Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Watch Dogs 2 --- Watch Dogs Franchise Review (Updated 7/2/18)

  1. #1
    TheDarkKnight's Avatar Compliance will be rewarded
    Moderator Emeritus Content Emeritus Administrator Emeritus

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    The good (not South) part of the USA
    Posts
    11,632
    Blog Entries
    12

    Default Watch Dogs 2 --- Watch Dogs Franchise Review (Updated 7/2/18)


    Watch_Dogs (2014)

    Watch Dogs A year ago, Aiden Pearce attempted to commit electronic robbery at a fancy hotel in the heart of Chicago. His attempt was discovered, but he escaped, and decided to leave the city for a while and go on a family trip with his niece and nephew. Two hired hitmen, under orders from an unknown entity, track down Aiden’s route and fires a single shot, causing Aiden to crash, and leaving his young niece dead. Knowing the blood is partially on his own hands, Aiden must find out who is responsible, and will use any means necessary to do so. With his phone and his skills, Aiden Pearce will bring the criminal underworld of Chicago to its knees.
    Watch Dogs brings the player to Ubisoft’s vision of Chicago, a city torn by crime and corruption. But recently a new system, known as ctOS, has been established in the city. The system is designed to connect everyone to everything, including security cameras, personal information, traffic lights and barriers, and much more. As an open world game, Watch Dogs features a nicely sized world that consists of the high rises of downtown Chicago to the docks and slums of the city to the suburbs and a small amount of countryside. Within this open world, Chicago becomes the playground of Aiden.
    The main draw of Watch Dogs, and the thing that Ubisoft marketed the game on, is the ability to hack. Aiden is able to hack into many things, notably cameras, computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. But where his abilities are truly at their greatest is his ability to hack into the city itself The system known as ctOS may have made it easier for the city government to keep the crime low, but it also made the city and its systems vulnerable to Aiden and other hackers. And the hack ability is both fun and incredibly practical, leading Aiden to be able to disrupt communications, aid his escape by disabling vehicles with blockers or blowing up steam pipes underneath roads, disable helicopters, and many other things. Its usefulness cannot be overstated; hacking must be utilized in order to complete your objectives, especially escaping from the police, because shoot outs with the police only harm your reputation and can give you problems later down the line. The most extreme form of hacking is also the most fun: the blackout. While unfortunately (and obviously) only useful at night, the blackout function spreads confusion among Aiden’s enemies, and allows him to either escape unnoticed or take everyone out while they are confused. All of this is accomplished through Aiden’s smartphone, which is tied into the city infrastructure. This hacking element is fun, and while perhaps not as revolutionary for some, a refreshing change in open world gameplay that really adds a degree of depth to chases and combat that few games can really compare to.

    There are other aspects of gameplay that are noteworthy as well. Combat is fast and fluid, and comes with a variety of weapons and tools that Aiden can use in his pursuit of answers and vengeance. In addition to lethal weapons, Aiden also has the use of a collapsible baton that he uses for non-lethal takedowns, a requirement in some cases where lethality is punished with failure. Driving a variety of cars and other vehicles is also available for travel, and that will be discussed later. Where the game also shines, in addition to the hacking, is the missions and other things available to do. The missions are incredibly varied, all relying on Aiden (and the player) to use a variety of hacking, combat, and sometimes stealth in order to achieve the objective. There was not a single mission that felt like it was rehashing a previous mission, which is a nice change of pace from other games. There are also a variety of side activities that are not only fun but help give Aiden valuable experience that can be used in unlocking new hideouts and skills that are necessary for the game. These skill points can aid Aiden in driving, combat, and crafting. Crafting is another interesting element to the gameplay, which allows Aiden to build weapons as well as the necessary hacking tools (such as blackout, which are single uses and he must craft more). Another fine element to the gameplay is the enemy AI. Fans of the Assassin's Creed games know that guards in those games can be just plain awful at their jobs of guarding. In Watch Dogs, if Aiden makes enough of a ruckus or leaves a body to be found by other guards, the guards will actively search for intruders. And in combat, the AI will attempt to flank Aiden in order to gain the upper hand. This can be a bit frustrating, but does add a bit of realism to the game. Finally, the game has impressive weather effects; not so much on the PS3, but after observing them on PS4 and PC, I must say I am impressed with the effort that went into making the game have realistic storms and such.

