Big Brother is back and they are watching you even closer.
Yesterday we were given the newest insight into Watch Dogs 2 after the news of Ubisoft’s up and coming sequel their 2014 open world hacking game. The trailer is bright, flashy and shows you what fun you could get up to in the City by the Bay.
Watch Dogs 2 is certainly trying to go one better than the original Watch Dogs (WD) but giving us an even bigger playground and a different protagonist in Marcus Holloway, someone who hopefully won’t have the emotional range of a watercress salad, unlike our last main character, Aiden Pearce.
The reveal trailer fits a lot into a very short space of time: it’s fast, angry and looking far more rebellious than the first WD. I can’t wait to see more of WD2, but in the meantime, we have press release from Ubisoft to tide us over:
Players enter a massive and dynamic open world environment set in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is the latest city to adopt ctOS 2.0, an advanced operating system networking the city infrastructure, and in the wrong hands, ctOS 2.0 can be used to invasively control and manipulate everyday citizens.
Players will explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0’s predictive algorithms and is accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus’ quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess to trigger unpredictable chains of events. With the ability to take control of drones, cars, cranes, security robots, and much more at their disposal, players can choose whether to use stealth hacking to complete missions without killing a single enemy or go guns blazing for a more ferocious approach. In this vast open world, players can hack their way through traffic while engaging in dangerous car chases through the winding streets of San Francisco, traverse the rooftops of the vibrant neighborhoods of Oakland, and infiltrate the offices of cutting-edge companies in Silicon Valley.
A few things that stood out for me in the release was that the playable area is significantly increased with players being able to explore downtown ‘Frisco, Oakland and Silicon Valley. Also, this caught my eye: “hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess to trigger unpredictable chains of events”. To me, this shows that there will be even more things to interact with in the city, being able to hack more things and maybe even go into first person mode (ala GTA V), as the trailer hints at doing.
WD2 looks so much better than the original and the ability to make use of all your hacking skills and more in a new location will make for interesting viewing when we eventually see more of WD2.
One thing I really hope doesn’t happen is that the game we see in preview and the release are markedly different. WD suffered because of this, whilst the game was still entertaining and had some fresh ideas, it was ultimately hoisted by its own petard in terms of being far too overhyped before it even hit the shelves. All I can say is, prove me wrong Ubisoft.
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