Well here I am. (Hiyas) I didn't expect myself to push onward and write another piece but I'm here doing it anyways. Consistency is key and I made it a personal goal to post on Wednesdays.
Anyways...since the last time that I posted, I was able to place my pre order last minute on an Overwatch: Origins Edition. It was on Friday, April 29th 2016 which I believe was the last time to get a pre order on Overwatch. After a lot of deliberation I decided that I would put my faith in the game. I rarely play shooters and the only time that I have are when they are free because I know that I personally won't invest too much time on it. Most of my shooter time was spent on split screen consoles at a friends house. Playing online alone on my PC didn't seem as fun to me. I missed the human comfort of having people near me not just seeing their avatar connected online.
I'm not sure if any of you also share my sentiments or not but I'd like to explain why despite my overall negative perspective towards First Person Shooters I decided to hop on the Overwatch bandwagon and confirmed my trust in this game. But first!
Have you seen this video floating around? (I have it linked to the side)
It came out as a timely release just a few days ago. If you haven't I
urge that you take the time and check it out.
Don't continue unless you have watched the video seriously. And no, I'm not sponsored to show this video I just genuinely suggest it if you haven't already to set the mood for the rest of the post.
Have you finished watching it? No? Keep watching!!
Okay. So you've finished now right? Let's let that sink in for a bit.
Wait for it.
Okay.
DAMN! SO HYPE FOR THIS GAME.
So...tomorrow is when Open Beta for Overwatch begins. I've been following this game for quite some time now. It's had a lot of buzz in the news so even if you're not a particular fan of this game or even of Blizzard, chances are that you have at least seen it plastered somewhere. They have ads on Taco Bell cups, they've had Overwatch themed Ubers driving around PAX, and Coca Cola announced having launch parties at select cinemas. Damn that advertisement game is strong. Now for me personally, I was able to play during the 2 stress weekend periods offered and I'm still craving for some more. I've just had a taste of it and that's why I can fully say that I am all about this game. A lot of people haven't had that opportunity unfortunately. But let's get to basics. What is Overwatch?
The Overwatch Beta is infamous for its selectivity for those that were able to participate.
Overwatch is a multiplayer First-Person Shooter(FPS) game. It features squad-based combat between 2 teams that have 6 players each. Each player will choose a Hero where the same Hero can be chosen by multiple people. There are various game modes which are derived from the map selected. There are 3 game modes: Assault, Escort, and Control.
Assault: The attacking team must capture two different target points on the map while the defending team must prevent this from happening within a time limit.
Escort: The attacking team needs to escort a payload to move throughout the map. There are various checkpoints along a fixed point. The defending team must prevent this from happening within a time limit.
Control: Each team needs to hold a point until they reach 100% completion for holding it out. This is played in a best of 3 match.
Team Fortress 2
The best parallel for comparison would be Team Fortress 2. The game encourages class switching upon death to adapt to the pace of the game. Killing is a means of control and not points. While there will definitely be kill streaks it will be for a team to weaken the enemy team by numbers and not to have glory. In the end, the objective is what will win the game regardless of the number of kills one team has.
Overwatch is not going to be "the next big thing". It already is. Let's look at some of the reasons why this is huge. I've compiled my Top 5 Reasons why:
The Big 3
1) Overwatch is a brand new IP from Blizzard Entertainment. We've been used
to the "Big 3" games that Blizzard has supported with World of
Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. We were then given Hearthstone and
Heroes of the Storm which were nice spin off titles but original to
their game genres. It's been a while since a new franchise has been
launched. 18 years in fact since the last time we were introduced to a
new cast of characters was in 1998 with the release of Starcraft. The Blizzard fanbase has grown exponentially and so
playing Overwatch will be a brand new experience for old and new fans
alike.