    While this game is incredibly fun and for the most part a well-polished game, there are two major things that should be criticized. For one, the driving mechanic, in my opinion, is a major weakness of the game. It is as if Ubisoft threw car physics out the window, and it is, in my opinion, incredibly annoying. Cars do not behave as they should, especially when hitting obstacles or other cars, and they sometimes act like these obstacles barely even exist when you hit them. Now, it could be because Ubisoft wanted the player to focus on the other aspects of the game, but when it comes to a large game like this realistic driving, I feel, is a must, especially in the age of Grand Theft Auto. Another major thing I should criticize is the graphics. I’m playing this on PS3, and while I am aware the system is inferior to the new consoles and obviously PC, the game should definitely look better than it does. It still looks nice, but comparing it to the newer consoles makes it clear that the Playstation 3 and possibly the 360 version were given very low priority when it comes to making use of what their hardware is still capable of; this is again in comparison to Grand Theft Auto, whose recent game looked quite stunning even on such old hardware. It also occasionally suffers from the occasional shadow glitch that has plagued Assassin’s Creed over the past couple of years, which is somewhat disappointing. There is also a very minor amount of performance issues that are not game breaking but still frustrating considering the large delay that Watch Dogs received. There are also a variety of glitches that are present in the game, the most annoying of which is the disappearing civilian glitch, which involves civilians disappearing occasionally when the player moves the camera away from them and then back. This can be frustrating when trying to hack people, but other than that it is not a terrible glitch. One more minor thing is the use of some of the characters: while all of the characters are, in my opinion, incredibly interesting, several of them seem somewhat underused, or pushed to only a minor background role in the game, consisting of mostly interaction through phone calls. The most obvious example of this is Aiden’s partner Jordi Chin, who is absolutely hilarious to listen to but is unfortunately only physically present in only a little bit of the game. This is also a problem for other characters, who mostly interact with Aiden through phone calls. Perhaps I am being a bit harsh in comparing this game to Grand Theft Auto V, but coming on the heels of it I feel that the two main problems, or at least the driving mechanics, needs to be heavily improved on if they are to make this into a franchise, which I fully expect they will.
    Overall, I feel like the positives far outweigh the negatives. The game, at least in my opinion, has an amazing story and an amazing cast of characters who are wonderfully voice acted. A lot of the criticism is aimed at Aiden as a character, how he is unlikable and not even close to heroic. In all honesty, it is refreshing to play as a non-heroic character, as that opportunity only comes along rarely. The game is incredibly varied, including profiles of every single NPC you will see, with a large amount of different descriptions, occupations, and even ages that lead to very few “clones” in the game. The game AI is also pretty good, leading the police and other enemies to try to box Aiden in during chases and enemies attempting to flank or force Aiden out of cover with grenades during shootouts. The soundtrack is also pretty good, if minimal, and really heightens the mood and sense of urgency during key sequences. I have not had a chance to play much of multiplayer, but having been invaded once I will say that it is an absolute thrill trying to find the person hacking you. With everything there is available to do and see, Watch Dogs is certainly a worthy buy. Whereas it may not be everything that people were hoping to see, it is still an incredible game worthy of your time. And its franchise potential is something to look forward to.

    8.7/10


    Figured it was time to post this here after its time in Gamer's Gazette. Finally, right?

    Perhaps in hindsight this was a bit too generous of a score but I stand by it. I had fun and enjoyed the story, and the score reflects those feelings.

