Why Overwatch Still Remains One of the Top Shooter Games

Have you ever tried to find a videogame that never gets old, even after playing it hundreds of hours? As a gamer that has experienced more Overwatch than I care to admit, I’d say Overwatch is a great place to start looking.

Overwatch was released in 2016 and is a first-person shooter game that was developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Overwatch is a multiplayer game, and assigns players into two teams of six, with each person able to choose what hero they’d like to play from a large roster of 32 different characters. Each character, which could also be referred to as heroes, has unique abilities. The team of six characters can have three different roles, tank, damage, or support. If you choose tank, your main objective to help the team is to soak damage and shatter fortified positions including grouped up enemies and narrow chokepoints. You are in charge of pushing the group forward and take the lead. Damage heroes are supposed to seek out, engage, and destroy the enemies with the wide-ranging tools, abilities, and play styles that every character has. These heroes require backup from tanks and supports to survive. Those who play damage characters should be bold but know when to back away. They typically stay behind the tanks to do damage to the other team while staying protected. They are also healed by support. Support heroes empower their teammates by healing, providing shields, boosting damage, and disabling enemies. Support is the backbone of the team’s survival and typically stays towards the back of the pack to provide support for everyone. They are generally weak in terms of damage output and that way they are also better protected.

Overwatch also has numerous game modes, which is part of the reason it is able to remain popular and still spark players interests. The different game modes include the practice range and play/practice vs A.I., where you can train and experiment character abilities against practice bots. This allows players to learn how different heroes work as well as learn the all the maps in the game. They also have quick play, where you square off against other players within your skill level. Quick play is great for people who want to play Overwatch but don’t want to play with overly-competitive “sweats” or gamers that try too hard and have a tendency to be toxic on the mic. Arcade is an even more laid-back game mode that offers experimental matches with ever changing rule-sets and character restrictions. Arcade mode also rewards you with weekly rewards like loot boxes and in-game currency that can be spent on cosmetics. Competitive play is where the majority of seasoned Overwatch players spend their time. Competitive allows players to compete against other players climb the ranks. Competitive ranks range from Bronze to Grandmaster.. personally I’ve spent most of my Overwatch career stuck in Gold. Within all of these game modes, there are mini-modes built in. For example, sometimes you will be attacking or defending a set control point on the map, and other times you will push the “payload” across the map while the opposing team tries to block your progress (the payload is a moving objective point that can only be moved when all defending players are cleared from the area). Lastly, Overwatch offers custom game, where you can change the rules of the game with modifiers including: disallowing heroes, increasing hero abilities, and much more. On some platforms, you can go even further, reimagining the way characters’ abilities work and totally customizing the way the game is played. This sandbox game mode is called the Workshop.

I think the elements that make Overwatch so exciting are that you have so many unique characters to choose from that it’s impossible for the game to get boring. If you die during a match, you can always change to a different character, which decreases player frustration and changes the game dynamic. Another exciting element of Overwatch is the diverse locations around the world used for the game’s maps. Overwatch has 29 maps featuring iconic locations like Gibraltar, Route 66, Paris, Ilios, Hollywood, and many more. Each map has its own objectives, secrets, and strategies to explore. The map changes each match and after you’ve become an Overwatch veteran you will get excited for your favorite maps (my personal favorite is Paris). Once you get really comfortable you can plan which characters you’d prefer to play on the different maps.

The graphics are a comic book style, with vivid colors and almost a Pixar style to the characters. They do a great job with the details of all the different worlds. They do a great job with lighting and color, Paris has a pink, bright hue to it while King’s Row is a dark urban setting. Overwatch impresses with their sound effects as well. Each character has their own audio cues for every gameplay variation. Sound effects are also used for explosions and hearing your enemies’ footsteps around you.

Despite all of the great aspects of Overwatch, it is not without its flaws. Overwatch forces players to pick their role before the beginning of the match. While this seems like a good idea because it builds in some aspect of balance into each game, it has caused the game to become notorious for long breaks between matches. On top of the long matchmaking time, Overwatch has above average load times once you do manage to find a game. The overall user experience is great while you’re in a match, but the amount of downtime can leave you feeling like you’re wasting time (it is worth noting, when Overwatch was first released, the player base was much larger and matchmaking times were vastly improved).

For new players, Overwatch can seem daunting, and maybe even overwhelming. But once you get your feet wet, you might find it hard to put down the controller. Overwatch is a masterclass in multiplayer gaming, encouraging creativity, teamwork and competition.