Overwatch (2016)

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2335 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,271 out of 2335
  2. Mixed: 399 out of 2335
  3. Negative: 665 out of 2335
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  1. 4Tifier
    May 27, 2016
    5
    For a game that has no campaign and has few multi-player maps and game-modes, its definitely not worth $60. You can get better games with the same content for just a quarter of the price; even FREE for some games.

    And for a game that makes each of its characters and maps so diverse and interesting, its a shame that the game itself has no story and has meaningless multi-player. All you    For a game that has no campaign and has few multi-player maps and game-modes, its definitely not worth $60. You can get better games with the same content for just a quarter of the price; even FREE for some games.

    And for a game that makes each of its characters and maps so diverse and interesting, its a shame that the game itself has no story and has meaningless multi-player. All you do is run around mindlessly while spamming your abilities, and that's clearly not what anyone expects from a $60 game.

    And as anyone could have predicted from a Blizzard game, the characters are clearly unbalanced. Since World of Warcraft, Blizzard has done a really bad job at making classes/characters balanced so that any and every play-style is viable. I don't expect this to be fixed any time soon, or even for the entire lifespan of Overwatch for that matter...

    Blizzard has released cinematic shorts based in the Overwatch universe, and they are clearly better and more entertaining than any time spent in playing the game itself. I'd really recommend anyone reading this to check them out!

    Besides that, I also don't like how Blizzard is selling-out FPS pros to play and advertise this game, and paying studios to host future Overwatch tournaments when the game has just been released. They're trying so hard to make this game the next "League of Legends" before the game even comes out, even though the success of every big game (or eSport) was because of the loyal fans and players.

    And I don't see any real reason to be even the slightest bit interested in this game.

    In conclusion, "Overwatch" is an over-priced and shallow FPS that had potential, but was ruined by Blizzard spending the majority of its budget on advertising the game than into giving the game and its characters some sort of meaning.    … Expand
  2. Captiosus
    May 30, 2016
    7
    Based on my time in Closed and Open Beta along with a limited bit of time after launch, I initially gave the game a pretty favorable "9" rating. After a full week and slightly more than one full day of actual game time, my opinion has trended decidedly downward so I feel I must revise accordingly.

    All one needs to know about Overwatch can be gleaned by looking at the trophy/achievement    Based on my time in Closed and Open Beta along with a limited bit of time after launch, I initially gave the game a pretty favorable "9" rating. After a full week and slightly more than one full day of actual game time, my opinion has trended decidedly downward so I feel I must revise accordingly.

    All one needs to know about Overwatch can be gleaned by looking at the trophy/achievement list: Many of them rely on luck, some require only time, and few require actual skill.

    There is a potentially good - no, great - game here but it is wrapped up in a myriad of poor design decisions such as poor character balance, poor map design, poor netcoding, and the allowance of hero stacking (which exacerbates all three of the other issues). There are tons of complaints about individual characters but the issue really is a combination of all four problems always happening at once. Sure, the complaints about Bastion's sentry mode with no slow down on aiming, no spread on shots, and no ramp up before firing are valid but they're almost always a problem because the maps are designed to heavily favor defending teams by either providing too few pathways for attackers, by allowing blatant base camping, or by putting an easy to defend choke point right outside of the defending team's base (while the attacking team usually has to run a fair distance from their last checkpoint when they die). Now add that the game allows multiples of the same character and one can see how the issues become multiplied.

    There's also the fact that Blizzard themselves have confirmed that the game's servers only run at a 20 tick rate (less than a third of what's considered minimum standard) and also includes a baked in latency delay to "favor the shooter" (read: prevent the need for leading shots) *on top of* each player's normal latency. Cheap, unavoidable deaths (such as being killed as Mei while in Ice Block or as Tracer after Rewinding because the server simply didn't "see" it relative to your opponent's latency+built-in delay) are frustratingly frequent.

    The matchmaking system is just... bad. I generally split my time between running in a small group of 3-4 people or running solo depending on time of day. Not that it matters, mind: Regardless of running solo or grouped, either you're going to steamroll the opposing team or you're going to get steamrolled. In 213 games played so far, I can say that two dozen (or less) of those were close matches where the teams were really fighting to win. Either we won by a large margin or we lost by a large margin. This might seem fun at first but it quickly becomes mindnumbing. I'm not sure what they use to determine MMR for matchmaking but it feels off and it certainly doesn't help that some maps are designed almost entirely to promote steamrolls by the defending team - maps like Temple of Anubis and Route 66, both of which my usual group now leave any time they pop up in the rotation. Not because we can't win on them (we can and have) but because they're simply NOT fun.

