Overwatch: A 6 vs 6 First Person Shooter
Overwatch game cinematic trailer
Blizzard is a new contender to the FPS genre with their new hi-tech future shooter Overwatch. Though the FPS genre is new to them it is not in their nature to flop completely on any game. From what I've seen in the trailers and their website I'm excited for this game to release. Here are 10 things to know before we get our hands on it:
1. World
Kingsrow is one of the maps in the Overwatch game. The setting is based on a futuristic England.
If enough heroes emerge then eventually all the problems get solved. In a tech-laden future Earth, the Omnix robots have run rampant, sections of the planet put together their greatest fighters in order to fight back. After 25 years of fighting the heroes have died off, retired, been replaced but the world is still needing heroes. This is where the player comes in. You are out to help repair the Overwatch hero group that is falling apart to defend the Earth once again.
Though the location of the game is Earth it is a different planet than what we currently know. The tech that exists in this version of Earth is advanced and serves to improve every aspect of life. The cities are sprawling, the weapons seem almost alien, and the characters are not all human. This Earth is Blizzard's take on what kind of future we should be in.
Hanamura is another map in Overwatch. The setting is based on a scenic Japan. It is also the where Hanzo is from.
2. Heroes
The healer hero Mercy showing off her glow
Winston, the hardy tank
Though the Overwatch game is still in its early stages, it is clear that some heroes are more noble than others. One of the most notable heroes in the current trailers is the gorilla Winston. He is an intelligent, most likely genetically modified ape that acts as a tank for his team. He wields a Tesla Cannon and has the ability to go into a Primal Rage and tear his enemies apart.
Lena Oxton, Age: 26, Codename: Tracer, Role: Offense
Another great hero that has been featured is Tracer a.k.a. Lena Oxton who was in some sort of temporal accident and can now manipulate time.
Some heroes are less virtuous and have turned rogue. In the cinematic trailer, we see Reaper and Widowmaker laying down a hail of bullets on Winston and Tracer in an attempt to steal a precious gauntlet. Who knows where the loyalties of some of these heroes lay.
Since this is a team-based shooter I believe that alliances will be chosen after the character screens. Winston could find himself being the noble science gorilla he is pictured as in the cinematic trailer and the next he could be a raging ape mercenary. Some of the more chaotic neutral characters include:
- McCree the gunslinger
- Reaper
- Widowmaker
- the hammer-wielding tank Reinhardt
- the silent Assassin Hanzo
- the ominous orb generator Zenyatta
These characters are all former members of the Overwatch program but might have turned to a life less savory than that of a respected defender. On the side of good it seems there are a bit more heroes such as Winston, Tracer, the Russian defender Zarya, security chief Pharah, tech-commander Symmetra, the tinkerer Torbjorn, battle automaton and transformer Bastion, and the angelic healer Mercy.
3. Roles
Hanzo is in some need for some defense
Overwatch will have each player in the team playing a specific role. Tank, Offense, Defense, or Support. I mentioned Winston being a Tank, that means he'll take damage and be up close to enemies so that the others can attack from a distance. There are also Offensive characters that are made to deal damage but also have some powers to keep them safe like Reaper's ability to puff away in a cloud of dark smoke.
Defensive characters are like Widowmaker who stays far away, most likely from a lack of health, and tries to deal damage without taking any. Some revealed Support characters are Symmetra who is an Architect with the ability to quickly craft turrets and other weapons, Zenyatta is another support who can create orbs to assist her allies.
These roles will be important for certain types of gameplay, Tanks will need some support because they are meant to take damage and keep the heat off the Offense players. That is a bit of a give and take at the same time because if Winston is getting blasted by turrets he'll need someone to heal him like Mercy.
Defensive characters will need to hide behind Tanks and Supports because they will have very low health but the ability to inflict some damage both with their abilities or with any products they could produce like Turrets or Dispensers for ammo.
4. Weapons and Combat
Hanzo showing off his sweet bow
The nature of first-person shooters is to have guns. Obviously this game will have guns, but these are futuristic guns. From Winston's big lightning gun known as the Tesla Cannon to the seemingly simple sniper rifle wielded by Widowmaker known as Widow's Kiss that actually can transform into a fully automatic rifle.
The weapons in this game are well thought out to balance he characters ability with their fire power like Reaper's pistols coupled with his teleportation or a character named Hanzo who uses a bow and arrow called the Storm Bow that has abilities to fire a tracking arrow or the scatter arrow that bounces off walls and ricochets around.
