Well, when it rains it pours in today's PC gaming world. One would think that a single glorified TF2 sequel (TF3?) would be enough for everybody, but it looks like several companies are looking to cash in on the same formula at once. All 3 games have the same kind whacky cartoony team-based combat, which is based on many unique classes (or characters) all fighting around some objective(s), which once successfully completed, will secure the victory. Usually those objectives are something to the effect of holding a point (or points), escorting a vehicle to a target destination within a time limit (with one team attempting to prevent that from happening), some combination of the two, etc.
What honestly surprised me was the sheer similarity of the games. I mean there isn't even an attempt to hide that they are cloning and attempting to use the best features of one another, it's all done extremely overtly. After having played some of the Overwatch Open Beta, I was shocked to play Paladins and be treated to the same Kill Cam feature (both games show you a several second replay of how you died, from your killer's perspective), the same game modes, and even both having the "hero ultimate" mechanic, which is like a special skill that starts out at 0% and charges throughout the match, unleashing some devastating effect when activated. I honestly felt like I was playing the same game designed by two different companies.
So anyway, if any of you have played one or many of these games, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Here are my impressions:
Overwatch:If I had to describe this game in a single word, it would be
smooth. I've been playing multiplayer shooters since the original Doom (we used to have LAN parties at my dad's office as a kid), and never have I experienced a game which, online, felt so crisp and responsive. The controls and netcoding reacts so quickly to your commands that it almost feels as if it's happening before you press the button, as if the game is reading your mind.
In any kind of shooter, both the feel of the game in terms of its responsiveness and in terms of its design are extremely important. Blizzard seems to have a mastery over both angles. Even though the style is cartoony, the weapons feel real and involving. The screen shakes when you shoot, the sounds and atmosphere pull you into the game. It reminds me of the first time I played Unreal Tournament 2004. It's the perfect hybrid between surreal/ridiculous feel and hardcore/lifelike shooter.
In terms of the gameplay...Let's be honest they're all the same damn game. So take your pick in this regard. Some people are going to like the hero designs in one game over another, that all probably comes down to personal preference. The game itself is $40, so not cheap, and Forbes magazine
seems to think players are being ripped off (
Overcharged? 
).
However, one massive benefit of this pricing scheme is that all relevant content comes unlocked forever once you purchase the game, so you don't have to spend weeks or months grinding in-game currency to unlock your favorite characters, weapons, perks, etc. Which brings me to:
Paladins:The good: This game is free.
The bad: You pay for the unlockable parts with either time or money.
Some people may like this model more since technically the game is free, however there are some real downsides. Paladins, in addition to having a plethora of characters (classes) to choose from also has a "card system". These cards are selected before the battle begins and upgrade or complement your hero in some way. The problem is that acquisition of these cards is completely random. You get a chest for leveling up or completing a quest, and opening these chests gives you 5 random cards. But it may not be the cards you want, or for classes that you even use (or own); and in fact you may never get the cards you want. You can purchase more chests from the shop (for real money), but once again, there's an insane amount of luck involved here. If some players have cards which are better than yours well, tough luck and better fortune next time.
In spite of that, like I said...free. One could argue that the "card system" adds an extra layer of depth to the game giving players the ability to customize their hero that is not available in Overwatch or Battleborn, and I would potentially accept this argument, except for the fact that the player can't choose which cards they get. So maybe it still does, but in a potentially unfair way.
In terms of the games feel, it's fine, but compared to Overwatch it's meh. This is like the difference between McDonald's hamburgers and Five Guys and Fries hamburgers. There's nothing wrong with McDonald's hamburgers, in fact I read somewhere recently that the average American person eats there 1 out of every 7 meals, but they're not Five Guys burgers.
The game just doesn't have the same cerebral impact. It's not as responsive, the weapons don't feel as hardcore and visceral, the sound quality is only passable. In other words, all the concepts are there, but the execution just isn't on par with what Blizzard has done, and to be honest, I don't think anybody expects it to be. Hi-Rez is a great pseudo-indie company, Blizzard is well, Blizzard.
But once again, it's free, and if you were to never play Overwatch, you'd probably never worry about what you were missing because the game stands well enough on its own and is a great upgrade to Team Fortress 2.
Battleborn:I'll be honest, I haven't played this one. At $60 it's the most expensive of the three, and the top reviews on Steam declare this game to be in an almost unplayable state. Apparently the matchmaking system is very broken, pitting people who have sometimes only played the game for a few hours up against those who have potentially hundreds of hours of experience. This is a complaint that I saw again and again in the reviews, and is currently being address by the developers.
Speaking of the developers, it's Gearbox, the same people who brought you Borderlands, and apparently it has all the same zany and over-the-top humor that you've come to expect from these guys. Unfortunately, from everything I'm reading the playerbase is criminally low, partly having to do with the price tag, the matchmaking system, and a third problem I haven't brought up which are the massive frame rate drops people are having.
Many say that even with powerful machines they are getting 40 fps or lower in battle, and that sometimes the quality of the game makes it near-unplayable.
These 3 problems (price, matchmaking, and technical issues) seem to be working in unison to keep the playerbase low, which makes new players less likely to stay, which creates an infinite feedback loop of self-destruction for an online-only multiplayer game. I believe this title will be the first casualty of the war between games of this genre, and probably not the last.
But I'd love to hear from somebody who has actually played it. If anyone has played any of these (or know someone who does) please share your thoughts about them!
