TGO Daily | October 29, 2020 | Watch Dogs: Legion Review Roundup
Watch Dogs has always been on my periphery, ever since the first game. The concept has always been intriguing — an open world where you can hack anything! Wow! I also remember feeling pretty meh about the first game.
Things turned around for them with Watch Dogs 2, and hopefully Legion can keep that momentum going. Unfortunately I don’t think I’m one for AAA open-world experiences anymore, but I still like to keep my eye on Watch Dogs in particular.
Hope you’re well. More news tomorrow :)
Adrian
In The News
Watch Dogs: Legion Reviews
The review embargo for Watch Dogs: Legion has lifted, and critics are now sharing their thoughts with the world. If you’d like to take a deeper dive than I can provide into the reviews, you should read the “Critical Consensus” from gamesindustry.biz.
The game has been received favourably. Legion’s core concept is that you can play as any procedurally generated NPC by recruiting them into a revolutionary team called DeadSec — set on the backdrop of a near-future dictatorial London. Each NPC has their own unique traits, with the idea being that together, those traits can be used to overthrow the authoritarian government.
VICE’s Austin Walker made an absolutely wonderful review that you should read, which focuses a lot on this system. He says the following (also referenced in gi.biz linked above):
"One person doesn't have the skills you need to change the world…But this fundamentally misunderstands what makes collective power so strong. Whether you're coming together as a political party, a union, or an insurgent force like DedSec, it's not only that organizations can pull from their members' individual skillset, it's that cooperation allows for all new types of action... moments of victory never feel shared among DedSec members. I might have a deep roster available to me, but Legion is never a team sport."
Critics largely felt that the gimmick worked well mechanically, with it offering variety to how challenges are approached.
Looking at the politics portrayed, many reviewers gave Ubisoft credit for tackling major issues without hesitation. Though, it does so in broad strokes, and may be undercut by the fact that Ubisoft is not necessarily the company best suited to talk about social justice.
All that aside — people seem happy with the game. It probably has similar shortcomings as many other open-world AAA games, but apparently it is fun, ridiculous, and ultimately delivers on the “hacking” experience that they promise.
Halo: Infinite Project Director Gone
Source: Bloomberg.com
Chris Lee, studio director of 343 Industries and Halo Infinite, is no longer working on the game. While remaining at Microsoft, he becomes yet another significant contributor to step away from the project. Last year, creative director Tim Longo and executive producer Mary Olson also left the team.
Of course, the rocky development also led to the game’s delay into 2021, as it was originally slated for the Xbox Series X|S launch lineup.
Much like Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, you should be cautious before pre-ordering or buying this game on day one. It’s good practice to wait regardless of the game, but staff turnover and game delays are never a good thing when combined.
Switch Gets…Cloud Streaming?
Remedy Entertainment’s Control: Ultimate Edition is now available on the Nintendo Switch — however, it’s only being offered as a cloud version. Nintendo has experimented with this previously, but this is the first game to offer it in the West.
You can download a free demo to see if your internet is stable enough to stream the game, before purchasing it. They will also be offering this to Hitman 3 when it releases in January.
It’s strange that this came so suddenly and without any fanfare on Nintendo’s part. It makes sense though, because they can now make games available which would struggle with the Switch hardware. We’ll see how it plays out.
Also In The News
“First 12 hours of PS5 preorders match first 12 weeks of PS4's”
“"We are people, just like you" says Cyberpunk 2077 dev in response to death threats”
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