When comparing Overwatch - Origins Edition vs NieR: Automata, the Slant community recommends NieR: Automata for most people. In the question“What are the best PS4 (PlayStation 4) games?” NieR: Automata is ranked 11th while Overwatch - Origins Edition is ranked 92nd. The most important reason people chose NieR: Automata is:
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Solid presentation
Developed by the world renowned Blizzard Entertainment, they are quite familiar with what it takes to create a game with solid gameplay and polished looks. The gameplay itself feels very satisfying as a responsive first person team based shooter. On top of this the presentation feels quite polished as the graphics are vibrant and clean, which gives the player a more immersive experience due to the high level of design. The animations found in the game are done well, which makes each weapon feel realistic. The sound design also fleshes these weapons out thanks to the unique sounds each one has when using them, Overall this is a game that will not disappoint when it comes to the overall presentation
Pro Good variety of maps
Each game mode in the game features three separate maps to play on for a total selection of 12 maps. This ensures the player does not get too bored with the looks and gameplay of each as there is another to play when one feels too played out.
Pro Simple and easy to understand
The gameplay itself is quite simple, it is hero on hero first person shooting. There is little to keep track of other than the main goal of defeating the other team, which makes the game easy to pick up and play.
Pro Unique progression system
Each character in the game can have upwards of 90 different unlocks, which will take a lot of time invested from the player in order to use the majority. This gives incentive in order to keep the player coming back. Unlockables include things such as emotes, skins as well as victory poses. These can all signify a more advanced player, which makes for great bragging rights.
Pro Beautiful graphics
The graphics are very clean as well as brightly colored. Characters n the game each have their own individualistic appearance and exist in a world that looks futuristic as well as beautifully animated. Much of the game stands out in standard Blizzard form as a game that will age well much like World of Warcraft, but still exudes its own style.
Pro Unique and fast paced FPS gameplay with character depth
Overwatch combines team-fortress style game modes, traditional FPS gameplay and MOBA-esqe abilities. There are a variety of characters that play completely differently from each other, for example one is a melee basher with a charge ability while another is a super agile character with the ability to zip around the battlefield.
Every character also has an ultimate ability that re-charges throughout the match and can single-handedly change the outcome of a fight.
Pro Fast-paced, action-packed combat
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Pro Unique storytelling with a real emotional impact
NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is incredibly special. To get the full experience, you have to run multiple playthroughs of the game, each of which offers a new experience and perspective. Your world view of the story events and characters expands drastically as you complete each playthrough, playing on your expectations to help you develop a deeper emotional bond with the protagonists and become invested in their plight.
Things take a real turn on your third playthrough, putting you on an emotional roller coaster all the way to the true ending. The plot twists and knocks on the fourth wall elevate the story to a truly unique place. Getting all the way to the very end can be a religious experience from how much heart and meaning you discover in the symbolism.
Pro It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment
NieR: Automata is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape after Earth has been overrun by hostile machines, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope.
Pro Varied genre-spanning gameplay elements
NieR: Automata has different types of gameplay to keep things interesting. From the very start, you're on an on-rails bullet hell section, and then you switch over to the more traditional action RPG style of fast-paced combat. Things change up again not long after with some side-scrolling platforming from a 2D view. Later on in the story, there's a hacking mini-game where you navigate a tiny ship through a short puzzle, with the music changing to a charming retro sound to fit the theme and mood. This is a game that doesn't stay boxed in a single genre.
Pro An incredible amount of content
Outside of the main story, there's plenty of optional content to dive into. The side quests are the best way to get to know the characters and lore of the world, with some of them giving clever and subtle foreshadowing of the game's most critical events. There are also weapons to collect and upgrade, each of which offer nice little tidbits of lore after you get them to max level. And after reaching a certain point in the story, you get access to Chapter Select that lets you go back and replay whatever you want. You can easily spend 60+ hours exploring the world and still have much more to do.
Pro Gorgeous, ethereal soundtrack with amazing vocals
NieR: Automata's music is out of this world. It's so stunning and elegant in a way that nothing else can really live up to. The soundtrack manages to emotionalize the game through music, from the action-packed tracks with hard-hitting wind instruments and percussion, to the softer, somber songs that encapsulate the hauntingly beautiful environments and story moments you encounter. Vocals in the lore's indescribable language makes the music even more memorable, adding to the ethereal quality of the sound. This soundtrack is definitely one that you can go back to again and again without getting sick of it.
Cons
Con Being successful requires a good amount of teamwork
For those that are more interested in solo play with little cooperation the game may not be a good choice as winning often requires a team that communicates well. For those that don't have an easy way to communicate or are just not interested in team play it may not be as fun as it should be.
Con Lacking in story
There is no campaign mode in the game meaning there is not really any story to learn about. While there are some clues dropped here or there by NPC chatter between team mates, really there is not much to learn about the game, its world or the characters within.
Con Limited open world
Even though NieR: Automata is technically an open world game, it doesn't always feel like it. It's more that there's a big open space in the center of the ruined city you explore, with branches that lead off to vastly different environments, like a desert, a village, and a few other places. These locations aren't that spacious, either, and it's a bit of a stretch to even imagine all of these places being so close together in the first place. It's not too much of an issue as long as you find the story and combat engaging enough.
Con Second playthrough can get repetitive
Once you get to Route B, your second playthrough, you may find that too much is the same. There are some big differences, such as the new way you get to see things play out, but a lot of it rehashes Route A, your first playthrough. There's a ton of hacking you have to do as well, which gets pretty boring after repeating it over and over again. But if you stick with it, Route C and onward are absolutely worth the time spent getting to that point.
Con Some boring fetch quests
The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again.
Con Buggy on PC
Some players complain about the game crashing, freezing, their save files mysteriously disappearing, and more. As of June 2018, over a year after the game's initial release, there is still no patch to fix these problems. Not everyone on PC will have these bugs, but it's still quite prevalent. If you continually run into issues, your best bet is to find a mod or play the console versions instead of waiting on an official patch that may never happen.