Since this game is set in the future, I thought I’d share that I spent a decent amount of time last night tossing in bed while my 13 week old puppy barked his fucking head off because regardless of the fact that I feed, shelter and love him to death he still doesn’t agree that mammals should be asleep between the hours of 12am-7am. He’s a cunt. But during this time, I actually thought about what futuristic things in both gaming and movies are actually plausible to exist in my life time. I’ll say the first and foremost thing I want is Elon Musk’s underground train system (which apparently travels at 760 mph). Like I want to be able to live in Chicago, work in Dallas, and have dinner in St. Louis all in one day. That would be fucking insane. Not sure we’ll make the technological leap fast enough before I die though. I also have always loved the Tony Stark style computers, where there isn’t really any hardware; all screens are boundless and created with your hands. I think we have a decent shot at that for sure considering how quickly mobile phone technology has advanced. Finally, I would love to see gaming get to the Ready Player One immersion level. I want to be 80 in a nursing home locked into a harness that lets me play Black Ops 142 and Elder Scrolls VIII without realizing I’m 80. That’s another thing that I think is only one or two decades away.
Anyway, let’s get to the actual #WeeklyRanked:
Numbuh 4: Watch Dogs Legion
Listen, I get if you’re out on this game right now. Believe me, I get it. Ubisoft doesn’t have the greatest track record over the last 2-3 years. Here’s the list of games (of note) that have been released in the last 3 years by Ubisoft, with those rating higher than 80 on Metacritic in bold: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, The Division, Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, Watch Dogs 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Far Cry 5, Far Cry Primal. (I understand that Metacritic is not the standard that everyone lives by for gaming, but I can tell the difference between a game rated in the 70s and a game rated in the 80s+ without even looking at the score). Ubisoft basically have a 50/50 shot at making a game that is above average, and the rest are thrown into the wasteland of mediocre $40 titles that make up 80% of the game store. So why am I excited about Watch Dogs Legion? I’m not gonna lie I had the “here we go again” meme ready to tweet out as soon as the E3 conference started but the gameplay trailer they opened with changed my mind entirely.
(That is a 10 min video but its absolutely worth the watch).
I’ve said it before, but I’ll repeat myself: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the best game in the franchise. I love how they kept the iconic Ezio as the lead, made the setting in one giant version of Rome, and allowed you to create and manage your own guild of assassins. There wasn’t anything as advanced as what we’ll likely see in Watch Dogs Legion, but it was cool to create your own team and use them in that world. This game looks like they’re taking that concept to the next level. I still shiver every time I hear “procturally generated” because of the colossal failures of No Man’s Sky but like the video above described, there’s reason to be more optimistic about how Ubisoft is going to make all these features intertwine into a new style of game. In order to prepare for this game, I actually bought Watch Dogs 2 a few months ago and have played around 4-5 hours. It’s clunkier than I would like and I wouldn’t call the storyline anything close to engaging, but I can see the potential. Pair that with the new features that Ubisoft has unveiled, and I think we have a shot at an incredible title. So I’m buying into the hype just a bit more that I normally would for a series and game studio that hasn’t done much of note in recent history.
Watch Dogs Legion will be available on March 6th 2020 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.