Watch_Dogs 2

I'll start off this review by stating by apologies for it taking so long. There's always that one game from 2016 that takes me a while to get through and this one took especially long with the Holidays, busy work schedule, and the fact that I had a plethora of other fantastic games to sink time into. If that's not a first world problem, I don't know what is. 

Watch Dogs 2 is a game that has seemingly gone under the radar in recent months. Overall gamer displeasure with Ubisoft (which I think is completely unfounded) and a lukewarm reception to the first game (slightly more warranted) didn't have many people clambering to get their hands on this one. Throw in a hectic year-end slate of big AAA games and this, somewhat unsurprisingly, became the underdog, pun intended. 

I'm here to tell you that Watch Dogs 2 is well worth your time. In fact, I've only grown to love it more and more as I've played it. I don't think it would have made last year's Top 5 (keep in mind that's a list comprised of Uncharted 4, Titanfall 2, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 3, and Battlefield 1 so...yeah...competitive as hell), but it's a vastly improved game from the first. I actually was one of the biggest supporters of the original Watch Dogs too. I enjoyed the city of Chicago, the more serious tone, and the unique hacking abilities. It failed to deliver on several promises, but overall I think it did just enough to differentiate itself from the pack. It had a lot of room for improvement though and I was curious to see if Ubisoft would follow up their new IP with a mild upgrade or an improvement equivalent to that from when we transitioned from Assassin's Creed to Assassin's Creed 2. One was a shell of a grandiose idea that was fun, but flawed. The other was pretty much a classic and a fully realized vision of what everyone wanted the series to be. I had a strong gut feeling that the jump from Watch Dogs to Watch Dogs 2 would be similar. 

"#Selfie!! Haha OMG!!"

Sadly, it wasn't that radical of an increase in quality. Watch Dogs 2 still has some promises to be fulfilled and I question where the overall series' story is going (with the full disclaimer that I still have a few main missions left before I finish). However, it is a substantial improvement over the first game and I truly believe that many of that game's naysayers will enjoy this one. If you also had fun with the first, this will seem like an awesome improvement unless you hate the new cast of characters. 

How does a game series' core
gunplay get worse?

Shockingly, what Watch Dogs 2 does worst is something that I felt the first game did best: gunplay. I remember the first game being intuitive, easy to aim, and super satisfying to pull off stealth and headshots. With this sequel it feels like a radical departure. Either that or I've been spoiled by other 3rd person shooters since. Aiming feels loose and too often sticks to an enemy you don't want to. The aim assist aims for body mass, which is fine, but it's too sticky and hard to exit from. Sadly, the satisfying headshots from the first game are gone due partly to the aiming, but also because the stealth is different this time around. Yes, it may be harder, sure, but there was just...something. Something that was off. Enemies spot you really quickly and what's worse is that silenced weapons aren't all that silent. They'll attract attention. I get that's closer to real life, but sometimes half the fun is sneaking around and eliminating foes one by one. I rarely achieved that in WD2 and I'd like to think I'm pretty talented at stealth so to see the game drop the ball in this area was a huge bummer and hard to understand. Why did everything else improve and the single best aspect of the first game got worse?

While that may be the only outright "average" aspect to the game, I also found some issue with the cast of characters. They took a really long time to grow on me and I imagine that for others, they'll never get there. Being frank, they're all douche bags, 100%, and their conspiracy theory, anti-government, fight-the-man bulls**t waned on me quickly. Particularly because in the beginning that's all they talk about. As smaller moments of connections between characters emerged and we get to see their humorous interactions and familial ties, I began to accept them for who they were. This includes everyone from our main protagonist, Marcus, to a mask wearing anarchist, Wrench. For a while I enjoyed the man-bun, yoga-loving villain the most because at least he knew he was a douche and openly accepted it. I certainly didn't hate any of them as much as I did Trevor for most of the duration in GTA V (bring it on, haters), but they're annoying for too long. They are, however, far more interesting than the previous game's protagonist, Aiden Pearce. He was a badass, sure, but boring as all hell. This new crew is colorful, filled with attitude, and certainly part of our # and selfie generation, for better or worse. 

You could say the game shoots for the stars... Ba-dun-dun!

Luckily, their story is pretty entertaining. It's simple -- they want to attack an information company because of their shady back-door secrets -- and it leads to some great side characters, resolutions, and plot twists. I was very invested in it all and, at somewhat of a shock to me, able to follow along. Along with the main story are some awesome, self-contained side missions that can sometimes be a single mission or a string of several. One of the most memorable revolves around saving a movie star from a Scientology-like resort, breaking into their HQ church, stealing secrets, and revealing those secrets to bring the whole church down. Obviously there is a ton of room for commentary here and Watch Dogs 2 does a good job of applying commentary where it knows it can be effective. It's hard to compete with a little game called Grand Theft Auto when it comes to mocking our society and the developers at Ubisoft recognize this, picking their battles appropriately and delivering some funny, some poignant, and some serious moments. It also helps the game differentiate itself from being a GTA clone. 

