DualShockers Game Of The Year Awards: The Case For Overwatch

While I had several experiences to get me through months at a time throughout the year, Overwatch is the title that I kept coming back to all year long. Even in a year where shooters reigned supreme -- between it, DOOM , Titanfall 2 , Battlefield 1 , Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare , and so many others -- Overwatch surpassed not only my expectations of the experience it would offer as a competitive shooter, but genuinely came as a surprise in becoming my favorite gaming experience of the entire y


Much like Team Fortress 2 -- one of Blizzard's most obvious influences on the title -- Overwatch is a team-oriented game: extra emphasis on that "team-oriented" part. No matter what the skill levels are of players on the team, Blizzard's smart direction and design of Overwatch emphasizes the need for players to work together and collaborate incredibly well, and along the way makes each match feel like a learning experience when it comes down to playing as each of the game's Heroes and mastering their skills and particular ro


The first Titanfall had an unfortunate combination of excellent and terrible ideas, providing innovative mechanics, but limited online combat which utilized AI more than human players. Titanfall inspired the shooters that followed it, influencing Call of Duty into adopting parkour and futuristic mechan


PATCH HIGHLIGHTS: New Hero: Orisa (Tank) Built from the scraps of the city’s decommissioned OR15 defense bots, Orisa is still learning how to optimally perform her function. What she lacks in experience, she makes up for in her steadfast dedication to keeping her city—and her creator, Efi—safe from harm. Orisa is the sixth tank to join the Overwatch lineup, and much like her programming, her gameplay is engineered around protection. Her main weapon is a rapid-fire Fusion Driver , an automatic gun with good range and accuracy even at a distance—though it comes at a cost. Orisa’s movement slows down while she fires and players will need to plan for a lengthy reload time. Her alternate fire, Halt! , launches a graviton charge across the map, slowing nearby enemies as it passes, then pulling them toward it when it detonates. Her Fortify ability boosts her personal defense, reducing damage taken and making her unstoppable for a short time. She can throw a device that creates a curved, stationary Protective Barrier , perfect for intercepting projectiles and shielding teammates from the front, sides, and above. Lastly, as her ultimate ability, Orisa deploys a high-powered Supercharger that beams a buff to allies within its range, increasing the damage they can inflict on the opposing team To learn more about Orisa, click he


If you talk to players who queue up in Competitive Mode, they all agree to hate one thing: Leavers . But when you delve further into that topic, the conversation gets skewed, and people start talking about accountability. There seems to be two main camps, those that want to make it easier to rejoin a match once you've been disconnected, and those that want to increase the penalty for leaving a competitive match. The problem with leavers is that they force the remaining players to continue the match with five players versus six. Even if for a small amount of time, this can have drastic effects on the outcome of the game. So though a minority of players feel like they shouldn't be punished for disconnecting, most other players agree that maybe they shouldn't be playing Competitive Mode in the first place with a shoddy connection. In the end, it's a team game, and can seem rather unfair when a teammate lea


Competitive multiplayer shooters are not only competitive these days in the sense of proving their ability to offer engaging multiplayer experiences, but even more so for proving that they will have lasting communities built around them to last for at least a few months (or hopefully years). Against multiplayer mainstays like Counter-Strike , Dota 2 , League of Legends , the latest editions of Call of Duty or Battlefield , and more, the chances of a lasting community around a new multiplayer title grow slimmer each year: thankfully, Overwatch seems to have proven the opposite in so many ways with a bustling and vibrant community, whether it's been in-game or on the fps game Ranking tips's subred


That philosophy not only extends from the game's design and multiplayer, but also deep into the themes and characters of Overwatch itself. The game's shining optimism and diverse character designs run deep throughout the experience. More than anything, Overwatch brims with character and charm - Blizzard somehow took a talking gorilla, a sassy time-bender, a shotgun-toting reaper ( who has made for a hilarious parody Twitter account ), and so many other weird, wonderful characters and made them all feel a part of this shared universe and established wo


Let's be honest, when Overwatch fans complain, it's with a grain of salt. We've got it pretty good. Blizzard is known for listening to their community and responding quickly to dissatisfaction or unintended consequences, while always keeping their fans informed. Overwatch 's development team is no different. It's like they are themselves an elite global task force recruited with one common goal: to deliver a fun and competitive gaming experie