Two years ago, we saw the birth of a brand-new franchise by Ubisoft. Watch Dogs was announced back in June 2012, and would be the start of a phenomenon, and what would become the most successful launch of a brand-new IP title. It launched with critical acclaim, and launched in May 2014, a few months after the launch of Xbox One.
2 years later, we are seeing the 2nd instalment of the franchise in the form of Watch Dogs 2. I had very high hopes for this after the first one which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it was a game that really got me going and interested into the franchise. So, when news of a 2nd game was announced earlier this year, I was very excited for it. Is it a game though that is going to live up to what its predecessor would be? Or, the latter and more fearful, would it be a mistake? Well, it`s certainly not a mistake, and I believe that we could be in for one of the best games of 2016.
Watch Dogs 2 (or most referred to as Watch_Dogs 2) is an open-world game developed and published by Ubisoft, and was released a few weeks back for PS4, Xbox One and Windows gamers, making it a current gen only game, and not to be released on the last generation of consoles. It tells the story and puts you into the seat of young eccentric hacker Marcus Holloway. Marcus teams up with the hacking group DeadSec, and alongside hackers Sitara, Josh, Wrench and Horatio, they must take down the advanced surveillance system that has recently been installed in San Francisco (Which is our location for the game but set out in a fictional way) and to take down Dusan, who is head of Blume, behind the advanced system, and to exploit him for fraud and corruption that has filtered through the network.
The game is an open-world game, and there`s a lot to be explored. You`re going to be able to take on a range of missions and activities, all that can relate to the main story, and progressing through that, aswell as taking on a range of side missions and activities aswell as online. Each activity and mission will earn you a range of followers, and you want to be building your followers up. The more followers you have, the more you`ll unlock in terms of activities, especially in the latter end of the game. Each mission will give you a number of followers, so playing through those aren’t going to be a problem in terms of getting your follower count up quickly.
There seems to be a lot more emphasis on hacking this time around than where there was with the first game. Marcus is going to need to hack into almost anything and is apparent. You`re going to need to hack cameras, machinery in order to find the everything in order to help aid with taking down Dusan and Blume. Each mission makes it fun and enjoyable, and hacking information that you`re going to need, without running in and going full-on into an area serenaded with enemies. You`re also going to be able to hack into every street corner and lamp-post, aswell as being able to hack into any other human walking in the streets of San Francisco. You may be able to take a nice cut off them, or you may be able to hack into their phones and listen to voice messages and texts.
You`re going to be able to upgrade your skills and abilities by earning research points. Research points will come thick and fast in the later areas of the game by completing missions and activities. You`ll be able to branch off and work on different areas that you can build up abilities wise, and work out what you`re really going to want and what you`re going to need in order to help assist. I found certain abilities more worthwhile building and developing up over others, and ones that perhaps were the most important, like the ability to hack more advanced security features and alarms.
We`re starting to see even more open-world games come into effect, and Watch Dog 2 follows the trend. You`re going to be able to jump into shops, cafes and everything to give it that around feel of an open-world game. I can even see similarities between this and GTA V in terms of its open world feel. That`s a pretty bold statement to make, I know, but Watch Dogs 2 has done it incredibly well.
There`s a lot to do, and combine with the main missions, side missions and online missions, you`re truly getting your money’s worth. I did have a small fear that Watch Dogs 2 wouldn’t live up to the same that Watch Dogs did in terms of its content. I suppose Watch Dogs was something a bit different to what we had seen out in the market at the time, and it was something that really attracted me. But, Watch Dogs 2 has only carried that on, and I believe, has done it better. I`ve loved playing Watch Dogs 2, and I think that we could be on course for one of the best games of 2016, and as we`re nearly approaching the end of 2016, I think that`s a good statement seeing we have had most of the big hitters already. If you haven’t thought about it already, I urge to you go and check it out and see what you`re missing out on. And at the time of writing this, I`ve no doubt that you`ll get it in the sale somewhere. It`s fully worth it, and Ubisoft have once again, come up with the magic.
A huge thank you to XCN and Ubisoft for supplying us with a review copy of Watch Dogs 2
Game: Watch Dogs 2
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal
Publishers: Ubisoft
Genre: Action-Adventure/Third person shooter
Price: £54.99 (From Xbox Store)