Today is the last day of beta testing for the video game "Overwatch". If you're a gamer, you've probably seen the ads. It's a first person shooter, like Call of Duty, but this one is set in a different, more colorful world, without the cookie-cutter military characters. The idea is that you're on a six-man team and you have to choose a character from 4 different types: offensive, defensive, support, and tank heroes. Offensive characters are quick with strong close-combat abilities. Defense characters are better at longer ranges. Support characters offer healing, shields, armor, and status effects. Think white mages from the Final Fantasy franchise. The tank heroes are built like, well, tanks. They can absorb lots of damage and deal out the hurt. They're also slow for the most part.
After playing the Beta for the past 2 weeks, I can tell you that the gameplay is phenomenally smooth. Even for a game that's purely multiplayer. That's right. It's nothing but multiplayer, and Blizzard (the company behind it) does its level best to cater to the player. If somebody drops out while you're in the lobby, the game will let you fool around and wander the map until the server finds another player. You can even shoot at your opponents and feel each other out. As you level up, you don't get new abilities, but you do get to customize your favorite characters' colors, style, quips, victory poses, highlight intros and graffiti tags. Yes, you can spray graffiti in this game. You can only tag one spot though. I usually do it in the homebase. Every character has they're own feel and strategy behind using them, from sneaking around to full frontal assaults.
Overall, the game is HIGHLY addictive and I do not recommend getting this game if you have a full schedule of work, school, and family. You will end up eschewing those three things. They encourage a team play dynamic and even incorporate signals you can give to your teammates without having to put in a microphone and deal with all the racism and obnoxious comments. Oh, and as far as diversity goes, they have a Black character, an Indian character, an Egyptian, a Brit, a fat guy, a dwarf, a gunslinger, a ninja, a samurai, several cyborgs, and two robots. Yes, it's that kind of game. You'll love it. It launches May 24th on XBox One, PS4, and PC
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