After four years and one IGN Game of the Year Award, Overwatch has evolved into a multiplayer shooter that remains at the top of the class. It’s a dizzying amalgam of unique character design, stunningly realised style, and compellingly dynamic action. Minutes turn into hours as you’re caught up in round after magically exciting round, surrounded by gorgeously crafted maps packed with detail and charm. Overwatch, simply put, is the most fun I’ve ever had playing a video game.
An amazing feat in multiplayer shooter design is Overwatch. It seamlessly transitions from being the kind of fast-paced, high-octane game you may desire after a demanding workday to the kind of deliberate, strategic multiplayer experience that becomes the focal point of late-night hangouts with pals. It may not have the largest selection of maps and play options, but it offers countless chances for thrilling, cooperative action, and when you're in the thick of things, it feels like nothing else. Vince Ingenito, 28 May 2016.
The goal of Overwatch's gameplay, which hasn't altered much since its release, is to eliminate the opponent team's health bars by seizing and holding spots on the map or transporting payloads from one end to the other. While Overwatch may not have a very inventive premise, its subtleties in how you approach winning each match are what really set it apart from other games.
The current pool of 32 heroes can be used to assemble each team of six players. With every new hero added to the ever-expanding roster, not only do they each play differently and bring unique skills to the table, but they also have an impact on the other heroes. A lot of personality is present in Overwatch, not the least of which can be found in the characters. Everything thrives in the universe that Blizzard has built, where anything goes.
Blizzard has created a world where anything goes and everything flourishes.
The powerful Reinhardt has a sound design reminiscent of a high fantasy world from previous Blizzard games. Science fiction personified, the cyber-soaked Sombra wouldn't seem out of place on Night City's streets. Winston is another intelligent and sometimes untamed character that might easily be mistaken for a gorilla dressed up as the X-Men character Beast. The unique characters in Overwatch feel completely at home and aren't just clones of other media, which is what makes the game so beautiful. Their interactions with each other prior to and during bouts provide enjoyment beyond the excitement of the combat, since they are expertly crafted as both a unit and as individuals.
The most recent addition to the group is Echo, the last hero in Overwatch (until Overwatch 2). She is an AI that flies through the air and deals damage with her formidable collection of cutting-edge weapons. She's a lot of fun to play, but there is some risk involved because she can quickly lose all 200 HP due to her vulnerability to accurate hitscan heroes like McCree or Soldier: 76.
But her ultimate, Duplicate, really changes the game. She may use all of their skills and even charge up their ultimate at a much faster pace by taking the form of any opponent team member. It can change the course of a game to be able to clone an opponent Mercy, giving you two strong healers on your side. This brings us back to the early days of the game, when teams were permitted to have multiples of the same hero. The most recent roster addition's homage to the original Overwatch gameplay feels appropriate in a way.
The penultimate insertion At first, it was challenging to overcome Sigma, the eccentric Dutch astrophysics tank, especially when combined with Orisa to form a hellscape with two barriers. His constantly shifting barrier can pose a threat to anyone trying to deliver close-quarters damage with Ashe's rifle bursts or rain fire from above as the Pharah with the rocket launcher. But that's just another riddle to work out, as closer-quarters experts like Doomfist and Reaper started to show up on the battlefield after his introduction. Because of this, I started to love chaining together combos as Doomfist—a character I had not really used much before Sigma showed up—and throwing a rocket punch into an enemy's side. It simply feels so much more pleasant than when you're on the end
A Role to Play
This is in essence the beauty of Overwatch. It offers choice in abundance, and if it ever approaches becoming stale I try out another hero and everything feels completely fresh again. I’ve put an amount of time that would disgust many into mastering Hanzo’s bow and arrow skill set, but when I found myself tiring of him slightly I decided to transfer my sniping skills over to Ana and healed my teammates instead, providing a different form of satisfaction.
Even after 700 hours played, there are still characters that I’m not overly familiar with and some that I look forward to losing time with in the future, even if I’ve resigned myself to never being able to pull off a mildly successful Dragon Blade as Genji. Not every character is for everyone though, and that’s absolutely fine and, to an extent, the point of Overwatch.
