by Jay ParekhINTRODUCTION
Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It officially released on 24th May 2016 for the PC, Play-Station 4 and Xbox One. This game was in closed beta in 2015. Blizzard is known for popular PC games like “World of Warcraft”, “Starcraft II”, etc. Overwatch is a first-person shooter multiplayer game with two teams of 6 players each. Hence breaking the meta of having 5vs5 players from other popular online games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DotA 2, etc. There are many other features that make Overwatch unique and also why it stands out from all the multiplayer games out there.
ABOUT THE GAME
There are two teams with 6 players on each team. Players have to choose a particular hero that they would want to play. Each hero has different abilities. There are four types of heroes: Offense, Defense, Tank, Support. The offense heroes are the hardcore ground units who can do some serious damage to the enemy team. The defense heroes are very situational and can be helpful many a times while defending the objective. Tank heroes are a must in every team as they are the ones who take the heavy damage. Support heroes are essential so that the remaining players can survive, they can heal teammates and also have different abilities.
There four map types: Assault, Escort, Hybrid, Control. In Assault, the attacking team has to capture two control points in order to win the game, whereas the defending team have to stop the attacking team from doing so. In Escort, the attacking team have to escort a payload till the end of the map, whereas the defending team have to stop them from doing so. Hybrid map type is a mix of Assault and Escort, at first the attacking team must capture a point and then they have to escort the payload. Control is a simple King of the Hill map where both the teams compete for the same point.
The Overwatch community is overwhelmingly supportive of the game. One of the reasons why Overwatch still is popular is because of its healthy community. Blizzard also keeps on updating the game every 2-3 weeks and also launches seasonal updates like during Christmas or Halloween. Recently in Blizzcon 2016 they had added a new hero named “Sombra”. Blizzard also actively listens to the community and accordingly launches updates. There is a PTR (Public Test Region) of the game where players can test some features and give suggestions to Blizzard. Blizzard has done a great job by listening to the community and also regularly updating the game. This is the reason why Overwatch is one of the best multiplayer games out there.
CONCLUSION
This game is like a mix of Valve’s Team-Fortress 2 and DotA 2. It is like a MOBA game but in First-Person. In fact, most of the games in Overwatch are similar to those in TF2 which was made by Valve back in 2007. But Blizzard has honestly done a better job with this game by keeping the community healthy and listening to them actively. Even though this game is purely multiplayer, you won’t get bored of it as Blizzard is actively working on updates, hence the meta of the game changes here and now. Notably Overwatch was crowned “Game of the Year” award for the year 2016. If you love multiplayer shooter games, then you have to try out Overwatch!
