Hello, and welcome to the fifth instalment of a series that I’m calling That’s Good, That’s Bad, based on a joke in the Simpsons in which Homer buys a cursed Krusty doll from what I now see as a pretty racist stereotype of an asian person. The gag is still good though, good enough for me to form a sort of review process in which I alternate between saying something good about a game, then something bad about it. This time my game of choice is one of Blizzard Entrainment’s most mismanaged IPs ever: Overwatch 2.
The new lick of paint is quite nice…that’s good.
The first bite is with the eyes as they say, and it was a small but pleasant surprise that yes, Overwatch 2 does look a teeny bit better than Overwatch 1, with improvements made to lighting and texture work. I appreciate the more compact and cleaner HUD elements that provide improved clarity in the heat of battle, and added effects such as a large glow around players who are healing help you read the situation quicker. The second less well known bite is with the ears, and the redone effects of the guns simply makes the act of firing feel better, showing just how a little tweak to the audio can go a long way.
This game made me hate radial wheels…that’s bad.
Since I’m one of those degenerates that plays Overwatch on console, I use a controller, and so I find myself up to my eyeballs in radial wheels. Radial wheel for your emotes, radial wheel for your voice lines, radial wheel to inform your team to group up in which they will subsequently ignore. And now we have a radial wheel for the clumsily implemented ping system. I mean holy bananas Blizzard, who in the chaos of battle is going to have the time to hold left on the D-pad and then select the “there was an enemy just here” option, when at any second said enemy could be running up to you with the intent to shoot your face off.
Hooray! Finally some new content…that’s good.
Yes! Cats and dog are finally working together, it’s snowing in Hell and there is new stuff to enjoy in Overwatch! New Heroes such as Junker Queen from the Coalition of Mad Max Fans (i.e. Australia) and Kiriko of the United States of Wall Climbers (i.e. Japan) give returning players something to sink their teeth into. New maps give off a strange – but welcomed – sense of unfamiliarity as you learn their layouts. And lastly there's a new mode called Push, in which two teams fight for ownership of a giant robot who is eternally enslaved to push either a blue wall or a red wall.
Though the new content is very late to the party…that’s bad.
Yet, with all this praise of the new stuff comes the nagging question of “why did it take so long to arrive?” The answer is Blizzard wanted to justify the existence of a sequel (and as such, a new way of monetisation), which did benefit the company, but did not benefit the fans who decided to stick around for the years where Overwatch was bereft of any meaningful changes. To make matters worse the game isn’t even finished, with the co-op story – in which the sequel was wholly advertised on in the very first place – yet to be released.
Supports have seen some love in the health department…that’s good.
As someone who has put the most time into the Support class (because let’s face it, no one wants to play as the healer in Overwatch), I really, really appreciate the new change that all healers automatically recover health after a certain amount of time. It removes the need of having to stay glued to a teammate and sometimes even lets you run the offensive game on people. And what I love the most is that my Zenyatta can now kick your Genji off a cliff, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU GENJI PLAYERS DESERVE FOR CONSTANTLY SPAMMING THE “I NEED HEALING” LINE AS YOU RUSH STRAIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE ENEMY TEAM LIKE A DUMBASS! So yeah, good change.
Prepare to grind for those Heroes folks…that’s bad.
It's all sunshine and rainbows now if you’ve purchased the original Overwatch, since you have access to all three new Heroes right from the get go. But as additional Heroes come in, Blizzard (in between fighting off lawsuits) is going to be asking for some serious commitment in order to unlock them. Overwatch is very counter-pick dependent, so the thought of not of having access to every Hero sounds less than ideal. It’s a bad move, since it sours the idea of getting back into the game when a new Hero drops. Even worse is that brand new players have to play a 100 matches to unlock all of Overwatch 1’s roster, so if you don’t own the original, you are essentially getting the worst experience possible.
Tanks now feel like a, well, like a tank…that’s good.
With the Tank class now flying solo, this opens up the opportunity for them to become even more beefier. As the Tank you are bestowed the power of a leader, the one pushing your comrades towards victory, the unshakeable rock that centres the team. Conversely, when the enemy Tank rolls up on you, there’s this sense that a huge threat is upon up, and with a healer backing them up, they can be a real tough cookie. And you know I’m serious when I use the words “tough cookie” because no one would ever use that phrase lightly.
The queues are long for both Damage and Tank now…that’s bad.
Since now the Tank class is down to singles and everyone wanting to be the funnest class (you know, Damage), unless you want to play as the aforementioned least-popular-class-in-the-game Support, you're looking at a hefty wait time. You can play Open Queue, but of course it’s mostly full of impatient people who don’t want to play Support. Overwatch 2 feels even more geared towards Role Queue than its predecessor, so it is almost a must at this point if you’re looking for the ideal experience – or at least if don’t want to hear people complain about why there isn’t a healer on the team.
Shield-topia is no more…that’s good.
I remember – many a moon ago – playing a match on Temple of Anubis. And what stuck out in particular with this match is how it represented everything I hated about Overwatch 1. Two teams, absolutely bathed in shields, just continuously firing at each other, not moving a damn inch as the time ticked down to zero. Overwatch 2’s shield usage has been dramatically reduced, resulting in firefights that are a lot more dynamic. Chokepoints are no longer the ultimate fun killer they used to be, and the overall faster pace is so, so welcome.
Enjoying this game is like eating a delicious chocolate cake that someone has spat on…that’s bad.
The term unethical consumption comes to mind when playing this game, mainly because Activision Blizzard is getting buried under an avalanche of lawsuits due to some let’s say questionable behaviour. It’s one thing to wonder if the multi-billion dollar company that made the product you’re using is treating its staff like garbage, but it is another to actually know that‘s the case. This unfortunately taints all of the excitement of Overwatch 2 with an undercurrent of guilt.
So is Overwatch 2 good or bad?
In so many ways Overwatch 2 is made for the That’s Good, That‘s Bad format, since every moment of praise can be countered with a moment of disdain. It all comes down to the fact that these changes (while renewing my enjoyment of the game) should have come far sooner. And Activision Blizzard’s contempt for the player (and its staff) isn’t making Overwatch 2 any easier to like.
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