Let me just be clear here, I was actually looking forward to this game. I thought it'd be the improvement that the expected series would need. Around the time Bad Blood was released for the first Watch Dogs game, I was a bit on edge about the direction the series was going in. But not only was Watch Dogs 2 the unnecessary sequel that many were thinking it would be; it might've just been worse. Watch Dogs 2 is repetitive, unfinished, and one of the most horribly unfocused games I've seen in quite a while.
Remember how all of Watch Dogs' detractors were going on and on about how it's just a pale imitation of Grand Theft Auto? Well it seems that Ubisoft took that a bit too seriously because Watch Dogs 2 is literally just GTA 5 with a Watch Dogs skin slapped on it. Sure, Watch Dogs 2 takes us to the beautiful vista of San Francisco, but that's about as far as visual aesthetics go. The textures look like an early 7th generation console game and it all just complements the cartoony atmosphere in a negative way. The game tries so desperately to deviate from the original's dark tone so much to a point where it feels like some sort of wacky sitcom from the mid-90's.
Now let's talk about the story and characters for a bit. The game follows Marcus Holloway, aka obnoxious token black kid. He's kind of a centre of criticism for me because of how badly written he is. I wouldn't mind too much except the fact that this is Ubisoft we're talking here. These guys made the fucking Assassin's Creed games, where many of the protagonists are foreign people. How did they suddenly fuck up writing a black character? Seriously the whole game his mannerisms just scream "I'M BLACK CAN'T YOU TELL?" and it's rather disappointing given the racial diversity message this game was aiming at. But instead of a black man, Marcus feels more like what a white guy thinks black men are like when they're not being painted as thugs and hoodlums. His story is that he was framed for a crime he never committed, except not really because he was guilty of a crime when he was 11 but the ctOS system is retrying him for it. So it's up to him and his friends, who are way better characters btw, to help clear his name. Oh did I mention that's only like a fifth of the story? No really, the rest of the game is just spend doxxing and wrongly attributing other people that Marcus doesn't like because I guess hypocrisy is fun now.
And the gameplay, my god the gameplay. Watch Dogs 2 is legit a duck and cover shooter. Not a good one either. First, the actual story can be completed in 8 hours. I'm not joking there. In 8 hours, you're done. The first game took at least a week and a half to beat. Instead of doing what The Division did in terms of making the missions challenging, Watch Dogs 2 thinks it can try and pull a fast one by "letting you play your own way", which is a total lie because the game punishes you for doing anything other than what it secretly wants you to do. Oh look at all these ways I can do the mission! Except why would I choose any method other than the one that actually is effective? The stealth mechanics? They're not much better. If you're spotted, everyone in the bloody area automatically knows your location, even if you're in a giant building. You can say it's because of their tech, but given how the only way to lose enemies is to leave the AO, that's not stealth, that's cat and mouse. Back to the shooting. This time around, Marcus is a fucking pincushion in contrast to Aiden being a bullet sponge. There's no balance here. If a bunch of enemies are raining down on you, you're pretty much forced behind cover otherwise you're dead in seconds.
The hacking elements are a slight step up from the last game, but even then it's still the same old "push a button to fuck around" routine. You have more options this time and can select up to 3 things to do with a hackable item. Unfortunately, most of the options are inconsequential. Drive a car forward? Why would I need to do that? Which leads me to the driving. It's slightly better but the vehicles are still incredibly hard to control and are barely durable. They still don't allow you to shoot from your car, which is a shame since that's one thing that would've definitely been a good addition.
And since this is a feminist blog, I think it's time we talked about the women in this game. One criticism against the first game was the poor representation of the female characters. Only 2 types of woman existed: the damsel in distress, and the strong character that gets killed like a punk. Watch Dogs 2 gave us Sitara, and holy fuck did we get cheated. She mostly takes a back seat and just plays music for Marcus when she's capable of so much more. I was thinking to myself, why wasn't SHE the protagonist? That aside, Watch Dogs 2 introduces female enemies like security guards and police officers, which is kinda cool. That is until I came to the realisation that I'm just gunning these women down or bashing their skulls in with an 8 ball. That was, discomforting, to say the least.
Speaking of that, one thing I honestly did not care for was their advertisement of moral choices. The first game had these already, and it made sense in the narrative because you were playing as a vigilante. Why are they bigging this up now? Will there be more than what we were given in Watch Dogs 1? Lol nope, it's the same thing. The only "choice" you have is to use take downs instead of guns, and that makes no sense since non lethal take downs still involve the enemy being hit with moves that would kill them. Why am I being told that I have moral choices when the only options I have are to be a complete cyber terrorist or a sleuthing batterer?
Then there's the online, which was a huge letdown. Watch Dogs 1 had a terrible online component, so them saying Watch Dogs 2's online component would be an improvement made me a bit giddy. But instead of doing what GTA 5 did, all they gave us was the ability to dress Marcus a different way and do game modes like Team Deathmatch or kill each other on the street in the open world. How am I supposed to feel like my individual self if all my fellow players are the same guy? That's like if Metal Gear Online made everyone play as Snake with absolutely no individuality. You might as well just fuck around in the single player because there's nothing worth doing in the online mode.
