Overwatch Esports Game Review & AnalysisThe World Needs Heroes!

Blizzard Entertainment, the company known for their expansive titles such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm and Diablo have added a new game to their roster, Overwatch. Now, why should you care about the Overwatch uprising? Blizzard Entertainment have an unbridled talent for creating perfection, they don’t have many titles to their name, but each one comes with a unique perspective on the Blizzard team magic that’s woven graphics, gameplay and cinematic style storytelling into each of their games. So, upon the announcement of Overwatch, their new shooter title in May 24th 2016, fans were unsurprisingly excited.

At the time of writing our analysis, one of the recent Overwatch news was that they were just about to hit their one year anniversary and the hype train didn’t seem to be slowing down. To celebrate Overwatch’s origin Blizzard was giving away the usual new emotes, sprays, voice lines and (what players really care about) skins to unlock. The past year has seen new Overwatch Characters hit the scene with a reshuffle on how those new characters affect competitive play.

Learn the Basics of Overwatch

At the time of writing Overwatch has a diverse cast of 30 unique, live heroes to choose from across three main ‘categories’:

  • Damage
  • Tank
  • Support

Each class of hero brings a different dynamic to the game and can complement certain team set ups while also countering specific OW heroes on the opposing team.

While the 3 categories are used to group heroes with similar attributes like Tanks having more health and offensive heroes being more nimble, with more attack and less defense, the categories are more guidelines and each character brings a unique style of play to the game that may benefit one player more than another in how they decide to play the game.

Overwatch Game ModesThere are 15 different maps in overwatch which are split into 4 different Overwatch gameplay modes.

The different games modes of Overwatch offer differences in gameplay, allowing you to hone your skills and test your mettle across the different maps.


Assault

The assault mode is a defence and attack affair, with teams defending or capturing the objectives. Assault contains the standard Overwatch Gameplay of team vs team.


Control

The outcome of Control game modes is dictated by the progress meter of each team. Control involves both teams fighting for various control points on the map, once one team maxes their progress meter they win a point and the next round begins.


Escort

Escort is a particularly fun game mode with a moving payload that one team has to protect and stay within close proximity to in order for it to move to the end destination. The role of the opposing team is to remove players from the payload, freezing it and keeping it away from the goal until the timer is up.


Hybrid

Hybrid maps are a mix-up of Assault and Escort mode. They involve the attacking team conquering control points then in succession, escorting a payload to it’s destination. The mode involves a lot of mixing of team comps and heroes and is overall a fun, challenging experience and a welcome addition to Overwatch’s gameplay.


Leveling & LootLearn more about game experience and loot boxes in Overwatch.

Items can make or break your team, and your hero, so make sure to scout out the areas for these caches. Alongside the items you find, earn more XP to ensure your character levels up.
Progression: what happens when players level up?

You level up in Overwatch by earning experience points (XP) from matches. Quick matches earn more XP than AI matches as the level of difficulty is increased. The amount of XP you earn is affected by whether you win or lose a match (500 bonus XP for a win) or through your person performance in that match.
Currently, there is no cap to what level can be achieved in Overwatch, but you need to be at least level 25 before unlocking competitive play.
Loot Boxes

Why rank up? Well, if not only to show your skill to other players, it’s to have the opportunity to gain cosmetic items from Loot Boxes.

To go ahead and start using your loot, head off to the Hero Gallery from the main game menu and select the character the loot is attached to. If you have an item you want to unlock but can’t yet, there is the option to unlock it with your currency (this can be obtained from Loot Boxes). Overwatch’s origins edition of the game introduced some exclusive skins not obtainable in-game.

Competitive PlayAll you need to know about Blizzard's Overwatch Competitive Esports

Unlocked at level 25, competitive play adds a ranking system into the mix for players to establish themselves in the competitive scene. This begin with 10 matches to decide a players placement, after-which players continue to play competitive matches in order to boost their ranking. The rankings are Bronze (1-1,499), Silver (1,500-1,900), Gold (2,000-2,499), Platinum (2,500-2,900), Diamond (3,000-3,499), Master (3,500-3,900), GrandMaster (4,000+) and Top 500 – among the 500 best players of that region.

Tournaments

Being a relatively new game, the Overwatch leagues haven’t had the opportunity to establish themselves in the esport’s scene as much as games like CS:GO or League of Legends. However, over the year we’ve seen top teams enter the throw in professional competitions including most recent events and tournaments:

  • Overwatch Contenders
  • Overwatch World Cup
  • Overwatch League

The Overwatch World Cup is an event held by Blizzard Entertainment and has a 4 phase qualifying system that goes from:

  • Phase 1 – Announcement
  • Phase 2 – Voting
  • Phase 3 – Group Stage
  • Phase 4 – Playoffs

At the time of writing in 2017 Overwatch World Cup is in Phase 3 of the group stage with the playoffs being held in November.

Which players are looking forward to the Overwatch World Cup? How is playing in Gyeonggi different to playing in Anaheim? Can Russia overcome the dominant South Koreans at the World Cup? These are the kind of burning questions we hope to be able to help you to answer.

Overwatch: Our ConclusionOur best gaming experience in Shooting Games

Fantastically perfected and brilliantly maintained, Overwatch is truly a Blizzard game and lives up to the high standards the company has laid out over a career of spectacular titles. With regular updates and a focus on competitive play, Overwatch looks to set in stone its place in the esports community, becoming a breeding ground for new talent.

It’s cross platform appeal has developed its audience and manifested support from all regions of the globe. With 2016 being the first year of the game’s success, 2017 brings with it their 1 year anniversary, with more heros and skin releases to come in upcoming patch notes, the following years.

Esports News, Patches and Balance Changes

Follow our patch updates and news about Competitive Overwatch. Whenever Overwatch updates occur, we’ll be on hand to let you know exactly how the game has changed. We will analyse how the latest Blizzard releases and patches will impact on gameplay, both for recreational players at home, and for the top professionals.

You can stay up-to-date with how the latest balance changes might affect your favourite characters, and how the world’s best players might use them to shape more winning strategies, or to refine some of their specialist tactics. Every time Blizzard releases a new patch, you will be among the first to see find out just what it means for every Overwatch player.