    In time I will probably get this on PS4 and I might write a short update for this to reflect my experiences on that. And I will eventually finish Watch_Dogs: Bad Blood DLC and add a review for that.
    Things I trust more than American conservatives:

    Drinks from Bill Cosby, Flint Michigan tap water, Plane rides from Al Qaeda, Anything on the menu at Chipotle, Medical procedures from Mengele

  2. #2
    Sir Adrian's Avatar the Imperishable
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Nehekhara
    Posts
    17,363

    Default Re: Watch Dogs Review

    Added
    Under the patronage of Pie the Inkster Click here to find a hidden gem on the forum!


  3. #3
    TheDarkKnight's Avatar Compliance will be rewarded
    Moderator Emeritus Content Emeritus Administrator Emeritus

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    The good (not South) part of the USA
    Posts
    11,632
    Blog Entries
    12

    Default Re: Watch Dogs Review


    Watch_Dogs 2 (2016)

    Hacker. It's a switch on your fears, fear of the other. They tried to isolate you. It's called divide and conquer, and they tricked you into thinking it's what you asked for. To keep you controlled and ignorant. They used ctOS to track you, to predict your behavior, to keep you in your place. They lied to you and we promised to expose them and show you the truth. We invited you to join us and you did. You said with one voice: 'we will not be lied to. We will not be afraid. We will not be silent.'
    -Marcus Holloway

    Following the deadly events in Chicago and the destruction caused by Aiden Piece upon all who wronged him, San Francisco and the surrounding cities in the Bay Area have become the next region to install ctOS (central Operating System), which connects everyone with everything. Using this new system, the local governments hope that crime and other issues will fall.Young hacker Marcus Holloway was punished for a crime he did not commit by the upgraded ctOS – ctOS 2.0 – which categorized him as the suspect in the supposed crime. Never really standing up for anything, Marcus realizes that the new system only brings harm to those it is claimed to protect. Wanting to see it brought down, he decides to work with the hacking group DedSec to take down the ctOS 2.0 and Blume, the company behind it. Along the way, he will expose the corruption of the corporations of the Silicon Valley, the law enforcement agencies of the big cities, and bring light to the citizens of the Bay Area of the harm this new world can inflict on them.
    Watch Dogs 2 returns the player to the United States that has been corrupted by the corporation Blume, this time a few months after the events of the first game. The ctOS program has been upgraded and is being tested around the country in new cities.The system is designed to connect everyone and everything, including security cameras, personal information, traffic lights and barriers, and much more. In Watch Dogs 2, the player’s playground consists of Ubisoft’s vision of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region full of hope, technology, crime, and contention. As an open world game, Watch Dogs 2 features a very large world that consists of the high rises of San Francisco and Oakland, the sleepy and affluent Marin, to the technological powerhouse of Silicon Valley and everything in between. The world is not a perfect representation of the Bay Area, a place that I grew up in and live not far from now, but as a general representation of it I find it is more than suitable. It nearly perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere and culture of the area, possibly even to a better degree than Chicago was represented in the first game, though this might just be because I am more aware of Bay Area culture than Chicago. I was even pleasantly surprised to find that my hometown was mentioned on signs (but not seen) within the game. This world is vast and beautiful, and can take hours to fully explore. The world looks absolutely gorgeous and visually stunning on the newer systems and PC, no longer being held back by releasing the game on the older consoles.
    There are some issues with the world, in my opinion. For one, I feel like the world is too large for the story that is being told, and the locations are generally wasted. Every location besides San Francisco is hardly utilized fully in my opinion, and are only occasionally visited over the course of the story. This can often be a problem with open world games, but it was hardly an issue in the first Watch Dogs, where I felt every area of the game was utilized very well. It is just a shame to see so much work go into these areas only to have them be relatively ignored outside of maybe multiplayer and the side missions. In addition, there is a relative lack of people on the streets. Anyone that has spent any time in San Francisco or the Bay Area in general knows how crowded it can get, and to have so few people reduces the atmosphere somewhat, especially since there were plenty of people walking around Chicago in the first game. There were also a few technical issues when it comes to loading things such as unnecessary pop in on things that were not that far away It’s a minor issue, but something that Ubisoft should consider fixing in the next game. Overall, while the world is really interesting and large, I kind of wish they concentrated their efforts on just the San Francisco Peninsula and left out Oakland. It is not really used much, and it would have allowed the creators to increase the size and detail of San Francisco and the surrounding areas. Of course it would have led to more things being cut out but I think the tighter focus would have been much better for the world they were creating. Regardless of this opinion, I cannot deny how vast and beautiful the world we DID get ended up being.