The world WD2 resides in is also a huge upgrade. For starters, San Fransisco and the Bay Area (including areas like Oakland and Silicon Valley) is freaking awesome. It's not massive by this generation's standards (or by GTA's), but it is the most "lived in" open world I've experienced since The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V. It feels alive, especially when you're in the city itself. There are people everywhere, vehicles, conversations, phones ringing, and a lot of fun/funny-to-watch random events. At one point I watched a random gang war that I was completely un-involved in (I swear I didn't start it!) and another time I saw a pedestrian run over a motorcyclist in their car (rag doll physics FTW), the cops were right behind them, began to chase them, and the idiot took off on foot! But perhaps the best moment was when I was playing while my girlfriend -- talking about real life now, guys -- was doing some reading next to me. I was walking around Nudle HQ (a knock-off of Google), passed a man and gently brushed his shoulder, and he ripped total ass. For a second I thought the fart came from me, then maybe from her, and she thought it was for sure me. A second later we heard the AI man on screen apologize for the flatulent and we were both hysterically laughing like children. The point being that, often times with open world games, the game is truly only as good as the world it resolves in. You can't have a fantastic game in a boring open-world. Watch Dogs 2 nails its open world and the location change to a still-unexplored American city was genius and adds a new layer of discovery to the game. Cool things like landmarks, both official and unofficial, are tracked, and there are a lot of sites to see in the well-organized map. It's one of the game's biggest strengths and for open-world games, that's huge.

I desperately hoped you could climb
the Golden Gate Bridge. And you can!

I described the gun-specific gameplay earlier and it's easily the weakest of the several different areas. Driving, a poorly implemented facet in the first game, is somewhat improved here. Having just come off playing many hours of Forza Horizon 3, I'm giving WD2 the benefit of the doubt. The driving is fine, but any radical maneuvers or drifting and it's a mess. Car's backends slide out as if they're on surfaces of butter and it often takes way too long to get control of your car back. For most driving though, it suffices. On foot transportation is highly different and parkour is now an element of our protagonist. I'll admit, the button combination to run+parkour is awkward, but once you get the hang of it, it's nearly flawless and a decent amount of fun. It makes Marcus feel more versatile. Adding to that sensation is the absolute genius idea, and dare I say the game's best element, of adding "toys" to his arsenal. Pressing left or right on the D-pad releases either a jumping RC car or a quadcopter drone, each of which has unique abilities and can scout the terrain. Each of these controls like a dream, especially the drone, and will quickly become your best friends. Their introduction seems to be the replacement for the game's failed stealth elements and the environment utilizes both of them for some very clever and fun puzzles. They help make the game better far more than any small choice like that should and I honestly can't imagine playing it without them at this point.

The game is technically impressive as well, even if the graphics won't be anything like Uncharted 4. Characters are detailed, as are the environments, and I rarely noticed pop-in issues or graphical hiccups. The framerate got choppy on me a couple times when a lot started happening, but other than that, this is a very good looking open-world game. Outside of the main city, things get a little bland, but overall the combination of day/night cycle, weather, people, vehicles, and just about everything else are enough to make you believe you're running around in the Bay Area. Sound is also impressive with most of the sound effects of hacking carrying over from the original. Again, the weakest area here are the guns -- they sound awfully generic -- but everything else is fine. And the soundtrack is often pretty awesome with a really strong tracklist that'll have you "favorite"-ing songs. 

Drones FTW!

Yeah it's a purple Cadillac. I stole it.
What of it, punk?

Lastly is multiplayer. It was one of the strongest assets in the first game as it was highly unique and surprisingly intense. I haven't put nearly as much time into it this go-round, but the times I've played have mostly been great fun. The game's less organic multiplayer avenues are almost a bust. Performing random, no-description missions often loads you in alone and then you're likely to get someone who goes in guns-blazing. But the two more organic modes that flow in and out of playing by yourself or not are something special. Bounty Hunt tasks you with hunting down a wild player. Basically if someone starts playing WD2 and says, "I just want to screw around and fight the police", they'll eventually get enough stars to where they enter your "world" and you can hunt them down with the police for points. Secretively hacking each other is the returning game mode and it's still a blast. Moments when I was informed I'd been "invaded" were immediately intense and I'd frantically search for the culprit. When I'd be on the other side I'd often cringe as the enemy player desperately searched for me and got close a few times, but laugh as you could tell they were going insane. It's obvious that no-one is picking this game up for the MP alone, but it's nice to have and it's even nicer to have some thoughtfulness behind it too.

I'm bummed that Watch Dogs 2 seems to be doing poorly from a sales perspective. I get it -- it really should have released at a different, less busy time of year. Personally, I enjoy this series and I'd love to see it continue. I think a fully realized game in this franchise could be a, pun intended, game changer for the open-world genre. Meanwhile, we're left with a game that doesn't quite reach that potential, but is a marked, welcome, and substantial improvement over the first game in nearly every way. 

CONS:

• The gun-based gameplay has taken a decent step backward. Surprising coming from Ubisoft as The Division did this so well. The aiming is too sticky and guns feel weak
• Overall stealth is also awful -- again surprising coming from Ubisoft. Silenced weapons will sometimes alert enemies and there isn't much of a grace period if someone sees you
• Performing any type of drift maneuver in a vehicle feels like you're driving on butter or ice
• Fairly annoying characters until you get to know them better. This takes too long
• Some slow-down when things get hectic
• Certain MP modes are far better (and more fun) than others
• Weak gun sound effects

PROS:

• Marcus is an improved protagonist and the cast of characters is eventually one that you'll enjoy and want to see where the story goes
• Straight-forward, easy to follow story 
• Improved controls in several areas including on-foot and driving
• San Fransisco and the Bay Area is one of my favorite open-worlds in quite some time
• This is a living, breathing, and active world -- one of the best that Ubisoft has done
• Contains many, many landmarks and makes exploration fun
• Features random interactions and observations -- a lot of which are funny
• The RC car and drone were the game's single best addition. The drone in particular became probably my most used item, more so than any gun or hacking device
• Has some really unique main missions and some unconnected, but still fun side missions. Good variety overall
• Great graphics for an open-world game. There's a lot of detail and things generally look realistic
• Awesome soundtrack
• With this huge leap in improvement, I'm excited to see where the next game takes us 

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10