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My first impression of Watch Dogs 2's writing is that they *understood* the words they were saying—which is more than you can say for most media about the internet—but lacked the terminal online poisoning necessary to apply them.
it's also supremely weird for a game to perfectly nail the point of "we live in a ruthless capitalist surveillance state where algorithms invisibly manipulate every aspect of your life" and immediately follow up with an utterly hollow "so all we need to do is expose it!"
Anyway I couldn't figure out the public transport system (is there one?) and it didn't seem right to just *steal a car* immediately after wiping my own criminal record, so I'm just going on a very long walk.
Game's pretty, I'll give them that.
Game's pretty, I'll give them that.
WD2 is also going on my shitlist of games that acknowledge the existence of homeless people for Gritty Realism but don't grant you the agency to help them in any way
like c'mon, you even acknowledge that I can hack their bank accounts
like c'mon, you even acknowledge that I can hack their bank accounts
I love trying to drive normally in an open-world game with mouse/keyboard and just endlessly revving like I'm stuck in first gear
Being able to remote-control 'autonomous' heavy machinery (forklifts, scissor lifts, etc) is pretty cool and actually opens up some problem-solving opportunities, but it's also very funny that NPCs aren't the slightest bit intimidated by their erratic behaviour
The player parks on the curb: oh shit oh fuck, everybody run for your lives
Ten-ton forklift starts up on its own, drives out of the garage and nearly flattens the foreman: huh that's pretty weird
Ten-ton forklift starts up on its own, drives out of the garage and nearly flattens the foreman: huh that's pretty weird
There's a mission where you break into Ubisoft's offices and it sucks for a lot of reasons (self-important self-insert, weak game journalism joke) but thiiiiiiis takes the cake
I sound really negative about WD2 on the whole, but
I am enjoying casually exploring the world *a lot*
I am enjoying casually exploring the world *a lot*
People have mentioned the weird tone gulf between "quirky hacktivist DedSec" and "mass-murdering GTA-protag DedSec" and I feel like there's no feature the sums that up better than the game letting you 3D print guns with quirky l33t names
God, it feels like somebody high up on Watch Dogs 2's writing team was legitimately really socially conscious and you can hear them struggling to be heard amid all the...
*waves hands*
AAA-sandbox-isms
*waves hands*
AAA-sandbox-isms
We've covered Peter Thiel, rideshare apps, facial recognition, racial bias in AI, tech consumer consent, invasiveness in exchange for convenience, aggressive gentrification... I think I've done two story missions so far? Maybe three?
Progress is slow, on account of me pulling over repeatedly to snap a quick photo or two
One of the unfortunate consequences of Watch Dogs 2 putting so many hacking functions onto so few buttons: it is very easy to try to steal some loose change off somebody and accidentally set off the grenade in their pocket instead
this is very funny, once
this is very funny, once
More adventures in the Land of Observant Dogs
I'm so glad they put a camera in this game
