Watch Dogs 2
Only hacking can save the world
DEVELOPER UBISOFT MONTREAL PUBLISHER UBISOFT PRICE $ 79.95 AVAILABLE AT STEAM, UPLAY, RETAIL watchdogs.ubisoft.com
After a two week delay following the console release, we’re pleased to say that not only does Watch_Dogs 2 play perfectly fine on PC, but that it may well be the best version of the game. Hacking and getting around San Francisco with a keyboard and mouse feels far more powerful, and a free day-one High Res Texture Pack makes the game look amazing. Ubi may have delivered some dodgy PC ports in the past, but we’re happy to report that Watch_Dogs 2 is not one of them.
As to the game itself, it’s a far flight from its predecessor. Where the original Watch Dogs was, at best, a dour revenge fantasy with a singularly unlikeable protagonist, WD2 casts a kind of kooky hipster activist as the main character, backed up by a gang of adorable dorks. Overcast Chicago is swapped out in favour of a far more cosmopolitan San Francisco, complete with drag queens, trans characters, a culturally diverse population, and a city that almost breathes with vibrant life. WD2 is fun, even when you’re fighting ‘the man’ with every tool at your disposal.
In fact, that’s when it’s at its most fun. An early mission is pretty typical of the game’s mission statement - you have to trick a Martin Shkreli look-alike (the pharma bro who recently tried to make a killing by buying into and raising the price of essential drugs) into buying a bootleg hip-hop track. Of course, it’s all a con, the Shkreli clone is instead tricked into donating $2 million to charity. Much of the game’s mission follow the same path - a gang of misfits and outsiders (woman, two African-American men, a young dude on the Autism spectrum, and… well,
you can hack into a camera, then another camera in line of sight, and then hack into a target
Wrench is a special case, as happy to quote Star Trek as he is to talk about 3D printing dildo-guns) giving the finger to corporate power.
There’s a darker side to all the shenanigans though - ctOS, the smart city operating system, gathers massive amounts of data on San Fran’s citizenry, and fighting big data is the main aim of the game.
Of course, all that story without engaging open-world mechanics would be pretty naff. Thankfully, though the game does falter in terms of gating content (once through the tutorial you wake up half naked, with nearby content you’re unable to access because it’s too early), there’s still a lot to do, and a lot of ways to do it. Hacking is the major mechanic of the game, and this ranges from learning how to turn gas-vents into lethal timebombs to simply opening doors as you approach them. In a lot of cases you can hack into a camera, then another camera in line of sight, and then hack into a target. It’s elegant and easy but in other cases you’ve got to be a lot more devious - and WD2 let’s you be devious in a lot of different ways.
It’s entirely possible to play the game without killing anyone, which in a game of this scope is quite impressive. In fact, there are no kill missions at all - it’s all about gathering data, releasing data, and generally being a nuisance. That said, you will - no matter how you play - kill
people. Mostly, it’ll be the random cops on your tail that you take out by blowing up a gas vent beneath them, or the woefully stupid pedestrians who more often than not will panic as you approach in a car, and that panic will take them right into your path. Thankfully, driving in the game is as rich as any other system - the myriad of cars and bikes on offer feel, drive, and sound very different. If you’re fleeing the fuzz and in need of a getaway car, you really do need to think about what you’re breaking into.
Watch Dogs 2 aims very high. It tries to present one of the most diverse and liberal cities in the world as a living, breathing thing - it succeeds by never shying from what means, drug references and queer culture all writ large. It wants to be a hacker epic, but is just as happy referencing modern, real world movements at the same time as it feels a lot like the… classic?... film hackers. But in between the big laughs and truly silly plot points this is a game that works not because it’s accurate, but because it’s trying to depict a world where these tiny revolutions can make a difference.
At the risk of getting a little heavy… when I played this pre-US-election, it seemed like a confection.
In a post-Trump world it seems like an important piece of resistance. Albeit one where you can earn XP by pulling off sick stunts. But I’ll take it.