This article is more than 1 year old

Blizzard shows off Overwatch – yet another guardians of Earth FPS

Once again the Americans mangle British accents

Vids Blizzard Entertainment has unveiled its first new games franchise in over a decade at the BlizzCon jamboree in California.

Youtube Video

Overwatch is a classic first-person shooter that looks very like Team Fortress and Unreal in gameplay. Teams of six players per team fight it out in a variety of country-specific gaming zones, with teams consisting of engineers, heavy fighters, assassins, and other characters types.

"Overwatch is our take on a vibrant, near-future universe with amped-up characters and action-packed team-based gameplay," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, in a canned statement.

"With every new Blizzard game, we look at our favorite aspects of a genre and put our own spin on things. Our goal with Overwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that's more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love."

Youtube Video

The basic plotline is nothing too new. The Overwatch was a group of Earth fighters who save the planet from some unspecified menace before falling into dissolution after the war was won. However, the Overwatch has to reform after evil characters once again menace the Earth's population by shooting anything that moves.

Characters include Winston, a genetically engineered gorilla scientist in power armor and spectacles; Reaper, a dual pistol-wielding generic bad guy with teleport capabilities; and Tracer, a British female test pilot with the ability to alter time and a really annoying Cockney accent that sounds as convincing as Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

Youtube Video

This being a first-person shooter, there are plenty of cannon, sniper rifles and chain guns to go around among the characters. Some can also leave mines for the unwary, set up teleport stations, or play around with reality within the game.

Blizzard set up a 600-PC network at the show running the Overwatch beta to allow teams to fight with the initial 12 characters, although more will be added before the game is released in 2015 as a commercial beta. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like