Overwatch Video Game: Design and Brilliance in One Idea

The game was released on the 24th of May, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and Xbox One. Blizzard, the company which created overwatch, allowed stores to sell physical copies of Overwatch a day before the game was released to help players prepare for the game’s launch. Two editions of Overwatch were released alongside the original game, the origin Edition which was available for PC and console, both digitally and physically and the collector's edition which was available for PC and console, physically only. A game such as overwatch is typically targeted towards those who enjoy a fun yet competitive game environment, this demographic would appeal to young teenagers to young adults. since the majority of the player is around these ages.

Overwatch was created with an idea by the developers that was both design and brilliance in one idea, a game which your brain is used and you have to communicate with your allies. The game has a new, smart design which created an interesting result of a game. Overwatch is a 6 vs 6 multiplayer, objective shooter game. The game finds a point of balance not by lowering the amount of skill required, but by opening the meaning of skill and how you choose to play the game. The person with the impeccable aim is no more useful to the team than the person with the brilliant decision-making skill to know when a useful ultimate will turn a fight, or the person with incredible knowledge of the map to find the best position to place the team. The game doesn’t try to overwhelm you in options, maps, and modes. Overwatch is blessed with many tactical layers and none of the game options ever made me feel confused.

Overwatch excels in doing things greatly but the game’s success is found in the large variety of unique heroes. It’s a good choice from the developers that the main screen always has a character present next to the menu options, the characters varying looks, abilities, and back story gives the game life. Mei’s cute companion compliments her kind, caring nature and her strong will, and Mercy’s angelic expression makes her a calming presence, her healing abilities make her the nurse of the team, she cares about everyone. There’s a smart gorilla scientist, a friendly war-prone robot, a gun-slinging cowboy, and a shield maiden sworn to protect her allies. It shows that the game can make a character that adjusts to your play style, giving options of multiple heroes, some of them you may find your own personality in. The characters are so unique from one another yet they are all allies in battle, the way each character is created with a kit to aid them in fighting in battle allows the characters to form bonds and work together.

The immense collection of characters continue to display that when you pick a character and play the game with them that you will find yourself enjoying the experience as every game is different. The 31 characters are put into one of three roles and each role plays a different part to the game. Characters like Mcree the gunslinger and Bastion the turret are Damage per second characters or DPS role. Characters in the DPS role have the job of trying to eliminate the enemy team's players, as the name suggests, to deal as much damage per second as you can. Characters such as Reinhardt the crusader with his high health shield and Orisa the robot who protects her allies with her portable shield fall into the Tank role. Characters in the Tank role are most valuable when they provide protection for their team and push the enemy team backwards with their overwhelming size. Characters like Mercy the healing Valkyrie and Brigitte the shield maiden are in the Support role. The characters in this role are in charge of supporting their team and providing healing when it is required, they are most optimal to be used to keep teammates alive to fight as support characters often can’t defend themselves as those is DPS and tank roles can.A strong sense of uniqueness is important because it keeps the team always improving and coming up with new strategies instead of using simple shoot and kill gameplay. No, two Tanks, two Supports, and two DPS roles will be the result for winning. You have to think about the strategies and when you do, the true beauty of Overwatch’s gameplay shines through.

You could spend your time playing Overwatch for a long time before you get to the point where you are able to fully comprehend all the intricacies of the game that is has hidden in complex game play. Being able to experience gameplay with different characters, trying unique abilities, and moving as if you were seeing through their eyes, this is done through tiny details that your eyes pick up that make you have a feeling of immersion. The rocket flail that Brigitte holds moves like it would if you were carrying something heavy, Soldier:76 has the feeling of real-life gravity as he runs and jumps through the map, this makes it feel like your actually running around on solid ground.

One of my personal favorite features of Overwatch is the ability to be able to play for a short amount of time and still be rewarded greatly, you are given a lot of experience points if you play a repeated amount of games in a row and you are able to take a break in between these repeated games as well which is an awesome feature. With every level up you achieve you are gifted with a loot box which is an in-game reward which can also be bought with money but can be earned freely by leveling up as i’ve mentioned. The loot boxes gift you skins, voice lines and emotes to use in-game. Playing the game in quick play is a fun way to casually play the game, although if you want to play for higher rewards you can play competitive play. Playing competitive play will grant you rewards such as being able to purchase a golden gun depending on how many credits you have earned. A negative of playing competitive play is that it does take a while to get into a playable game depending on which role you choose, choosing the DPS role will make your wait time much longer as most people want to play this role.

One of overwatch's best features is that events are always held very often, every 3 months almost, these events are very fun to take part in. So far this year there has been the Ana's Bastet Challenge, Year of the Pig, Overwatch Archive: Storm Rising, Anniversary 2019, Baptiste's Reunion Challenge, Bastion's Brick Challenge and Halloween Terror 2019. Participating in the events grant you special rewards which are only available during the event times. The game developers put in special mini-game like events into the game that players can participate in, they also decorate the maps in-game to have decorations that suit the event, in Halloween events for example, they would have pumpkins and spooky items about in the maps.

Overwatch’s 17 maps are simply beautiful and full of interesting details, the maps play an important factor in the game as there are different strategies you can use in every map. The various map choices make strategizing and decision-making very important as everything isn't just about your team composition. While playing on certain maps you need to factor in the different opportunities your hero might have and how you can use them to your teams best advantage.