by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

“At its core, Overwatch is a game about heroes. ” — Jeff Kaplan

In other shooters, where a gun is the most important thing you’re carrying, Overwatch focuses more on the abilities you bring to the game.

NEW MAP: Watchpoint Gibraltar

Style Map: Payload (which is a more “pure” payload map than the mixed control-points/payload maps we saw at BlizzCon.)

Brings something new to Overwatch, introducing the hsitory of the OVerwatch organization. The organization was an international peacekeeping group that was disbanded, and Winston is trying to put the band back together. He’s doing this by launching a satellite to create a communications array. The satellite is the payload you’re escorting through the map, and getting it to the launchpad is the overall objective. Attacker spawn is in Winston’s Lab, with a ton of information that gives context and background for the universe and Winston in particular.

There’s a chokepoint at the bottom of a hill that devs are calling “the carwash” that should be very challenging for the attacking team to get through. Overall, there are two checkpoints and the final payload point.

NEW CHARACTER: Jesse McCree

Kaplan loves him some McCree. He’s defined by his ability to be a deadeye with his revolver. If you’re a talented shooter player, you can snipe with this gun from a long distance, but he should also be dangerous in short- and mid-range. The flashbang combos with his other abilities, while the combat roll’s reload function works with the fan-the-hammer unload to really build into his gameplay. McCree is going to be dangerous in the hands of a player who masters him.

McCree’s Ultimate roots him for a short time, so it definitely telegraphs what he’s doing ahead of time. In other words, if he’s standing still and he’s not far away, do something about him FAST.

According to Chad Wingerd (a.k.a. CM Crithto), the voice of McCree is Matthew Mercer, whom you’ve probably heard of in one of the hundreds of anime or video games he’s doing voice work for. He’s coincidentally the voice for Rexxar in Hearthstone as well.

NEW CHARACTER: Zarya

Aside from her character history, one of the big elements of Zarya’s introduction is to represent Blizzard’s dedication to asnwering the call for diversity in games. Different races, different genders, different body types… they’re hearing the call, everyone.

The particle cannon’s range is short to medium, but that’s where the particle barrier’s resource mechanic comes into play: as it takes damage, you see a ticker showing up on the weapon sight that indicates that the weapon is charging up. In addition, the barrier blocks line of sight, so it’ll not only protect who it’s on, but also anyone behind them.

Also: “Gravity Kills.” Beautiful callback wrapped in her “I just killed an enemy” emote.

BETA IS COMING THIS FALL.

There’s more to come on the angle of revealing the story of Overwatch as a universe. And we’ll keep you informed about it as we hear it.