    There are very few elements of skill in Overwatch, mostly to be found within the support cast of Mercy, Lucio, Symmetra, and Zenyatta. For everyone else, this is a game of luck: Lucky timing on the acquisition of ultimate abilities, lucky placement of the enemy team, lucky netcode timing, lucky map selection, and so on. I would love to say I have faith in Blizzard to deal with these imbalances but I simply do not considering many of them were known as far back as Closed Beta and still went in at launch (not to mention their 8.5 year long struggles balancing Warcraft's Arena PVP system with far fewer classes).    … Expand
  3. MrRater
    May 26, 2016
    7
    A serie with alot of hype, mainly because it is a Blizzard game with their "Blizzard polish". This game is fun, but won't have a long longevity for me after spending a decent amount of hours(around 100) playing this game. I will explain it as short as possible for the people who wants quick and short reviews to compare it with each other:

    EDIT: It isn't as short as I thought it would    A serie with alot of hype, mainly because it is a Blizzard game with their "Blizzard polish". This game is fun, but won't have a long longevity for me after spending a decent amount of hours(around 100) playing this game. I will explain it as short as possible for the people who wants quick and short reviews to compare it with each other:

    EDIT: It isn't as short as I thought it would be, so my appologize.

    Positive:
    - It's a fun and solid teambased shooter when you're new to this game:
    It's a fun and fresh experience, when you're learning each maps and characters. Every character is unique, but also easy to learn/understand. The maps are also well designed enough for each character.

    This is subjective and a negative for some gamers: People who wants complex characters won't get what they want. So this could be a negative. For example, Mei is a hero with a tier 4 difficutly, yet she doesn't feel that different in difficulty compared to a tier 1 character like Bastion.

    - You can switch characters during game and also able to play as the same heroes as your teammates::
    So you and your team can accustom to how your opponents are playing incase you have chosen the wrong hero. Or you can experiment by changing your heroes till you find the synergy to win the game. Or go crazy and have fun with weird hero combinations(even though this may be disrespectfull for your opponent).

    - Teamplay is pretty important in the game:
    For example, your health won't regenerate, hence you need a healer. However, you don't need a healer if you don't want to play that way, since there are healing items lying around the map with a respawn/cooldown timer. This will slow down your teamplay if everyone is scattered around to find the healing items and heal themself. Each hero has their role(attackers, defenders, supporters and healers).

    - Game isn't technically impressive. However, we're gamers and the visual presentation and performance is nice and that's what matters:
    It looks like a Pixar movie(not hitting that lvl, but the style is similiar) and the gameplay is fluent. Especially on the console, since it's pretty hard for developers to hit the 60fps on consoles and Overwatch is one of those game hitting the 60fps with a dynamic resolution.

    Negatives:
    - Short longevity for some gamers:
    This doesn't apply to everyone ofcourse. But the amount of content is pretty small for a priced game. This game is only PvP and while the game is fun to play, it's all you will get(with the exception of future contents(but the question is, will that be enough)). All the heroes and maps are unlocked. The only thing you will get are sprays, skins(some are interesting if I'm honest hehe), taunts, etc. As you may noticed, all the things I've mentioned doesn't add any value to the actual game, beside being aesthetic. All the character will play the same, meaning you won't be able to personalize your character like some other games do. Hence this longevity will be short after knowing how all your heroes plays and how to play in each maps. This is the main reason why I won't give this game a high score/perfect score like a 9 or 10.

    - The game isn't complete, since the competitive gamemode will come in the next update:
    Meaning, you're buying a game which isn't complete. Similiar towards SFV, but that one is far worse. This may be a trend in the future where publishers releases an incomplete game for the full price(sadly, I also bought this game, meaning I can't say much about this). Also another reason why I won't give this game an 8.

    Hence my final verdict being a 7. I hope you understand why I gave this a 7 and this is my personal opinion anyways for the people who disagrees :) 7 is a good game IMO, even though it isn't a 9 or a 10. Hope I helped some people with this review. And if you will buy this game or have bought this and still read this, because of curiosity:

    I hope you're enjoying your game and maybe we will be teamed up or teamed against each other in Overwatch now I'm done writing this :P    … Expand
  4. Xevro
    May 24, 2016
    7
    The game is 'okay' and definately worth getting, just not for the full price.

    Overwatch has a beautiful art-style, (some) unique characters and is something different from now-a-days FPS (I do not consider this game a MOBA). The game also runs smooth on every platform, without any sort of glitches and exploits so far. However, the game is incredibly lacking in both depth and    The game is 'okay' and definately worth getting, just not for the full price.

    Overwatch has a beautiful art-style, (some) unique characters and is something different from now-a-days FPS (I do not consider this game a MOBA). The game also runs smooth on every platform, without any sort of glitches and exploits so far.

    However, the game is incredibly lacking in both depth and content-wise manner. I personally do not like the fact how we get a very vague 'prologue' to the universe of Overwatch through webisodes, rather than having some sort of story-telling in-game (i.e. cutscenes, fleshed out biographies, location descriptions and the overall 'goal' of the game.)

    What I've gathered so far from watching the webisodes and reading forums online is that the story is about an organization called 'Overwatch' which was made by the goverment to battle against this so called 'Omnic War'; a war that occurred between humans and robots. After this battle it lead to having society live in peace among one another's kind; as everyone praised Overwatch.

