ĐÁNH GIÁ WATCH DOGS 2

If you’ve sầu the resolve lớn play the way the designers intended, Ubisoft’s lademo tech parable eventually turns inkhổng lồ a rollicking stealth action ride

Ubisoft Thankfully, we don’t spover much time ruining innocent people’s days in Watch Dogs 2. Or at least we don’t have lớn. That’s because we have sầu the ability khổng lồ choose who we mess with và how.

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In fact, I played through the entire game with an alặng khổng lồ bởi vì as little harm as I possibly could – not just in terms of hacking innocents but also physical violence. I opted khổng lồ wield no weapons other than stun guns, & I was directly responsible for the deaths of surprisingly few people. And in so doing I was able to lớn avoid a trap common in open world action games: Playing as a character who seems lượt thích a great guy in story scenes but whose violent tendencies make hyên ổn come off as a schizophrenic psychopath. 

Of course, you can still kill loads và loads of people if that’s how you want to play. It would probably make many operations a whole lot easier, too. But if that’s what you choose then you’re going lớn miss out on some really great stealthy — even puzzle-y — play, especially later in the game. Indeed, choose lớn play the way (I think/hope) the designers meant for us to play, & you’ll be in for an experience much more fitting of the franchise’s hacktivist theme than the original, which, while fun, kind of felt like a Grand Theft Auto lớn game with a hacker for a anh hùng.

You’ll just need to lớn have sầu some patience, since both the narrative & the missions get off khổng lồ a bit of a slow start.

In fact, if you asked me what Watch Dogs 2‘s story was about even four or five hours in, all I could have sầu answered was that it was about a small b& of gifted twenty-somethings who were raging against the machine without much direction, other than to rally tư vấn for their agitation through a sản phẩm điện thoại app. But as the story grows the issues come slowly inlớn focus. We see hard examples of the ways in which San Francisco’s central operating system — ctOS 2.0 — is invading privacy, how private interests are using the data it collects on all citizens to profile và repress people by doing everything from gaming health insurance lớn influencing elections.

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Ubisoft This is what drives our anh hùng, Marcus Holloway — who goes by the hacker name Retr0 — to lớn become an activist. A rare blaông xã anh hùng in a big budget game — &, thanks to lớn his quick wit, winning smile, & sharp mind, a wonderfully likeable one, khổng lồ boot — we learn that he’s been a victyên ổn of racial profiling, and it’s left him deeply bitter toward the system.

Social justice is a noticeable theme throughout the game. We encounter NPCs like a transgender politico whose sexual identity plays only the tiniest part in defining her character & role, and a visit to the headquarters of Nudle (the game’s spot-on send-up of Google) is prefaced by a bit of playful dialogue about how Marcus and his friend Horatio are pretty much the only blaông chồng guys in Silicon Valley. Điện thoại tư vấn it a social agenda if you must, but whatever it is it’s more than welcome in a medium known for propagating stereotypes.

Watch Dogs 2’s main message, though, is that there is a sea of personal data floating around us just waiting to lớn be scooped up and misused by nefarious agents. There is, of course, an inherent contradiction in watching Dedsec invade everyone’s privacy – including civilians (all you need vị is look at someone khổng lồ know their income and any potentially embarrassing highlights from their personal lives) – in order lớn protect it. That’s a big pill the player needs to be willing lớn swallow before jumping in. But – thanks largely to some really fun hacking abilities – it’s one that Ubisoft makes surprisingly easy lớn force down.

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Early missions are a bit disappointing in their lachồng of imagination – và surprisingly challenging if you play with an aim not to hurt anyone. But that’s only because all of Marcus’ best tricks are earned gradually – perhaps a little too gradually, since in order khổng lồ activate many of them players must not only earn retìm kiếm points by accumulating “followers” (think of followers as experience points) but also by searching the city for special data keys necessary to lớn unloông xã them on the skill tree. (You get a couple of free extra tăng cấp points early if your tie your progression into lớn Ubisoft’s Uplay system. We aren’t sure if this is some sort of meta commentary or not.)

Ubisoft However, once you’ve sầu collected the majority abilities, San Francisco & all its buildings, vehicles, & infrastructure become your playthings.

Anyone who played the original Watch Dogs has some notion of what this means. You can look through any camera, eavesdrop on text conversations, and control traffic lights & road barriers. But the really fun abilities – the ones that provide you with massive sầu choice in planning how to, say, infiltrate và explore a rocket lab undetected, không tính tiền an ally being held in Alcatraz from dirty cops, steal computer chips from a robot factory, or deliver retribution khổng lồ a gang of mindless thugs – come more slowly. And they make both core missions and many side ops genuinely satisfying.

