Watch Dogs: Legion — making or breaking the series?
Ubisoft have revitalised a dried out, American, dystopian video game series — by adding a quintessentially British twist.
With the release of the uninspiring Watch Dogs 2, it seemed as if the intriguing hacker world concept had been dead and buried by the lack of creative progression from the first to the second game.
A seemingly repackaged version of the Chicago original, number two takes you to the streets of San Francisco, another generic American city, whilst trying to introduce edgy and out of place characters.
In order to keep players engaged with the series, Ubisoft had to make drastic changes to prompt a new lease of life.
Presenting Watch Dogs: Legion.
The bold, but necessary step was taken to feature the entire game within the British capital, London.
Forza Horizon 4 showed us how spectacularly beautiful a game based in Britain can be, with its luscious countryside.
Watch Dogs proved that it could make the city look just as incredible, with eye-opening realism.
Despite some tongue in cheek or clichéd character lines that no Londoner would ever utter, the game encapsulates British society whilst adding the dystopian twist perfectly.
From the dry humour on the radio talk shows to the detailed road markings.
The game itself boasts a lengthy plotline with five interwoven stories, all climaxing to a ‘final boss’ type scenario at the end.
You select an operative at the beginning of the game but are free to recruit people off the street to join rebellion group DedSec.
You aren’t, therefore, locked into playing with a single character — a great concept shared in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V.
However, unlike Rockstar’s successful open world game, the individual character progression unfortunately feels very minimal in Watch Dogs: Legion.
Collecting tech points to improve gadgets and customising your operative’s wardrobe is about as far as you can push a single character, the rest is dictated by storyline.
Of course, you can still freely roam the city and progress through missions at your own pace as there is a lot to explore outside of the scripted scenes.
Despite its predecessor, Watch Dogs: Legion has blown expectations out of the water, making it one of the top games of the year and the perfect 2020 Christmas present.