    As Overwatch began to recruit more people, there were rumors of corrupted members slithering their way through, this eventually made both humans and robots think bad about these past Heroes. The headquarters of Overwatch got blown up and their leader killed (which actually are two of the playable characters named 'Reaper' and 'Soldier 76') This made Overwatch fall apart and turn illegal; during the same time the second 'Omnic War' is about to occur.

    Winston, one of the co-leaders is trying to gather and make contact with all of the Overwatch current members so they can put a stop before this second war that is about to happen or is already happening. However, the vague part is that I don't understand the goal of the game itself.

    You're fighting Overwatch members and it has nothing to do with the robots itself; the Omnic War itself. You're either a terrorist or not, from what I've gathered (secure the payload/explosives gamemode and capturing points).

    There are a lot of flaws with the game; I'll list a few:

    1. There is no story whatsoever in-game (I do not count 3 dialogue lines per Hero, forcing us to figure out that Hanzo and Genji are related or that Soldier 76 and Reaper were actual people in the past that ran Overwatch.. Etc; Those are what the webisodes are for and I prefer it would've been ingame.)

    2. Incredibly short rounds

    3. Only two different gamemodes

    4. Unable to pick said gamemodes and maps specifically

    5. A broken social aspect to the game, such as partying up; etc.

    6. A FALSE progression system (All you earn are lootboxes and portrait frames every 10 levels, nothing aside of that seems to be unlocked, thus it isn't rewarding enough. I personally do not get why this sort of progression got wiped after the Beta since it holds no advantage over anyone else.)

    7. Incredibly uncreative skins (Aside from legendary ones, the rest are literally recolours of their original outfit)

    8. Overpriced for what it has to offer (Overwatch is using a very basic FPS formula and since it was originally planned to be Free to Play, but Blizzard decided to make it full price after they saw how much it got liked, I think it's pretty much a dick move on their side)    … Expand
  5. dswadeson
    May 26, 2016
    6
    The game is typical of Blizzard in terms of polish, but very un-Blizzard in terms of depth, content and meaningful interactions. The classes are fine, and sure they click together. The environments are colourful and have good verticality. It just all seems so hollow. On console especially, people don't both coordinating. There's no push and pull, no big tilts, no...stickiness. Just aThe game is typical of Blizzard in terms of polish, but very un-Blizzard in terms of depth, content and meaningful interactions. The classes are fine, and sure they click together. The environments are colourful and have good verticality. It just all seems so hollow. On console especially, people don't both coordinating. There's no push and pull, no big tilts, no...stickiness. Just a colourful, fun arcade arena shooter with bland character archetypes (Bastion will always win too) and brings nothing new to the genre table.… Expand
  6. Alexgamer_222
    Jun 6, 2016
    4
    this game could be funny, but its completely emptiness, without single player and its a copy of TF2.
    EA and Capcom do this and the people started to hate them, but Blizzard do the same and people don´t mind.
  7. willmoy38
    Jun 5, 2016
    3
    Just another plotless, pointless multiplayer game. Yet another way for video games to make endless surplus coinage with "promises" to add more meaningful content.
    Frankly, if I want to just run around and compete with other people, I'll play Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, WWE or some sports title. I play games for the immersion, an escape, not to deal with toxic multiplayer communities in    Just another plotless, pointless multiplayer game. Yet another way for video games to make endless surplus coinage with "promises" to add more meaningful content.
    Frankly, if I want to just run around and compete with other people, I'll play Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, WWE or some sports title. I play games for the immersion, an escape, not to deal with toxic multiplayer communities in a game that is plotless. There are far too many of these types of games being released.    … Expand
  8. Amaraen
    May 24, 2016
    6
    An average implementation of what feels like a free-to-play FPS model, Overwatch enters the world of paid multiplayer-only FPS following other overhyped hits such as Evolve, Titanfall and Battlefront and fails to make any particularly new cost-worthy innovation.

    Much like playing Battlefront, after perhaps 5 games (experienced in short rounds) you've probably experienced pretty much all    An average implementation of what feels like a free-to-play FPS model, Overwatch enters the world of paid multiplayer-only FPS following other overhyped hits such as Evolve, Titanfall and Battlefront and fails to make any particularly new cost-worthy innovation.

    Much like playing Battlefront, after perhaps 5 games (experienced in short rounds) you've probably experienced pretty much all the game has to offer. This isn't unusual in an FPS game, but for me personally Overwatch doesn't really draw on any new ideas and feels blank in a pretty saturated multiplayer FPS market. The number of characters is an excellent idea that rapidly becomes only important in 1v1 scenarios which occur only seldomly.

    It does play well, and the gameplay is mostly solid, but ultimately feels like playing Team Fortress 2 after a new update of weapons, except in that case the update wouldn't have cost you money. Certainly a good purchase for any multiplayer-FPS fanatic, but not for the price it wants from you.

    One particularly good point is that as a Blizzard game, it will come with a large Twitch following which will probably ensure that the game does not die out any time soon and will probably be playable for the foreseeable future.    … Expand
  9. Surt
    May 31, 2016
    6
    No single player. Overpriced for what it offers. And unless your into SUPERS and BUFFS into your FPS game then this isn't for you.

