Overwatch is an online hero-based first-person shooter from our good old friends at Blizzard. In it, you choose from 21 unique characters(and counting) to complete objectives in a team of six facing off against an opposing team of six. Each of the characters are fully fleshed out in unbelievably original ways, bringing the game's world to life. The entire roster has a complex, fully-realized back story that truly makes good on Blizzard's promise to make "characters, not classes". However, it's a shame that to even scratch the surface of these characters' histories, you need to rely on sources external to the game. While the trailers for the game are fantastic, they almost make it more painful that there's no story mode or any considerable single player. However, between character voice lines and minor pre-game interactions, you get a good sense of their personalities, and, as I've said time and time again, a little personality goes a long way.
Meanwhile, in terms of gameplay, the characters' diversity shines through and through. Every single character has completely different abilities that are always more or less exclusively their own. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the characters are so different from one another, they could each exist in their own individual games and no one would notice. One character builds turrets that target enemy players. One character has a bow that behaves like an actual bow. One character is more or less just Call of Duty(but I still love him because we're basically the same person give or take a few years...ok, a lot of years). They all function differently, so if you get bored, you're not "bored of playing Overwatch", you're "bored of playing this character", meaning you can just switch and essentially play a completely different game. However, this doesn't hold true for the game's modes. While the game makes a point of preferring objective-based matches over kill-based matches, much like my beloved Splatoon, Overwatch doesn't bring anything new to the party, instead opting for the more travelled path of "capture/defend the point(s)", "escort the payload", or "both". Though this isn't all bad, seeing how there is such thing as "too much innovation", this cycle of objectives can get tedious to the point where you can still get bored after some time, even with 21 different play styles to choose from on those modes.
The graphics are great. They aren't realistic by any means, but the art style is exactly what it intends to be: A flashy mix of anime and Pixar movie that really is a lot of fun to look at. It perfectly fits the level of action the game creates and is easy on the eyes, even for hours-long play sessions deep into the night.
In total, Overwatch is a prime example of how much imagination can be applied to the decades-old FPS genre to make something fresh and new. It stands on it's own as the forerunner of a new, exciting genre, a pioneer of what could end up as an industry staple. Meanwhile, from what I've played, Battleborn is...Smite...in first-person. And while Battleborn's characters have little more depth to them than the assumption that you find them to be (and I quote) "Badass", Overwatch makes no such assumptions and, because of this, ends up making you feel, not just "like a badass", but like a Superhero, a character with unique, extraordinary abilities and a real purpose. Because of this, I believe the Overwatch is the best game I've played so far this year, and, with the year half over already, the board looks set for it to stay that way. So, I give Overwatch "Blizzard's Game of the Year Acceptance Speech"(10)/10. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to delete all these "Dad bod 76" photos from my phone before letting my friend borrow it. It's a bit of a bad habit...https://youtu.be/Nmv2g9M08Gk
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