Overwatch has heroes of different races, genders, nationalities, sexual orientations and body types. Blizzard Entertainment.

And fans of the genre can rejoice once more, as the genre has recently received another highly worthy addition: Overwatch, developed by Blizzard Entertainment for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

If you’ve got even a passing interest in gaming, Overwatch has almost certainly appeared on your radar at some point; between the ads, social media discussions, the hugely successful open beta and yes, even the inevitable fan-made Rule 34 content (pro tip: do NOT look that up at work), there’s been so much buzz around the game it’s a wonder people haven’t broken out the insect spray on their internees in the mistaken believe there’s a horde of bees on the loose.

But here’s the thing: It’s all completely deserved. Overwatch is outstanding and everything I want in a straightforward team shooter.

It’s pure, unadulterated fun, it looks great, it plays really well, it’s bright, and it’s intuitive.

Overwatch is an incredibly polished game — if it were any more polished, it’d be dazzling the pilots of low-flying aircraft.

From the characters to the settings to the menu screens to the way the entire package comes together, it’s obvious Blizzard have put an extraordinary amount of effort into ensuring a solid gold experience throughout.

This image released by Blizzard Entertainment shows Soldier: 76, a character from the Overwatch video gameSource:AP

The character design deserves a particular mention, not just for the variety but for the balance. There are 21 characters in the game at launch, all available from the get go and all with a diverse range of interesting skills, special abilities and ultimate powers.

Whether it’s the Korean gamer with her own much, the mercenary who dual-wields quad-barrel shotguns, the unhinged Aussie with a penchant for explosives and making crazy stuff from vehicle scrap, or the honourable Samurai-inspired warrior, there is a character for every playstyle.

More importantly, they’re generally pretty well balanced — their strengths and weaknesses mean that for every seemingly powerful ability they have, there’s usually a way to counter it, assuming you have the right heroes on the field.

The game follows the team shooter format which will be familiar to anyone who has played Team Fortress 2 or Counterstrike, with up to six players on each side competing to capture or defend an objective, escort a payload, and so on.

Each of the game’s heroes also comes with three unique special abilities, including a powerful “ultimate ability” which charges up as the match progresses and can prove devastating when unleashed.

Alongside a hype train of Orient Express size and grandeur, there is actually a plot to Overwatch.

This may come as a surprise — FPS team shooters not generally being noted for having much beyond the most cursory of excuses to engage in unrestricted warfare– but Blizzard have put quite a bit of work into the backstory, with online animated shorts and comics helping flesh out the background to why all these interesting characters are trying to shoot each other in a variety of near-future Earth locations.

The heroes of the story (who are also the playable characters) are former members of a force of superheroes, some augmented with technology, some with quasi-supernatural powers, who were formed in response to a robot uprising — but having quelled it, the Overwatch team find themselves considered an overpowered menace by society and are disbanded and declared illegal, before resurfacing in the face a new threat.

In short, the premise will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Watchmen or The Incredibles or one of several other superhero stories with a similar theme.

In the case of Overwatch, however, it’s a safe bet most people will almost certainly fail to pay any attention to the plot once the shooting starts. And start it will, because when the matches kick off it’s on for young and old, with bullets flying, healing abilities casting, things exploding and all sorts of action going on.

There are a variety of maps (based on near-future places around Earth) available, with the level design proving flowing and easy to navigate, incorporating plenty of spots for ambushes, sniping opportunities, control points, cover, and open ground attacks.

From a gameplay perspective, Overwatch took me back to the early iterations of games like Team Fortress 2– simple, straightforward, fun. There’s no loadouts to select — each character comes with their own weapons and skills — so it’s pick one, jump in and open fire.

You also have the ability to switch characters whenever you get killed, so if you discover playing as a cowboy isn’t working out, you can charge back into the fray as a soldier with a jetpack, or a sniper, or someone with the ability to reverse time to get themselves out of danger, or one of the many other characters in the line-up.

Matches are quick-paced, fast and fun, and the ability to change characters throughout the match means things never get stale or boring.

The characters are easy to identify, distinctive, and bring their own personalities to the game — Tracer is a perky young British woman, McCree is a rugged cowboy, Bastion is a sentient robot-slash-sentry turret, Widowmaker is a sniper — and Blizzard deserve credit for bringing the characters to life so they transcend their nominal gameplay classes.

Blizzard deserve credit for bringing the characters to life so they transcend their nominal gameplay classes.Source:AP

While weapons and skills can’t be upgraded, there are plenty of cosmetic upgrades which can be earned as part of the levelling up process; notably different outfits and colour schemes, along with different victory poses, taunts and the like. It is also possible to purchase these loot crates with real-world money, if one is so inclined.

Another nice touch is that there isn’t a scoreboard tracking player kills and deaths — the emphasis is on teamwork to achieve victory, with accolades for the Play Of The Match and the option for players to give some kudos to a player — on either side — who they think has performed well.

Despite being an excellent game, Overwatch isn’t perfect. Notably, there’s still some tweaking to be done with balancing and many of the unlocks I’ve achieved so far are for uninspiring things like in-game spray tags.

Also, despite the high quality of the game, it’s not especially cheap — at time of writing it was $79 for the enhanced Origins edition at one well-known bricks and mortar retailer, or $89.95 to buy online for PC from Blizzard, with a standard edition for PC also available from Blizzard online for $69.95.

Those are certainly the going rates for a AAA title, but when the gameplay experience is so dependent on other players (ie your friends, or random folks on the interwebs) it does seem a bit on the high side.

Realistically these are fairly minor quibbles, however — Overwatch is an excellent game; there’s a reason so many people are talking about and playing it right now — and if you like FPS games, you should join them.