    Think TF2 mixed with some MOBA. The happy FPS game. Want something more serious? Then wait for BF. Or play rainbow six siege.
  10. corpsed
    May 28, 2016
    4
    I've never left a review for a game on Metacritic, but I felt like I just had to say something about Overwatch.

    First off, this game has so much potential, but in it's current state it's totally not worth it. If this were a Free-To-Play game, I would say "Wow," great job, but $60 for what is essentially a game with a few maps and no story is absolutely ridiculous. Let me break it down    I've never left a review for a game on Metacritic, but I felt like I just had to say something about Overwatch.

    First off, this game has so much potential, but in it's current state it's totally not worth it. If this were a Free-To-Play game, I would say "Wow," great job, but $60 for what is essentially a game with a few maps and no story is absolutely ridiculous. Let me break it down with you starting with the pros.

    Pros:
    1. Fluid Gameplay
    2. Fun Characters
    3. Action Packed, Small Maps
    4. Brings back memories of Q3 Arean

    Cons
    1. I'm not sure how the PC version plays but in the PS4 version you have only 2 game modes. "Quick Match" or "Arcade".... WTF. You can't select maps, you can't select playstyle... And if you select "Quick Match" it's pretty much always the same "escort the cargo" mission or "Hold point A for X amount of time."

    Sorry, but that gets old, and if you don't like the randomly chosen map you are SOL

    2. No character progression. Sure, you level up but it doesn't mean anything. You don't get stronger, you don't get new weapons. All you get with a level is a "loot box" that will give you meaningless stuff like skins. So you never feel like you're working towards something ever. A Victory or Defeat means nothing.

    3. Annoying load times... Often you will have a quick match that ends in 10 minutes, then you're stuck watching the Play of the Game, voting for the MVP, then waiting for the match to load, then waiting for the countdown for the match to start. Sometimes it feels like you are WAITING FOR THE GAME TO START more than you're actually playing the **** game.

    4. NO FFA mode, No FFA Teams mode.

    5. Some characters are clearly unbalanced. Any noob can use the character who transforms into a turret/tank and just camp around a corner and wait for someone to round it and maul them down. The autoaiming characters almost guarantee you 3-5 kills. The precision characters are soooo bad on the PS4 version because the controller makes it too hard to aim them. They aren't bad, but it's clealry unbalanced.

    6. Play of the game is meaningless. It's always just whoever killed a few people in a short of amount of time... Usually through a cheap ult. MVP is also meaningless as most people just vote for somebody random, even if it's someone on the losing team

    7. No Single Player Mode, No offline play

    Anyway, I enjoyed Overwatch for a couple days and it's already played out. You quickly realize that you're fighting for nothing and there is no where to progress to. It feels so impersonal and you never feel connected to your team or the other team despite it being a team based game.

    This should have been a F2P game with skins and "loot box" BS as purchasable items. There is no content here to justify a $60 price tag, and if I could take the game back now, I would.    … Expand
  11. jojofm
    Jul 14, 2016
    2
    Nice graphics! I like the anime inspired characters.
    But:
    No single player; no campaign; no story; no progression; no goals; always online.

    It's got to be a free-to-play, right?
  12. Raffo10
    May 30, 2016
    2
    So disappointed by this game considering it was a lot of money to buy! For a game with no single player campaign and okay multiplayer content, it is just simply not worth the money! Expected much more.....
  13. Colaflare
    May 24, 2016
    10
    I've put over 50 hours into this game. Many people have put in more - because they've had fun playing it. Got hooked on the beta. If you haven't played the beta, that's probably the only reason you don't already have the full game. In all seriousness, it does something that no other shooter on console has done successfully - created a fun, truly team based, engaging, competitive game thatI've put over 50 hours into this game. Many people have put in more - because they've had fun playing it. Got hooked on the beta. If you haven't played the beta, that's probably the only reason you don't already have the full game. In all seriousness, it does something that no other shooter on console has done successfully - created a fun, truly team based, engaging, competitive game that has a high skill ceiling with a low barrier to entry and lovable characters. On the surface it is simple, but play it for a while and you'll understand why Overwatch exceeds the hype.… Expand
  14. brozermanik
    May 24, 2016
    5
    It just doesn't feel like a full game, i don't have motivation to play next battle,
    i even don't know why i have to win in the battle i just entered. And even winning isn't rewarding(
    Its like shoot, jump, explode, sometimes happens something cool. But what it has... is hats.. The useless part of TF2 Gameplay 5/10 Graphics 7/10 Audio 8/10 UI 8/10 If it wouldn't be Blizzard i    It just doesn't feel like a full game, i don't have motivation to play next battle,
    i even don't know why i have to win in the battle i just entered. And even winning isn't rewarding(
    Its like shoot, jump, explode, sometimes happens something cool.
    But what it has... is hats.. The useless part of TF2