    Getting around this beautiful world has never been easier. The driving mechanics, a huge criticism I had in the previous game, have been drastically improved on. I absolutely hated the driving mechanics in Watch Dogs, and in this game there are few if any issues present. And there is such a lovely amount of things that can be driven: cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, quads, and even boats. There are still some minor issues such as driving bikes (it takes a LOT to throw Marcus off his bike) as well as absolutely terrible handling in some cars beyond what is to be expected in a game with a variety of vehicles. However, it is a step in the right direction for the Watch Dogs franchise. In addition, Marcus can use some minor parkour skills to get around the city quickly and reach new heights that Aiden simply could not.

    Like the first game, the primary draw of Watch Dogs 2 and the thing that Ubisoft marketed the game on is the ability to hack the world in which you play. Like Aiden in the first game, Marcus is able to hack into many things throughout the world using his cell phone. His most notable targets include cameras, computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. In addition to these abilities, Marcus can also hack into the city systems itself. The upgraded ctOS 2.0 may have made it easier for the Bay Area to keep the crime and other issues at an all time low, but the vulnerabilities it opens up for Marcus and his cohorts to abuse the system leads to issues for the government and Blume. The ability to hack both large and small systems is both fun and incredibly practical for Marcus. These abilities can help him aid his escape by using barriers and blowing up steam pipes, disabling pursuit vehicles, and many other things. Its usefulness cannot be overstated; hacking must be utilized in order to complete your objectives, especially escaping from the police. However this time around there is no loss of reputation in shooting the police (or civilians, for that matter), so it isn’t entirely necessary for Marcus to do such. Marcus can also directly control cars such as forcing them to break or turn, which is incredibly helpful during police chases. All of this is accomplished through Marcus’ smartphone. Helping Marcus are two different little robots that can help him hack from the air and in hard to reach places on the ground, which is a mechanic that was carried over from the Bad Blood DLC for the first game. This hacking element is fun, and while perhaps not as revolutionary as the first game now, it is still a fun and useful mechanic. I’m disappointed that Ubisoft removed much of the need for using hacking by eliminating reputation issues for killing, but more on that later.



