Watch Dogs 2: 10 Massive Improvements Over The First Game
When an old dog needs new tricks, get a new one and start over.
Watch Dogs was easily one of the biggest gaming disappointments of 2014. When it was initially revealed at E3 2012, it was viewed as the saviour of open-world games, a fresh and innovative slice of action that would usher in a new console generation.
After several delays, however, the final product revealed something we all should have expected: we were sold on a lie, or rather, an incredibly dishonest cut of gameplay footage.
We completely bought into the hype of Aiden Pierce's wavy coat-tail physics, and it made the game itself all the more disappointing, when it turned out just to be another Ubisoft game, jammed full of repetitive missions, map markers, and climbable towers.
Fast forward to 2016, however, and Ubisoft has improved on almost every poorly executed aspect of Watch Dogs, delivering an exciting, outrageously silly, and at times, surprisingly poignant open-world hack-a-thon.
Because so many players were burned by Watch Dogs, its sequel is likely to become one of the best games of the year that relatively few people played. And that's a huge shame, because it's a much better game in almost every way imaginable.
What does it get right? Well...
10. A Sense Of Humour
If laughter is the best medicine, then Watch Dogs needed an entire sense of humour transplant. The original game was so self-serious, so desperate to feel gritty, that it never stopped to look at how absurd its core concept was. Aiden Pierce was completely lacking in self-awareness, and any attempts at humour came off as cynical and designed by committee.
Contrast that with Watch Dogs 2, and it's night and day. It's chalk and cheese. It's Adam Sandler and a funny actor.
Dedsec are a genuinely affable bunch of ne'er-do-wells, with excellent comic timing and an infectious sense of camaraderie. Some of the game's writing is seriously funny, taking full advantage of the game's bizarre premise, and laying on the referential humour thick, without coming off as insincere.
It can be as cheesy as a French buffet at times, but there's a genuine sense that the writers actual cared about Marcus and co. this time around, and that is evident in just how many laugh-out-loud moments are contained within Watch Dogs 2.