Overwatch Leads 2016 s Game Awards Winners

Zarya's weapon, the Particle Cannon, has two distinct firing modes that both gain additional attack power based off her use of her two defensive abilities. Her main firing mode is a short-range laser that maintains a straight line of fire and consistent output, which is outstanding for doing a great deal of damage to those who get within range. The bad news about this firing mode is that it's completely ineffective once an enemy gets too far, though Zarya's secondary allows her to fire an energy grenade in a fairly shallow arc. Both of her abilities allow her to create damage absorbing energy shields, which then directly increases the power of her Particle Cannon based on the amount of damage absorbed by said shields. The Particle Barrier allows Zarya to protect herself from oncoming fire, and it lasts significantly longer than her Projected Barrier, which can be placed on a nearby ally. Finally, her ultimate, the Gravitron Surge, pulls all nearby enemies into its aura and does a small amount of continuous damage to everyone trapped inside. The best Zarya players charge right into battle, activate their Particle Barrier and then stay behind one other ally, allowing for the simultaneous use of the Projected Barrier.

Zenyatta's two core abilities are remarkably similar to one another, though they have completely opposite effects. The Orb of Harmony can be thrown onto any ally in the area, and so long as they remain in sight of Zenyatta, they will become the recipients of non-stop healing. However, there can only be one player sporting an Orb of Harmony at any given time, so if you decide to heal another player, this will result in the first orb disappearing. This ability is fantastic for when you need to keep your tank healthy, maintain an ally's health during their ultimate or when a big push is on the horizon. Conversely, the Orb of Discord can be passed onto a single enemy, and while they are in Zenyatta's line of sight, they will receive extra damage from all incoming attacks. If you ever encounter a foe who is wrecking your entire team, or if you simply are looking to take out a tank or pesky sniper, this might just be the best ability for the job. Finally, Zenyatta's ultimate, Haunted Masquerade Transcendence, only lasts for a couple of seconds, but can make the difference between a successful push to victory and a blind bum-rush. For a few seconds, Transcendence makes Zenyatta completely invulnerable and heals all of the enemies in the surrounding area. If you're looking to win an overtime period, this is one of the strongest tools at your disposal, despite the fact that it doesn't do any direct damage.

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 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.


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

When it comes to characters with a high skill-ceiling, Zenyatta resides near the top of the list. A glass cannon with the ability to heal teammates, a good Zenyatta has the opportunity to completely shift a match in his team's favor, which is certainly a strong case for giving him a shot. Let's get his downsides out of the way right off of the bat: everyone's favorite robotic monk sports a mere 150 hitpoints and doesn't have any movement-based abilities or perks, making him an easy target when in the thick of battle. Still, his main weapon, the Orbs of Destruction, do a great deal of damage for a Support hero, as they can either be fired one-by-one with extreme accuracy, or charged up and fired (with the amount of orbs that are fired based upon how long the secondary fire button is held for). If you're the type of player that is really good at aiming your shots, consider giving Zenyatta a shot, as he is an absolute blast when played proficiently.