0:00:00.553,0:00:02.234
"Your face is too dark

0:00:02.234,0:00:03.954
for my sensors to --"

0:00:04.604,0:00:06.672
"Bitch, I'm black and I'm proud."

0:00:06.672,0:00:08.464
"Tell your sensors to calibrate that."

0:00:08.464,0:00:10.782
"I have no reference for "black."

0:00:11.518,0:00:13.228
"No. Of course you don't."

0:00:22.026,0:00:23.211
In our hyper-connected world,

0:00:23.261,0:00:25.931
where most of us carry around handheld devices

0:00:25.931,0:00:27.299
that keep us linked to the

0:00:27.299,0:00:28.847
internet at all times

0:00:28.847,0:00:31.215
and tech companies monitor our behavior

0:00:31.215,0:00:32.467
and purchasing habits constantly,

0:00:32.757,0:00:34.368
a game in which you harness that

0:00:34.368,0:00:36.686
technological web to disrupt

0:00:36.686,0:00:38.460
the schemes of powerful corporations~

0:00:38.460,0:00:40.065
makes perfect sense.

0:00:40.065,0:00:42.271
But with 2014's Watch Dogs,

0:00:42.271,0:00:44.254
Ubisoft failed to turn this premise

0:00:44.254,0:00:46.372
into a compelling game.

0:00:46.372,0:00:47.674
Watch Dogs 2 makes some meaningful

0:00:47.674,0:00:49.354
improvements on its predecessor.

0:00:49.354,0:00:51.584
It gives us a more memorable hero

0:00:51.584,0:00:52.715
and supporting cast,

0:00:52.715,0:00:54.433
and a San Francisco that exudes a

0:00:54.433,0:00:55.700
bit more more personality

0:00:55.700,0:00:57.816
than the first games' setting did.

0:00:57.816,0:01:00.264
Unfortunately, Watch Dogs 2 still fails

0:01:00.264,0:01:01.672
where it matters most:

0:01:01.672,0:01:04.401
trotting out a series of crushingly-repetitive

0:01:04.401,0:01:06.970
missions that never come close to making you feel

0:01:06.970,0:01:08.652
like a hacker extraordinaire.

0:01:08.922,0:01:11.027
Nearly every main story mission

0:01:11.027,0:01:13.980
has you infiltrating some heavily-guarded facility

0:01:13.980,0:01:16.320
or another, in order to steal something,

0:01:16.320,0:01:17.514
or hack something,

0:01:17.514,0:01:19.810
and once you find a strategy that works for you,

0:01:19.810,0:01:22.533
it's very easy to fall into a pattern of approaching

0:01:22.533,0:01:25.688
all of these missions in more or less the same way.

0:01:25.688,0:01:27.231
Your character, Marcus Holloway,

0:01:27.231,0:01:29.154
can't take much punishment,

0:01:29.154,0:01:31.349
and the environments are filled with enemies

0:01:31.349,0:01:33.660
who will immediately call for more reinforcements

0:01:33.660,0:01:35.311
at any sign of trouble --

0:01:35.311,0:01:37.061
so you're discouraged from relying on the

0:01:37.061,0:01:39.688
all-out, guns-blazing approach.

0:01:39.688,0:01:41.458
This makes sense in a game that wants you

0:01:41.458,0:01:43.111
to use your hacker abilities to tackle

0:01:43.111,0:01:44.844
the situations you're faced with,

0:01:44.844,0:01:46.751
but because failure in this game can be

0:01:46.751,0:01:47.915
so punishing,

0:01:47.915,0:01:49.449
and send you back so far,

0:01:49.449,0:01:51.045
I tended to complete most missions

0:01:51.045,0:01:52.890
using the same tactic;

0:01:52.890,0:01:55.721
the core of my strategy was hanging back,

0:01:55.721,0:01:57.980
hacking into the building's security systems,

0:01:57.980,0:01:59.884
and picking off the enemies who could call

0:01:59.884,0:02:02.254
for reinforcements one-by-one,

0:02:02.254,0:02:04.774
by forging criminal records and having the police

0:02:04.774,0:02:07.150
come in and arrest or kill them.

0:02:07.150,0:02:09.542
It was passive and often tedious,

0:02:09.542,0:02:11.441
but it got the job done.

