Recent reviews by Hawkbar

There's a surprisingly fun and unique core to this game that can't be found to this level of polish in any of its competitors. Plenty of games allow for fast-paced movement and gunplay, plenty of games allow for playstyles that favor positioning and game knowledge over precision aim, but few do both.

Unfortunately, the core gameplay loop is buried under a mountain of predatory monetization and format issues.

I purchased Overwatch 1 several years ago and have over 500 hours of playtime through BattleNet.

The cons:

• The monetization, woo boy. Skin prices are crazy and driven by Fear of Missing Out, the battlepass is full of crappy filler, and locking OP released heroes behind battlepass progression (or, if you miss out, lengthy grinds) seriously hurts Free-to-Play players.
  
• Teamwork is critical, in a game where you're being matched with internet randos who more often than not respond with slurs to any attempt at communication.
  
• Years of development was wasted on creating content for a PvE experience that is ultimately simplistic and unsatisfying, and the most interesting aspects were canned before selling the leftovers at an unreasonable price.
  
• The number of heroes, interactions, and abilities can be overwhelming for new players to keep track of in fast-paced matches, and the game does a poor job of teaching players how to play each role effectively.
  
• Balance decisions from the dev team can be questionable at times, and at the highest levels of play, metas tend to become stagnant. Below the top 20% of the skill curve, though, almost every hero is viable.

The pros:

• Free to play! Outside of new heroes (which can be acquired for a modest grind via battlepass or in-game challenges), and the underwhelming "Story Missions," all purchases and unlocks are purely optional cosmetics. The initial free heroes cover the most commonly meta heroes, so you can enjoy the game without ever feeling compelled to open the shop screen.
  
• The graphics, sound design, voiceover work, and overall experience are phenomenal. In a genre where most of its competitors feel like decades-old mobile titles, the level of polish stands out.
  
• Slow but steady content drops, in the form of new heroes, maps, and seasonal events, all of which are available to free-to-play players.
  
• The fast-paced first-person-shooter gameplay mixed with very powerful MOBA-esque abilities and a classic MMO-style Tank/DPS/Healer trinity lends itself to highly engaging moment-to-moment gameplay, where players of all kinds can find a playstyle that appeals to them.
  
• While they do play into stereotypes in their personalities and visual designs, the characters and their kits are fun and varied, and only a few are outright throw picks (outside of high-level play).
  
• When playing with a team and hero composition that mesh well, pulling off combos feels immensely satisfying. Playing with friends you can coordinate with makes games much more enjoyable.
  
• Short matches (10-20 minutes) means less time spent on matches that were lost on the hero select screen.
  
• Effective skill-based matchmaking (contrary to what you may hear). After the first couple of games where the matchmaker is establishing your baseline skill, you will consistently get games against opponents just as clueless and bad at the game as you are, with stomps by higher-skilled players being a rarity.

Overall, I would recommend trying out the game as a free-to-play player, and skipping all microtransactions unless there's a hero you want badly enough to skip the grind for. For the low low price of zero dollars, it's hard to find gameplay that scratches the same itch elsewhere.