Blizzard is consistently released in game events to try to add a bit of variety of game play for the Overwatch community. These are PvE events that attempt to add to the lore of Overwatch while giving them an excuse to release more skins. Blizzard has now developed a constant release cycle. This new event is the start of the Overwatch Archives, which allows you to play both the Retribution and last year's Uprising. Here are my thoughts.
The current event for Overwatch is called Retribution and is Blackwatch mission conducted by Moira, Reaper, McCree and Genji. Blackwatch, for those of you who don't know, is the Black Ops division of Overwatch. These agents are used to gather intel and apprehend enemy elements so that the peace-keeping organization of Overwatch can pursue justice.
The story of this mission is an event that McCree recalls happening eight years prior to the current timeline of Overwatch. Blackwatch is tasked with apprehending Antonio Bartalotti, a high-level operative of the Talon group, in Venice, Italy after his attack on an Overwatch base in Oslo, Norway. Our Blackwatch heroes break in to Antonio's mansion and take out any Talon soldiers they come across as they move towards Antonio. Upon being cornered by Blackwatch, Antonio mocks them and threatening to reveal to the world that Overwatch has a super secrect covert ops that nobody was aware of. Reyes, who is Reaper in the current time, considers this and kills Antonio on the spot, much to the horror of his collegues. Upon hearing the gunfire, the mansion is put on lock-down and Blackwatch must make their way to the evacuation zone. This is where the playable mission begins.
The cinematics of all of Blizzards games are always top notch. They're well done and convey enough story to get on with it while setting a the scene for whats to come. Our characters have a bit of banter and then pose heroically as they start their mission.
The mission itself is separated into different sections that end with introducing one of the mini-bosses. These mini-bosses are the Sniper, Assassin and Heavy assault. Sniper is much like a stronger version of Widowmaker, Assassin is a melee Tracer and Heavy Assault is like a shield less Reinhardt with mini-guns. The last section is a where Blackwatch is waiting to be airlifted up and you'll have to fight a number of these mini-bosses.
I found this mission fun, but times it became predictable as the gauntlet sections clearly telegraphed where enemies were about to spawn from. This is great for harder difficulties though, as your enemies are much harder to take down requiring more teamwork. The difficulty scaling ranges from the normal mode, up to legendary. I wasn't able to complete this on legendary with random people from matchmaking unfortunately.
The enemies you come across all have unique mechanics that you have to manage more and more as the difficulty is increased. The basic Talon enemies are beefy enough to make it a challenge. They do get a bit bullet spongie as difficulty increases however, but that's to be expected.
The map you play on is beautiful will be playable in the next competitive season of Overwatch. It has a good balance of open areas and chokes that you can use to your advantage and gives you enough space to maneuver when taking on any of the mini-bosses.
You are able to play this event in a All Pick mode that allows your team of four to select any hero that you like and this adds a bit of variety. The difficulty is a bit higher to accommodate the inclusion of tanks and shields.
My two favorite times to get event skins are Halloween and this new Overwatch Archive. The legendary Blackwatch skins all look great and I wish I had them. McCree's is a bit bland in my opinion but the others are fantastic. Since I normally play Moira is competitive, I wish I could get her new skin, but I rarely ever buy crates and I haven't gotten any of the legendary skins yet so I guess I'll have to save up for next year to get these skins. Another skin that I wish I had is Sombra's and Hanzo's even though I rarely play them.
I'm of two minds about the implementation of these events in Overwatch. I think its great that they're constantly adding new content and story to the game, but I wish there were a lot more. Overwatch's lore is extensive and I wish there was a regular campaign to even just introduce the characters and play through some of the missions that come from the the Overwatch shorts, comics and these events. I understand that this was the initial intent for Overwatch when it was called project titan, but its a real shame that they haven't.
The events are easy to overplay and get bored of however. They're short and the only reason to play on a higher difficulty is simply the satisfaction of beating it. The events are also so far apart from one another that you sometimes forget that these events exist. I think Blizzard should have these events on a random weekly cooldown for us to play from the Arcade mode, but maybe there aren't enough events yet to make this a thing. It may happen in the future, but these events give Blizzard a great opportunity to sell crates so maybe it won't.
If you haven't tried the Retribution event or missed last year's Uprising, you have until the 30th of April to give it a go. Its a nice diversion to the competitive grind with enough challenge at higher difficulty. The skins look awesome and if you want them you'll have to get them quick, otherwise you'll have to wait a year for the opportunity to get them again.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you've played the new event and whether or not you agree with me down in the comments bellow. If you want to see any more of my future content be sure to hit that Follow Button. I try to write something every day and I usually write about video games, movies and my journey through Steemit.
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