Not every character is for everyone though, and that's absolutely fine and, to an extent, the point of Overwatch.
At this point, it almost feels reductive to refer to Overwatch as a "shooter." While the game's first-person shooting mechanics are sound, it also has an extensive armory of weapons that span from the awkwardly archaic to the clinically futuristic and even beyond science, bordering on the fantastic. Sometimes the combination of these universes results in heroes that seem like they could only be imagined in the Overwatch setting. This is best shown by a few of the characters that have been added since launch. Brigitte seems to have been transported from a distant age of life, especially with her centuries-old mace and energy shield. Moira, the geneticist, has the ability to call forth biotic orbs from her palms and then fade into an ethereal world to avoid any harm. Then there is Wrecking Ball, a deranged hamster who is surrounded by two squawking machine guns and rolls around in a spherical mech of destruction.
Importantly, all of the heroes in the game—including those added since launch—are accessible right away and aren't restricted by progression or hidden behind any kind of pay wall, so it doesn't violate any of the rules that other games, like Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege, have about you having to pay to unlock more content.
Soldier: 76 is as close to a standard character you’ll see in any other shooter as any of them, while Mercy – although not as essential a healer as she once was – is also a great jumping in point for rookies because she can hang back out of danger and support allies. Yes, some will take longer to learn and, until you do, will be much less effective when you jump into a match. Zarya’s seemingly straightforward combo of particle beam cannon and barriers can seem inviting at first due to the comparative lack of abilities at her disposal, but using her well takes a lot of match awareness and knowledge of teammate positioning. Her ultimate ability, Graviton Surge, can be devastating once mastered and provides optimal synergy opportunities as you watch a Tracer clean up with a pulse bomb and inevitably steal your Play of The Game – the automatically chosen moment of a match that’s replayed for everybody at the end. Watching back these game-changing moments still offers a unique sense of satisfaction even after the hundreds I must have been awarded by now, and never fails to put a smile on my face, even to this day.
Watching back these game-changing moments still offers a unique sense of satisfaction.
By far the biggest fundamental change to happen to Overwatch during its four year lifespan, however, is the recently introduced role-lock system – something that had been long in demand. In standard Quick Play and Competitive modes, you are now forced to select which role you’d like to play in the team – damage, support, or tank – before starting the match. Each team is composed of two players of each class and what you may lose in flexibility during the match (there are still well over 50,000 team composition permutations available), you gain in a more satisfying all-around experience. For all of those moments you may spend wishing you could quickly switch off of support to dislodge a troublesome Widowmaker sniper with D.Va, you get so many more moments of gratifying team play. Gone are the days of being stuck on quintuple-stacked DPS squads as you scramble around a map looking for a health pack and your jealous eyes gaze over to the opposition's fully formed comp.
I have to admit that I was sceptical of role queue when it was first announced, but I couldn’t be happier to have been wrong. A level of flexibility has been lost and yes, it can be a little annoying to have to wait up to eight minutes at times to get into a game if damage is your chosen speciality, but as someone who’s willing and able to fill any role on a team it isn’t a great issue to me. After all, if the chaos of old is what you are craving then classic Quick Play still exists in the Arcade section of the menu for that dose of anarchic nostalgia.
The other arcade modes haven’t changed greatly over the years, but what exists there on a rotational basis can offer a welcome change of pace. None of them come close to achieving the point capturing and payload delivering that the core game modes do, but that is purely down to those being so damn good. Mystery Heroes mode, for example, can be a great place to learn new characters because you respawn as someone different every time you die. Total Mayhem is a personal favourite: health is doubled and cooldowns are halved, and the resulting absolute chaos and completely lives up to its name.
Magical Mystery Tour
In every mode, moment-to-moment gameplay is enhanced by phenomenal sound design that functions in both incidental and informative ways. Each piece of damage you receive has its own subtle noise attached: I can tell instantly if a Genji is near me flinging shuriken into my side, or if it’s the wasp-like Tracer needling fire into my back. It works both ways as well. There’s a distinct satisfaction to the thwomp of Reinhardt’s hammer making contact with anyone daring to stand in its way.
