'I don't want to shoot at a normal ass cat': Overwatch players react to its new feline hero

Overwatch Jetpack Cat: Key art of Jetpack Cat sitting on their flying mech, smiling straight ahead.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Tyler Wilde, US EIC

Tyler is more of a cat person than a dog person, and also likes rabbits, deer, and banana slugs. He would not shoot at any of them.

On one hand, it's not surprising that Overwatch would introduce a cat hero. The shooter has a couple animal heroes already: Winston, a super-intelligent gorilla, and Wrecking Ball, a mech piloted by a hamster named Hammond. On the other hand, as Reddit user mikoga points out, those heroes are protected by powerful mechanized armor. Jetpack Cat is 90% just-a-cat.

I hadn't really considered it before seeing that comment, but I might also not want to shoot at a normal ass cat, although there are some compelling rebuttals in the thread.

Hammond may be protected by a mech suit, notes one commenter, but his little hamster body sometimes spills out of the cockpit when he's eliminated. The mech also explodes a fair bit, as I recall. That does make it hard to claim that Jetpack Cat is an aberration: Overwatch has been annihilating furballs for some time now.

Other arguments boil down to 'you won't feel bad once she's annoying the hell out of you.' Jetpack Cat has an ability called Catnapper that snags opponents with a tether, allowing her to drag them off the map. One or two of those and perhaps my misgivings would subside.

But that is also peak cat behavior. They love pushing things off of things. Can I really be mad at a cat for embracing its nature?

If I'm being honest, the question may never need an answer, because even if I get back into Overwatch (it dropped the "2," if you hadn't heard), the comment I identify with most is this one from EntreeTodos: "Not a problem for me, no way I can hit a flying target that small with my aim."

Jetpack Cat may be the silliest of Overwatch's five new heroes, but she hasn't been the most talked-about or controversial. That honor goes to Anran, whose cherubic face has been accused of looking too similar to the face of another hero, Kiriko, and not enough like the face seen in an animated teaser.

I’ll forever miss the cinematic version of Anran :( from r/Overwatch

I feel much safer wading into Jetpack Cat discourse, so I appreciate the redditors who are helpfully steering the conversation back in that direction:

Anran wasn't the only one done dirty by Blizzard. from r/Overwatch

One final question to consider: Should they add a dog hero next? What breed?

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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