#Watch dogs legion rating full#
#Watch dogs legion rating series#

Metaphorically, eschewing a single protagonist in favor of a collective group of hacktivists rejects the hero myth in favor of something much more democratic.

LegionвЂ™s main message, after all that, seems to be that we all need to work together if we want to solve these problems, and the gameвЂ™s recruitment mechanic does a lot of the heavy lifting to get that point across. And by making the villains hyperreal caricatures of criminality, militarism, and conspiracy, Legion becomes yet another Ubisoft game that leans on clichГ©s while exploiting real societal ills for the sake of worldbuilding. In recasting the police with a privately owned security firm and foisting hero status on the one good cop whoвЂ™s standing up to corruption, Legion willfully ignores the fact that mass surveillance in a supposedly democratic state is a real, government-mandated institution in the very city it claims as its setting. It presents abuses of power as sole products of individual avarice, ego, and extremist ideology, giving a pass to the institutions that allow these threats to surface in the first place.

#Watch dogs legion rating full#

In fact, for a story that tackles relevant subject matter such as police brutality, capitalist-driven technofascism, and the very concept of human consciousness, LegionвЂ™s plot is unsurprisingly (given its publisherвЂ™s history) full of half-measures and tired tropes. What if the writers had brought back Marcus Holloway as a liaison from the San Francisco chapter, only to kill him off in the first half-hour of the game? Yes, it would have been bold, and potentially ruined future DLC plans, and killed off the seriesвЂ™ most likable character next to Wrench, but it would have given players-especially fans of the series-some real motivation. The fact that not a single member of DedSec who dies at the beginning of the game exists as anything other than cannon fodder for the purposes of the plot doesnвЂ™t help either.

#Watch dogs legion rating series#

For a series thatвЂ™s always posited humanityвЂ™s greatest tragedy is the irresponsible ways in which it utilizes technology, slotting in an admittedly charming but otherwise single-minded AI as the voice of the вЂњprotagonistвЂќ feels disingenuous, despite a late game revelation thatвЂ™s meant to give Bagley a sense of humanity. The only consistent voice throughout the gameвЂ™s relatively short main narrative is Bagley, the Broca-built AI thatвЂ™s been reprogrammed to help DedSec coordinate its infiltration of LondonвЂ™s various powerful institutions. But as far as creating a compelling narrative, making DedSec itself the protagonist creates a smoldering crater where character should be. DedSec must then recruit new members to the cause and investigate Zero-Day and its ties to Albion, the Clan Kelley gang, the revolutionary tech company Broca Tech, and the intelligence agency SIRS, in order to uncover the truth.ДЄs a way into LegionвЂ™s вЂњplay as anyoneвЂќ gimmick-mechanic, this story setup does what it needs to do: It empties DedSecвЂ™s roster and lets players slot in the characters they choose to recruit. Following a raid by the private security group Albion, DedSec London is almost entirely wiped out, save for a sole member, Sabine Brandt, and the groupвЂ™s AI assistant, Bagley. Set in near-future London, Watch Dogs: Legion sees hacktivist group DedSec dealing with the fallout of citywide bombings from a terrorist entity known only as Zero-Day, which frames DedSec for the attack. But the way in which playing as anyone impacts your approach to LegionвЂ™s gameplay elements is more esoteric than practical, and even then thereвЂ™s a caveat. вЂњYou can play as anyoneвЂќ seems almost too good to be true, and yet here it is, in what is arguably UbisoftвЂ™s most aspirational game since the original AssassinвЂ™s Creed. I donвЂ™t think IвЂ™ve ever played a game that more ambitiously blurs the already fine line between вЂњgimmickвЂќ and вЂњmechanicвЂќ than Watch Dogs: Legion. Sometimes, they can be the same thing, but in my mind, a gameplay mechanic fundamentally changes the way you perceive and approach situations in a game, while a gimmick is a flashy marketing bullet point on the back of the proverbial box. ThereвЂ™s a fine line between вЂњgimmickвЂќ and вЂњmechanicвЂќ when it comes to gameplay.