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As is the more hopeful message that makes up the latter portions.Īlso refreshing, or at the very least ‘what we needed right now’, was the urban open-world action in the vein of GTA that Watch Dogs represents. In fact, the anti-fascist through-line in Watch Dogs: Legion – which might be a first for a major AAA release – is refreshing. The darker story and the serious tone mean side-missions and liberating boroughs and helping civilians becomes far more engaging and in-step with the go-go-gadget stealth and action of the setup than going up against a big bad security firm. Which is a shame because the story rarely engages throughout the first half of the campaign, leaving very little in the way of fun or intrigue outside of the aforementioned experimentation with cargo-bots and hitmen who are armed to the teeth but always manage to give up their position thanks to a nasty case of recurring hiccups. The characters are so lacking in character development that changing up their clothing feels weird - in the sense that what they were wearing when you found them is their ‘outfit’. With simple and mostly functional bits of dialogue, what ends up happening is a character’s traits and abilities and background – the RPG-like stat sheet – plays a bigger role in fleshing out the AI-cast than the scripted story bits do.Īnd weirdly this means using money to buy new clothing, which is about the only thing you can do with the game’s Crypto currency called ETO, is often moot. That is, becoming deeply invested in the relationships between the various members of DeadSec as seen in Watch Dogs 2. The freedom to choose who you want to be adds a new layer to an open-world game in this style, but it also detracts from the overall story. Taking the ‘anyone is the hero like bruv’ concept to its absolute limit, this means an elderly retiree, a construction worker, a beekeeper, a waiter, a student, a hairdresser, or even a homeless person struggling to make it through the day – is but a mission or conversation away from joining the fight. On that note we spent quite a large amount of time wandering through the boroughs hacking each passer-by to get a quick look at who they are via digital footprint. There’s a definite sense of the every-person, the regular Joe or Joanne, finding their true calling and making a difference. Outside of familiar companies and technology firms and the hacktivist group DeadSec once again taking centre stage – there’s no need to have played what’s come before to enjoy its open-world attractions.
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#Watch dogs series#
That said, being able to complete an entire infiltration mission via spider-bot or swooping in riding a cargo-bot to take out a high-profile target and then swoop back out is pure Watch Dogs.Īnd on that note, it’s not a series you need to have all that much familiarity with before diving in, with Legion’s story being separate and its own thing. This tone is worth pointing out because as much as the mechanics of stealth and infiltration continues the sandbox approach seen in Watch Dogs 2, this feels less like a direct sequel as it does a different path taken. Legion almost immediately sets the tone for a darker and often bluntly violent look at the world of criminals, terrorism, greed, fascist policies, and all manner of nasty-stuff filtered through the silicon bits and bytes of 21st century technology. It also ends with a shocking attack that quite literally shakes the foundation of London. Without much in the way of humour or tongue-in-cheek nods to the source, the Bond-intro is played entirely straight save for the AI quips of Bagley - which continue throughout the rest of the game.