Biggest Video Game News Of The Week

The stealth-assassin hero may not be the first to come to mind when picking for a PvE match, but the changes made to her character in Overwatch 2 have cranked up her abilities with only a minor nerf to her bullet damage. Against the less evasive NPCs in PvE, her SMG can crank up her DPS with a barrage of critical h

The golden age of peace began to quickly erode following the disbandment of Overwatch. Tensions between humans and the surviving Omnics continued to rise, and the terrorist group Talon was growing in strength. Talon operatives attempted to raid an abandoned Watchpoint but were stopped by Winston, a genetically-enhanced gorilla. Winston initiated an agent recall, and started reforming Overwatch with Tracer and

Despite locking certain modes away until new players have earned them, actually selecting what you want to play and jumping into a game is seamless. Much like the title screen, not much here has changed when compared to the first entry. Things are simple and easy to read, while updating character designs have been thrown onto each icon and Performance issues pop with real visual flair. With any luck, PvE will be an option on this menu in just a few short months.

Just because a sequel exists doesn’t mean I don’t want to play the original. When Warcraft 3 came out, I didn’t want Warcraft 2 erased from existence - even if Warcraft 3 had more content. When I play Smash Bros. Ultimate, I don’t wish Nintendo would break every copy of Smash Bros. Melee with their bare hands. Let me repeat that: even when a new game contains all or most of the content of a previous game, that doesn’t mean the previous game should have a bullet put in the back of its head. Especially if there are fundamental differences in the way games play out. Smash. Bros Ultimate may have the content of Melee, but the two feel different.

There’s a few new options - most notably the presence of an in-game shop and battle pass. Loot boxes are gone for good, with premium currency and seasonal progression now used to earn skins and other cosmetics. Time will tell whether this model works, but Blizzard isn’t shy about putting it front and centre. Aside from that everything here is basically the same, and that includes graphical settings and other such options that I forgot to take screenshots of before being locked out of the review build. Trust me on this one.

It’s the same corporate avarice that led us to Stadia , only Google was far more incompetent with how they sold it. Fortunately, Google has more money than there are gods in the heavens; they can (mostly) pay people back for the company’s mistake . But remember Stadia wasn’t a live game that just didn’t take off. It was an entire platform that didn’t take off. A platform that Google promised would stay online for the foreseeable future. And, like Blizzard, Google could also afford the servers.

Investigations found a secret division called Blackwatch was involved in a series of kidnappings, torture, coercion, and assassinations. While the United Nations continued to look deeper into Overwatch’s activity, internal strife was building. Upset that Morrison received the strike-commander promotion over himself, Reyes formed his own faction among the age

Overwatch 2 is a strange game to review. It’s a free-to-play live-service experience that depends on a consistent audience to find games and progress through its battle pass. As you might have already guessed, there were only so many games journalists in the world to populate its servers as we rocketed towards the embargo. Thus I am left in a bit of a pickle.

Overwatch’s biggest strength is how good its characters feel to play. Unfortunately, playing them online can feel unrewarding, specifically because of how toxic its player base is. Fortunately, Overwatch 2 has a unique opportunity to rectify this by offering the same high-octane gunplay without forcing you to hemorrhage SR purely because people on your team are being total dicks. It doesn’t need a complex story, or a million maps, or anything like that. All it truly needs is a basic, solid structure like Mass Effect 3 had, where you can run wild with your favourite heroes and use abilities to your heart’s cont

But, you might be thinking, "Sure, Blizzard may be making it impossible to enjoy the game you bought while forcing you to play a different game - but can’t you still be Mercy in Overwatch 2?" And the answer is, "Yes, but who gives a shit?" Oh, goodness! What a fucking deal! If I paid money for the original Overwatch, I get the courtesy of unlocking all the characters I already paid for ? Talk about a good value! Thank you, Blizzard, sir! Thank you! What is going on here? Why is this cool with us?

Even when (mostly) paying people back for their purchases on Stadia, Google is still showing it barely cares about its users. Not every game will allow saves to transfer. Hell, some games specifically designed for Stadia are now in limbo. Quick reminder - the people on the ground making these games are often creative folks who just want to bring something nice to the world. I’m not criticizing the engineers who made Stadia work or the artists and designers who make Overwatch look and play brilliantly. They deserve praise and probably better pay. Which, again, is funny considering these are all greedy companies sucking in dollar bills.