Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Overwatch. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.
I've been playing a lot of Overwatch, almost more than I'd care to share. From the original closed beta to the high profile open one that set records for number of players I was there. I was trying out new characters and figuring out how to best utilize them in battle. What's most interesting about this is that Overwatch is not the type of game I usually play, let alone obsess about. Blizzard's first foray into the world of first person shooters seems to have found the perfect balance of depth, accessibility and charm. From all of the remarkable characters to the world they're in; I still would have loved to see a more fleshed out story but Overwatch succeeds wildly without it and is likely to become one of the most popular games online if it hasn't already.
Overwatch is first and foremost a multiplayer first person shooter and while it's lacking a dedicated campaign mode, it doesn't skip on the story. Essentially Overwatch was a superhero group much like The Avengers, formed by the United Nations thirty years before the game takes place. In their heyday, Overwatch were cheered and loved, even putting an end to what's become known as the Omnic Crisis where intelligent robots rebelled against the Human Race. Notice everything is in past tense. After a large amount of in-fighting and a large explosion that killed a number of the original members Overwatch was disbanded, it's members spread across the globe and legally barred from uniting again. Now a terrorist organization is trying to hunt down the location of the remaining Overwatch members and the bond between Omnic and human is more stressed than ever, leading to Winston, a super intelligent ape, scientist and original Overwatch member to illegally issue the Overwatch recall and bring the group together. That's where the game beings proper.
The story of Overwatch reminds me a lot of something out of a comic book, and I wanted to learn more about it's places, people and mythos and while it's here for you to find through playing I would have loved to have a more dedicated single player story experience. In that regard, Overwatch can feel a bit thin for those who are used to a full fledged campaign. Of course, this isn't the first game to skip a traditional single-player experience and Overwatch makes much more of an effort than a lot of games to at least tell a story, it feels like a bit of a waste to build this whole elaborate world and then make it more of an afterthought.
Still though, Overwatch is the first game that I, as a more traditional single player focused gamer, feel doesn't really need that single player content to be worth playing (though I do think it's a bit overpriced for what it's worth). Overwatch is much more Team Fortress than Call of Duty or Battlefield, allowing it's huge cast of different characters to compliment each other in fantastic ways. Much like last month's Battleborn, Overwatch succeeds greatly on the backs of it's highly imaginative roster but Overwatch takes it a step further as no two characters play exactly the same. There are definite character classes here, but characters like Reinhardt and Winston, who would both be considered tanks feel completely different from each other. Overwatch also encourages experimenting with different characters and classes based on what the match needs at that particular moment by allowing you to freely switch between characters each time you respawn.
All of this adds up to a truly unique experience. It's fast paced, it's addicting and most importantly it's a whole lot of fun. Overwatch is the definition of easy to pick up but difficult to master; it piggybacks on pretty universal mechanics to create it's larger than life worlds and battles. There are close to one hundred unlocks per character and while a good portion of those are cosmetic, it's still a lot of fun to play through. I've had plenty of battles where we've been getting our butts kicked throughout the entire match but all we needed was a change in personnel and we won by the seat of our pants. Overwatch is filled with moments like that and it's a complete blast to play as a result.
Overwatch is a magnificent beast of a video game. It's a fun, fast and addicting multiplayer shooter that I can see myself playing for a long time; even without a traditional story mode to explain it's lore. I can't deny that it's still a bit overpriced but Overwatch is more than worth your time as one of my favorite shooters in recent memory.