    Combat in Watch Dogs 2 has improved over its predecessor. Fighting in the game is fast as well as varied, with Marcus able to utilize a large variety of weapons at his disposal. This time around, Marcus can use two different styles of weapons, with ones that can be picked up in game from fallen enemies, or new guns that can be made using a 3D printer that DedSec has. While each gun that can be printed has their benefits ultimately they don’t really make a huge difference in comparison to the regular guns, so it ultimately does not matter much which weapons you choose; the cool DedSec weapons or the plain old regular ones. The one exception are the special weapons with different abilities, which are worthwhile to purchase and make if you intend on doing the large variety of side missions. In addition to lethal weapons, Marcus also has the use of an improvised melee weapon that he uses for non-lethal takedowns, a requirement in some missions or activities. In addition, Marcus has the use of a taser for ranged non-lethal takedowns, which was a criticism I had in the previous game. All told, Marcus’ combat abilities are refined and varied, and like its predecessor Watch Dogs 2 has no shortage of combat opportunities that can be both fun and challenging. However, there are some issues with combat that I will discuss later.
    The missions of Watch Dogs 2 are incredibly varied, all relying on Marcus to use a variety of hacking, combat, and sometimes stealth in order to achieve the objective. Like the previous game, there was not a single mission that felt like it was rehashing a previous mission. The missions are incredibly outlandish at times as well, and while they may be frustrating to accomplish sometimes they are still fun to beat. Ubisoft has really nailed down missions that make good use of stealth, combat, and puzzle solving, and I think that with continued growth the mechanic could be nearly perfected by the next game. The only issue that I have with the missions are the plot holes (in my opinion) that pop up. A perfect example of this is a mission where you infiltrate a facility that is about to launch a satellite into space. Your primary mission is to upload a program and attach an object to the satellite to be able to exploit it. It’s a fun mission that is the culmination of a chain of them, but it has a problem. It is one of the few missions in the game where I feel like even leaving a single guard or scientist dead or knocked out should lead to the failure in the mission, as logistically any incident at such a highly secured facility would lead to the security forces scrubbing the whole facility looking for the reason why. It is not a huge issue, but it is something that, in my opinion, should have been considered when writing the mission and addressing its parameters.

    While there are side activities and missions in the game, I am disappointed that a lot of the fun ones from Watch Dogs were removed. There are some interesting ones still, but what made the first game so much fun were the varied and numerous side activities that helped boost reputation by ridding Chicago of criminal elements and also helped Aiden in many ways. I assume that much of the reason is because that reputation was removed, but in doing so it makes it clear that the protagonists in the game are not as interested in eliminating issues in the Bay Area like Aiden was in Chicago. It does not make a lot of sense to me since Marcus’ reason for taking this journey of his is to help people, while Aiden’s was motivated by revenge. For Marcus to not have the ability or will to help the city and the people through the side activities and missions that are designed for that purpose is an unfortunate mark on this game’s lasting appeal. The rest of the side missions and activities are fine, and they even have their own chains of missions that tell their own stories. But it just is not the same in my opinion. Hopefully the issue will be corrected in future installments as this just feels like a massive step back. Combining the new types of side activities with the old would be a good direction to go, and hopefully that will be what happens along with new games as welll.
    The story, unfortunately, is where the game mostly loses me. While the missions are fun, the story overall is a big let down. The game is less serious than before, and while it is more fun at times I find the omission of the seriousness present in the predecessor game to be a large problem. In addition, Marcus is a weak protagonist in terms of motivation, in my opinion, as is his DedSec cell in San Francisco. In the previous game, I could totally dig the “lone wolf” style protagonist in Aiden, who was out for revenge and used the city systems for just that. In this game, I feel like the whole message of DedSec and Marcus is lost amongst missions that are just there to cause chaos or embarrass Blume. In addition, the DedSec cell presented in this game feels like just a bunch of whiny and entitled teenagers or young adults who just want to have some fun and make some noise. This is completely different from the DedSec that was presented in the first game. In that game, they felt like a potentially terrifying, mysterious force that was deep underground and ready to strike against the heart of the Blume corporation. One can certainly argue that since it is a different group of hackers they are bound to have different personalities, which is fair. But I feel like the DedSec cell concentrated in the Bay Area of all places should be far more engaging and intimidating than what we got. Not even the addition of T-Bone from the first game saves the story, in my opinion. It is a shame that this part of the game is such a significant step backwards, but hopefully the eventual sequel will rectify that.
    Related to this and just as important is just the overall mission structure and how each piece fits into the story. Again, the missions are fun, but something is missing. With the previous game, each part of the story felt like it had a purpose, a message. But Watch Dogs 2 has little to none of that. And when you lost someone in Watch Dogs, it felt like it affected the story. Here, even losing a relatively major character had little to no impact on me, though it was admittedly surprising. This series of criticisms could partly stem from my general annoyance with hackers and “hacktivist” culture, so I will admit that this may be coming from a point of bias. But I still do generally feel that the story and point of the game, while not terrible, is simply not as good as the previous game. Even the villain is hardly intimidating compared to the previous game's antagonist, which is again a major step backwards. The tonal shift between the two games have simply not done it any favors in my opinion; it’s more fun now, but less serious, I find the lack of seriousness to be a problem since the ctOS issue was firmly established to be a serious problem in the universe of the franchise.

