Is Overwatch an Exception?

Overwatch has taken the internet by storm, with many critics giving Blizzard latest game near perfect scores. Does Overwatch deserve such high acclaim or are the user scores telling the truth?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare redefined competitive multiplayer with its intuitive leveling system. Since then multiplayer titles have attempted to recapture this sense of progression, by offering increasingly better rewards the more you play and for completing specific challenges. This system also allowed players to flaunt their accomplishments to other gamers. While this system has become watered-down through microtransactions the concept still exist, well not in Overwatch.

Here everything is unlocked randomly through Loot Boxes. Nothing in Overwatch is earned by throughout other means, playing as Reaper for an extensive amount of time won’t net you anything special for that hero. Worst of all there is no other means to obtain Loot Boxes other than leveling up or purchasing them using real-world money! The first level requires 1,500 experience, with the experience cap being level 22 where you’ll have to earn 22,000 experience each following level until you reach level 100. Once capped you can prestige to do it all over again.

Let’s do some more math here to calculate how much you’ll have to play. You gain a 250 point bonus for completing a match, 150 for earning a best medal, 200 for consecutive match bonus, and finally 500 for winning. An average game last between 7 and right minutes, which means at a minimum if you play every game you’ll earn around 2,000 points. Remember this is for one Loot Box with 4 random items that may or may not drop duplicate items, which are exchanged for a small amount of in-game currency. Where progression entices players to continue playing and rewards them with specialized items for their style of play Overwatch does the opposite and gives you the chance at a lottery ticket. Most of the loot here are tawdry items such as sprays, voices, and emotes. 

Now the common counter-argument to this is the gameplay. Overwatch sports a colorful cast of 24 heroes, each with distinct styles of combat. Teamwork is necessary and without it failure is guaranteed, which makes me wonder why an option for solo players isn’t available?

Modes in Overwatch are limited just three; capture the objective, hold the point, and escort the payload. Each one of these requires cooperative to succeed however players without a team can easily become overwhelmed by an organized team. Overwatch is a multiplayer only game, but should those who choose to play by themselves? Not only that but why wasn’t more modes added or the option to play a specific mode? For all the complaints surrounding Street Fighter V, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Evolve lack of content it would be obvious that Overwatch would share in the criticism, guess not.

Despite the lack of content and illusion of progression Overwatch shines above other games that shared similar issues. Perhaps it’s the gameplay or the cast of heroes that mask its lackluster offering, or maybe it’s because many of us have been waiting for Team Fortress 3 and this is the closet we’re going to get to it. Regardless it’s clear that Overwatch has become the exception for many criticisms in the past.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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