2) Multi platform Launch The last time we saw console support for a Blizzard game was for Diablo 3. This helps shoe Blizzard in to reaching an audience much wider than they are used to and the fans won't be too foreign to this genre of game. Now I want to make clear that there is NOT cross platform play but rather just the availability of playing across the different devices. I personally believe that part of Rocket League's success is its ability to be played amongst a community of gamers regardless of how they choose to play it. This truly helps to unite an otherwise divided gaming community. Something to be noted is the lack of OS X support which historically has been in nearly all of the past Blizzard games.
3) New Game Genre with Blizzard stamp It seems that Blizzard Entertainment are masters of their craft perfecting each game they touch upon. The Blizzard Quality stamp is not to be taken very lightly and it is shown throughout History. Starting with Warcraft and progressing to Starcraft is where eSports would be born and the RTS genre is known by a singular title. It took an entire nation by storm and even to this day still holds deep roots in the culture of Korea. In the States, World of Warcraft is one of the most critically acclaimed games of all times where the most legendary stories of told with the experiences that people have had with this game. From the struggles of addiction to the creation of everlasting bonds is how World of Warcraft has affected our own world. Diablo is a genre definer in its own right where many other games seek to capture the ARPG magic that has players continuing to play even outdated versions of games they so deeply love. Hearthstone quickly rose to being a top contender in the realm of card games and holds it with its prowess on being solely digital which allows for unique card interactions. Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard's branded MOBA game even though the original MOBA style game DOTA was created off of their own game. Even then, Heroes of the Storm has piqued the interest of many with its coverage on ESPN and Heroes of the Dorm competition. Overwatch is in the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre but despite Blizzard as a company's unfamiliarity with this it seems that they won't release a game until they are confident in their perfection of a product. Much can and should be expected of a game from a company of high caliber.
eSports
4) eSports There are many shooter games but few manage to float to the top domain of eSports save for CS:GO. Many gaming organizations have already created official teams and rosters ready to dominate the leaderboards upon the release of the game. There's been a lot of drama and controversy surrounding as it appears that Overwatch is almost being pampered to being devoted to eSports despite the public having official access to it and the game is largely on an unfinished scale. Even then, the largest driving factor for eSports is the community. The fact that Overwatch has this solely on the basis of people watching it is a very promising sign for things to come.
5) Community This is a bit of a tie in between all of the different reasons listed but a lot of different people will be coming together for this game and I think that's something excellent. Everyone from loyal Blizzard fans to console-PC gamers to FPS fans to competitive eSports fans. There's a place for everyone with this game. All of the Blizzard references and easter eggs sprawled across the different maps. A game to play on whatever convoluted machine to play on. A brand new spankin' game to relieve your shooter itch. A seeming viable new way to enter the eSports scene. This game is something for the Blizzard employees to prove to themselves that they can create a new game after many previous ones were cancelled. (Most notably Titan) It's pretty exciting seeing the way that the Overwatch community has come together as people come for all of the reasons listed previously and many more.
Now I have had the pleasure of being able to play in the Early Access Beta portion by preordering the game. I remember coming home from work, with only about 10 minutes left until the beta would be up. (6:50 PM EST) I booted on my computer and casually got situated in my room not expecting to jump into the fray immediately for fear that the game would have a server overload. At 7:05 I budged thinking that 5 minutes would be enough for everyone else to filter through. To my surprise I was able to get in with little trouble. From then I played on until 12:15 AM. Upon sudden realization I decided to stop playing after this current game. I closed out of the game at 1:30 AM.
Gif of me Monday Night
I was hooked on to this game. It was incredible. I look forward to playing this when I can. I want to explain this giddiness and hype in words but I won't. I highly recommend that you try it out for yourself as this Open Beta is the first and only time that Overwatch will be largely available to anyone that's willing to download it. If you have even a sliver of interest in the game (and I'm assuming that you if you have read this far down) please give it a try.
Next Week: I'll go more in depth on my experience playing the Beta and stress test weekends that I participated in. We'll look at the progression that Blizzard has gone through to improve upon the game and what to expect from the final model.
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