5 Reasons Watch Dogs 2 Is One Of Ubisoft's Best Video Games
2. Taking On Rockstar At Social Commentary
In the dark comedy that was 2016, Ubisoft found more than enough time to comment on just about everything that went wrong in last year's America - from Martin Shkreli to Donald Trump to Tom Cruise slash John Travolta.
Their blatant mocking of Martin Shkreli could have gone in a very morbid direction, but Ubi took the lighter perspective. The fictional Gene Carcani (a pharmaceutical CEO who jacked up the price of Leukemia treatments) purchases exclusive tracks from hip hop artist Bobo Dakes for $2 million. The purchase is a ruse set by DedSec, however, and Carcani actually ends up donating that money to Leukemia research.
There's also the dig at US president-elect Donald Trump. The game's Mark Thruss is a local politician running on the slogan of "Let's Make the Bay Area Stronger," a strangely similar line to Trump's "Make America Great Again." One of Sitara's side missions finds Marcus desecrating one of Thruss's billboards with multiple poop emojis and some DedSec images.
Not even the Church of Scientology is safe. New Dawn is a controversial "church" known for its ambiguity and sheer creepiness. Its posterchild being Jimmy Siska, a John Travolta/Tom Cruise-hybrid movie star, who ends up helping DedSec take down the church for its illegal secrets - not so different from the many accusations against the actual church.
Perhaps they'll be accused of stealing from Rockstar, but Ubisoft's lampooning of American culture is definitely a welcome change in pace and an interesting addition.