Overwatch doesn’t stop pumping useful information into your ears there, because the contextual voice lines that echo across the plethora of maps go a long way toward giving you the info you need. The way turrets are pointed out by teammates is chief among these, as well as passive-aggressive nudges reminding you to push the payload rather than chase down a scampering Lucio for a selfish kill. It says a lot about how good these audio cues are that Overwatch doesn’t feel like it’s missing a ping system to communicate with teammates if you don’t have a mic, and although being on voice chat will definitely aid in coordinating attacks, you can play alone happily without much detriment to the overall experience. Steps have also been taken by Blizzard to counter the toxicity seen early on in its lifespan. While never being able to eradicate it completely, systems such as the endorsement initiative, enhanced reporting options and the choice to now avoid other players as teammates have all been welcome additions to the community.
Music cues also play a big part in signaling what you’re supposed to be doing. The tense, crescendoing score that accompanies the end of a match sets the scene for epic tussles. Get into overtime - as the clock runs down to zero your team is making a desperate push to capture a point - and the stakes are heightened once more; the music matching it step for step. The memorable refrains are burned into my mind, and I often know what location I’m about to battle in next by hearing the first few bars chime in before the loading screen. Each perfectly fits the setting without venturing into caricature, from the weaving didgeridoos soundtracking Junkertown to the all-too-catchy beats signifying that Temple of Anubis is incoming.
The iridescent universe that Overwatch inhabits is clear to see within seconds of booting up.
The iridescent universe that Overwatch inhabits is clear to see within seconds of booting up. Each map has its own colourful twist on a real-world(ish) locale that varies from moonlit London streets to a man-made colony on the moon. You must navigate the town of Eichenwalde, encompassed by the littered, rusted kin of Bastion the tank strewn across the map. On Watchpoint: Gibraltar, a brief sojourn upstairs in one of the spawn rooms reveals the monitor used by Winston to instigate the fabled recall displayed in the opening cinematic. It’s these embellishments that set Overwatch’s map pool apart from other multiplayer games. They add lashings of style while also providing informative ornamentation for anyone willing to look a little closer.
Not only are they breathtaking to look at but they’re also brilliantly designed on a gameplay level. All of the new additions to the pool since launch have been a roaring success: from the beautiful Blizzard World that is laden with references to the studio’s other titles to the sun-drenched Oasis that provides some of Overwatch’s best close-quarters firefights. The lone exception, in my judgement, is the recently introduced Paris map, which has suffered from the same quarms that many had with Eichenwalde in times gone by: a single choke point can be less than fun to make your way through, especially when the dreaded Bunker composition is deployed, consisting of a whole team taking safe-haven within Orisa’s shield and Baptiste’s Immortality Field.
Each location provides its own challenge and learning them intricately is mandatory for success.
Each location provides its own challenge and learning them intricately is mandatory for success. Knowing that using Symmetra to create a teleporter across the left hand side of Volskaya Industries to bypass an intimidating defensive setup can lead to an accelerated point capture. Similarly, knowing where to pull off a devastating ultimate ability can turn a game in your favor in an instant. Getting the high ground on point B of Hanumara’s Dojo and unleashing McCree’s High Noon has won me and my team many a match.
It’s these moments that ultimately make Overwatch so special. The ability to work as a team to win is a wholly satisfying experience, and when all the gears are in motion there’s nothing quite like it. But it also offers those special moments where an individual play can win the match for your team and a rush of adrenaline makes its way through your body that very few other games can replicate.
The Verdict
Overwatch on Switch is a less-than optimal way to play one of the most satisfying online games ever made, but it’s still one of the best around. Technical issues are plenty, and in most cases are noticeable, but never truly ruin the fun or makes it truly unplayable. If you already play Overwatch consistently on another console then there are very few reasons to own it on Switch – and in fact it may be extremely frustrating to go back and forth between them – but if it's your introduction the beautifully crafted world of Overwatch then it still promises a whole lot of fun.
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