WATCH_DOGS 2
- Dec 3, 2016
- 7 min read
If you were a fan of the ideas found in the original WATCH_DOGS game, but didn’t necessarily feel its execution was done well enough, WATCH_DOGS 2 does a surprisingly good job of making up for that. Just as Ubisoft did with Assassin’s Creed II, WATCH_DOGS 2 feels like it takes on near enough every criticism gamers had with the first game to deliver a more polished, refined gameplay experience. From just a few hours in, WATCH_DOGS 2 identifies as the game everybody wanted from the start.
In with the New
Moving away from former series protagonist Aiden Pearce and over to Marcus Holloway, the sequel also changes its location, to the San Francisco Bay Area: an area far more noted for its technological achievements than that of Chicago. The city is bustling, bright and provides an ample amount of options for our budding hacker. The scenery is, at most times, just fantastic, as its clash between the busyness of the working city and the leisurely nature encompassing it brings forth a series of picturesque sights. The difference between the original and the sequel is night and day, it’s Marvel and DC: whereas Aiden’s story was drab, grey and erring on the side of Batman, Marcus’ focuses more on having fun, saving the day, and beating up the bad guys, like Spider-Man. Equipped with an excessively brightly-coloured weapon and your favourite outfit, you’ll take to the sun-soaked streets of San Francisco in style, to make it your playground.
However, as beautiful, and vibrant as WATCH_DOGS 2’s landscapes are, what lies underneath the enticing layer of gorgeousness is deceptively darker. San Francisco is in the midst of a battle between the digital freedom fighters and the powerful technology company Blume, and suffers from gang violence and political corruption, too. When it comes to confronting his enemies, Marcus’ arsenal of hacking intellect will often give the upper hand long before he feels the need to whip out a gun or get physical. However, should all else fail, Marcus certainly knows how to handle a weapon. Admittedly, it’s rather funny that Marcus and his hacker cohorts that is against anything to do with oppression and corruption, yet he’s more than OK to murder people who are simply just following orders. In some ways, I guess he’s kind of selfish. Unlike Aiden Pearce, Marcus isn’t doing this because of some personal vendetta, he’s just doing it because it’s what he wants. Honestly, the guy’s kind of a dick. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun.
Fight the System
When travelling throughout the open world you’ll be given your main story missions from your friends at DedSec, the hacker group that Marcus has recently joined. They’ll push missions to your phone through their app, and you’re free to do them when you want. As you’d expect they get tougher and tougher the further into the game you progress, but along the way you’ll unlock more abilities and gadgets to help you deal with the added pressure. Gaining experience rewards you with skill points that can then be spent on upgrading what Marcus can do. These range from vehicle-based, to hacking-based, to weapon-based and more. New gadgets are unlocked as you go through the story, and there are some toys to play around with. Don’t fancy fighting your way to the top of a building so that you can hack into a computer? No problem, just send up a quadcopter. Is there a gap too small for Marcus to fit through? Send under a remote controlled ‘Jumper’ to get to the goods inside. Your arsenal expands into wide variety of options and abilities as you progress, so you’ll often find there’s something new to try out.
When you’re not doing story missions, there are a number of side activities to revel in. Completing these will help you gain followers (as will doing story missions). The more followers you gain, the more powerful your hacking attacks can be. As it goes in the game, when you gain a follower, they download the DedSec app onto their phone, and this, in turn, gives you access to their phone’s processing power, which is needed for some of the more demanding hacks. More followers equals more phones, more phones equals more processing power, and more processing power better, more powerful hacking attacks. Hacking digital locks and security cameras is one thing, but with more computational power you’ll be able to things as awesome as hack into a crane. From time to time it’s a really good idea to boost your followers a bit; you can never quite be sure when you’ll want something with just a bit more oomph!