Watch Dogs 1 had a pretty deep story that was complemented by adequate gameplay. Here we have mediocre gameplay with a story that barely tries, and that's not what an open world video game is a supposed to be like. Watch Dogs 1 left an influx of emotions through every player, with all of them hoping to see what was next for them, and to see it followed up with this is so disheartening. This is one of the most disappointing games I've played since Duke Nukem Forever, and I'm not even exaggerating. I may be in the minority here, but truth is, when Ubisoft announces a third game in the Watch Dogs series, the one thing I'll be thinking to myself is "at least it can't be as bad as Watch Dogs 2".
Now let's talk about the story and characters for a bit. The game follows Marcus Holloway, aka obnoxious token black kid. He's kind of a centre of criticism for me because of how badly written he is. I wouldn't mind too much except the fact that this is Ubisoft we're talking here. These guys made the fucking Assassin's Creed games, where many of the protagonists are foreign people. How did they suddenly fuck up writing a black character? Seriously the whole game his mannerisms just scream "I'M BLACK CAN'T YOU TELL?" and it's rather disappointing given the racial diversity message this game was aiming at. But instead of a black man, Marcus feels more like what a white guy thinks black men are like when they're not being painted as thugs and hoodlums. His story is that he was framed for a crime he never committed, except not really because he was guilty of a crime when he was 11 but the ctOS system is retrying him for it. So it's up to him and his friends, who are way better characters btw, to help clear his name. Oh did I mention that's only like a fifth of the story? No really, the rest of the game is just spend doxxing and wrongly attributing other people that Marcus doesn't like because I guess hypocrisy is fun now.
And the gameplay, my god the gameplay. Watch Dogs 2 is legit a duck and cover shooter. Not a good one either. First, the actual story can be completed in 8 hours. I'm not joking there. In 8 hours, you're done. The first game took at least a week and a half to beat. Instead of doing what The Division did in terms of making the missions challenging, Watch Dogs 2 thinks it can try and pull a fast one by "letting you play your own way", which is a total lie because the game punishes you for doing anything other than what it secretly wants you to do. Oh look at all these ways I can do the mission! Except why would I choose any method other than the one that actually is effective? The stealth mechanics? They're not much better. If you're spotted, everyone in the bloody area automatically knows your location, even if you're in a giant building. You can say it's because of their tech, but given how the only way to lose enemies is to leave the AO, that's not stealth, that's cat and mouse. Back to the shooting. This time around, Marcus is a fucking pincushion in contrast to Aiden being a bullet sponge. There's no balance here. If a bunch of enemies are raining down on you, you're pretty much forced behind cover otherwise you're dead in seconds.
The hacking elements are a slight step up from the last game, but even then it's still the same old "push a button to fuck around" routine. You have more options this time and can select up to 3 things to do with a hackable item. Unfortunately, most of the options are inconsequential. Drive a car forward? Why would I need to do that? Which leads me to the driving. It's slightly better but the vehicles are still incredibly hard to control and are barely durable. They still don't allow you to shoot from your car, which is a shame since that's one thing that would've definitely been a good addition.
And since this is a feminist blog, I think it's time we talked about the women in this game. One criticism against the first game was the poor representation of the female characters. Only 2 types of woman existed: the damsel in distress, and the strong character that gets killed like a punk. Watch Dogs 2 gave us Sitara, and holy fuck did we get cheated. She mostly takes a back seat and just plays music for Marcus when she's capable of so much more. I was thinking to myself, why wasn't SHE the protagonist? That aside, Watch Dogs 2 introduces female enemies like security guards and police officers, which is kinda cool. That is until I came to the realisation that I'm just gunning these women down or bashing their skulls in with an 8 ball. That was, discomforting, to say the least.
Speaking of that, one thing I honestly did not care for was their advertisement of moral choices. The first game had these already, and it made sense in the narrative because you were playing as a vigilante. Why are they bigging this up now? Will there be more than what we were given in Watch Dogs 1? Lol nope, it's the same thing. The only "choice" you have is to use take downs instead of guns, and that makes no sense since non lethal take downs still involve the enemy being hit with moves that would kill them. Why am I being told that I have moral choices when the only options I have are to be a complete cyber terrorist or a sleuthing batterer?
Then there's the online, which was a huge letdown. Watch Dogs 1 had a terrible online component, so them saying Watch Dogs 2's online component would be an improvement made me a bit giddy. But instead of doing what GTA 5 did, all they gave us was the ability to dress Marcus a different way and do game modes like Team Deathmatch or kill each other on the street in the open world. How am I supposed to feel like my individual self if all my fellow players are the same guy? That's like if Metal Gear Online made everyone play as Snake with absolutely no individuality. You might as well just fuck around in the single player because there's nothing worth doing in the online mode.
Watch Dogs 1 had a pretty deep story that was complemented by adequate gameplay. Here we have mediocre gameplay with a story that barely tries, and that's not what an open world video game is a supposed to be like. Watch Dogs 1 left an influx of emotions through every player, with all of them hoping to see what was next for them, and to see it followed up with this is so disheartening. This is one of the most disappointing games I've played since Duke Nukem Forever, and I'm not even exaggerating. I may be in the minority here, but truth is, when Ubisoft announces a third game in the Watch Dogs series, the one thing I'll be thinking to myself is "at least it can't be as bad as Watch Dogs 2".
No comments:
Post a Comment