Lucioball, Overwatch’s newest way of keeping you hooked like the addict you are, has been out for a while now. Many players have been flocking to take part in some whimsical Rocket League-lite fun, but should they? Is Lucioball actually worth any of your time?
In short, yes, despite some of the problems it has.
For those not in the know, Lucioball has been introduced to coincide with Rio 2016 and sees healer Lucio take the spotlight for a cartoonish game of football with an Overwatch twist. It currently supersedes the “Brawl” mode of the game and it isn’t clear if Lucioball will be part of Blizzard’s FPS monolith for the long run.
If they are to keep the mode around for the long run, they need to make some tweaks.
Lucioball is a lot of fun. Managing to score from across the pitch is a feeling that never gets old, harnessing that same level of self-belief of awesomeness that has helped Rocket league captivate so many. Defending a certain goal also feels as good as a herd of baby goats licking your ankles – shutting out the opposing team in the mode for a whole match is as good as it gets.
The way that Blizzard have repackaged the vanilla Overwatch for Lucioball is commendable; Lucio’s abilities make perfect sense for his own ridiculous sport. You can use Amp It Up to go faster and use it more regularly than usual, and Soundwave acts as your shotgun, a constantly usable way to blast the ball away from danger or into the opposing team’s net.
The problems with Lucioball are only small, but they do add up.
As fast as Lucio moves in a normal game, he seems a little slow in his own mode. Most of the match will be spent fruitlessly running around trying to catch up to the ball while spamming Amp It Up; there’s a bit of a dissociation between the speed of Lucio’s base movement and the pace which you want the game to be at. To make things a little snappier, Blizzard could possibly consider speeding up Luci’s for Lucioball in general.
Even though playing your own music during matches is easy enough, it would be nice to have some kind of in-game music to accompany the mode. It’s understandable that may not have had sufficient time to compose new music for what could very well be just a throwaway mode, but without it, games of Lucioball sound eerily hollow. Listening to six Brazilians repeat the same line over and over again is a bit weird.
It’s also insanely difficult to score if you’re up against a team that has properly working hands to play with. The goalkeepers have a lot to work with as they can use a rather generous launchpad in the goalmouth to jump to wherever the ball is. This means that no matter how sure a goal looks, it could be an easy save. Many games I’ve had go deep into overtime because nobody can score.
That being said, Lucioball isn’t something you can be all that critical about. It’s simply a neat little addition to what is already a very enjoyable game with plenty to sink your teeth into. If you already have Overwatch, it can be a lot of fun, so stop reading this, collect your friends, and have fun.
Not decided on Overwatch yet? You can check out my review here and find out why I chose it as the best game of 2016 so far.
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