It s Okay To Not Like Overwatch

While this tweet has become the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to criticizing Battleborn, it's completely emblematic of a game that doesn't always feel like it knows what it is. Whereas Overwatch maintains its laser-focus on providing the best multiplayer arena shooter experience possible, Battleborn often feels like it wants to be everything at once. While this provides a great deal of content for players to dive into, it also makes it feel like there's far too much present for any given mode to succeed. The campaign, which is widely considered to be the weakest portion of the entire package, is loaded with fairly mundane combat encounters and a story that feels a bit too bare-boned for its own good. Combine this with a standard point-capture mode, a straight up MOBA playlist and a MOBA-like twist mode, and Battleborn begins to lack the focus that Overwatch is priding itself on. Granted, if Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode wasn't so damn replayable, one could argue that it's lacking in content, but the sheer dynamism of its combat more than makes up for this.

Much has been made of the rivalry between Blizzard and Gearbox Software, with the former seemingly attempting to hinder the success of the latter at every turn. Overwatch's Open Beta's Early Access period launched at the same time as the full release of Battleborn , making this the second time that version of the two titles have gone head to head with playable builds. There are a ton of similarities between the two titles, as both have over twenty playable heroes that each have a distinct personality and set of skills, but Overwatch and Battleborn are less similar than one might initially imagine. Whereas Battleborn is essentially a MOBA with a campaign (despite Gearbox's complete avoidance of that four letter acronym over the years), Overwatch is an arena shooter in the vein of Team Fortress 2.

In the end, though, I'm just jealous of the people who enjoy Overwatch. They seem to be having a great time. I like fun, and I want to have it, too. So, for people who are enjoying Overwatch, don't stop. It's great when people can come together over a game and have a great time. For those of you who don't like it, rest assured that you are not alone. I'm with you, though I'm holding out hope that the game will get balanced and finished.

In truth, when a twenty-one character game is broken down to working to counteracting the powers of one character, that character is busted. Again, it is possible to take him down. This is understood. However, it requires more than a little luck or working with the sole purpose of gaining a few seconds of respite before the character respawns. Anyone who doubts that this character is broken only needs to witness the play of the game at the end of each match. If Bastion is on the field, it's him. The replay is typically the winning player mowing down a couple of hapless enemies in less than a second for having the audacity to wander near the capture point.

Genji's first ability, Swift Strike, allows him to dash in whichever the direction the reticle is facing, doing damage to anyone caught in his path. This particular ability has a unique hidden modifier, as its cooldown is instantly reset whenever Genji eliminates another player, thus allowing for a series of potentially devastating killstreaks. His second ability, Deflect, is the single best method for taking out Bastion (for those of you who think that everyone's favorite robot is completely over-powered and unstoppable). By pressing the appropriate command prompt, all incoming fire is immediately deflected in the direction in which Genji is facing, which allows you to do as much damage to enemies as they hope to do to you. Genji's ultimate, Dragonblade, is also insanely powerful when used correctly. In a nutshell, Dragonblade allows him to whip out his sword and do massive damage to enemies at close range over a duration of ten seconds. The main thing to keep in mind here is that enemies can still kill you when you're running up on them, so simply bum-rushing into chaos with your ultimate activated is a complete waste.


Yesterday evening (December 1st, at the time of writing this) was the night of the annual Game Awards show, a lavish live-streamed spectacle where the best and brightest of the video games industry gathered in Los Angeles - in order to receive awards voted on by industry peers and journalists, celebrating the year in gaming. It was a good night for big-name hits like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End , the reboot of DOOM and Blizzard's mega-selling team shooter **Overwatch ** , as well as respected independent titles like That Dragon Cancer - and it was a chance for those in attendance to show off all-new trailers for upcoming tit

Ignoring a required Day One patch that's larger than the actual game, it seems best to acknowledge a major flaw right at the outset: Bastion. Yes, there are many ways to counteract this character. The most obvious being attacking from the rear. However, one cannot attack from the rear when the enemy converts into a turret, his back to a wall. In turret form, this thing can chew through a shield and tank in seconds, and take down most players before anything can be done. Should the opposing team be controlling every avenue of ingress with multiple Bastions, the situation devolves into hopelessness.