    Gameplay 5/10
    Graphics 7/10
    Audio 8/10
    UI 8/10

    If it wouldn't be Blizzard i probably rate it 7/8 out 10. But from Blizzard i was expecting masterpiece at least.    … Expand
  15. Lawgun
    May 29, 2016
    4
    Extremely boring game without any sense to play. There are no character progression or weapon upgrades, no leveling up and no new weapons or abilities to unlock. First 5 minutes of gameplay is just identical to all the rest time you'll provide (why?) in game. Blizzard became a casual game developer finally. What a shame. Free to play game with old but extra casual and primitive gameExtremely boring game without any sense to play. There are no character progression or weapon upgrades, no leveling up and no new weapons or abilities to unlock. First 5 minutes of gameplay is just identical to all the rest time you'll provide (why?) in game. Blizzard became a casual game developer finally. What a shame. Free to play game with old but extra casual and primitive game mechanics and 60$ price tag with insane fanboys on background - game of the century of course.… Expand
  16. Dapperpickle9
    May 24, 2016
    9
    Overwatch is the most fun multiplayer experience I've ever had. With 21 unique characters the game feels like it'll last a while( there will be more heroes/maps added). A story mode would be nice, but honestly I'm totally fine without one. The game is FUN, and it tries to be as fun as it can! The game is NOT free2play, for a very important reason. There is NO season pass, and all newOverwatch is the most fun multiplayer experience I've ever had. With 21 unique characters the game feels like it'll last a while( there will be more heroes/maps added). A story mode would be nice, but honestly I'm totally fine without one. The game is FUN, and it tries to be as fun as it can! The game is NOT free2play, for a very important reason. There is NO season pass, and all new content will be FREE. (Which is a great thing, and much better than any pay2win/f2p model. Thanks Blizzard… Expand
  17. Hexwrench
    May 25, 2016
    3
    After you get over the decent visuals and play the game for a few hours, the utter lack of content starts to become apparent. I had not heard of this game before buying it, I didn't play the beta or see any gameplay of it. Going in blind, I was pleased to see a team fortress style shooter for my ps4. A few hours later however, after seeing some flaws, like the tracking speed of theAfter you get over the decent visuals and play the game for a few hours, the utter lack of content starts to become apparent. I had not heard of this game before buying it, I didn't play the beta or see any gameplay of it. Going in blind, I was pleased to see a team fortress style shooter for my ps4. A few hours later however, after seeing some flaws, like the tracking speed of the engineers turret, and the damage of some non-ultimate abilties, I started to see why this game is broken from the start.

    This is a blizzard game, and if you have played world of war craft for any period of time, you would know that balance is a big issue in pvp, it always has been and always will be. How is blizzard supposed to keep 21 diverse characters balanced when they can't keep 8 classes balanced?

    This game with basically 1 game mode costs $60 on consoles. I got bored fast. Team fortress on the other hand was $20 on release, had many game modes and a modding community.

    If you have read this far and are still wondering if you should buy this game, just ask yourself "is an unfinished game with very little content worth $60 to me?"
    If you think unfinished games are worth your money, then by all means, you might get an hour or two of fun out of this, otherwise, just pass.

    And lastly, to the people who gave this a 9 or 10, please come back and fix your review in a couple of weeks when you get bored and stop playing it. It would really help put an end to these companies selling half finished products.    … Expand
  18. Genome12
    May 25, 2016
    4
    Glad I found a used copy to try Overwatch, as I plan to return it already. Overwatch isn't a bad game, but it is simply another example of an overhyped, overrated, overpriced, and content light multiplayer focused game ala Titanfall or Evolve. I have a feeling "professional" game reviewers are gonna be over scoring Overwatch as they did with Titanfall.

    Team Fortress 2 launched bundled    Glad I found a used copy to try Overwatch, as I plan to return it already. Overwatch isn't a bad game, but it is simply another example of an overhyped, overrated, overpriced, and content light multiplayer focused game ala Titanfall or Evolve. I have a feeling "professional" game reviewers are gonna be over scoring Overwatch as they did with Titanfall.

    Team Fortress 2 launched bundled with the content rich Orange Box and it was an amazing deal. Why Blizzard didn't follow TF2's launch example is disappointing. Overwatch should've launched at a $29.99 or $19.99 price for the amount of game content on offer. Overwatch could've even gone free to play as TF2 did.

    There is a fun game here, but unless Blizzard adds in some form of single player or actual story in multiplayer? I recommend waiting for a big price drop or used copy. The game already dropped $10 on Amazon, so, in a month or so it will drop even more.

