It’s not exactly a dream team, and
initially I’m so uninterested in my
collection of ‘heroes’ that when one
of them (the car owning lady) is
kidnapped by an enemy I don’t even
bother rescuing her. Go
ahead and keep her, I
shrug. I can steal a car
if I need one.
But a few hours and
several new recruits
later, another member
of my team is
kidnapped, and this
time I fly into an
absolute rage. This is another team
member who owns a car, but it’s an
extremely fast car because he’s a
getaway driver. He has a skill that
prevents police drones from chasing
him while he’s driving, and another
skill that forces every car in his path
off the road, parting traffic like the
Red Sea. Both are indispensable to
me. He also has a cool leather jacket
and driving gloves and shades – hejust looks like a driver from an action
movie. I like this guy a lot, and I like
playing as him, and the thought of
some enemy stealing him from me
is absolutely unacceptable. That’s
when I realise Legion’s
play-as-anyone system
is actually working for
me, and that I’ve gotten
invested in it. It just
took a while to
assemble a team of
anyones I actually
cared about.PEOPLE PERSON
In Watch Dogs Legion, hacker group
DedSec has been framed for a series
of terrorist bombings in London, and
its members are all dead, missing, or
jailed. An oppressive private military
firm, Albion, is now running London,
a ruthless mob boss is running drugs,
weapons and human trafficking
operations in the city, and there’s also
government intelligence and abillionaire tech mogul to contend
with. Starting from scratch with a
single, largely unremarkable citizen, I
slowly assemble a new DedSec crew
to fight back against Albion.
Looking for new recruits in
London is an engrossing and
time-consuming activity in and of
itself. Scanning citizens as I pass
them on the street or peeking at them
through security cameras gives me a
look at their attributes, both good and
bad. An elderly mechanic might
wield a heavy wrench for melee
attacks but have low mobility and
damage resistance due to his age. A
medic may have a uniform, useful for
infiltrating hospitals, and a dart gun
for non-lethal takedowns, but they
also might be a compulsive gambler
who will regularly lose DedSec’s
money. A beekeeper I met has the
ability to send swarms of cyberbees
to attack targets, but also has
incurable hiccups that can alert
guards when they’re trying to be
stealthy. Every trip through the city
adds someone new to your shopping
list, either because they seem useful,
like a hacker or combat specialist, or
they’re a novelty, like a guy who farts
uncontrollably or someone who may
abruptly drop dead.
Each citizen has a schedule, and
relationships. Even enemy guards
don’t work 24-7. They leave their
posts and walk around in civilian
clothing, which is both a nice detail
and can provide the opportunity to
safely dish out some revenge when
they’re not in heavily restricted areas
(like I did with the one who
kidnapped my getaway driver).
Now and again you’ll run into a
person you met earlier, or someone
who knows someone you’ve met: a
relative, girlfriend, their doctor. If
you’ve helped their acquaintance,
they’ll know about it and have a
positive opinion of you, making them
easier to recruit to the cause. If
you’ve beaten up their friend, they’ll
know that too and they’ll dislike you.
Most missions in Legion’s
open-world are pretty similar:NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
An open-world
action stealth game
set in a dystopian
future London
EXPECT TO PAY
£55
DEVELOPER
Ubisoft
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
RTX 2080, Intel
i7-9700K , 16GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
Coming in December
LINK
ubisoft.com/en-us/
game/watch-dogs/
watch-dogsDedSec has
been framed
for a series of
terrorist
bombingsA
couple of hours into Watch Dogs Legion I look at my small
team of DedSec agents and think to myself: these people
actually suck. The concept seems sound – rather than
playing a traditional protagonist, you recruit a team of
heroes from randomly generated, ordinary citizens of
London. The problem with ordinary people, though, is that they’re
ordinary. I have a filmmaker on my team. An ambulance driver. A legal
assistant. A lady whose only skill is that she owns a car.LONDON BRAWLING
Liberate the city with buskers and beekeepers
in WATCH DOGS LEGION. By Chris Livingston
SKILL SHARE The strangest people we met in London, and their skills
MARTIN CHAI
Occupation: None
Claim to fame: Has
disease named
after him
Weird Skill:
Flatulence.
Uncontrollable. It
alerts enemies.AMY YI
Occupation:
Living statue
Fun fact: Spends
20 percent of her
income on paint
Weird Skill: Can
hide from pursuers
by holding still.BOB O’KEEFE
Occupation:
Novelist
Weird Skill: Will
gamble away
DedSec’s money.
Weirder Skill:
Spontaneous
death.BRITTANY
BHATTACHARYA
Occupation:
Busker
Hobbies: Car Theft
Weird Skill: Can
still beatbox
while wearing
mascot costume.MANAL AWAD
Age: 76
Occupation: Adult
film star
Age: Again, she’s 76
Weird Skill: She’s
so famous that
she’ll be recognised
in public.Watch Dogs Legion
REVIEW