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‘Watch Dogs 2’ Gameplay: Ubisoft’s Open-World Hacker Sequel Needs To Fix A Few Things

By David Cornell
Published on: 06:39 PST, Jun 9, 2016

Watch Dogs 2 gameplay could be a massive improvement over the first one, but Ubisoft needs to get a few things right this time. The original was fun enough at first, but it tended to be a pain in some areas for no reason.

The guns felt like a huge waste of options in a game which felt like a modern-day Assassin’s Creed with a Grand Theft Auto paint job and no parkour. Stealth played a big role in getting through the missions alive and out of police custody. One thing that doesn’t get you very far in a stealth scenario is guns. They tend to be loud, and the more damage they do, the more attention you get from enemies and random citizens.

The very first gang hideout mission I took on, I ended up dead just because I used a shotgun. A citizen in the vicinity heard the shot and called the police, and suddenly I found myself fighting both sides. Also, some citizens will call the police on you just for carrying one in view. Guns without at least silencers don’t belong in a stealth scenario and don’t need to be in Watch Dogs 2 gameplay. Opt instead for throwing knives and melee weapons, or citizens who don’t call the police so much.

Another thing a lot of people these days found disturbing was how the main villain was black, as were several of the criminals you took down in the first game. Black people aren’t the only criminals in the real world, and don’t make them all Mexicans just because the next game takes place in San Francisco. Give us a variety of cultures in the criminal population this time.

When you’re hacking other people’s bank accounts, give some of them a suspicion of what you’re doing. If you hack the same person twice, they should confront you and possibly call the police to report a digital mugging. It was a little too easy to get away with thousands of dollars in ATM theft, so make it more challenging on a realistic level with Watch Dogs 2 gameplay.

A problem I had early on was almost the opposite, and hopefully Ubisoft will get it right in Watch Dogs 2. The gameplay issue I ended up quitting over was car stealth. The controls for driving in reverse were annoying enough with the gradual viewpoint transition, and it killed the game when I was trying to cross Chicago without being seen. Also, why couldn’t I find another car, transfer my passenger to it, and shake the police, who were obviously looking for the one I was stuck in?

There is just something stupid about car stealth anyway. A car has an engine, which makes noise. It just makes more sense to race to the destination and shake the tail if you pick one up.

The possibility of drones and more technological advancements being commonplace and useful sounds intriguing, and I’m hoping that the Watch Dogs 2 gameplay doesn’t add too much nuisance to the nuance. Perhaps they could add a small window to keep an eye on the new protagonist while we’re sitting there hacking our way through security camera networks?

These are my biggest concerns about Watch Dogs 2 gameplay. Hopefully like with Assassin’s Creed, the second one will be the better one.

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[Image via Ubisoft]

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