    I expect more from Blizzard...    … Expand
  19. Gamecriticpro
    May 27, 2016
    4
    This is literally the most unbalanced game I have ever played. I'm extremely let down by this game as I was under the impression it wouldn't be hot garbage.
  20. claytastic
    Jul 18, 2016
    7
    As a fan of TF2, I had really high hopes for Overwatch. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game. However, there are noticeable problems present, and I think a bunch of critics out there are failing to see them. Let's start off with the game's pricing. Overwatch is ridiculously overpriced, sitting at $60 for console users. What about PC, you may ask? $40. That's right, Blizzard is actuallyAs a fan of TF2, I had really high hopes for Overwatch. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game. However, there are noticeable problems present, and I think a bunch of critics out there are failing to see them. Let's start off with the game's pricing. Overwatch is ridiculously overpriced, sitting at $60 for console users. What about PC, you may ask? $40. That's right, Blizzard is actually forcing console users to pay extra for the game. I know most of their games are PC exclusives, but this is extremely unfair. Even at $40 I would say it's overpriced, mainly due to a lack of content. I mentioned this as a complaint to one of my friends who is a huge fan of the game. He said the $60 pricing was fine because all of the content would be added in later updates. Well, why? That doesn't make any sense. Either delay the game so you can add the content upon release, or lower the price and make it DLC. I'd rather have the content be paid DLC than be forced to buy it when I'm probably not gonna have use for it any ways. As mentioned earlier, there is definitely a lack of content in the game, especially with a $60 price tag. Most noticeably is a story mode, which I actually hope will be added in a future update because I definitely think that could bring the score up for me. I guess it's because they want you to learn the story from watching the animations, but who's got time to do that? Plus, I wouldn't bother, they're not that interesting. There's also a pretty large lack of gamemodes, which is a big issue for a multiplayer only game. But I've been a little too hard on Overwatch, let's give it a little credit. One thing in this game that goes without flaw is the heroes. The main selling point of the game is it's 21 playable characters. This was clearly a design focus, because they knocked it out of the park. Each hero feels and plays to match they're class perfectly, and I'm always tempted to try different characters. Each of these heroes have their own weapons and abilities, adding a lot of variety to these characters. It's also worth noting that they all have their own personalities. Personally, this is something that loads of multiplayer games are lacking now a days. I'd much rather see a quirky, British teleporter as the mascot of the game than a stone-faced, one-sided cyborg soldier. This and a large amount of maps elevate this game to my score for it. In total, Overwatch is a great game set back by some issues with pricing and a lack of content. However, the focus on all of the heroes, each individual playstyle, and a variety of maps serve this game right. It doesn't in any way deserve all of the perfect scores from critics, but it's not bad. 7/10.… Expand
  21. MarsCorialanus
    Oct 18, 2017
    1
    I don't want to be hyperbolic with my review of this, but I feel disapointed. I bought overwatch after hearing it was like the old TF2. In some ways I can see the comparison. I played for around a week, maybe two. I really tried to give the game a chance. But it just feels empty, repetitive, and at the end of the day boring. The community surrounding the game doesn't help much, with peopleI don't want to be hyperbolic with my review of this, but I feel disapointed. I bought overwatch after hearing it was like the old TF2. In some ways I can see the comparison. I played for around a week, maybe two. I really tried to give the game a chance. But it just feels empty, repetitive, and at the end of the day boring. The community surrounding the game doesn't help much, with people generally not working as a team. This is really unfortunate given Overwatch's team focus. In the end, I put it on the shelf, thinking "maybe I'll give it a try again someday down the road." I haven't played it since. It has no lasting appeal. The aesthetic wasn't for me, but hey that's subjective. This game was a waste of money, and I'm disappointed in myself for buying it. Maybe children could enjoy this game, but the sexuality of it kind of stops that to. Teens. That i think is probably the perfect audience for this game. Over all, a very disappointing purchase. I put the game in a box somewhere so that no one will know my shame.… Expand
  22. SuperkenGaming
    Jun 16, 2016
    8
    Overwatch
    A Great feeling game with not much to do
    Overwatch is an online only multiplayer shooter.. there is no story here other than a quick introduction when the game starts up, and there is no single player campaign.. Its basically play the tutorial and then jump into the action… There are 21 unique feeling characters all separated into 4 different classes, offense, defense, tank    Overwatch
    A Great feeling game with not much to do
    Overwatch is an online only multiplayer shooter..
    there is no story here other than a quick introduction when the game starts up, and there is no single player campaign..
    Its basically play the tutorial and then jump into the action…
    There are 21 unique feeling characters all separated into 4 different classes, offense, defense, tank and support.. so you can contribute to your team in any way you please whether that’s getting kills, being a shield, or healing
    Some classes do have more character variety than the other.. but every last character has its own weapon and special abilities with cool downs, so youre guaranteed to find one to match your playstyle, and hopefully youll find at least 1 in each class for whatever each situation calls for, as you can switch characters during the match much like a gun loadout in other competitive multiplayer shooters
    so if youre not feeling one, go down the list until you find your right fit..
    All of this is great,, every character feels useful in their own way..
    The only problem is theres not much here
    There are 12 maps here which is a decent amount of variety, but none stood out to me…
    I can easily name maps in other shooters that are fun to just run around and kill people in..
    But I couldn’t here.. they all really feel the same…
    And evry mission is just objective based…
    You have capture.. escort…and control…
    Basically youre either fighting or defending a section of the map at all times…
    I understand that these are really the only kind of missions that make sense in a game thats about character variety…
    But I’d like to see some innovation beyond just the characters…
    Maybe coming up with modes for each individual classes, such as a team death match for offense and tanks only
    a tower defense for the defense and support team…
    get creative
    Not just the same modes in every other shooter set inside pretty average maps…
    After you’ve put your hours into the game youll level up which unlocks a loot box…
    And inside of these loot boxes are garbage taunts, costumes, and sprays…
    You grind to looks different while you do the same thing for hours on end.
    Which honestly I wouldn’t mind all too much if there was more gameplay variety
    I can only capture and defend for so long
    Negatives aside, Overwatch is a decently fun multiplayer shooter that I feel fans of this genre will enjoy
    I give overwatch an 8.0/10    … Expand
  23. stamito
    May 22, 2017
    7
    This is quite a decent game with the potential to become a 10. For me there are a few points that make it lose some score in my opinion. In terms of gameplay, the game feels great, you have 20+ heroes, each one feels very different, they all have 3-5 different skills, there’s a game style for everyone here. I also think they’ve managed to balance the heroes quite well, that doesn’t meanThis is quite a decent game with the potential to become a 10. For me there are a few points that make it lose some score in my opinion. In terms of gameplay, the game feels great, you have 20+ heroes, each one feels very different, they all have 3-5 different skills, there’s a game style for everyone here. I also think they’ve managed to balance the heroes quite well, that doesn’t mean you can kill any hero with any hero; it means each hero is strong against some heroes and weak against some others, balance within a specific game is completely dependent on people making the right choice. As long as people think a bit when choosing, rather than going “Genji is my main no matter what”, it is easy to have a combination of heroes that is balanced, being “combination” the key word here. Said that the gameplay wildly varies between heroes, you have very fast pacing heroes that have to move a lot (e.g. Genji/Tracer), bulky slow kind of heroes (e.g Mei, Reindhardt), healers, etc. etc. Graphically speaking, the game is good, not awesome but I think it stands out by its art style rather that the raw quality of the graphics, music and sound are all right, nothing out of the ordinary but they work all right. Story wise, this being a multiplayer online game, you won’t find a lot of story elements in the game itself, but Blizzard has made an awesome job at giving you context via comics and short movies that you can access online for free. That is quite cool, although I still miss a campaign mode, seeing the universe they’ve created, the main story and the charisma of the characters I think it would be relatively easy to make an awesome campaign. Finally, for those trying to think about how playing this feels I think it’s fair to say that this is a mixture between a multiplayer FPS and a MOBA (e.g. league of legends), so if you played some of those, just expect something that falls in the middle, at least it feels like this to me.

