Hello gamers! What are you playing lately? š
While I thought that I'm confronting with that time in my life when I no longer find the desire to spend lots of hours playing games, the last week proved me the opposite because I ended up completing two games that I will write a review for today and in the next week.
It's true that I am not the kind of gamer who would do anything to lose nights playing games as I would love to do a few years ago, but since it was a pretty uncomfortable week with me not feeling very well, I thought it's the right moment to spend my time gaming just to make it pass faster and feel better sooner.
Anyway, I was a little bit in doubt about which of the two games I should begin with, but I decided to write about Watch Dogs: Legion because it's also the one that I played first.
I don't know about you but when I think about Ubisoft I go straight away to the Assassin's Creed series which is amongst my favourite, being followed by Far Cry and of course, Watch Dogs which are still developed by the same company.
However, while both Far Cry and Assassin's Creed can talk about plenty of games being part of the series, Watch Dogs is a fairly new project that had its first released in 2014 where the story seemed very close to reality or the future that was knocking at the door, talking about advanced technology and even hackers that represented a taboo subject back then.
Perhaps it was still too early to talk about hackers or thousands of databases and robots being compromised and controlled 100% from the distance via a small gadget because the industry of gamers didn't show a lot of excitement back then, but only 2 years passed until Watch Dogs 2 came out with a new protagonist but still based on the same area.
Thought, as there are lots of sayings that no matter how far a series goes, the golden games (or even movies) are those from the beginning of the trilogy, so it applies to Watch Dogs where I still consider both of the first two games better than the newest release - Watch Dogs: Legion.
But as tastes are never discussed no matter if we talk about real tastes or simply preferences, I still strongly feel that Watch Dogs: Legion should be played especially since it comes with some unique features in the gaming industry that personally I'd like to see implemented in more games from now on.
So while the trilogy managed to defy reality pretty well no matter if we talk about the newest or oldest game of the series, the story is not less interesting and actually begins the game quite in the middle of the action during a mission in the London parliament where some terrorists intend planting some bombs in both the building and some other parts of the city too.
The character you are initially playing with is part of the Dead-Sec (a group of hackers) that as soon as is contacted by Sabine (a member of the group) the whole action takes a new turn, being needed to play with a different character while chasing your journey on finding out what happened and who is behind Zero-Day that seems like the most powerful and dangerous hacker out there who has already built a strong army to deal with every time you are seeking for new information.
As soon as you build up your character where you can customize quite a lot of things talking about both the appearance of the character but also the clothes he/she wears along with the tattoos, piercings, makeup, but also the mask that he/she will use while getting on restricted areas on the map.
Though, a thing that I feel like mentioning now is to not pay too much attention to the detail of customizing your character because one of the unique features of the games is that you can play with, literally, any character you want where you can change their appearance in any moment of the game. So if you want to get a little diversity in your cutscenes and show the main character in different clothes or new haircuts, you can easily do it.
Anyway, in order to enjoy getting to pick through a sea of characters, you will need to first get in touch with these which you can meet either on the street, in a car, at their working place, or anywhere else. Though, it's not like you press a button and then that character is shown in your list because you will need to first have a conversation with them and ask them to join Dead-Sec, which will be followed by a secondary mission given which you need to complete to make them gain trust in your proposal and make the next step.
All these features are not random because you will have missions in all kinds of places and if for example your character is a worker and you need to infiltrate a construction site then it will be a lot easier not to attract suspicions or to be needed to kill tens of people when they find you in places where you should not be.
While it was my first time experiencing this kind of freedom and the feature of Play as Anyone, I still ended up using just 2-3 characters that I got used to faster than with the rest because at one point it became a little bit distracted to always hear a new voice and behaviour or use a different gun than the one used by the previous character. Though this is just a personal thought and perhaps I would do differently if I would play the game again.
Anyway, a thing to keep in mind is that we are talking about an Open-World game so there are not just main missions but also plenty of secondary ones that you can get from random people or those that are part of your group of hackers. There is also the possibility to pick any vehicle you want to drive, get in the shops and buy new clothes where each shop has a different range of clothes, as well as enjoy various activities like playing darts, fighting in arenas, and a lot more.
If you played the previous games of the series, perhaps you remember that you were able to scan any random person from the street and see where he works, what he's good at and his weaknesses. Well, back then, it was just a cool feature but without going any further or helping you at all in the walkthrough because they were NPC (non-playable characters).
Years passed, and the newest release of the trilogy came with the feature of getting to play with any person you want, but where you can also scan them first in order to make sure you bring a valuable person into your gang of hackers. Of course, don't expect to see them all being useful in the game because some have nothing to do with this parallel world of hackers, but it's still a cool feature because you can play with anyone, even with an old man.
The ability to get to play with anyone is not the single unique feature but also what happens when you get to die in the game because it's not like in any other game where you simply respawn from your last checkpoint because your character will either be hospitalized or under arrest which comes with a penalty that you have to support until you can use that character again. (60 minutes)
Hence why amongst the people you will gather in Dead-Sec, it's also important to have a lawyer or medic that will make this period last less than usual.
At first, Ubisoft thought that it would be really cool to have the feature that once you die in the game, to have that character gone forever and be forced to use a new one without the option to play with the previous one ever again. If you are wondering what would happen if you die with all the characters, then that's where the game would end. However, the developers thought about it twice and since it seemed like a pretty hardcore feature that is not too friendly with casual gamers or newbies, they added the option to pick before you begin the game if you either want to be able to replay with a character after a penalty or have that one gone forever.
Conclusions š¤
All these aspects, along with hundreds of characters dropped in the game with a different story, voice, and skills show how much the developers worked on the game which proves the opposite of what people usually think about when they hear Ubisoft. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Ubisoft hater, but getting so many examples in my head of bugs found in their games even years after their first release, makes me not have a lot of expectations in most cases.
The graphics and visuals in general are quite impressive remembering lots of details and a pretty nice reproduction of London which is definitely a challenging project. Though, a thing that made me frown a bit was seeing the same prototype used for the movement of the characters which could seem like something normal since we are talking about the same developers. Though, what I'm talking about is that I don't think it's normal to see a person jumping from a building the same way you do with Ezio in Assassin's Creed and even hear that sound of the eagle which is specific to the AC series. I still don't know if that's a bug or a stupid feature but felt so inappropriate.
What I appreciate instead is the sea of opportunities you have in the game, talking about a unique experience for any single player that completes the game because there won't be two gamers playing with the same character or sharing the same screenshots during the cinematics just because everyone will pick a different character to play with depending on his/her personal tastes.
Did you play it? š
I'm pretty sure the Hive family has quite a few fans of the series so let me know about your experience playing Watch Dogs: Legion. š
NOTE:
- all the pictures attached are in-game screenshots taken by me (unless if other stated). šø
- this article is trying to stay away from revealing spoilers. ā ļø
- this is a personal review and should not be taken as a real advice of either playing the game or not because the opinion might be subjective. šÆ
- this article was written exclusively for the Hive community and its members. ā¤ļø
A list with some other games that I wrote a review about and you might like:
....
20.Forza Horizon 5 š - 5/5
21.Watch Dogs: Legion š» - 4/5
| Game | Watch Dogs: Legion |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 29 Oct, 2020 |
| Played On | Ubisoft |
| Price | 59,99ā¬ |
| Genre | Action, Open World, Adventure |
| Completed | Main |
| My Rating | ā ā ā ā ā |
| Hours Played | 20.2 hrs |
Don't forget to check out the rest of my posts too, from travelling to film reviews, from photography to cooking recipes and more! ā¤ļø
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