Say you need khổng lồ get inkhổng lồ a secured broadcasting tower. A good way khổng lồ start might be lớn pull out Marcus’ quadcopter drone và case the facility from the air, potentially hacking a few fuse boxes to turn them into lớn explosive traps that will detonate & knochồng out any guards who wander near.

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Next you might send in your jumper, a little two-wheeled remote controlled vehicle that can scoot through vents và hop through holes in the ceiling khổng lồ run around largely undetected and hacking panels that will unloông xã important doors. You’re probably going khổng lồ want lớn leave both drones operating (but hidden) so they can function as extra sets of eyes when you need them in places out of Marcus’ line of sight.

Now it’s time to lớn move Marcus in. Your goal, typically, is to lớn remain completely undetected. You might haông xã guards’ phones to skết thúc them a text or Gọi in order to distract them so you can run past, or lure them khổng lồ an electrical panel by causing it khổng lồ make a noise. Taking control of forklifts and scissor-lifts are a great means of vertical movement when it seems there’s nowhere khổng lồ go. In a few missions Marcus even has the option of hacking cranes that can position hyên ổn high above sầu his enemies and out of their sight.

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Ubisoft But it’s impossible to avoid detection all the time. When push comes to lớn shove, Marcus is a good hand-to-hand combatant, taking down almost anyone with a tap of a button. But fistfights tend to draw more attention. Better to lớn, say, zap foes with a taser, or drop a stun mine that can be phối off remotely. You can also mix enemies’ phones to begin screeching, causing them pain và confusion – and buying a few seconds to lớn escape.

If things get really hairy, you might want khổng lồ haông chồng someone’s ctOS protệp tin & plant digital evidence that will immediately alert the police, who’ll arrive sầu lượt thích gangbusters. This is a remarkably effective tactic for clearing out a space crawling with enemies, but since it inevitably ends with at least a few dead people I opted to lớn use it only a handful of times – lượt thích one mission in which a group of gangsters made things very personal.

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The over result – at least once you’ve earned enough abilities – is a game that almost feels like old-school Splinter Cell, with a huge emphasis on stealth và gadget mastery. It takes time khổng lồ become completely comfortable with all of the abilities at our disposal, but in later missions Marcus feels almost unstoppable, expertly surveilling target areas (even maneuvering the quad indoors in a couple of missions) and easily distracting enemies so that he can walk among them almost as though invisible.

Sadly, I’m less a bạn of the missions that involve action outside of enclosed buildings or areas, partly because the driving physics – especially on bumpy terrain, of which there is plenty in San Francisco – don’t feel quite right. This made certain side operations, some of which include series of dirt xe đạp & go-kart races, markedly less appealing than main missions. But anything that isn’t marked as a “main operation” on Marcus’ phone – taking pictures of famous sights, ferrying people around lượt thích an Uber driver for a little extra money, spraying Deadsec graffiti on hard-to-reach billboards – is optional, so you’ll rarely feel forced to vì chưng things you don’t want lớn vì.

It’s worth mentioning, too, that Ubisoft Montreal’s artists have done a terrific job realizing the Bay Area. I was fortunate enough khổng lồ play using a PlayStation 4 Pro and a 4K TV, which made San Francisteo as pretty as any virtual world I’ve explored this year. Some environments – like Nudle’s headquarters – appeared almost hyper detailed, & most of the time motion felt wonderfully fluid.

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I did encounter some pretty serious frame chop on a few occasions (which may or may not have been related lớn online missions in which players take turns playing the roles of hunter và prey), but Ubisoft told journalists that a pre-launch patch was going khổng lồ fix the problem. (The editor also experienced this same phenomenon playing on a launch PS4.)

Ubisoft Getting the most out of Watch Dogs 2 requires a good deal of patience & the resolve sầu to play the way you’re supposed to play – especially when you first start out.

Then, around the midway point, you’ll reach a tipping point where you can’t stop thinking of the possibilities inherent in the hacker abilities you’ve sầu unlocked. Suddenly you won’t want to lớn stop playing. And from that point until the credits roll it becomes a rollicking ride of stealth and action, with a healthy splotch of progressive social commentary thrown in.

Basically, you’re going to lớn get out whatever you put inkhổng lồ Watch Dogs 2. If you really invest yourself, you’re bound lớn have a terrific time.

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In-depth reporting on the innovation economy from The Logic, brought lớn you in partnership with the Financial Post.

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