TRIED SO HARD BUT DIDN'T GET FAR

Developers: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Initial Release Date: November 15, 2016 

2014 saw the controversial release of the first Watch Dogs game with the main complaints being attributed mostly to the severely downgraded graphics, bland storyline, repetitive gameplay, and an obvious lack of content. Ubisoft immediately began work on the second entry in the franchise with the promise of improving on every aspect of the original. 

Watch Dogs 2 ditches the previous' setting of Chicago and the protagonist Aiden Pearce and takes up a new setting in San Francisco, the home of Silicon Valley. The protagonist this time around is Marcus Holloway, aka "Retr0". He, just like Aiden Pearce, is a hacker but he does not have a vendetta. Following his stellar performance in the recruitment test by the hacker group, DedSec, he gets to join them. The rest of the game deals with him helping DedSec carrying out various operations with the larger goal of bringing down Blume, the corporation behind ctOS. 

The very first thing that caught my attention in Watch Dogs 2 is the art direction. In all the menus and HUDs, a lot of effort has been put in to blend classic MS-DOS inspired elements with contemporary graphics. The idea might sound great on pen and paper and the first Watch Dogs attempted something similar and was quite successful. However, the combination in Watch Dogs 2 is just wrong and ultimately the gamer is welcomed with a very ugly and unappealing menu.

The first Watch Dogs was a clichéd revenge story and was heavily panned by critics and gamers alike. The protagonist Aiden Pearce was also criticised heavily for being so distant and devoid of memorable characteristics. Ubisoft tried to tackle these criticisms by opting for a much light-hearted Saints Row-esque storyline and a "cool" protagonist. While the intentions were good, the outcome unfortunately is not. Some "interesting" side characters have been introduced to keep gamers invested but in reality they are not interesting at all. 

I went into the game expecting a revamped gameplay but the gameplay of Watch Dogs 2 is eerily similar to that of the first one. All the set pieces and mini-games feel exactly the same as the previous. The shooting galleries do not provide even the slightest bit of satisfaction. Marcus Holloway has a weird melee weapon made by tying a ball with a string and even though it was one of the key selling points of the game, it is not all that fascinating either.

To top it all off, the multiplayer portions of the game have been taken offline for improvements and are still offline at the time of writing this review. 

One of the very few positives about Watch Dogs 2 is the driving which has been vastly improved. San Francisco feels much livelier than Chicago did. The game also introduces character customisation, a feature I deeply missed in the first one. 

In an attempt to fix the issues with the first game, Watch Dogs 2 has instead turned out to be significantly worse. There is no denying the fact that the Watch Dogs franchise holds a lot of promise and potential. However, the execution is still quite far away from being right.

Nony Khondaker is an introvert with immense passion for tech and music. Feel free to send your constructive feedback at nonykhondaker@live.com or follow him on twitter.com/NonyKhondaker