The talk of the blogger town has definitely been abuzz with impressions, thoughts, and snap judgments of Overwatch as it heads to release. Is Blizzard’s shooter merely shallow eye-candy or is it polished perfection? And does it even matter what we think, considering that the studio will sell a billion copies anyway?
Bloggers are divided on the subject after getting some hands-on time with the game. “If you’re looking for quick bursts of kinda frustrating, often amusing FPS action, Overwatch is pretty damn good,” In An Age said. Imperial Intelligence remarked of a recent video that, “[This] is a microcosm of the Overwatch experience: flashy, well-made, and ultimately devoid of any substance.”
Engame Viable has a suggestion: “The game became 100% better as soon as I turned off the character voices.” Healing the Masses was impressed: “Somehow they’ve made it feel far more approachable than the standard shooter.” And MMO Gypsy said that she had fun in it and “would recommend it to anyone who’s just a wee bit interested in team-based PvP and FPS which offer more variety than traditional offensive/defensive roles.”
Inventory Full: Pure Orc magic in EverQuest II
“There are people who follow the overarching plot, which has been looping and unfurling in some manner or another for the entire life of the game, but I’m content just knowing that there’s something bad happening and if I just kill these ten orcs and click on these four monoliths then I’m Doing My Bit.”
Spawn of the Dread Master: Thoughts on [SWTOR] 4.4
“From a personality standpoint alone, this chapter is one of the most entertaining yet released. The chapter’s two guests (we all know who they are; Gault and Vette) are both incredibly entertaining and have plenty of in-character moments which shine through what seems to be a mildly uninteresting chapter on the surface, including nice little touches of character history with Gault which Hunters will definitely appreciate.”
Waiting for Rez: My first two days in Age of Wushu
“I get that this is a sandbox game, but it seemed pretty clear to me that the game either did a terrible job indicating it was time for me to leave the nest or (far more likely) just didn’t complete the tutorial experience and left me at a loss as to where I could pick it back up. I ran all over the school grounds, clicked on nearly every NPC, and even explored the surrounding area where I had a right good time punching things in the face until even tougher things spawned that I would also punch in the face but even more. Faces were punched all around, and I enjoyed it, but I still had no clue what I was doing.”
Psychochild: Designing away the economy
“Here’s a radical idea: what if a game didn’t have an economy? What if the design didn’t have currency that people use to buy and sell items from NPCs and from each other? Intrigued? Then, let me share my thoughts for such a design.”
Superior Realities: Defiance revisited
“The story was great. Defiance’s storytelling is totally unsung, but it’s really among the best in the MMO world. Not The Secret World quality, but still quite strong. The characters are fun and colourful, and there’s no shortage of intrigue, mystery, and excitement.”
Tyrannodorkus: How you can use gaming to explore your love for writing
“So to really sum all this up, writing about games really helped me deal with my social awkwardness and disabling shyness. Sure, it took me years and a strong push, but it was the catalyst to help me open up social opportunities that I’ve didn’t think I wanted.”
Ravalation: How gaming made me more confident
“When I was new to MMOs, I was terrified of joining people on voice chat. I started playing Lord of the Rings Online all by myself and didn’t know anyone else who played. At first I didn’t even know people used third party software to speak to each other.”
Beyond Tannhauser Gate: This quest takes forever
“Today I ran into something that I haven’t in quite a while. I was playing Wildstar and got into a questline that took too much time. Not too much time actually, but more time then I had to spend when I started it. How can a game prevent a scenario like this?”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
