PAX Aus 2019 - Hands on with Overwatch on Switch

A great surprise was the reveal of Overwatch on Switch, being playable at PAX Australia, yes the game is already available on other platforms, but with the play options available for Switch, getting the chance to go hands on with this newest version of the classic Blizzard shooter.

If you have played Overwatch before, then you will know what to expect there, the game is the same, when I jumped in, a match was already in play, so I was Reaper and I went for it. Sadly I could not hear the game, so I had no idea if he was saying anything witty or cool when defeating people, but let’s assume that was fine, the gameplay is what I was keen to see in action and it did not fail to deliver the goods. The first thing you have to understand is that this version of Overwatch is only 30 fps, not the 60 on other platforms and it does feel slower, not that it mattered when I was playing, but it took a bit to adjust to it.

The controls were simple and easy to adjust to, with everything being in the same spot as the Xbox version, just different labels, so what was X on Xbox One is Y here, it was a nice touch as I did not have to retrain myself to learn new button placements, just ignoring the letters on screen. I did a few fights as Reaper, managing to score some kills along the way, but after dying a few times, I thought it would be nice to swap and chose Sombra, partly as there were limited characters available and partly as I have never played as her before. Again, it took very little to get used to playing as her, just more adjusting to her attacks and options, but it was pretty fun to learn, even if it was on a show floor.

My time with the game ended and while I had some kills, I had more deaths against me, which is pretty standard at this point, but I had fun. Overwatch is out on Switch next week, so there is very little waiting to be had, but I can honestly say that if you want a fun shooter, you need to give this a go, while not the only hero shooter on the platform, I can see it become the most popular very quickly.