we will have skins unlocked faster for them.

The progression system is of course an addition to the game that does not affect the fun, but has a lot of potential (An unbeatable example is the Weapon Craze in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ), so I hope Blizzard will expand this gameplay element over time . I also dream of better music - the tracks present in the game fit well with the maps, the title theme of the game is also great, but that's about it. We won't listen to the Overwatch soundtrack on Spotify (even if it was there), because it is simply not suitable for it. Blizzard has accustomed us to a good musical setting for their games, so I hope that eventually this aspect will be more elaborated.

The new king

Overwatch is an example of how to recover from the failure of Project Titan . It is also proof that simplicity is greater than excessive complexity. Blizzard has prepared a great FPS, which already, at the very beginning of its many years of existence, provides a really pleasant entertainment. Eye-catching, comic-style graphics harmonize well with the design of the (super) heroes of the game. And the dynamics and unpredictability of the game have gained a lot thanks to the use of the well-known, among others From Team Fortress, character change mechanics while playing. The whole thing is polished and hellishly satisfying. Overwatch is one of the best online FPS I've played in the last few years, and I know it's going to be permanently on my computer.

In Poland, players suffer, unfortunately, with a rather high price. PLN 170 is quite a lot, but not more than the amounts that you have to spend on other games, and I am sure that fans of dynamic Overwatch shooters will have hundreds of hours of fun. Blizzard's policy also mitigates the price. Nobody buys a pig in a poke, because thanks to long tests and a few days of open beta, anyone interested could try this title, and if they missed it, there are plenty of videos on the internet. Finally, it is worth appreciating the openness of the creators who discuss their doubts with the community without complexes, explain the intricacies of the network code or describe the problems they face. This approach boasts.

In short: Blizzard has swept it. So let's see for yourself why so many people have joined the ranks of Overwatch . However, there is no rush - the new king of heroic shooters will not leave his throne soon .