Overwatch 2

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 10 Team Competitive (Online)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND SEASON PASS CONTENT

Okay, so I’ll start by saying that this is going to be a strange review, because it is a strange release – Overwatch 2 is in many ways just an updated version of the first Overwatch game.

To be clear, I don’t mean that in the same way as “this year’s Call of Duty is just like last year’s Call of Duty” or “Splatoon 3 is a lot like Splatoon 2”, Overwatch 2 is literally taking the place of Overwatch – anyone who owns Overwatch will find their game automatically updated to become Overwatch 2, and those looking to play the original Overwatch no longer have that option. What’s more, Overwatch 2 contains an expanded version of the same roster of characters, along with many of the same maps, and more or less the same core gameplay, albeit with numerous updates that tweak the game in various ways. As such, many players see Overwatch 2 more like “Overwatch 1.5” than an actual full-fledged sequel.

I am one of these people – while I can definitely see some changes throughout the game (including a complete reworking of my favorite character!), for the most part this just seems to me like a glorified update to Overwatch rather than an entirely new thing. However, I also know my limitations – While respect Overwatch and see why many love it, I’m only a very casual player at best and if I’m perfectly honest, Overwatch never really “grabbed” me like it did some others. However, I happen to be fortunate because my “casual” observations of Overwatch can be paired with the more veteran observations of Jenn, who plays the game more competitively.

Because of the similarities to Overwatch, I will be copying over some parts of my review of that game, while also noting areas where I see a significant difference. However, I will also be giving Jenn a space to put in her two cents here as well. Hopefully, between the two of us, you’ll get a more well-rounded picture of what to expect from this game.

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”Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?”

Overwatch 2 was released in 2022 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Like its predecessor, it is a team-based online-focused First-Person Shooter with a focus on its colorful cast of unique characters. This time around, the team size has been reduced to five players per team, with the role of tank getting chopped down to only one per team.

However, that’s not the biggest change here – in this update/sequel, Overwatch 2 has gone free-to-play. Players who own the original game will find their game updated to Overwatch 2 as noted above, with any earned and unlocked skins transferring over. Players wanting a bit more can also opt to get the $40 Watchpoint Pack, which includes a slew of character skins, a player icon, some in-game currency, and the Season One Battle Pass, which in turn unlocks access to new character Kiriko.

I’m a little torn on this. On the one hand, I think it’s great that going free-to-play means that more players will have access to the game. On the other hand, it seems like those who bought into the game before it became free-to-play aren’t getting much in exchange for their contributions here. I’m also not thrilled with characters being locked behind a paywall, though this latter complaint isn’t really a fair criticism since similar free-to-play games like Paladins do much the same thing. On the whole, I think going free-to-play is a positive change for the game, in spite of my nitpicks.

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“Ooooh, shiny!”

Much as with the original Overwatch, Overwatch 2’s presentation is either really great, or disappointing, depending on which direction you’re coming from. I don’t have numbers for the resolution, but this seems to my untrained eye to be about on par with the original game’s dynamic 900p in docked mode and dynamic 720p in handheld mode, and this game once again features a locked 30FPS framerate.

Those used to playing the game on other platforms will likely see this as a huge downgrade, but overall I still think this is a gorgeous game on Nintendo Switch despite it being scaled down from other platforms – the character design is impeccable, the overall art style is highly appealing, the character animation is outstanding, and overall this is just a great-looking game.

Once again, the world of Overwatch is just absolutely bursting with personality out of every corner, with each of the game’s characters delightfully unique and well-realized in everything from their look to their voice acting, with the game’s heroic instrumental soundtrack fitting in with the game’s superhero theme quite well.

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”No hacks required.”

Of course, when talking about performance on Nintendo Switch, the other area one needs to address is how well the online play works. With the game having only just been released, there are still long wait times to be let into a lobby to play, though one can hope that this issue will be smoothed out as Activision Blizzard gets used to the new level of traffic the game is getting. Otherwise, the connection seemed quite good as far as I could tell.