    Now, bad stuff, the first thing is the lack of proper modes. There are 3 main modes that you can either play on quick play or competitive. Two of them are very similar. These modes feel great, the games are kind of short 5-10 mins (in quick play) so, they’re great fun. Most of the people play to these. There are a few other additional modes, I’m calling these additional for two reasons, first, not as many people play them and second they don’t have maps specifically designed for them (which is awful) and you’ll notice that while playing. These additional modes are things like “deathmatch” 1v1, 3v3 and capture the flag. Capture the flag specifically angers me a bit, it is a very old mode in FPS games and for me it’s great, it’s my favourite usually in this kind of game. Here it feels “additional” because they reuse maps from the “main modes” for it; so basically Blizzard has put almost zero effort on the mode and you can feel that when playing. Now, on top of the lack of proper modes, there is the lack of maps for these modes. So the main modes have specific maps but not many, this is 3 and 4 maps for each of the “capture the zone” mode and 7 for the “escort the payload”. For escort the payload the number of maps is all right, but for example for one of the “capture the zone” modes only 3 maps is very very little.

    Finally, and maybe the worst for me is the matchmaking system. First of all, I want to clarify that I’m not complying about this after playing a couple of hours. As of today, I’ve played more than 850 games with 112 hours of playtime so I think I’m in a fairly good position to review this. Anyway, people say the match making is designed to try and put together people of the same skill so we have fair games. Some people say the game does this looking at your victory percentage. In principle, this is fine with me, fair games area funnier and I can definitely feel the invisible hand of the system “forcing” me to stay in the victory percentage that correlates with my skill. That again, in principle is fine with me, sounds fair. The game pairs me with better players if I go above my % and I start losing and vice versa. The problem with this is the way the system is keeping my percentage at X value. I’d say that roughly 50 to 60% of my games are games in which my team is immensely superior to the other team and we win very easy or the other way around. The other 40-50% are fair enough games that I might win or not. Anyway, the fact that 50-60% of my games are quite unfair is frustrating, I don’t mind loosing, but I don’t like losing overwhelmingly because it’s just not funny. Same way crush winning the other team is not fun either and that’s why I’m getting to a point where the game is frustrating me a bit.

