Blizzard’s 2016 game of the year winner is making the leap to 2019’s hottest console. Now you can take the epic team-based hero shooter action with you anywhere you go (that has solid internet access of course). Overwatch Legendary Edition is out now for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles.
Overwatch Legendary Edition Details
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: First-person shooter
Modes: Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Team up with your friends on Nintendo Switch
Given its massive success over the past few years, most gamers are likely already familiar with Overwatch. It has numerous awards under its belt, including a slew of game of the year nods from across the games media. It is also incredibly popular in the world of eSports, with its own yearly competitive “Overwatch League”.
For those who might still be somewhat in the dark (especially those perhaps with a narrow focus on only the Nintendo ecosystem), Overwatch Legendary Edition is a competitive multiplayer team-based hero shooter. It is very much an online-only title, focusing on various multiplayer game modes. Anybody new to the game should be aware not to expect any sort of substantial single-player fare outside of tutorials and practice modes.
Squad up with your preferred class and hero
Overwatch Legendary Edition‘s principle game modes build around 6 v. 6 squad-based combat. Players can choose from 30 unique “heroes”, each with their own unique abilities and styles of play. Each hero belongs to one fundamental class, either Damage, Support, or Tank.
Teams must work together, utilizing each class to maximum efficiency in order to secure victory. As you might expect, the Damage specializes in attacking, while the Support class heals. Tanks lead the charge by drawing opposing damage with defensive tactics. Mastering your class along with your specific hero of choice is the key to team success in Overwatch Legendary Edition.
Seasonal and co-op activities
If you do want a break from the competitive PvP action, Overwatch Legendary Edition does offer some limited co-operative fare. For example, the seasonal event “Junkerstein’s Revenge” is on now, just in time for Halloween.
Here players match into a co-operative activity, working together to defeat waves of Junkerstein’s robot minions. There is an amusing overlaying narrative voice that provides some context in the style of an old horror movie as well. Completing the task and defeating Junkerstein will earn the team a loot box reward.
There is also an “endless” version of Junkerstein’s Revenge as well. Naturally instead of reaching the story climax, in this version players can take on endless waves of enemies to see how long they can survive. Again, loot box rewards are awarded based on performance.
How well does the Switch perform?
It’s always a roll of the dice wondering how games designed for more powerful modern generation consoles will perform when porting to the Nintendo Switch. The Switch has a long list of amazing features, but its processing power is not one of them. Multi-platform games sometimes have to reconcile performance and function to run smoothly on the console.
To accommodate the Switch, Overwatch Legendary Edition runs a 30 frames-per-second (as opposed to 60FPS on more powerful consoles). The rate can dip a bit to be sure, but overall I found its performance to be quite satisfactory.
In handheld mode (with a slightly lower resolution), my experience was truthfully quite good. The Switch struggles only slightly more to keep up in higher-resolution docked mode, but not enough to deter me from enjoyment.
To be honest, the pace of Overwatch Legendary Edition is so fast anyway, it’s not like there is a lot of time to study objects and textures in detail. Overall I think the game runs well enough on Switch, although those who already have the game on another platform aren’t likely to choose this version for performance when playing at home.
Another reason to play on Switch
Oddly enough, I think my favourite way to play Overwatch Legendary Edition on Nintendo Switch is in my own bed! One might wonder what motivation there is to play in handheld mode when the lack of an internet connection makes it tough to enjoy on a commute. The solution for me was enjoying some late-night action at bedtime.
The Switch allows for gyroscopic controls to assist with aiming. This feature actually annoys me a bit when playing on the big screen, so inherently I turn it off there. However, I really appreciate the feature in handheld mode.
I find that the gyro feature makes aiming a bit easier in handheld mode, especially when I’m laying on my side, for example. Whereas working an FPS at awkward angles like this might otherwise ruin the experience, the gyro aiming gives just the right amount of movement to increase accuracy.
Ultimately, this makes Overwatch Legendary Edition worth it for me personally. I wouldn’t expect to enjoy playing a competitive shooter anywhere but in front of a PC or large screen. However, a few rounds of Overwatch Legendary Edition before I fall asleep is my new favourite bedtime ritual.
Overwatch Legendary Edition brings the action to Nintendo Switch
Overwatch Legendary Edition honestly performs a bit better than I expected it to on the Nintendo Switch console. It may not be the “best” place to play for ultimate performance, but if you are exclusively a Nintendo gamer, there’s no reason not to enjoy this great game on the Nintendo platform. Not to mention that it is a great way to take Overwatch with you on the go, provided you have access to a steady internet connection.
Platform aside, Overwatch Legendary Edition is a very fun game, and one of the best hero shooters on the market. There’s certainly a reason why it is such a critically acclaimed title, and why its professional eSports “Overwatch League” is a runaway success, gaining in popularity with each passing season. It’s a shame that cross-progression isn’t enabled between platforms, but it’s still great to see more multi-platform games reach the Nintendo audience.
+ Runs well given the hardware limitations of the Switch
+ Portable play (with internet connection)
+ Gyroscopic controls
– Lower frame rate/resolution and some occasional dips in performance
– No cross-progression between platforms
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF OVERWATCH LEGENDARY EDITION
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 3.5/5
Sound: 3.5/5
Lasting Appeal/Replayability: 4.5/5
Overall Rating 4/5 (80%)
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