Reaper with his hellfire shotguns
5. Game Mode
This video features the Payload game mode.
Aside from the meta-story of reuniting Overwatch to defend earth, the gameplay itself revolves around 6 on 6 skirmishes, sometimes with goals like capturing an item. One team will guard their base against the other team while the other team attempts to get to something like the power gauntlet we saw in the cinematic trailer.
The other announced mode is Payload where one team must escort the designated payload across the map while the attacking team attempts to stop them. This will present interesting dynamics if the defending team does not choose the right heroes, a defense team might choose a lot of defense characters and forget about support or tanks and then be overwhelmed by a well-balanced team.
6. Gameplay
Overwatch gameplay trailer
The gameplay looks intense to say the least. Each player has some insane abilities like Reinhardt's giant hammer coupled with his shield or Torbjorn's Molten Core ability that turns him into lava. Some players have the ability to fly which changes the scope of some of the maps from purely building and ground based.
The Overwatch gameplay doesn't seem like a standard shooter, it is competitive and you will rely on your team much like Team Fortress 2. The teleportation abilities as well as Hanzo's climbing or the flying displayed by different characters will have players worried about all the corners of the map which, again, you will need your teammates to watch your back.
7. Developer
A cool logo for a hot company
Blizzard may be the new kid on the block for first-person shooters. But they are experts in well balanced multiplayer games as well as fostering a healthy sense of competition in their games. Since Blizzard merged with Activision we might see Activison lending a hand from their expertise from Call of Duty. Blizzard knows what it is doing when they are making a team-based game from their experience with WoW, Diablo, and Starcraft. This will be the first major FPS game Blizzard is creating in the last 17 years so it is another exciting thing for this titan developer.
Though Blizzard seems to have created Overwatch out of the blue there is actually a longer history of it. Initially, they planned for an MMO under the name project Titan but after realizing the success of something as simple as Hearthstone they decided to scrap the big scale and just focus on fun gameplay. The MMO angle might have strangled the fun nature of team-based shooters like Team Fortress 2 that have been gaining popularity over the more serious shooters.
8. Trailers Available Now
Overwatch cinematic trailer
The release trailer is in classic Blizzard fashion, story-driven, action-packed, like a mini-movie rather than a trailer. It almost lends a bit of its style to Pixar with the big-eyed child and the heroic older brother. The introduction the Winston and Tracer crashing into the scene shows that Overwatch may be nearly disbanded, but the hero spirit still remain. It is hard to tell whether Widowmaker and Reaper are evil or not, they are part of the playable heroes, but they seem to be more mercenary than hero.
This gameplay trailer shows the abilities of Reinhardt in his Crusader siege armor.
The gameplay trailers that Blizzard released is all about showing the abilities for each character. Each time a character gets ahead they are taken down by someone else like when Hanzo makes his way into the enemy base and is caught from behind by Reaper.
A kind healer and brilliant scientist, Dr. Angela Ziegler ("Mercy") is a guardian angel to those who come under her care.
Blizzard is out to show that the game is fun and well balanced which is one of the most important things in a competitive shooter. A character like Reinhardt that can shield up and smash through everyone that's close to him needs that melee weapon or else he would be able to take down everyone with his high health.
9. Price
This is what I'll look like if they make the game over 20 bucks lol
The price has been hotly discussed because Blizzard saw a high amount of success with free-to-play card game Hearthstone. They believe it would be beneficial to offer the game for free and then just make certain characters, skins, or abilities available for purchase. The problem with that is the balance that Blizzard likes to have in their game.
They don't want to make a pay-to-win game, they want everyone that picks the game up to be able to have as much fun as they can. I believe that Blizzard wouldn't charge any more than 20 dollars for this game because it is not a single-player story-based game and the simplicity does not lend itself to a completely new 60 dollar price. If Blizzard does make this game free I hope that they keep the balance of the characters in mind even with purchasable powers.
10. Release Date
They're hard at work but will the shelve this game like Project Titan?
The release date is currently set for 2016, Blizzard is taking their time to craft a simple game that has high replay value. I know how easy it is to get burnt out on first-person shooters with the continued onslaught of Call of Duty games and the constant failures of games that had high potential like Titanfall or the last Medal of Honor. Blizzard isn't known for flaking on release dates too much so I'm hoping that they release this game early next year.
Which part of Blizzard's new Overwatch game are you most excited for?