    Summarising, there is quite a lot to enjoy in this game so If you like this kind of game go for it, but be ready for some frustration.    … Expand
  24. lionheart21
    Aug 5, 2016
    8
    As someone who had never played a team-based shooter before Overwatch, I was surprised at how easily-accessible the game is. Unlike Team Fortress 2 which while a solid game in its own right, is a much more technical game, Overwatch is one of those games where you can just jump right back in.

    Each character also has its own unique strengths and weaknesses that can fit pretty much any    As someone who had never played a team-based shooter before Overwatch, I was surprised at how easily-accessible the game is. Unlike Team Fortress 2 which while a solid game in its own right, is a much more technical game, Overwatch is one of those games where you can just jump right back in.

    Each character also has its own unique strengths and weaknesses that can fit pretty much any playstyle. If you like to be a speedy player like the Scout, play Tracer. Like being in the air and picking off opponents from the sky? Go for Pharah. If you're not really a team player and like being a Lone Wolf, pick Reaper. And if you're like me and just like to stay in the opponent's face and never give them a chance to breathe, go for D Va.

    Also, unlike TF2, customizing your characters doesn't give you an advantage over other players who haven't played as much as you have. And if you want a challenge, Competitive Mode will do that for you,placing a much-needed "1 character per team" limitation, which helps add balance and also make the player branch out and play other characters in case their main character of choice is taken.

    I also like how Blizzard has seen the differences between console and PC versions and have patched them separately based on the needs of each version.

    However, that's not to say that the game has its flaws. And the main flaw centers around its Loot Box system and micro-transactions, something that I feel holds no place in a full-priced game.

    All in all, though, the world needs Heroes, and the gaming world needs games like Overwatch    … Expand
  25. theultimatewr
    Jun 25, 2016
    10
    one of thee best multiplayer game i have played ever ...
    it has fast game play that i love and has team work so much that is why i love much more ....
  26. VozAlta
    May 17, 2017
    8
    Overwatch is that game which you can get back to and play casually whenever you want, or grind the hell out of and complete in online tournaments as hardcore as you'd want, the choice is all yours. It's a stylised and cartoonish take on shooters, but don't let that fool you, because it's insanely well-balanced (although of course there will always be opinions about such things) by aOverwatch is that game which you can get back to and play casually whenever you want, or grind the hell out of and complete in online tournaments as hardcore as you'd want, the choice is all yours. It's a stylised and cartoonish take on shooters, but don't let that fool you, because it's insanely well-balanced (although of course there will always be opinions about such things) by a scissors-rock-paper setup. At this point, however, it becomes quite clear that you'll get an advantage by playing with friends and utilise characters and their powers combined. Playing solo ain't always easy, but it's just as fun.
    A downside for me is that the game lacks campaign, this is pure online FPS, although Blizzard does update with seasonal events which have included campaign-like content. A huge plus-side though is that all the updates, whether it'd be new characters or new levels or other content, is 100% free of charge. You buy the game, and thats it. No DLC-buy:s needed. It's a great way to keep a community on par with each other and it's a great nod from Blizzard too, acknowledging that they understand the morale of when to charge for something and when not to. Overwatch is a great game to play, it's a joy to come back to again and again, alone or with friends.    … Expand
  27. CanadianYeti
    Jul 17, 2017
    9
    Overwatch is the most fun I’ve had with a shooter since Splatoon came out. It’s true when they say no two matches are alike, because you never know what characters you’ll be up against, what the objective will be, or how your team will play.
  28. Rankhu
    Feb 19, 2018
    1
    I think to Jeffrey Kaplan it would be quite good to present the book about the balanced maps, because what I see never probably on the balanced game. I will separately tell about rating - it is poverty.
  29. BlitZeR_95
    Apr 28, 2018
    8
    This might not be everyone's type of game but it is a really fun fast-paced FPS game. Each character has their advantages and disadvantages making the game quite balanced.
  30. realmarwanmm
    Jan 2, 2019
    7
    Good game that starts very interesting and gets very boring with time due to lack of content and modes added. Judging by my 130 hours on this game which some of you might think it's ridiculous that I'm giving it an average rate but believe me I haven't touched this game in over a year. Also very grindy to get a single skin or just pay more to get better looking and you need to find fiveGood game that starts very interesting and gets very boring with time due to lack of content and modes added. Judging by my 130 hours on this game which some of you might think it's ridiculous that I'm giving it an average rate but believe me I haven't touched this game in over a year. Also very grindy to get a single skin or just pay more to get better looking and you need to find five other players that you know because if you have no team composition you're basically going to lose every game… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PS4 Game of 2016
12
#12 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
17
#17 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Games Master UK
    Jul 25, 2016
    94
    Simply the best multiplayer shooter to come along in years. Pure, joyous fun. [July 2016, p.74]
  2. Edge Magazine
    Jul 24, 2016
    90
    That the game hangs together visually is remarkable; that it should cohere so well in design terms, unfathomable. [Aug 2016, p.104]
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jul 16, 2016
    90
    Blizzard's addictive and tactical team-based shooter is essential - the character-switching mechanic sweetens the genre. Group up with friends to avoid clueless carnage and enjoy the true game. [Aug 2016, p.82]
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