Overwatch

While Overwatch already commands a potent roster of personalities, the three new characters unveiled at BlizzCon all have unique mechanics that make them a blast to play. I took each character out for a few games and a variety of situations to see which ones I liked the most. It’s still way too early to make any real verdicts on the trio, but I’m happy to share my first impressions with each new combatant.

Genji is a ninja that comes complete with a fistful of shurikens and a killer katana. This assault-oriented hero has no problem closing the gap to get up close and personal with his enemies, and has a great deal of mobility bestowed by a double-jump and wall climbing. The shurikens can be fired two different ways: If you have a lock on your opponent, you can throw them in a straight line for deadly damage. If you’re on the go or firing into a pack of fast-moving opponents, you can throw them in a spread to land some hits.

Genji’s dashing swift strike can get him out of trouble (or into it) while dishing out serious damage, adding yet another maneuver to his mobility package. Once you’re in the thick of it after you’ve taken out your first target, Genji has an interesting defensive ability, deflect, which allows him to reflect bullets back toward opponents. It’s a great move to use after your opponents get a bead on you after you’ve dashed in and blown the rest of your abilities, and it’s awesome to watch his katana flail wildly while blasting back bullets.

Genji’s ultimate allows him to go full melee and hack people to bits with his katana, and it’s a great move to shred an entire opposing team, assuming you can move in without being destroyed. Tanks and other distractions help a lot with this; with a little creative double-jumping and a well-timed swift strike you can end up in a position to snag a multikill. Genji’s a lot of fun – ninjas usually are – and I’ll definitely be mixing up my attack favorites McCree and Reaper with some katana action.

D.Va is a pretty incredible character – a pro gamer and streamer turned mech pilot. She’s a brutal tank who can withstand a serious amount of punishment inside her mech, and in addition to her hard-to-shatter shell she’s got boosters for mobility. D.Va doesn’t even need to reload with her primary weapon, making her a consistent assault presence that can play comfortably on the front lines.

Once you’re done tearing apart the enemy lines, take your punishment to the next level – D.Va can eject from her mech and set it to self-destruct, which can be an incredibly nasty surprise on a crowded capture point, and you can even use your boosters to rush in for the detonation. Because of her high capacity for damage-soaking, it’s not difficult at all to maneuver your mech into a perfect detonation location, all while providing a meat-shield for your teammates behind you. Even though my playstyle doesn’t generally gravitate toward tank characters, D.Va is a really fun option to play, and the mech mechanics make her unique among other highly resilient options.

Mei is my favorite new character from this batch, although they’re all quite fun. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as using Mei’s endothermic blaster to freeze opponents in their tracks. Mei has some other exceptionally fun and quirky abilities to go with her freezy-blaster, including an “ice block” ability to protect herself and heal when she becomes a focus target. Her ice wall is a blast to use, as it creates a truly physical object that players can attempt to shoot through or climb over. Although it’s difficult to use well, and it’s possible for you to actually hurt your own team with bad placement, the benefits are real when you land a solid wall that splits up an enemy team in half and makes them easy pickings. You can also throw up a giant ice blockade in front of a set-up enemy Bastion or turret, blinding them, limiting their attack options, and making them easy marks.

Mei’s “big plays” really shine with effective teamwork and combinations, and exploring those possibilities when she arrives with a dedicated team is going to be really interesting. Even outside the context of the new trio, Mei may actually be one of my favorite Overwatch heroes, period.