In fact, on a related note, I was pleased to discover that the game now includes cross-progression and cross-play – your Nintendo Switch profile will sync to your Blizzard.net account, allowing you to go back and forth between this version of the game and other versions while keeping all your progress, and even play with and against players on PC (if you dare), or you can opt to shut this feature off if you’d rather avoid playing against players who have a better setup than you. Jenn and I were able to play together without any issue, her on PC, and me on my Nintendo Switch.

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”You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

As for the gameplay itself, again, this is an outright fantastic First-Person Shooter, thanks largely due to a wide range of characters that can play wildly differently, and are all pretty memorable and expressive. There’s also a lot of variety in match types and maps, and the game even tries to pair players based on the role they prefer to play, ensuring that teams are usually pretty well-rounded in addition to being evenly-matched (though there were definitely a few one-sided matches here and there).

Oh, and because people will ask, this game does use gyroscopic motion controls, though I’m of mixed opinion on whether it helped or hindered my gameplay here. At times it feels less responsive than I’d like, though perhaps I just need to fiddle with the settings, I dunno.

Aside from the change in team size and re-worked characters, though… well, this seems a lot like the original Overwatch. Which is great if you loved that game, but if you didn’t, Overwatch 2 isn’t likely to change your mind. I should note that at some point this game will supposedly be getting some additional Team Co-Op content (i.e. “PvE”), but I’m not reviewing this game based on its potential, I am reviewing it based on what it is right now.

However, this is the part where I step aside and let my more experienced counterpart share her two cents…

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Need a second opinion?

Hello everyone! Jenn here to provide you with my commentary on Overwatch 2. However, I primarily play this game on my PC, so what I say may not apply to the Switch.

Overall, Overwatch 2 does play fairly well, but it uses so much from the original game. In a lot of ways, it doesn’t look or play very differently. But hey, at least it works. Yes, we only have one tank for your party during a match, yet the new composition seems to be holding up so far. Blizzard has also gotten rid of the shield narrative, as it proved to be unfun and difficult to deal with. Orisa in particular has been majorly reworked, so there isn’t a heavy reliance on her shield.

I feel like several characters need to be reworked, whether it is because they are too powerful or underpowered. This is a balancing act that Blizzard always has to do, so I am not too concerned.

I would be up in arms if this game required customers to pay for it. There isn’t an evolution to the base game, but at least it plays well and there are new characters. I wish the PvE aspect had come out with the release, but Blizzard says that will come out Soon^TM.

Until then, if you are curious about Overwatch 2, it is a solid game.

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”Only in unity will we find strength.”

In the end, I think I can say that both Jenn and I think Overwatch 2 is a superb game, and it’s overall better for going free-to-play. There are also a lot of minor improvements throughout… but if we’re being honest, this really is just Overwatch 1.5. Perhaps later updates will change this and I’ll find myself re-reviewing this game all over again, but for now, it feels like a glorified publicity move to get people to try Overwatch again. For this reason, I have to give it a bit of a knock in its score. However, make no mistake – if you’re looking for a free-to-play online First-Person Shooter on Nintendo Switch, consider this one a must-play.

tl;dr – Overwatch 2 is an online-focused team-based First-Person Shooter that makes some small changes to the original game and brings it into the realm of free-to-play, but otherwise, this feels like a glorified update to the original game rather than a new game in its own right. And it’s hard to complain about that – Overwatch is great, and being free means that more players can play it now. However, it feels somewhat dishonest to label this as a sequel when in so many ways it feels like an update to the first game rather than something separate and new.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2022 Game Awards:

Winner:

Laziest Copycat – It takes some guts to basically re-release the same game with a “2” on the end and call it a sequel. It takes even more guts to do that while also taking the previous game off of storefronts. And then it goes a step beyond that by having those who bought the prior game automatically having their old game erased and replaced with the “new” one. That means that if you don’t like what few changes were made to this game, you can’t just go back and play the “first” game, you have to play the “second” one. You know, like this was just an update to the first game. You know, because that’s what this was.

Runner-Up: Best New Free-To-Play Game, Worst Microtransactions

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