This game takes a concept that is cool on paper, lays the foundation for it to work, then does nothing else. Being able to recruit any NPC is a neat idea but it does not serve as a replacement for well-written characters. I'll admit that i did like using some of my randomly-generated characters, but the problem is that everything they say is so corny. I brought my first recruit to the final mission, and he literally said "damn, I didn't think of anything cool to say" at the climax, which sums up this game really well. The gameplay is fun for a while but gets repetitive. The world itself is well-made and some of the "levels" in this open world are very well designed. Many story missions do a good job too, climbing through the innards of big ben with a robot spider sticks out in my mind. However, no matter how many glimpses of fun this game has, it is still another entry in the long line of gameplay feedback loops from Ubisoft. Watch Dogs 2 at least made up for it with more creative hacking systems, a better sandbox feel, and fun characters. Here, the experience feels constrained and the story has no stakes. Without going into spoilers, there is a rather memorable moment near the end that is completely reversed after the credits - it is barely explained and is rather transparently required by gameplay. Legion had a lot of potential that was just thrown away by very poor, un-subtle writing and the formula of Ubisoft games. If I go back to a Watch Dogs game in the future, it will probably be #2 and not this one.

Reviewed on Apr 27, 2021


Comments