Review – Watchdogs 2 -Who let the dogs out!

So just finished up a lengthy play of Watchdogs 2 and was thoroughly impressed.

I know I am in a minority here, but I rather enjoyed the original Watchdogs. While it may not have been the game that we thought it would be, it was all in all a great game that was very under rated.

WD2 on the other hand is a complete 180 to the original. With a fun cast and a brilliant protagonist. Marcus is charismatic, a sharp dresser, and just an all around fun character to play.

The game opens on you trying to prove your worth to Dedsec by pulling off a major hack, thus granting you access to the club.

Things progress from there into a place that is all to familiar in the eyes of the world.

With you gaining followers on social media to boost your status in the hacking world. Taking on the big evil corporations of Nudle (google) and Blume, as well as a political candidate that is pretty close to Trump.

It all feels very real world in a way.

The core game play is quite similar to GTA in a lot of ways, from car jacking to shoot outs and police chases.

Where WD2 differs though is the ability to hack anything and everything, from changing street lights to cause crashes, hacking cars to make them have accidents, or taking out a chopper chasing while you flee the police.

All of these things set it apart from a boring old sandbox gangster game.

Another very strong point is characters, you routinely get calls from your crew and just chit chat, and the banter is so well done. From talk of childhood to radial commentary on silicone valley, it is all very organic and real. They did an amazing job casting this game.

The multiplayer is also top notch ere, it is a persistent multiplayer world that is akin to Dark Souls, where you are not all in one place at once time, but other players can be in your game, helping or reeking havoc.

The only gripe I have is that by the end of the game, it gets very “Michael Bay” in terms of story, with a game that was so plausible and rooted in reality, it is a bit disappointing to see how far off the deep end they go with the action and end game scenarios.

It does not mar the game in any big way, but in my eyes it was too much out of the realm of beleiveability.

Play-through took about 25 hours to hit a Platinum trophy and was enjoyable start to finish. Not a hard Plat, and by no means indicative of a 100% game.

There is tons you can still do post game if you are so inclined, from street races, to uber driver, vandalizing the town, and endless online missions as well. You could easily milk 100 hours out of WD2 to see and do it all.

A solid 9/10 and a great open world game.