Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Overwatch versus Battleborn

So, I have seen quite a lot of people comparing the two games to each other. I think that this is a natural direction considering both of them on the surface appear to have similar art styles, and both are hero based shooters in some way.

They look similar, but if you go into one expecting it to be like the other, then you are going to be very disappointed, and I dont think it is the fault of either game.

I was luck enough to play both this weekend since they were both in beta, and I was fortunate enough to get into the Overwatch stress test.

Let me get this out of the way right now. I am way more excited for Overwatch. I love shooters, and this is just the game I didnt know I wanted for all these years. It is honestly the most fun I have had in a shooter since the glory days of Destiny, and I only got to play two game modes on three maps. Now that I have that out of the way, lets go over them shall we.

Overwatch is a fast paced objective shooter that has different heroes with different roles. It is a bit like Team Fortress, but with a lot  more choice on characters, and without the annoying spy. The time to kill a slower than something like Call of Duty or Titanfall. This also depends on the character. Some characters have 600 hit points (tanks) while some of the others have as little as 150. The objective of the game is the objective. This makes people playing support classes like healer and tank quite valuable for the team, which is an unheard of concept in shooters. You can got zero kills and 10 deaths and still have a huge impact on the game. This adds a lot of depth as well as a bit of forgiveness to players who may not be great at shooters.

Battleborn on the other hand is a MOBA with shooter elements. It is more Smite then it is Call of Duty. The game modes have both player characters and NPCs to deal with. It has a skill system like a MOBA, it has building like a MOBA, it has creeps like a MOBA, and it has tower objectives like a MOBA. The reason for this? Because it is a MOBA. Sure it is also a shooter, but it has so much more in common with a MOBA than it does a shooter. It does still reward a player with better aim like a shooter, but the main goal is to destroy the other team's tower (Sentry). You will notice that time to kill is slow, and you often have to use all of your abilities to gank another hero. The only difference is that you can kill heroes from much further away thanks to the shooter mechanics in the game.

Game times could also not be more different. Overwatch usually had a play time of ten or so minutes. One match of Battleborn could last up to 30 depending on the stalemate at one Sentry or another. In Overwatch, you pick your hero and go, or change it on the fly as needed to counter the comp of the other team. In Battleborn, once you choose your hero, you are stuck with them. One has skill upgrade progressions (Battleborn), the other does not (Overwatch).

The timing of the release of these games is unfortunate. They are being released very close to one another, and look similar on the surface, so they will be compared to one another. I also think that this will hurt Battleborn. I love Overwatch, and I think it will be my main game once it comes out. That being said, I really enjoyed Battleborn as well and would certainly play it if it were free like every other MOBA out there.

I think that if you go into each one looking at them objectively for what they are, you can enjoy both a lot. If you go into them looking for one thing out of both, one of them is going to disappoint you greatly. Treat Overwatch as as a shooter, and Battleborn as a MOBA, and I feel like you will get the appropriate amount of fun from each.

Tomorrow I will talk about what heroes I liked in each since I played a bunch of them in Overwatch and only a couple in Battleborn

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