Watch Dogs 2

 Xbox One
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
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  1. games(TM)
    Jan 26, 2017
    70
    Watch Dogs 2 wastes its incredible, realistic world and believable characters by leaning on boring gunplay, basic cover-shooter mechanics and tonal-inconsistencies that upend every part of it. Watch Dogs 2 has the opposite problems to its predecessor then. Acts of aggression (in whatever form they may have taken) made sense for vigilante Aiden Pierce, his mission thrived on it; and oh god now Watch Dogs 2 is making us defend and justify the existence of the blandest protagonist in videogames. But that’s Watch Dogs 2, a game that will make you question everything you thought you knew about open world game design, because clearly something needs to change.
  2. LevelUp
    Nov 23, 2016
    70
    Despite some undeniable improvements in terms of art direction and the underlying soul of the concept, Watch_Dogs 2 is still a sloppy product. With the persistence of AI oddities, dull graphics and physics, stereotypical plot and character design, conspicuous asset recycling, serious online problems and so on, Watch_Dogs 2's lack of polish stops it from achieving excellence once again.

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best Xbox One Game of 2016
18
#18 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2016
23
#23 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2016

User Reviews

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User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 451 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 328 out of 451
  2. Mixed: 60 out of 451
  3. Negative: 63 out of 451
  1. 0Bennyman
    Nov 16, 2016
    10
    Watch Dogs 2 is an absolutely incredible Sequel, so far I'm probably only a couple hours into the Story but I've spent countless hours messingWatch Dogs 2 is an absolutely incredible Sequel, so far I'm probably only a couple hours into the Story but I've spent countless hours messing around in the Sandbox in Solo and in Coop, it's so much fun. The Story is currently flowing well and the gameplay is extremely fluid. Everything wrong about Watch Dogs 1 is gone or improved the hacking is also SO much better, allowing more fun and dynamic gameplay with Proximity triggers making taking people out easier and toys like the Jumper and Quadcopter makes mission more fun and interesting, Nethack, the game's Eagle Vision is also interesting, i like to think of it as Batman's Sensors from The Dark Knight, creating 3D visuals of the area, though I don't think that's their explanation of it. Also the Cops are so much better and harder to escape from, no more Lifting the bridges up to escape in seconds.

    The graphics are incredible and no notable FPS drops or Pop in problems.

    Multiplayer? I can only comment on how great Coop is as the WD2 Peristant Multiplayer has currently been disabled due to issues, but it's Hacker Invasion from WD1 is present so Obviously that is going to be great and the Bounty Hunter sounds like a blast! I will try to rememeber to update this when I have a chance to experience Persistent Multiplayer.

    TL'DR The game is a massive improvement from WD1, if you liked WD1 then it's a no brainer, if you like GTA 5 but wish it had hacking and proper Coop with missions then this is the game for you.

