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burnouts3s3 · 7 years

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Watch Dogs 2, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.)

Just the facts, cause you're in a hurry.

Retail price: 59.99 USD

How much I paid: Zero Dollars (Okay, technically I 'paid' 40.19 USD, but I was able to get a gift card over the Holidays which I used to discount the entirety of the game's selling price, which also happened to be on sale.)

Rated: Rated M for Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

How long I played: 12 Hours to finish the Campaign on easiest difficulty. Mainly focused on Story Missions. Majority of cutscenes skipped since I watched them on Youtube.

Microtransactions: Yes. Season Pass available for purchase. In-game, players can access a 'Premium' shop where players can play real money for items such as exclusive clothes.

What I played on: PC.

Performance Issues: Turning on V-Sync, I was able to get 60 Frames Per Second... with notable exceptions. When I drive very fast, the framerate either drops to 30 or the game pauses briefly and resumes. While the game runs smoothly enough, I couldn't shake the feeling that it didn't look as best as it could. 3 Instances of the game crashing during a mission after shooting a guard and having to be reset. 1 Instance of entering an area that hadn't finished loading yet, and having to reload from the checkpoint.

My Personal Biases: I never played the original Watch Dogs after the plethora of bad reviews I heard from it, but I did watch all the cutscenes on Youtube. Just as well, I also watched the cutscenes of Watch Dogs 2 on Youtube before playing this game. So I'm not a 'fan' of Watch Dogs either way. Also, I'm not a big Sandbox GTA fan. Make of that what you will.

My Verdict: Wanting to do away with the heavily criticized grim and portentous aesthetic of the original Watch Dogs, this sequel becomes a much lighter affair. The game becomes more 'likable', in that it sands off the somewhat sketchy parts for something more pleasing to mainstream audiences. Just the same it trades the controversial Aiden Pearce for the more likable (and let's face it, marketable) Marcus Holloway and company. And while I'd rather spend more time with Marcus than Aiden, the fact remains that the story feels less like a building momentum, and more like a series of interchangeable episodes with little connective tissue (with a few exceptions towards the end). And while hacking and beating up guards with a make shift tennis mace is entertaining, there's no escaping that "been there, done that" feeling that Grand Theft Auto perfected.

Watch Dogs 2, a review

Let me present you with a dilemma: You realize a game that sells well, but is panned by both critics and consumers alike. You create an open world sandbox game that's slightly different 'enough', but with a protagonist so thoroughly unlikeable and off-putting that even the hardcore fans are turned off by him. Obviously, as a developer and a publisher, you don't want to throw away this franchise since it'll make money but how do you lure fans back in with the criticisms in mind?

Ubisoft's answer: Get a new protagonist, put it in a different location and for the love of god, have some fun.

Following the events of Chicago, San Francisco becomes the next city to install the ctOS (central Operating System), which connects everyone with everything. Marcus Holloway (Ruffin Prentiss), an intelligent twenty-four year old hacker from Oakland, California, is punished for a crime he did not commit by the upgraded ctOS – ctOS 2.0 – which categorizes him as the suspect. Realizing the system covertly brings harm to the innocent citizens of San Francisco, he decides to work with the hacking group DedSec to take down the city's ctOS 2.0, and Blume, the company behind it.

Watch Dogs 2 wants to be the answer to the criticisms the original Watch Dogs recieved. Instead of a gruff and unlikeable lone wolf, we get a young and upbeat hacker and his group of buddies. Instead of the drab aesthetic of Chicago, Illinois, the game takes place in none other than San Francisco, California, tech sector of the World. And where the original game took itself so seriously, Niko Bellic would tell them to lighten the fuck up, the sequel becomes lighter, fluffier and almost satirical in its approach. From swipes to the tech sector, to Hollywood religious cults to hactivisim (Hacker activism), the new Watch Dogs wants to pull down the pants of the San Francisco culture, point at it, laugh and have a good time doing it.

Marcus joins DedSec and works with fellow hackers Sitara (Tasya Teles), Wrench (Shawn Baichoo), Horatio (Michael Xavier) and Josh (Jonathan Dubsky), and they begin using their skills to expose corrupt organizations and corporations that are secretly using stolen personal ctOS data for their own ends. The game begins with Marcus – known also by his hacker alias Retr0 – having an initiation test: deleting his own ctOS profile.

Even the optimization is 'better'. Where the last Watch Dogs had poor optimization and framerate issues, the new Watch Dogs has its framerate improved 'enough' to make it run smoother, faster and irons out a lot of the techical issues with the last one. It's not perfect; there are still instances where the game crashed on me and driving at high speeds can make the game pause momentarily, but it still runs better than expected.

So, it's unfortunate that the story, out of all the elements, feels like its the element that's most lacking. That's not to say Marcus and DedSec aren't fun to be around; I'll gladly share a beer with them anyday over Aiden Pearce. From geeking out to watching new trailers, to putting up web videos that are more like meme generators, to doing whatever heinous crime they do for their sake, DedSec is a lot of fun to be around. (I also got the sense that Marcus and company, while doing horrendous things, don't much care about what happens. Maybe this is intentional on Ubisoft's part, that the "heroes" of this tale are little more than millennial dipshits who think they're on the right side and use that to justify the multiple crimes they commit. I'll take self-parody over pretentious for its good).

It's that dreaded storytelling problem most video games have. Instead of being linked by a "but then"/"however", the story is linked through a series of "and thens". If the game knew this and allowed me to play a series of quests in any order I pleased before advancing the plot, it'd be one thing, but it's still stuck on following a linear mission order to get the job done (except for the end portion).

Just the same, the antagonists are lacking in this segment. Say what you will about Aiden Pearce's hypocritical dissent for justice, the antagonists were at least memorable.

And, no matter how much it's dressed up, there's no escaping that GTA gameplay structure. While there are some nice additions to the game, such as the ability to improve your skills by completing missions, side quests or battling on-line, as well as Marcus' uncanny ability to do multiple takedowns with a tennis ball and rope, it's still the same old, same old.

It's not that there isn't stuff to do in Watch Dogs 2. There's plenty of material to justify a 60 dollar purchase, from R/V races to hacking terminals or just flying your drone around. But, the Ubisoft open world formula has become tired at this point. And even with the much needed dressing down and satire of Silicon Valley, the Tech Sector and the Bay Area Culture, there's still not enough to keep, at least me personally, interest.

Who knows? Maybe Marcus' next adventure will be the one that truly breaks the mold.

Verdict: Rent it or get it on sale.

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