Watch Dogs 2
About
Watch Dogs 2 is an action-adventure open-world game developed by Ubisoft Montreal. It is the second installment in the series and continues the main idea of its predecessor - hacking and hacktivism in an open world.
Welcome to San-Francisco. It is the second city in the United States to install the city-wide operating system named ctOS, which connects everything from your car to your smart home to a global network. Marcus Holloway is tagged by the system as a suspect for a crime he did not commit. Marcus decides to take action and gets together with the hacktivist group DedSec to expose ctOS and its creators.
WD2 offers the player an immense open world which consists of San-Francisco, Oakland, Marin and Silicon Valley. It's the player's choice to navigate the world on foot or on a wide range of vehicles from cars to boats.
It is up to the player to choose whether to use a lethal or non-lethal approach on a mission as there is always a taser in your inventory and a billiard ball attached to a paracord that knocks enemies out.
It is possible to hack into any devices that are connected to ctOS. For instance, Marcus can control forklifts, buzz guards phones in order to distract them.
System requirements for Xbox One
System requirements for PlayStation 4
System requirements for PC
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
- Processor: Intel Core i5 2400s @ 2.5 GHz, AMD FX 6120 @ 3.5 GHz or better
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 with 2 GB VRAM or AMD Radeon HD 7870, with 2 GB VRAM or better - See supported List*
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 27 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible using the latest drivers
- Additional Notes: Minimum specs above for 720p , 30+ FPS, Low graphic settings // Periphericals: Microsoft Xbox One Controller, DUALSHOCK® 4 Controller, Windows-compatible keyboard, mouse, optional controller / Multiplayer: 256 kbps or faster broadband connection / Note: This product supports 64-bit operating systems only. Laptop versions of these cards may work, but are not officially supported. For the most up-to-date requirement listings, please visit the FAQ on our support website at support.ubi.com. High speed internet access and a valid Ubisoft account are required to activate the game after installation, to authenticate your system and continue gameplay after any re-activation, access online features, play online or unlock exclusive content.
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
- Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2 GHz, AMD FX 8120 @ 3.9 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 | AMD Radeon R9 290, with 3GB VRAM or better - See supported List*
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 27 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX-compatible using the latest drivers
- Additional Notes: Recommended specs above for 1080p , 30+ FPS, High graphic settings // SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS AT TIME OF RELEASE: • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX600 Series: GTX660 or better / GeForce® GTX700 Series: GTX760 or better / GeForce® GTX900 Series: GTX950 or better / GeForce® GTX1000 Series: GTX1060 or better. • AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 series: Radeon™ HD7870 or better / Radeon™ 200 series: Radeon R9 270 or better / Radeon™ 300/Fury X series: Radeon™ R9 370 or better / Radeon 400 series: Radeon RX460 or better.
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Watch Dogs 2 reviews and comments
Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 6/10
Music: 7/10
This game is truly a blast to play. As you go running around the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area, you level up your hacking and physical skills until you’re able to take on almost any threat. While not as comprehensive in mechanics, NPCs, or story diversity as GTA, it follows a similar model of open world exploration in a modern city. Where it really shines is the hacking mechanics, something I haven’t seen in any other game. It is simply thrilling to get to peer into every random NPC’s cellphone, back bank accounts for funds, explode grenades from a far, change street signals to cause car accidents and block your pursuers, and use your tech wizardry to solve all kinds of puzzles. Where the game falls short is it’s lack of creative freedom it gives you in really doing the missions however. While you of course have a certain amount of freedom in if you want to do a mission through stealth, hacking, or rampaging your way through guns-blazing, that is about where the freedom stops. It’s never really about environmental manipulation, and by endgame feels less strategic than it could. Still, though, the core mechanics are excellent and just as GTA-series games do, it has phenomenal replay value. I’m still playing it long after completing the story as a fun relaxing game with infinite side missions.
The story, sadly, falls flat a lot of the time. It is a classic outlaw hero tale. While the characters you run into are interesting, quirky, and you quickly grow to like them, you never LOVE them. The stakes are never raised very high from a personal, emotional standpoint. It is always a political/city-level threat. Perhaps finding ways for you to invest more in relationships with people and then using conflicts around such characters to propel the conflict may have made the story more compelling. But what’s done is done, and at the end of the day it is well worth the play, as the story is good enough to keep you engaged and, really, functions as a reason for you to get to mess around with the very well made mechanics of the game.
The music is a lot of fun, but hard to give the designers credit for as it is almost entirely done through your character’s “radio” on their phone or car and consists mostly of real world hits. The diversity in genres is lively though, and with the right choices you can feel like a hero taking down guards to head-banging rap, or a villain plotting the demise of a room from a distance with tech and bombs with a classical backdrop.
Overall, great game. Highly recommend playing, and glad to see it aced all of the things WD1 failed to do.
Edit: I wish the hacking puzzles were expanded on because they were fun but way too easy. It had moments that made me feel like a badass, but it is very shallow. There was a weird glitch during the climax cutscene of confronting Dushan where the classical radio station started with an ad and then continued playing Vivaldi's Concert No. 2, it overpowered all of the dialogue. I could still hear the music that was meant to be played and Vivaldi would have been a more appropriate choice with the right editing. It was the only moment during the game's story that made me laugh and it was a total mistake. Yahtzee Crowshaw compared this to the film Hackers, which was a pretty apt comparison. I'd much rather watch Hackers again, as bad as that movie is, it's still memorable. I couldn't say the same for Watch Dogs 2, it had so much potential to be a great game, but it's just an alright one and done that lacks a difficulty curve.
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