The scenario and the universe of Overwatch, which some would not hesitate to call "lore", are very developed, and one could spend long paragraphs talking about the futuristic era in which the game, its gorillas that live on the moon, the revolt of the robots equipped with artificial intelligence, the creation of the Overwatch elite unit, its dismantling, its reactivation, and the personal journey of each of his members. But we won't, because Blizzard itself doesn't really bother. If all the information does exist on the Internet, especially in the form of comic books and very successful animated short films, they are almost never mentioned in the game itself. With this universe, there was however enough to develop a solo campaign of hell. We would have even contented ourselves with a simple sequence of independent missions, one per character in order to familiarize ourselves with the handling of each of them. But no, the Californian publisher only provides a simple tutorial, then forces us to dive into the deep multiplayer, possibly against bots if we still want to quietly discover the different specificities of the game. And there is enough to do, since the Overwatch league includes 21 very different characters from each other. They are divided into four main categories (attack, defense, tank and support) but each has its own personality and gameplay. It is clearly in this profusion of heroes, inspired by MOBAs, that the main interest of the game lies. You can thus change the way you play as you wish, including during the game in order to adapt to the opposing team. Some characters thus plunge us into a classic FPS, while others take on more MMORPG characteristics (we think here in particular of healers). Likewise, some are powerful and heavy, while others twirl through the air.
OVER GAME
But almost all are memorable, and we can salute the developers for the diversity and efficiency of their gallery of characters. In bulk and speed, we find among the 21 heroes a robotic ninja who can perform double jumps, a cowboy who rolls, a young woman able to teleport forward and go back in time for a few seconds, a robot which alternates between stationary and mobile configurations, a Joker emulator who launches explosive tires, an archer who releases dragon spirits, a chubby girl who creates walls of ice, a dwarf who deploys turrets and offers armor upgrades to her teammates, a mech pilot who can eject from her titan, a gorilla who leaps at her enemies and deploys protective domes, an angel who flies to her allies and revives them, a DJ who launches sonic projectiles, and a few still others… All these characters therefore have different abilities, provided with a more or less long recharge time, among which is an ultimate ability, which is generally devastating. It is therefore necessary to know how to best combine the different powers, and to use them at the right times and in the right places. In this, Overwatch is much more tactical than a classic FPS. Unsurprisingly, the graphic style takes up the cartoon style dear to Blizzard, even if we also feel the influence of Team Fortress 2. The result is extremely effective, especially since the graphics engine permanently ensures great fluidity. . At six against six, it happens that the multiplication of special effects harms a little the readability of the action, but the whole never turns into disgusting mush.
It is therefore necessary to know how to best combine the different powers, and to use them at the right times and in the right places. In this, Overwatch is much more tactical than a classic FPS.
After a few dozen games, we even end up recognizing the different characters by their silhouette or their shots, or even their position on the map since some are able to reach the heights and others are not. Indeed, the twelve maps are not lacking in verticality, and have been designed to specifically suit a given game mode. Three are thus assigned to Escort mode (Observatory: Gibraltar, Dorado, Route 66), where a team is responsible for accompanying a convoy while the other must prevent it from progressing. Three other maps relate to the Attack mode (Temple of Anubis, Hanamura, Volskaya Factories), where the attackers must take possession of control points protected by the defenders. King's Row, Numbani and Hollywood are dedicated to Hybrid mode, which requires you to release and then accompany a convoy (and therefore start with Attack before moving on to Escort). Finally, Tower of Lijiang, Nepal and Ilios allow you to play in Control mode, divided into three rounds where each team fights to keep control of a control point for as long as possible. The mere mention of the names of the maps should be enough to convince you of the variety of environments offered. Greece, Japan, Africa, United States, Mexico, Egypt, England Russia: you can clearly see the country! On the other hand, you will certainly have noticed that the different modes all revolve around the same concepts. We would have liked to have a little more numerous and original modes, especially since the game is absolutely not free-to-play. We can tend to forget it, because Blizzard has not been shy about introducing micro-transactions in Overwatch. After paying between 40 and 70 euros for the acquisition of the game, you will thus have the honor and the privilege of being able to regularly offload 2, 5, 10, 20 or 40 euros in order to buy loot boxes. Fortunately, such chests can be won by simply passing experience levels, and these are only cosmetic elements (skins, tags, replicas, icons...).
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But the pill is still a bit hard to swallow. Moreover, the artificial blocking of these various cosmetic elements (there are still more than 50 per character, or more than a thousand in all) is clearly there to play on the fiber of acute collection, and thus encourage players to play in a loop and/or to take out their bank card. There is enough to pester, but Blizzard knows how to be forgiven thanks to an impeccable general packaging. The sensations of the game are excellent, the grip is immediate, the mastery of all the characters ensures a long life, cooperation is absolutely vital to win a game, the matches last about 7 minutes and therefore advantageously replace a coffee break, it is possible to continue navigating the menus after starting a game search, the difficulty of controlling each character is indicated by a star system, the game automatically saves the highlights of your game, the endings matches are an opportunity to vote for the best action of the game, we feel the concern for a job well done behind the slightest menu or sound, the slightest icon or animation... In short, we feel good, as always at Blizzard !
