are right back to stupid jokes and ridiculous slang.Īs for the hacking, I’m pleased with how it’s changed in the sequel.
#Watch dogs 2 review series#
There is one embarrassing and hackneyed series of missions in Oakland mid-game, but it’s quickly abandoned and afterward Marcus and Co. It’s pure bubblegum fluff, but at least it remembers not to take itself too seriously-for the most part. Watch Dogs 2 ditches the dour, cliché tale of vengeance for a lighthearted power fantasy where the hackers are party-hounds and outcasts fighting “The Man” for reasons that come straight out of a Marxist handbook. New protagonist Marcus is simply a hell of a lot more interesting than his predecessor, the Forever-Grumpy-And-Entirely-Forgettable Aiden Pearce, a character who’s only memorable (get ready for the paradox) because he’s so generic. Sometimes you’ll see pedestrians act out scenes together, but then you’ll see the same scene repeated later and it loses the magic. The people walking down the street don’t seem particularly smarter than Assassin’s Creed’s mobs-strangle a guy in front of them and half the time they’ll forget to react. But in Watch Dogs 2, I’d often see the little “ScoutX location nearby!” tag pop up on the GPS, slam on the brakes, and jump out to take a picture on the way to my next mission. In Assassin’s Creed, I’ve long since given up on grabbing every asinine treasure chest or dumb MacGuffin on my way to the finish line. I’ve advocated for that style of open-world storytelling in the past, and while I don’t think Watch Dogs 2 makes it all the way-there’s still definitely a central thread to follow-it gets pretty damn close.
#Watch dogs 2 review free#
You’ve got a character (Marcus) and an end-goal (overthrow the evil Blume corporation) but other than that you’re free to dabble in the story wherever you’d like. The result? Instead of feeling like a straightforward story with optional side activities, as in the ol’ Ubisoft Formula, Watch Dogs 2 feels more like a non-linear narrative.