‘Overwatch 2’ Has Review Scores, Somehow

Games ‘Overwatch 2’ Has Review Scores, Somehow Paul Tassi Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Oct 5, 2022, 11:03am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Overwatch 2 Blizzard The launch of Overwatch 2 has been exceedingly rocky, with many players struggling to get in on launch day because of an alleged DDoS attack , in addition to a lot of people just wanting to get in at baseline. But the game itself is just…a very weird situation. It has a “2,” which means at least Activision Blizzard is treating it as a new game, but it’s simply erasing Overwatch 1 and replacing it with some rules overhauls (5v5) and new maps and characters.

But an entire piece of the promised Overwatch 2, PvE campaign missions, is still missing with no release date and no pricing, as that aspect’s meant to be paid, even as the multiplayer portion that just erased the original Overwatch has gone free-to-play. So uh, time to score it out of ten? I have no idea how outlets are really doing this, given the situation. Live play has been so disrupted that nothing can really be gathered from it, so these scores appear to be based on past tests that players have been doing.

The scores are in and they are, as you might expect, not quite at the level of the original Overwatch, which debuted to a lot of fanfare and GOTY awards back in 2016. The original Overwatch has an impressive 90-91 Metacritic average when it arrived back then. Overwatch 2 Blizzard Now? Overwatch 2 is scoring an 81 on Metacritic , even though it’s essentially the same game it was back then, but with more stuff.

Again, it’s very weird to me to score these as two separate games given that Overwatch 2 is more like a really, really big patch for the original, but here we are. MORE FOR YOU Patrick Byrne Of Overstock Fame Says He Was Involved In Monthslong Effort To Overturn 2020 Election The Best New Movies And Shows On Netflix Today: October 5, 2022 $23 Million Double-Lot Estate Is A Standout In Coastal Southern California Here are what some outlets are saying: IGN (8/10) – “Overwatch 2’s switch to a 5v5 format breathes new life into what was once the sharpest shooter around. It just hasn’t quite recaptured all of that glory – yet.

” Windows Central (9/10) – “Overwatch 2 represents the arrival of the foundational changes Blizzard’s hero shooter needed in order to return to its former glory. While it’s not perfect — few things ever are — the changes that the game makes to Overwatch’s gameplay structure, progression systems, content release schedule, and presentation are absolutely stellar. ” PCGamesN (6/10) – “While Overwatch 2 adds a host of heroes and features to Blizzard’s iconic FPS game, its PvP feels more like a simple content update than a full blown sequel.

” Again, this just seems like a pretty weird thing to attach a numbered score to, and admittedly there are a lot of unscored reviews that are treating this like an ongoing process, which as a live game, is in fact the case. I think Rock Paper Shotgun sums up the confusion over Overwatch 2 in its own unscored review the best: “So much damage has already been done to the game simply by calling it Overwatch 2. From the second of its announcement, Blizzard were at the mercy of players’ expectations for a full-fledged sequel.

And when they compare those two side-by-side screenshots and see virtually no difference, that’s a major disappointment and perhaps a turn-off for many players. For a content update, Overwatch 2 does an absolutely phenomenal job. For a sequel, it feels pretty underwhelming.

I wonder, would it have been better to use chapters like Fortnite did? Something between a content update and a sequel?” So going by scores alone you would think Overwatch 2 is…kind of a failure in some ways? Dropping 10 points from its original score even though it’s just…that game, but with more stuff? But I retain that treating it as a full sequel is Blizzard’s own fault, and they should have expected something like this. Regardless, in this case, this doesn’t seem like something that will be made or broken by review scores, but rather convincing loads of people to check out the free-to-play version, and if it’s something that can engage them in a way the previous six years did not. Either way, it’s a tall order.

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