    Another problem that I feel ties into the larger issues of the game has to be the loss of the reputation mechanic. In the previous game Aiden was limited in the degree of destruction he could wreck by his reputation. If Aiden killed too many civilians or police, even accidentally, his reputation would fall and lead to civilians being more likely to call the police on him. The only way to rebuild your reputation was by doing good deeds. In this game, though, Marcus is free to kill cops and civilians without fear of reprisal or issues regarding his public perception. While for many players who want to simply create havoc, this is a good thing. But in terms of the game, it makes no sense. DedSec (and Marcus) are supposed to be the good guys, and while they have their own issues with the “system”, I feel that being able to freely target those that have nothing to do with it runs contrary to their goals. Their should be a form of punishment for that. The mechanic also made it in the past so that the player and Aiden had to be creative with escape opportunities...now you can simply blow up everyone and run. It’s not nearly as fun in my opinion, and again, feels like a contradiction to the goals of the protagonists of the game.

    Some other things that are worthy of consideration for this game. The skill progression is still engaging, and illustrates how Marcus grows his skills over the course of the game. While it is entirely possible to beat the game with few of the skills, it is far more fun to go through the skill tree to become a better hacker and fighter. The enemy AI remains pretty challenging, which was one of the positives I discussed in my review of the previous game. It has even been improved on, and while I would not say the game is overly challenging throughout the whole game, the AI is certainly advanced enough to make you have to think during missions, and are also very competent at flanking maneuvers and other tactics. The weather effects for the game are pretty though for some reason does not look as good as the first game, which is disappointing considering the fiasco concerning Watch Dog’s graphical issues. There are also other things as well that are concerning while playing the game. For whatever reason, the game STILL suffers from the occasional shadow glitch that has plagued Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry off and on over the past few years, which is somewhat disappointing. It is much less than the previous game but it still does pop up occasionally, and will hopefully be fixed in Watch Dogs 3 if they manage to bring the game to the new engine standards set out in the more recent Assassin’s Creed games. There are also some technical glitches that have since been patched out, but are nonetheless frustrating to have experienced.
    Despite my issues with the game, I still find it to have been a solid experience overall. It is certainly a fun game, has some solid mechanics, and overall a technically fine game. There have been some big improvements in the gameplay mechanics that were sorely needed, but it seems to have come at a cost of relative realism and a good story. It is a shame, because the first game set such good groundwork for the franchise. Luckily it is still recoverable, and if they learn from their mistakes (or at least, what I feel to be mistakes) in this game I can see myself returning for more. The overall plot of the franchise so far has fascinated me, and one relatively minor pitfall will not lose them a fan in me. With everything you can do in the game, Watch Dogs 2 is certainly worthy of your time, and I think everyone should give this game a chance if they enjoyed the first game.
    8/10




    ----------------------------

    Figured it was time to bring this to my "franchise review thread", though this will be the last installment for the one as I will not be reviewing anything further on this one.
    Things I trust more than American conservatives:

    Drinks from Bill Cosby, Flint Michigan tap water, Plane rides from Al Qaeda, Anything on the menu at Chipotle, Medical procedures from Mengele

  4. #4

    Default Re: Watch Dogs 2 --- Watch Dogs Franchise Review (Updated 7/2/18)

    That was a great read man! Appreciate the review, I played Watch Dogs 1 but never got the time to get around Watch Dogs 2, I might play it soon though.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •