Over the past four days I’ve put a good chunk of time into the Overwatch open beta. I protected my fair share of teammates with Reinhardt’s shield, I resurrected plenty of fallen comrades as Mercy, and naturally I racked up dozens of cheap kills while in Bastion’s turret mode. In short, I will certainly be buying Overwatch when it officially launches on May 24th.

But until then, for two solid weeks I’m left with a mind still swirling from my whirlwind experience in the open beta. A mind eager to jump right back into the chaos of Overwatch team fights, ready to land some more satisfying Hanzo headshots, and ready to laugh at my friends for how many auto attacks they missed during their Play of the Game moments.

With that said, I thought I would take a moment to highlight some of the things I really liked about Overwatch, and some of the issues I had with the game that I hope Blizzard addresses soon, preferably before the game launches.

What I liked:

The Characters and The Story

Overwatch features a varied selection of characters that not only are representative of multiple nationalities, but also actually feel unique in their own regards.

The banter that characters chatter back and forth before the matches begin (they say different things depending on who else is on their team) alludes to a rich past that the current game only hints at. There have been a few animated shorts (Winston’s and Widowmaker’s are currently the two available) that scratch the surface of Overwatch’s backstory, but there is still so, so much we don’t know. Just watch Winston’s short and notice how many former Overwatch members he scrolls through that are not part of the game yet.

I can’t wait to learn more. I’m a huge nerd for when it comes to narrative in video games. The game that Overwatch gets compared to most is Team Fortress 2. The way Valve handled storytelling in TF2 was in a very inorganic way. They started with a game, and then built a story around it as the game grew in popularity.

With Overwatch, Blizzard did the inverse: they built a universe for their characters to live in, and built the game to fit into that world. If there’s one thing Blizzard is good at, it’s immersing gameplay into narrative, just look at how World of Warcraft evolves year after year.

How Varied the Experience Is

Character to character, playing Overwatch is like playing a different game. Blizzard did a fantastic job at making each character feel unique, and most importantly, useful in their own ways.

For example, Widowmaker is a popular character because she is Overwatch’s sniper. People always love to be the sniper since it allows them to camp and get kills without having to worry too much about dying a lot in the process. Lots of players typically hold a grudge against other players who play as a sniper all the time, but Overwatch gave Widowmaker the ability to reveal the location of all enemy players to her teammates for a limited time. Now it’s a good thing for everyone when the sniper does well, as it makes the rest of the team’s job much easier.

Genji, on the other hand is a katana-wielding cyborg(?) who excels at close-range attacks. While he can pelt enemies from a far with a flurry of ninja stars, his main strength is his dizzying agility and his ability to quickly and quietly eliminate targets.

Playing as Widowmaker you’ll want to be looking at the big picture, while playing as Genji your focus will be more on individual targets, as you’ll primarily be concerned dispatching enemy players one at a time as you cross paths with them. Both very different characters, both very different playstyles. Both are incredibly fun to play.

Those are just two examples. There are 21 playable characters in total.

What I Didn’t Like:

Map Layouts/Bast(ard)ions

All of the maps in Overwatch are beautifully designed, from an artistic standpoint. From a gameplay standpoint, the maps could use a bit more tweaking.

Take for example the Hollywood map that takes place on the backlot of the fictitious (and Warcraft reference-y) Goldshire Studios. This map begins with one team assaulting a position and then needing to escort the objective to a specified location, while the other team spends the entire game defending.

This map features choke-points and open spaces, allowing characters of all types to excel at various portions of the level. The key to victory in Overwatch is knowing when to adapt and change your team composition. But, with how some maps are arranged, it is very, very difficult to break through a solid defense.

There is a reason why all the memes about Bastion being Player of the Game, exist. He could just setup in front of a choke-point, behind a Reinhardt shield, while Mercy is boosting his power, and slaughter the entire team, on his own. Where some maps offer many ways to get to an objective, some maps (like the Hollywood one) offer very few ways to get through.

I understand that Bastion is a defensive character, but if they’re sticking with giving players only two ways to get into an area (two ways that are easily covered from one location), Bastion’s power needs to be addressed. He is simply too strong in these situations.

Play of the Game Algorithm

This issue doesn’t affect gameplay in the slightest, but I would really like to see the Play of the Game algorithm better optimized for actually selecting some top-tier plays.

It seems like it just picks whoever had the best kill chain, back-to-back. Triple-kills, for example, are the most common sight. But, a triple play can consist of a wide variety of plays, some exponentially more impressive than others.

A well placed Hanzo ultimate can clear out an objective, killing 4 enemies in one swoop, but a few minutes prior to that he just snagged 3 headshots on long-range enemies, that was far more impressive to behold. I’m speaking from experience on this. There were times when I’d get so excited about nailing a few headshots back to back, and then my play of the game would be the time I got five kills because I shot my ult through a chokepoint. Hardly skillful, or exciting.

Maybe the algorithm that Overwatch uses should negate sweeping, area-of-effect ultimates like Hanzo’s ultimate.

What I’d really like to see is the algorithm focus on key events, rather than just who killed the most people the fastest at what point in the game. For example, maybe if a Reindhardt pushes a D.VA ultimate away from his teammates, the game tags that as Play of the Game material, or if a Mercy revives more than half of her team on the objective in overtime with less than a quarter of her health remaining.

My point is, there are so many variables that Play of the Games could focus on, instead of just a Bastion pissing out lead through a chokepoint, or a Hanzo blasting double dragons through a wall.

Full disclosure, I’m incredibly guilty of doing both of those things.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I really, really liked Overwatch. The open beta convinced me that it’s worth the $40 price tag, and I’d particularly reccomend it if you and your friends enjoy FPS, because Overwatch is three-times more fun with a small group of friends who work together.