So I forked over $23 AUD for the Overwatch 2 story missions. I toyed with discussing the supposed PVE "cancellation" controversy, but I've already gone down that road in the OW2 thread - everything I said there will be more or less the same here. So all that aside, the question is, are the Story Missions worth it?
...maybe.
I'll get round to elaborating why awhile later, but as usual, I'm going to give my thoughts on the trio of missions. So on that note:
-The first mission, Resistance, is easily the weakest of the bunch, at least in terms of gameplay, and arguably in terms of story. I really don't have anything interesting to say about the first mission, and if the rest of the campaign was like this, my answer as to whether the misions were worth it would be a "God no." It arguably doesn't help that the Rio mission was spotlighted ages ago, so there's no real surprises to be had here, but from a gameplay standpoint, there's nothing interesting to talk about. From a story standpoint...not sure what I can say? Overwatch deploys in Rio, Overwatch says Rio, Lucio ends up joining Overwatch, Cassidy brings in the gang that he gathered during New Blood, that's really it. Also, the dialogue is just...bleh. Not that Overwatch has ever been an example of stellar dialogue in any form, but while it's not quite cringeworthy, it's certainly brushing up on the boundaries of it. Somewhat despondantly, I finished the first mission, and four days later, spent an evening starting with mission 2, wary that I might be in for more of the same...
-The second mission, Liberation, is the best in terms of both gameplay and story. There's absolutely no competition with the other two, so much so that if I was a betting man, I'd bet that Resistance was created way before the other two, which gave time for imporvement. It's the best explanation I can think of as to why there's such a massive gap in quality. From a gameplay standpoint, the mission's much more interesting - there's better enemy variety, the fights are more intense, it's more challenging, there's more verticality, there's more effects (e.g. a blizzard strikes at the end that hampers visibility), etc. If we're looking at FPS games in general with dedicated campaigns, it's nothing special, but in the context of singleplayer DLC for a previously multiplayer-only game, it's well done.
-Concerning plot/storytelling, there's far more stuff to discuss here. In the context of "urban combat" or "fighting a battle you've already lost," there's certainly better examples out here, but what's done here is done well. If Rio was too sacharine in its context and storytelling, Toronto is a 180 from this. Granted, the short story "Shockwaves" helps in this regard, but even within the context of the mission itself, it's clear that a) the fighting's been going on for days, b) Null Sector's all but won by the time Overwatch arrives, c) all Army and police forces within the city have been wiped out, and d) you're not here to save the city, you're here to save what civilians you can. You could argue, likely correctly, that this is what you'd expect, since the middle chapter of any trilogy is usually the darkest part, but whatever the case, it's done well here.
-There's other things to mention here. I don't have much to say about Claire and Reggie, only that they're decent characters, fun to have around. More importantly, Ramattra's propaganda broadcasts. I've seen some people theorize that this mission (or rather, the Story Missions as a whole) were meant to come out before Ramattra was revealed, in that he's never name-dropped, none of the characters know who he is, In essence, a mystery is presented within a story that the viewer already knows the answer to. I don't think this is an unwarranted criticism, but I also don't think it's really an issue either. There's certainly times when it might be, but in this particular case, I'm not bothered by it. Also, speaking of Ramattra and his use of Subjugators to 'liberate' omnics, I've seen some people decry this as a plothole and...no. Just, no. I won't go as far to say that people are getting dumber, but this 'plothole,' as people call it, is pointed out in the text itself, that for all his talk of omnic liberation, Ramattra's either a massive hypocrite, or he's going down the path of "the ends justify the means." I wouldn't have thought I'd even need to point this out, that people can make all kinds of rationalizations for horrible things in reality and fiction alike, but here we are.
-Concerning comments on Ramattra that I'm actually partial to, there's a theory floating around that Ramattra's goal is to get all omnics in some kind of shared network (for those who've played Mass Effect, remember the geth's ultimate goal of existing in a single network? Same thing.). I won't go into all the details here, since there's a fair bit to back this theory up, but it's notable in his propaganda broadcasts he states "join us in the Iris," or words to that effect. Except since the actual Iris is at the Shambali Monastery, that either means a) he intends on taking it, and if so, good luck stopping him, b) he intends on creating his own Iris, or already has created one, or c) is speaking metaphorically. There's a mention in the codex entries that Ramattra was never sure if sentience was truly a gift, and if that holds true, that could remain true here. Get the omnics in a shared network, even at the cost of individuality. Or, alternatively, he's trying to repeat Aurora's brief moment of connectivity with omnickind, but if so, that doesn't change the issues they face, whereas being purely digital might.
-Getting onto the third mission, this is the middle child of the bunch, in both story and gameplay. In terms of the latter, I don't have much to say - setting up turrets has some charm, and it feels a bit different from Rio in that you have to hold a point, but it's really nothing special at the end of the day. In terms of the former, again, don't have much to say here either. The interactions between the characters are sort of saccharine, but it does work overall, since Brigitte, Rein, and Lindholm are all family in one way or another, and the divide between Rein/Torb's generation and their baggage and the new generation (e.g. Brigitte). Again, there's nothing special about these themes or interactions, certainly nothing worth analyzing, but it's done well enough.
(Edit: There's also the bonus cutscene/flashback after this mission, and while there isn't much to analyze, yes, it did get me in the feels.)
-I'm going to give a mention to the codex as well (it's not called a codex, but it's what it is for all intents and purposes) - entries are unlocked as missions are played, giving extra character conversations, data entries, etc. Nothing special in of itself, but it's certainly appreciated. Having finished the third mission late last night, I want to spend some time going through it. Haven't unlocked everything (since you need to complete certain missions with certain characters to get certain entries), but playing every mission once unlocks the bulk of it.
So, yeah. At the start of this post, I asked if the Story Missions were worth it, and answered "maybe." The reason I said that is that it really depends on what you're after, and where your priorities lie. If you're interested in gameplay and nothing else, then I can't say they are worth it - at least, not for the asking price. I could see someone having fun doing a playthrough of these missions, maybe repeating them on higher difficulties, but in the sense of gameplay and nothing else, there's not that much to write about. They're better than the old Archive missions, but they're not on the level of a dedicated FPS campaign, and it's also notable that in every case, I had to play with bots, so either no-one's playing them, or no-one's playing them on Normal.
If, however, you're someone who's invested in this setting, its characters, and its overall storyline, then the answer is yes. While everything I said in the paragraph is still true, the gameplay in of itself is fun - more than enough to justify a playthrough. The storyline is driven forward, there's plenty of good character and lore, not just in the missions, but the codex itself. As someone who was interested in PVE purely because of story reasons, the missions are definitely worth it, even if there's room for improvement.
