I know the Watch_Dogs series has always received mediocre scores and reviews, but I’ve always enjoyed them. Sure, hacking a CCTV camera by looking at it from another CCTV camera makes no sense, but hacking is never realistic in movies or video games. At least this series makes hacking fun without being a bunch of mini-games. And you use your cellphone to hack everything, which is also fun.
I do think it’s funny that when the first Watch_Dogs came out, everyone complained about how bland the main character was. So with Watch_Dogs 2, they changed the main character to be a fast-talking wise-cracking kid. And people complained about that too. So then when Watch_Dogs Legion finally came out, it’s almost as if you could hear the company say “Fine! You think it’s so easy to come up with a main character? You pick one!” and they spent a lot of effort introducing an entire game mechanic where you can recruit and play as any NPC you see walking down the street.
For what it’s worth, my favorite character has always been Aiden Pearce, from the first Watch_Dogs game. He was the closest to a hard-boiled detective and it made the game feel more cyberpunk, even though the setting for Watch Dogs Legion was actually more of a cyberpunk world.
It’s possible I enjoyed the games so much because I always went the pacifist route and played it like a stealth game. I liked when Watch_Dogs 2 introduced a remote-controlled car you could use to hack things remotely, even though it wasn’t capable of opening doors. But then in Watch Dogs Legion they expanded it so you had a remote-controlled drone and it could open doors. I was basically able to play the entire game by walking to the edge of a hostile area, deploying my drone, and playing the entire mission that way. If my drone was ever caught, it’d blow up and control would return to my character, who was safely standing outside the hostile area. I’d just deploy another drone and try again.
Anyway, if you haven’t played any of the games, I recommend them. While I think the first one is the most cyberpunk, it also has the most dated game mechanics. Also, you can start with any of the games. There really isn’t any connecting plot between the three games, just minor references here and there. So pick whichever one looks the most interesting and give it a try.
They weren’t bad, it’s just ubi hyped them up to be way more than what they really were, especially the first one. But they were fine games.
Oh I totally agree. The first one was hyped up like crazy. The games aren’t masterpieces but I don’t think they’re nearly as bad as most reviews make them sound.
I enjoyed the first one, but goddamn, the dirty threads they left that pointed to a, imo, much more impactful original story really bit into it for me overall.
Still 10/10 for the junkyard battle. Ministry and a fucking metal T. Rex breathing fire? Fuck the story, that section made the game for me.
2 was better than it had any right to be. I went in expecting a decent, if bland, Ubisoft experience and actually had a blast. The characters were generally fun, the gadgets, while a Ubi standard, worked well in the games context, and the story felt like it had at least some effort put in.
Never gave Legion a shot. The whole “Be anyone” mechanic just didn’t grab me. If I wanted that, I’d fire up Prototype again. Nothing beats strolling up to a military base disguised as a little old lady and then popping a giant sword out of your arm.
I really liked trying to get past every mission without resorting to violence. 1 was alright, really liked 2.
The “every npc is a playable character” got old too quickly in Legion, it didn’t allow me to connect with any character. Loved the London setting but left it half played.
Yeah, I think having every NPC potentially playable hurt the game more than it helped. They were trying to let the you choose who you wanted to play as but could only hire so many voice actors to read all the lines. So no matter what the stats said for a random NPC, they all had the same generic personality and the same voice.
Could you elaborate on how he’s a hard boiled detective? You’ve got the most positive spin I’ve ever seen on the character - I found him to be an unlikeable villain protagonist who invaded people’s privacy because he could. His actions made the world worse, like an amoral Batman.
Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make some grand deconstruction of his character’s archetype. I just meant he wears a trenchcoat and talks in a slow gruff voice while walking the mean streets of Chicago. He looks like a hard-boiled detective to me. Especially compared to the wise-cracking kid on the sunny streets of San Francisco in Watch_Dogs 2.
But you’re right, the way Aiden beats people with his stick is definitely more of an amoral Batman. I guess I didn’t mind that stuff because I played it like a stealth game and the only deaths I saw were in cut scenes.
Different thematic intentions for the games I guess? Thanks for explaining - I get what you mean now. Honestly the millions bothered me less than the privacy invasions and other “cool hacker guy” things he does which made me wonder why we’re playing him. Maybe if he’d had an ethos or a sense of humor I’d like him, but I get why you’d prefer him over the joking teen squad from 2
1 - Good concept, lame protagonist. Execution was mediocre but it sold well enough to give us
2 - which was pretty great. I played a bunch of the co-op multiplayer, though it should’ve been a freeroam thing instead of mission-based. 2 was easily the best, although
3 - introduced some novel concepts that, while awesome in theory, ended up making the actual story bland. The idea of a “be anyone, do anything” game is awesome on paper, until you realize that means every character you play is just a cardboard cutout that might use the same voice lines as several others.
Legion has a special place in my heart, though, because I love the idea of an “inverted Nemesis system” even if it was botched. I sincerely hope one day we’ll get a title with this concept at its core, but with a greater degree of simulation and diversity. Imagine a game where it’s fun just to see how events play out, even if you’re not a part of them (not unlike Shadow of War/Mordor).
Unfortunately, Legion’s implementation is a shallow illusion. It’s not completely unfun, but the joy of obtaining new operatives drops off quickly when you realize they’re just not that interesting, and they never will be.
I have only played the second one and do think that it has an amazing concept, awesome characters and great city design but I have found it utterly boring to actually play it.
Somehow the first game was really great to me. The main character wasn’t that great, but the rest was awesome. I really enjoyed the concept of CiTiOS, the corporation behind it, the funny hacking, and even the DLC. The city of Chicago was really awesome too. I think the thing that I would really want to change in this game was the driving, it kind of sucked.
Legion introduced some neat features that were only hinted at in the endgame of 2 but imagine how good it would’ve been if they could’ve kept the writing and characters as solid as 2.
![[Game] I don't care what anyone says, I liked the Watch_Dogs series](https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/77c2a97b-75f0-469a-b80d-66035753eef8.webp){kind=link}