Overwatch, the team-based shooter coming from Blizzard, has had a good run with its hero introductions so far. That's what makes the latest, Lúcio, so head-scratching. He looks like the token member of a fast-food restaurant's focus-group tested mascot team. In 1994.
Oh, the hell with it. He looks like a bionic BK Kid. That's what I'm saying.
Let's leave aside the trope (yes, I dare use that word) of making sure the guy with the dreadlocks is a DJ (or vice versa) who wields a wub-wub gun. What the hell is going on with those rollerblades?
Past creations have included Soldier: 76, Zarya, Pharah, Tracer, Reaper, the robot Bastion and even the weird-as-hell Torbjörn, all of which have some depth to their design and background, or at least more than you get with Lúcio. Here's his bio, according to the official page.
Lúcio is an international celebrity who inspires social change through his music and actions. Lúcio Correia dos Santos grew up in Rio de Janeiro, in a poor and crowded favela [a slum, basically] that was hit hard by the financial upheaval following the Omnic Crisis. As Brazil began the long process of recovery, he wanted to find a way to lift the spirits of those around him. He found his answer in music and its power to bring people together and even help them forget their troubles, if only for a short time. [...]
But Lúcio's close-knit community was thrown into chaos when the multinational Vishkar Corporation secured a contract to redevelop large tracts of the city. [...] Vishkar imposed controls on the residents in the name of building a more orderly society: enforcing curfews, cracking down on what the company perceived as lawless behavior, and exploiting the populace as a cheap labor force.
Lúcio wouldn't stand for it. He stole Vishkar sonic technology that had been used to suppress the people, and he converted it into a tool to rally them to action.
OK.
Overwatch is supposed to have a closed beta this fall. Its full launch date is still TBD. For more, see our in-depth feature about the game's development.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Overwatch is a free-to-play game. Overwatch's format (F2P, pay-once, etc.) has not been discussed or confirmed yet.
