Overwatch was released earlier this week to critical acclaim and it’s not hard to see why. Blizzard’s newest title is a slick online shooter that manages to be both incredibly deep on the strategic side, but widely accessible for newcomers who don’t have a lot of experience when playing shooters or MOBA-style games. Like most games from Blizzard, it’s also incredibly polished and runs well on both consoles and low-end PC systems.

Despite what my love of recent independent titles like Hyper Light Drifter , Firewatch and The Banner Saga 2 might suggest, I have a strong history with games of a more bombastic persuasion. My most played game of all time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, found a way to capitalize on the combination of my love for multiplayer chaos and my susceptibility to addictive feedback loops. Granted, I would never claim that Modern Warfare 2 is some sort of godlike game, but there was something about its complete lack of balance and downright brilliant map design that tapped into a very specific portion of my mind.

When it comes to characters with a high skill-ceiling, Zenyatta resides near the top of the list. A glass cannon with the ability to heal teammates, a good Zenyatta has the opportunity to completely shift a match in his team's favor, which is certainly a strong case for giving him a shot. Let's get his downsides out of the way right off of the bat: everyone's favorite robotic monk sports a mere 150 hitpoints and doesn't have any movement-based abilities or perks, making him an easy target when in the thick of battle. Still, his main weapon, the Orbs of Destruction, do a great deal of damage for a Support hero, as they can either be fired one-by-one with extreme accuracy, or charged up and fired (with the amount of orbs that are fired based upon how long the secondary fire button is held for). If you're the type of player that is really good at aiming your shots, consider giving Zenyatta a shot, as he is an absolute blast when played proficiently.

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.

Battleborn, for all of the chaos on screen at any given moment, suffers from some notable framerate issues on PC, even on my high-end machine. This is something that has been reported on in mass across the Steam discussion boards, and while it certainly isn't game-breaking, these dips in framerate are extremely noticable after a buttery smooth Shield Projector Overwatch 2 session. Add this to the fact that the weaponry in Battleborn lacks the tactile punch of that in Overwatch, and the former starts to feel like the less polished product. Shooting in Overwatch feels tighter and more responsive than it does in Battleborn, which is kind of a shame considering that you end up firing way more bullets and projectiles in Gearbox's shooter. On top of all of this, Overwatch is the better looking game, with Battleborn sporting noticable aliasing and texture blurriness, even on completely maxed out settings.

It's been 17 years since Blizzard started a new franchise; even the immensely popular Hearthstone is an extension of the Warcraft universe. For a long time, it looked like the next new IP would be "Titan," a superhero MMO in development for seven years at the time it was cancelled. Shortly after Blizzard announced its cancellation, Overwatch appeared, and it's not hard to imaging the latter as an evolution of "Titan." It’s likely the public will never know all the details regarding "Project Titan ." We do know, however, that several maps made their way into Overwatch , and at the very least the character of Tracer survived the cancelled ti

With Overwatch, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch’s main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you’ll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we’ll be publishing guides on each of the twenty-one launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you’ll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.

The support class is also carefully designed for players of all skill levels. While it doesn’t ring true in every situation, there are a few support characters that focus more on aiding the team rather than outright combat, allowing for less skilled players to contribute to the overall success of the team, while more skilled players can pick from certain support characters that demand more strategic use, like Zenyatta.