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Blog entry by Carri Coats

Overwatch Leads 2016's Game Awards Winners

Overwatch Leads 2016's Game Awards Winners

class=Still, defeating Bastion is actually pretty simple. When he's in his Sentry Configuration, he actually gets a second critical hit zone on his back, so any character that can sneak behind him is going to be able to make short work of him. Needless to say, Tracer and Reaper, with their Blink and Shadow Step abilities, respectively, are awesome against Bastion. In addition, characters like Junkrat and Pharah are really awesome at causing massive amounts of explosive damage to Sentry Bastion. Finally, if you have a coordinated team, you can certainly use Reinhardt's massive shield to absorb Bastion's gunfire while other teammates unleash chaos on him from safety.

Blizzard has perfected the RTS and now they’ve laid a fantastic foundation for the FPS. Though simple on the surface, Overwatch manages to create depth thanks to its 21 character roster and 12 intricately designed maps, consistently rewarding players that master their characters, learn the maps and work as a team. Putting a competent team together and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is one of the most satisfying experiences a multiplayer game has offered in years. It could use a campaign, a few more game modes and refinement of its RNG system, but none of that distracts from the fact that Overwatch is an superb effort that will entertain players for an ungodly amount of time.

McCree's main ability, Combat Roll, is exactly what it sounds like: a forward tumble in whichever direction he's facing. Aside from the fact that this can get McCree out of the way of a great deal of enemy fire, it also automatically reloads the Peacekeeper, which allows for a particularly devastating secondary fire-Combat Roll-secondary fire combo. His other ability, Flashbang, is a throwable stun grenade that locks foes in place. Not only is this wonderful at stopping quick characters like Tracer in their tracks, but they also make for particularly easy kills with McCree's clip-emptying secondary fire. Finally, McCree's ultimate, Deadeye, allows him to slowly lock onto the heads of enemies in the area, guaranteeing a kill during a full lock-on (basically, it's a straight up mark-and-execute maneuver). This is best utilized from behind a skirmish when there are multiple enemies on the screen. It's worth noting that McCree is one of the hardest characters to use effectively, so don't be alarmed if it takes you a bit of practice before you become a cowboy master.

It isn’t just the characters that feel unique, it’s also the maps. Overwatch ships with twelve maps, three dedicated to each of the four game modes. All twelve maps are based on real-world locations and match their settings wonderfully. Route 66 is as much a desert as the real world locale, Hanamura is a beautiful Japanese castle, and the Temple of Anubis takes players to the Giza Plateau and its mighty pyramids. These are not only aesthetically pleasing maps, but also very well designed maps.

My single biggest complaint when it comes to Battleborn is how annoying all of its characters are to me. Now, this is about as subjective as it gets, and I've had discussions with players that find every inch of its universe charming as can be. To me, it often feels like Gearbox is trying way too hard to be funny, which results in Battleborn's characters all seeming like that annoying guy at your office who thinks he's a stand-up comedian. The fact that the While Overwatch doesn't have a core campaign, there is definitely a fair amount of lore to be discovered by sheer observation, and every character manages to nail that ever so important balance between charm and obnoxiousness. It says something that there is a dedicated way to turn off Battleborn's dialogue; after all, in a game whose dialogue is exceptionally well done, shouldn't including this option not be a possibility?

Overwatch's Tracer is a perfect example of why Blizzard has created a game with a more appetizing personality than Gearbox. With a press of the E key, Tracer has the ability to warp back to a previous position, restoring the health and ammo she had at that point. Around half of the time one utilizes Tracer's Recall skill, she'll use her adorable English twang to drop the line, "Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?" Now, this is the type of quip that could be obnoxious if delivered imperfectly or too frequently, but it actually winds up being wonderfully charming every time. Combine this with her shrills of joy whenever she uses her Blink skill to warp around the map, and it's clear why Blizzard has made Overwatch 2 Hero Abilities's first hero the face of the franchise. With Battleborn, each character feels like the cheesiest character in a Borderlands game, and they never seem to be quiet. Add this to the fact that curse words are bleeped out, despite the fact that they're used frequently, and it often feels like Gearbox missed the mark on Battleborn's personality, which is a shame considering that its visual style is so striking and engaging.

It seems as though everyone is picking sides in this debate, and after playing extensive amounts of both titles on PC over the course of the week, I can safely say that I'm more fond of Blizzard's newest title. Granted, Battleborn has started to grow on me, which is impressive considering I have traditionally held the most negative opinion towards it on our staff, but there are three important reasons why Overwatch is emerging as the superior product for those looking to dive into a hero shooter this Spring.

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