Overwatch: Legendary Edition

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 12 Team Competitive (Online)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES

(Note: This game is no longer available to play. Any previously-obtained versions of the game will automatically be updated to Overwatch 2.)

Overwatch is a team-based online-focused First-Person Shooter with a focus on its colorful cast of unique characters and unless you’ve been living under a rock since 2016, you’ve probably heard of it. Since the game’s release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, it has been highly-acclaimed and super-popular, so for many, the question isn’t so much whether this is a good game (it is), but rather, whether it’s a good port. More specifically, there are two questions most people will have about this game: how is the game’s performance, and how is the online play?

Well, I’ll save you a bit of time and answer them both right off the bat: when it comes to graphics and online play, the Nintendo Switch version of Overwatch is probably about as good as players could hope for.

In the realm of graphics, this version makes a lot of measured cuts to what was in the other versions of the game. The resolution has been cut down to a dynamic 900p in docked mode (a dynamic 720p in handheld mode), with a mostly-stable 30FPS framerate. Also, the textures in many places are noticeably worse, background details in some areas have been removed, some of the subtle visual effects have been cut back.

That’s a lot of cuts that will be painful to players used to other versions of the game, and the hits to resolution and framerate in particular will really sting. On the other hand, if you’re not already accustomed to other versions of the game… honestly, the Switch version of Overwatch still looks really good. While I did notice the framerate stuttering during some really intense moments, for the most part everything runs extraordinarily smoothly and the clean look of the game means the lower resolution still looks very crisp. It also helps that the design aesthetic itself, with its Pixar-esque characters and colorful, slightly-cartoony world all work very well to deliver an overall great presentation despite these cutbacks. Plus, the game’s good use of lighting and excellent animation continues to make this game look extremely polished even in this reduced state.

In other words, for the most part, if you haven’t played other versions of Overwatch, the Switch version will look fantastic to you. If you have, you’ll probably have to take some getting used to the drop in graphical quality.

In terms of the online play, I found my connection to mostly be very good, though there were a few brief moments where I dealt with bothersome lag, though they were far and few between. And the game does support the use of a headset natively for those players looking to make use of one.

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.

Also, if you’re worried about the microtransaction warning at the top of the page, just know that it’s cosmetic stuff only. But I try to make sure people are warned about this stuff just in case, ya’ know?

There is one other issue with this game that I should note, specifically for those who buy the physical release of the game – that physical release does not include a cartridge, just a download code for the game. So no matter which version of the game you get, you’ll still be using up nearly 13GB of space on your MicroSDXC card or your Nintendo Switch’s internal memory.

One more thing before wrapping up. As I mentioned in my Diablo III review, there are a lot of people, myself included, who are still pretty frustrated with the Blizzard half of Activision Blizzard over their handling of the Hearthstone Blitzchung controversy. If you’re not aware of what happened, do yourself a favor and look it up in Google. However, I’m not going to let it affect this review – whether or not Blizzard’s behavior in that incident causes you to refrain from buying their games is your decision, not mine.

Okay, so after all of that, is Overwatch good on the Switch? Absolutely. It stands as one of the best First-Person Shooter experiences you can have on the console, and perhaps the best online experience you’re likely to have with a First-Person Shooter on the Switch. Having said that, the Switch version clearly had to make some heavy compromises to get the game to work on Nintendo’s handheld. If you don’t have another platform you can play this game on, you probably won’t even notice those sacrifices – in and of itself, this game is fantastic. However, if you’re used to playing this game on another platform, this will definitely seem like a step down. If you can get this game on another platform, definitely do that, it’s amazing. However, if the Switch is your primary gaming platform, Overwatch is still an excellent game to have on it.

tl;dr – Overwatch is an online-focused team-based First-Person Shooter with a heavy emphasis on its wide cast of memorable and unique characters with different abilities. This is a good port of a fantastic game, but it sacrifices a lot to make the game work on the Switch. If you can play this game on another platform, that is clearly going to be the better option. Otherwise, the Switch version is excellent, and one of the best First-Person Shooters on the platform.

Grade: A-

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