Watch Dogs 2 releases this November, and as much as I was excited for the game, the original scarred me quite badly.
We all know how it lied to us about its visuals and had an empty open world and boring protagonist to experience it all with.
Watch Dogs 2 looked great in the trailers, but was not until I sat down with the game that I actually realized just how much has changed.
In a nutshell, Watch Dogs 2 actually feels like a game based on a group of hackers. Everything you can do in the game and the cast that support your crazy ideas feel like they belong.
I went from stealing a Knight Rider vehicle, spraying it with Dedsec graffiti, and then driving it through the city remotely – like a maniac.
While I was exploring the bustling city of San Francisco, I could instantly tap into people’s bank accounts and steal their money, or even take over their car and drive it while they were in it.
This forcing them to swerve left and right, or even spontaneously reverse into a car behind them at a robot, causing chaos in the traffic.
The original game was advertised as a game where you could “hack everything”, but it was still limited to a few robots and water pipes.
Watch Dogs 2 has fixed this by really giving you the power to hack whatever you want to hack.
One of the few missions I played saw me head into a smart home guarded by robots that patrol the vicinity.
I could hack my way into the home by shutting down the laser fence around it or launch my Jumper, an RC car as big as your hand, to scout the area and possibly get the job done for me without me even entering the home.
On my way into the smart home, the layout let me plan my escape, because chances are I would get caught with no way out.
Luckily, my Jumper was able to lower this cool elevator garage leaving a car in the driveway for me to jump in and escape with.
The only issue I had now was the darn security robots and the cameras protecting the door.
I did however have a hack tool that let me stun them for 10 seconds, giving me a chance to move forward while they were shut down.
Later in the mission I had to hack a terminal. In the original game, hacking all took place on one screen.
In Watch Dogs 2 however, the terminals are laid under the ground around you, so you need find a way to run around the area to activate them.
Luckily the demo had all the gadgets unlocked, and one of these was the drone.
I launched it and was able to fly around the satellite, activating all the terminals to hack the dish. It was fun and beats the usual hacking screen, as it gave me insight to how the cables were laid around the building.
If I had to highlight the game’s biggest strength from my time with it, it would have to be the humor that came with the setting of the game.
Watch Dogs 2 feels like it is set in an alternate world compared to its predecessor, as the characters, plot, and city, feels much lighter and off-beat.
The world is all about likes, apps, gaming, geek, pop culture and more. Everything that would expect to come along with a video game based on hacking a world-controlling spy organization. a 3D printer is used to build new gadgets, and an app store is used to pay and download apps to your smartphone.
Everything I did in the game, felt like something I could relate to in today’s world we live in, and that is what makes the game’s tone so much more enjoyable.
Let’s be honest, Aiden Pearce was a tool. He was way to serious for his own good, and the tone of the game was severely impacted by his unlikable personality.
Hell, even the colours in the game are as bright as the narrative. San Francisco is bright and colorful, with graffiti across every urban building, and a bright blue ocean to give the city life. The people I met while exploring the open world were all speaking about games and TV shows, and loved taking selfies.
One lady even stopped to take a selfie of my car after I smashed it into the wall. It is a close resemblance to the world we all love today, as much as I hate to admit it.
If you were like me and were disappointed with the original Watch Dogs, rest assured that the sequel is looking good. I am sure I will spend a few dozen hours in San Francisco, getting up to all sorts of naughty hacking activities.
Watch Dogs 2 releases on 15 November for PS4 and Xbox One, and on 29 November for PC.