When you’re out and about, to see what is able to be played with, just enable Nethack mode. Nethack mode lets you view the world differently. Except for points of interest, which have their own unique colours, the screen turns into a fuzz of black and white, almost like digitised TV static. It really helps you pick out the area’s most interesting bits, whether they be hackable objects, interesting NPCs or enemies. Because Nethack mode also allows you to see through walls, it’s very useful for when you’re attempting an attack on a building crawling with armed guards.
Still, even with Nethack mode enabled, giving you a visual advantage, enemies can still prove to be challenging at times. In some instances it’s actually better to not fight, instead opting to be smarter than your enemy. Sending a call to a guard’s phone will distract them for long enough that you can sneak right past.
Take them head-on, though, and you may be up against it at times. Enemies, especially when they’re in a large group, genuinely prove to be tricky to manage. They aren’t bullet-sponges, but there were a few instances when I felt cheated due to an enemy staying alive after I’d emptied near enough a whole magazine into his chest.
WATCH_DOGS 2’s gunplay is fine, but it’s nothing extraordinary. Compared to the likes of other games in a similar genre, such as the incredibly popular Grand Theft Auto V, the shooting feels almost sub-par after seeing it done so much better. My biggest complaint comes from its aiming. The aiming, for me, felt too floaty. Even with sensitivity turned down, it felt almost too wild to be fully controlled. It does feel like the game urges the player to rely more on sneaking and outwitting the enemy during missions that to face them head-on.
If it gets too tough, an escape is almost always viable. Marcus has some brilliant parkour skills, making getting around the city really fun, and escaping from enemies exciting and thrilling. Though unrealistic, I was happy to see Marcus not hampered by an annoying stamina bar. There’s a nice level of freedom when it comes to traversing.
I Can't Wait for Driver-less Cars
Where parkour is one way to get around, vehicles are obviously the better choice for escaping police, who seem to show up very quickly after being alerted (if you don’t deal with the person making the phone call quickly), and generally going on larger trips. However, though they are the better choice, the driving really can be infuriating at times. For one, the amount of vehicles that control well is very nearly zero. They’re too wild, they turn too sharp and appear to float across the road. Accidentally bump into something solid, something that can’t be run down by the vehicle, and it overreacts like a footballer who just got tapped. Turning around a corner in a rural path I bumped the front of my car into a rock and it was like it bounced off a trampoline. You can only imagine how irritated I was when numerous police cars thrashed into my car during a getaway.
There is some saving grace in the game’s motorcycles, though, which handle far better than the cars, in my opinion. They’re not as floaty, they’re easier to control, but they’re less common on the roads, making any old passing car the best choice when trying to escape.
The seamless multiplayer from the original game returns (though it was absent at launch), with a couple of new additions, too. Should you wish to not be interrupted by other players you are free to opt out of seamless multiplayer, and I can see why some players will (having to stop what you’re doing just to deal with another player is something I can see annoying some players) but I did enjoy it. Hacking another player in their game and having a rush of adrenaline as attempt to blend in with the crowd, so as not to be spotted and profiled, was great. There’s also the ability to actually join police forces as they chase down an online player. Great fun when you’re doing it to someone else, not so great when you look behind you to find somebody new chasing you alongside the police.
If you’re more into hacking with people that against people there are a number of co-op missions that you can do. As with almost all online games, these are better played with friends, people that you actually know and can co-ordinate with. Playing online with other people is fine but it does often put the mission’s success in jeopardy as you cannot be sure how each player is going to handle the objective. It’s very irritating when you’re successfully sneaking around just for your co-hacker to come running in with guns, alerting the guards to your location.
My Verdict
WATCH_DOGS 2, though still a game or two of polishing away from being positioned alongside the likes of Grand Theft Auto, is still a great game that fans of the open-world, do-what-you-want genre will enjoy. Just as with Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft have recognised where they went wrong and have done a great job of making it closer to what players wanted from the very beginning. Its main irritations come from its driving and enemies that sit on the edge of being bullet-sponges, but ultimately, I enjoyed my time with the game.
8/10
WATCH_DOGS 2 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Reviewed on PlayStation 4.
Comments