This review was written before the game released
I was going to wait until I can actually play this game to review it, but fuck it. Activision-Blizzard sucks (obviously), and this launch sucks. They blame their problems on a DDOS attack, and yet the game is still broken.
I put over 1000 hrs into Overwatch, and I really hoped Overwatch 2 would breath some life back into the game for me, but it looks like that's not going to happen. There just isn't whole lot new here. Making it 5v5 is a radical change, but I feel like that just makes the game less interesting as a whole. There is only 3 new heroes (which I can't frickin' play because the game is broken), and a few redesigns which for the most part make characters more generic. Bastion and Orisa are no longer these extremely unique characters due to their reliance in being stationary. No... instead they just do damage slightly differently from the rest of the cast. They also removed almost all crowd control as well, because reddit complained hard enough I guess. Mei was my favorite character when I first started playing Overwatch, because she was so fun and unique. I loved freezing people and putting up walls. Well now a little of that uniqueness has been rubbed out as she can't freeze people anymore without her ultimate. Only nice things I can say is I do like the new characters (even they aren't terribly unique), and the new Push mode is pretty good.
Over the years, it's been clear that the Devs don't really know what to do with Overwatch. Honestly, I don't envy them either. Seems like a difficult job. Before the game came out they actually forced people to play in a group of six friends, and you could really tell. The game wasn't designed to be play with 6 rando's as it requires a lot of teamwork, and ya know.... someone to play tank and support. This lead to loads of toxicity and just plain unfun games where not single soul willing to play tank/support. So they went to the role queue system, but then queue times for DPS were WAY too long. To me this has been the main issue of Overwatch, and something that this game is in some ways trying work through. Were they successful? I think somewhat, but they solved it by removing some of the uniqueness and identity of Overwatch.
Anyways.... this game just makes me sad. I still like Overwatch, and this game is certainly still Overwatch, but it just ain't the same man. I didn't even talk the shitty monetization stuff they are doing in this game! But whatever.... Here's hoping the co-op PVE mode they are making is actually worth a damn.
I put over 1000 hrs into Overwatch, and I really hoped Overwatch 2 would breath some life back into the game for me, but it looks like that's not going to happen. There just isn't whole lot new here. Making it 5v5 is a radical change, but I feel like that just makes the game less interesting as a whole. There is only 3 new heroes (which I can't frickin' play because the game is broken), and a few redesigns which for the most part make characters more generic. Bastion and Orisa are no longer these extremely unique characters due to their reliance in being stationary. No... instead they just do damage slightly differently from the rest of the cast. They also removed almost all crowd control as well, because reddit complained hard enough I guess. Mei was my favorite character when I first started playing Overwatch, because she was so fun and unique. I loved freezing people and putting up walls. Well now a little of that uniqueness has been rubbed out as she can't freeze people anymore without her ultimate. Only nice things I can say is I do like the new characters (even they aren't terribly unique), and the new Push mode is pretty good.
Over the years, it's been clear that the Devs don't really know what to do with Overwatch. Honestly, I don't envy them either. Seems like a difficult job. Before the game came out they actually forced people to play in a group of six friends, and you could really tell. The game wasn't designed to be play with 6 rando's as it requires a lot of teamwork, and ya know.... someone to play tank and support. This lead to loads of toxicity and just plain unfun games where not single soul willing to play tank/support. So they went to the role queue system, but then queue times for DPS were WAY too long. To me this has been the main issue of Overwatch, and something that this game is in some ways trying work through. Were they successful? I think somewhat, but they solved it by removing some of the uniqueness and identity of Overwatch.
Anyways.... this game just makes me sad. I still like Overwatch, and this game is certainly still Overwatch, but it just ain't the same man. I didn't even talk the shitty monetization stuff they are doing in this game! But whatever.... Here's hoping the co-op PVE mode they are making is actually worth a damn.