Overwatch

MOBA or shooter?

Overwatch is positioned as a first—person shooter, but the gameplay contains numerous elements of the MOBA genre - an emphasis on teamwork, characters with different skills and abilities, and special game modes. Overwatch has taken a lot from classic representatives of the genre, such as Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike. But it also shows the influence of League of Legends, Dota 2 and Heroes of the Storm developed by Blizzard itself. It's up to the players to decide whether it's good or bad. But let's not forget that every Blizzard game is a hit.

Gameplay

Overwatch is designed exclusively for online team play. The trailer shown during the announcement and the recent short film "Life and Death" reveal the game world and tell the story of Black Widow, Tracer, Reaper and some other characters. However, it should be understood that the main role in the game is not given to the plot, but to the battles.

The matches involve 2 teams of 6 players each. The game has more than a dozen maps and 3 modes:

• Escort. In this mode, one team delivers cargo to its destination, while the other team's goal is to prevent it from being done in a certain amount of time.
• Capture points. Here, players are fighting for control of the map. The attacking team tries to capture the points, and the defenders hold them until time runs out.
• Object control. Battles in this mode go up to two wins. Players need to capture a zone on the map. After one of the teams wins, the next round begins, and another part of the map becomes a new zone.
• When Overwatch exits, the player gets 21 heroes at their disposal. Characters vary in appearance and abilities. In this review, we will not focus on the individual skills of the characters, because a lot can change by the time the game is released.  However, each of them performs one of the classic roles: assault, defense, tank or support.  

Conclusion

At the time of the beta test, the game has some rough edges. Some characters are stronger than others, and in general, the game balance requires a little polishing. Also note that despite the variety of maps and modes, Overwatch does not offer players anything revolutionary. But the game is being developed by Blizzard, so we will receive strong support, constant work on balance and content updates.  

The game's release date is May 24, 2016, and pre—orders can be placed on the official website.