0:02:11.441,0:02:12.930
Of course, sometimes it's a strength

0:02:12.930,0:02:15.002
when a game punishes you for failure.

0:02:15.002,0:02:16.751
In games with precise combat,

0:02:16.751,0:02:18.750
the prospect of a significant setback

0:02:18.750,0:02:20.145
can raise the stakes,

0:02:20.145,0:02:22.072
encouraging you to master the mechanics,

0:02:22.072,0:02:25.171
and making your victories all the more rewarding.

0:02:25.171,0:02:27.583
But Watch Dogs 2 is no such game.

0:02:27.583,0:02:29.231
This is no Dark Souls.

0:02:29.231,0:02:31.621
This is a by-the-numbers, open world game

0:02:31.621,0:02:34.346
with mediocre gun play and systems that interact

0:02:34.346,0:02:37.419
so erratically, that all you can do is try to

0:02:37.419,0:02:38.902
manage them well enough to complete

0:02:38.902,0:02:42.086
your objective and get out alive.

0:02:42.086,0:02:43.519
As shabby as the mission design is,

0:02:43.519,0:02:45.213
the game deserves some credit for its

0:02:45.213,0:02:47.570
obviously well-intentioned efforts to acknowledge

0:02:47.570,0:02:50.225
the existence of structural racism.

0:02:50.225,0:02:52.571
At one point, the young black protagonist, Marcus,

0:02:52.571,0:02:55.323
discusses the racial profiling tactics that

0:02:55.323,0:02:57.270
tagged him as a criminal risk.

0:02:57.270,0:02:58.792
And his brother-in-arms, Horatio,

0:02:58.792,0:03:01.902
whose day job is at the Google stand-in, "Nudle,"

0:03:01.902,0:03:04.061
comments frankly on the racism and

0:03:04.061,0:03:07.013
condencension he experiences as one of the only

0:03:07.013,0:03:08.202
people of color in an

0:03:08.202,0:03:09.966
overwhelmingly-white company.

0:03:09.966,0:03:10.946
"You haven't experienced

0:03:10.946,0:03:13.082
corporate life until you're the only brother

0:03:13.082,0:03:14.744
in a meeting and have to represent

0:03:14.744,0:03:16.585
all of blackdom."

0:03:16.585,0:03:17.598
"Jesus!"

0:03:17.598,0:03:18.752
The presence of Miranda

0:03:18.752,0:03:20.266
a black trans councilwoman

0:03:20.266,0:03:21.601
who does what she can

0:03:21.601,0:03:23.233
to help Marcus and his colleagues

0:03:23.233,0:03:25.311
in the hacker collective known as "DedSec"

0:03:25.311,0:03:26.955
is also welcome.

0:03:26.955,0:03:27.982
On the other hand,

0:03:27.982,0:03:29.950
Latinx people in Watch Dogs 2 are

0:03:29.950,0:03:32.313
primarily represented as the most clichéd

0:03:32.313,0:03:34.372
kinds of gang members imaginable.

0:03:34.372,0:03:36.764
As important as it is that games give us heroes

0:03:36.764,0:03:39.071
and supporting characters who break from

0:03:39.071,0:03:40.605
the long-established molds,

0:03:40.605,0:03:42.803
there's more to great characterization than

0:03:42.803,0:03:44.573
simply ticking off a few boxes

0:03:44.573,0:03:46.311
on a diversity checklist.

0:03:46.311,0:03:48.632
And Watch Dogs 2 falls short here.

0:03:48.632,0:03:50.849
Its characters relate to each other more in

0:03:50.849,0:03:53.961
geek, sci-fi references and cheesy one-liners,

0:03:53.961,0:03:56.197
than in anything that actually reveals to us

0:03:56.197,0:03:57.372
who they are,

0:03:57.372,0:03:59.132
and what makes them tick.

0:03:59.132,0:04:01.004
So it's hard to get invested in their struggle

0:04:01.004,0:04:03.233
and their relationships with each other.

0:04:03.233,0:04:05.473
"Come on, Wesley Crusher! Launch waits!"

0:04:05.473,0:04:07.565
"Bitch, please. I'm clearly Sisko."

0:04:07.565,0:04:09.294
"Jake Sisko?"