    Side Note; I hope this is a turning point for Ubisoft, no more lying and more great games since they have the right tools to do so.    … Full Review »
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Nov 15, 2016
    9
    Watch Dogs 2
    Ubisoft Listened
    Everything people had issues with from the original watch dogs has been addressed here, and the game wastes no    Watch Dogs 2
    Ubisoft Listened
    Everything people had issues with from the original watch dogs has been addressed here, and the game wastes no time letting you know by immediately giving you the task to buy some clothes after you wake up in some girls bed hung over and half dressed, and there’s a great variety as there are shops all with their own unique gear…
    Watch Dogs 2 takes place in sanfransico this time and You play as Marcus Holloway who joins a group of hacktivists to take down a corrupted security corporation named blume that uses ctos technology…
    So you set out to expose them
    And how do you do this?
    By gaining followers and sending out videos with information you acquire as you go throughout the game…
    The story sounds silly, but that’s because it kind of is… It doesn’t have the serious tone the original had... You feel much more like hacker kids doing hacker kid stuff…
    Using your skills for the betterment of the world
    and every character here has personality, from your hacker group to the characters you run into…
    The villain here has a man bun does yoga, making you hate him instantly…
    The entire game screams san fransisco and it really brings the city to life...
    People call you names... talk about their diets… you’ll see people arguing with each other… taking a bat to their no good exes car, the world in watch dogs 2 if so fun to explore, and thankfully there’s a lot to do here…
    You’re rewarded for gaining followers with research points that you can spend in your skill tree to balance your character to your play style, and to gain followers you can go out and take selfies in front of crazy people, monuments, and buildings… you can go out and race karts and boats, do time trials with dirt bikes or a drone, do side quests or mess with people online…
    Watch_Dogs 2 features seamless multiplayer where you’ll randomly run into people in your world that you can team up with, or run over for being a jerk when they deny your team up request…
    And you’ll occasionally get the option to go intervene in an ongoing chase with the bounty hunter mode…
    These moments can create random chaos in the world and it’s a nice addition
    Hacking invasion is back where you can enter a world or someone can enter yours to steal information, and you have to stay hidden or kill whoever is hacking you, but with the added tools and hacking options this time makes things even trickier… and there are also co-op missions that can be played with a friend or on your own… multiplayers not my thing, but it’s there…
    And there’s actual use from the money you get from tasks or for selling good at a pawn shop this time as you can buy insanely expensive weapons from your 3d printer at headquarters, or buy cars from a dealership to call using your car on demand app.. Which you’ll want to do before you’re able to hack inside of a car and go… The citizens calling for cops aren’t as annoying as they were in the original watch dogs... but they can still be pretty annoying…
    And a cop chase or a chase in general isn’t really something you want to get involved in as the hacking in watchdogs 2 got much more complicated and opportunities seem to have almost nearly evaporated…
    Chases used to thrilling, but here I hardly ever crashed a cop car chasing me as again opportunities seem to hardly exist, and when one does appear the indication and windows of opportunity is far smaller, really hurting what I felt was a near perfect chase system, taking away all of the fun…
    This evaporation of opportunities can be seen throughout missions as well…
    Watch_Dogs 2 for better or for worse feels like a completely different game than Watch_Dogs 1
    The developers scrapped the idea of camera hopping for a jumper and a drone…
    Clearly a much less stealthier approach and of course creates way more opportunities to get detected...
    Watch_Dogs 2 seems to be more about punishment than mayhem this time around...
    I never really felt like levels were designed with the hacking in mind. Sure there are tons of hackable items... but these items are for the most part a nuisance for you as a player to deal with like security systems and robots rather than opportunities to take advantage of...
    Id occasionally get an enemy to line up with a car to remotely run them over, but moments like these were far too rare….
    Most of the time forcing me to have to physically enter restricted zones when I could do everything from the sidewalk with little to no risk in the original…
    But they for some reason want you to physically stealth around to try and trick you to getting into a gun fight…. When the whole premise of the game was hacking the world around you…
    And now it’s mostly turn off the security around you to proceed or else…
    The game throws far too many hurdles at you stopping hacking from being a satisfying and fun option to turning it into a chore.
    And when you do get detected it’s no fun at all as the gun play feels bad, the combat is slow and leaves you vulnerable for too long and enemies constantly call for back up… and they do so insanely fast, so the waves of enemies and cops never stop.. they’re going to kill you because you slipped up…
    You can take them out by attracting them to electrical boxes… or setting traps for them to walk into, and you can set a police or gang hit on them which could potentially have them do all of the heavy work for you… which I actually had a lot of fun with
    And the missions are all still great despite this nuisance emphasis…
    Every last one feels unique and challenging, there’s so much charm to this story and mission design…
    The campaign feels hand crafted rather than formulaic and is now a standard I will judge other open world games of its type by…
    Stuff gets crazy, and it’s a blast throughout...
    And occasionally in these missions you’ll run into some pipe mazes
    they’re back, this time in the environment rather than being just a black screen with lines...
    Things can get a little award at times with angles, but I grew to love running around areas or camera hopping trying to align everything….
    Watch_Dogs 2 is the perfect example of what can be accomplished with love and care by a development team. Of what happens when you listen to feedback
    The gameplay isn’t perfect, but the overall package is pretty close and is miles better than an already great game in the original…
    I give Watch_Dogs 2
    a 9/10    … Full Review »
  3. InducedRhino438
    Nov 15, 2016
    9
    So fun and addicting, way better than the division. I love the map design, I love the new hacking abilities, and most of all I love the newSo fun and addicting, way better than the division. I love the map design, I love the new hacking abilities, and most of all I love the new protagonist; Marcus Holloway. He is very cool, funny, interesting and very fun to play as. Marcus is the complete opposite to Aiden Pearce to whom was just too normal, and normal is boring. I also love some of the side characters, Wrench (my personal favourite), Josh and Sitara. The gameplay is fun, approaching almost every mission in a different way which makes you feel like a badass. This sequel to the first Watch Dogs is like the sequel to Assassin's creed, improves on just about everything, except for the repetitive side missions (my only negative to the game). My only other negative to this game is that it compares too much to GTA V, but apart from that, this game is awesome, and is a game for anyone who loves the open world and stealth genre. And another great thing, NO DOWNGRADE unlike what Ubisoft have done in the past, including to the first watch Dogs.… Full Review »
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