0:04:09.294,0:04:10.899
"CAPTAIN Sisko."

0:04:10.899,0:04:13.314
The San Francisco setting of Watch Dogs 2

0:04:13.314,0:04:16.055
is recognizable but doesn't feel authentic --

0:04:16.055,0:04:17.993
despite being packed with landmarks

0:04:17.993,0:04:19.412
and familiar locations,

0:04:19.412,0:04:22.092
including San Francisco's greatest treasure

0:04:22.092,0:04:24.803
the sea lions down at Pier 39.

0:04:24.803,0:04:26.767
It's great to see Pride flags flying in

0:04:26.767,0:04:28.232
certain spots around the city,

0:04:28.232,0:04:30.066
and Watch Dogs 2 makes no effort

0:04:30.066,0:04:31.486
to minimize or deny the existence of

0:04:31.486,0:04:33.326
SF's queer community.

0:04:33.326,0:04:35.730
But for all that, the game's concerns

0:04:35.730,0:04:38.136
feel oddly detached from the real issues

0:04:38.136,0:04:40.364
that face San Francisco today.

0:04:40.364,0:04:41.038
Graffiti that reads

0:04:41.038,0:04:42.693
"ARTISTS USED TO LIVE HERE"

0:04:42.693,0:04:44.943
poignantly speaks to the fact that

0:04:44.943,0:04:47.218
entire communities are being driven out of the city

0:04:47.218,0:04:50.344
as tech companies make life here unsustainable

0:04:50.344,0:04:51.593
for so many.

0:04:51.593,0:04:53.595
And the occasional passerby may make mention

0:04:53.595,0:04:55.705
of the gentrification that's taking place:

0:04:55.705,0:04:58.664
"Super gentrification! It's wretched!"

0:04:58.664,0:05:00.269
So why isn't DedSec using its power

0:05:00.269,0:05:02.701
to stand up for marginalized communities?

0:05:02.701,0:05:05.535
Why isn't DedSec fighting for affordable housing,

0:05:05.535,0:05:07.975
and fighting against the police injustice

0:05:07.975,0:05:10.996
that specifically targets people of color?

0:05:10.996,0:05:11.996
Why not confront the things

0:05:11.996,0:05:13.934
that are really happening here?

0:05:13.934,0:05:15.575
The things that really matter to

0:05:15.575,0:05:18.633
the people who call San Francisco home?

0:05:18.633,0:05:20.244
Perhaps the strangest thing of all

0:05:20.244,0:05:21.681
about Watch Dogs 2, though,

0:05:21.681,0:05:24.525
is its uneasy relationship with power.

0:05:24.525,0:05:26.554
Ostensibly, DedSec is all about

0:05:26.554,0:05:28.124
waking up the populace,

0:05:28.124,0:05:29.495
getting them to understand

0:05:29.495,0:05:32.010
how power is abused by politicians,

0:05:32.010,0:05:34.403
tech companies, and government agencies

0:05:34.403,0:05:35.614
to limit people's freedom

0:05:35.614,0:05:38.043
to think and act for themselves.

0:05:38.043,0:05:40.041
But what DedSec never does,

0:05:40.041,0:05:42.659
is turn that questioning lens on its own use

0:05:42.659,0:05:44.332
and abuse, of power.

0:05:44.332,0:05:46.571
It was never lost on me that,

0:05:46.571,0:05:48.031
playing as a young black man

0:05:48.031,0:05:50.087
who had been profiled as a likely criminal

0:05:50.087,0:05:51.059
because of his race,

0:05:51.059,0:05:53.582
I then harnessed the power of techonology

0:05:53.582,0:05:57.303
to forge criminal records for dozens and dozens

0:05:57.303,0:05:58.434
of innocent people,

0:05:58.434,0:06:00.372
and watched them get marched off

0:06:00.372,0:06:01.949
by the cops themselves.

0:06:01.949,0:06:03.782
But hey, what was I gonna do?

0:06:03.782,0:06:05.663
I had a mission to complete.

0:06:05.663,0:06:08.302
"We will not stand idle while that happens."

0:06:08.302,0:06:10.410
"DedSec has given you the truth."

0:06:10.410,0:06:12.178
"Do what you will."