Syosset Public Library TeenSpace Blog

Watch Dogs: Legion
Developed by Ubisoft, Watch Dogs: Legion is the latest installment of the Watch Dogs series.

Watch Dogs: Legion follows the hacker organization DedSec in its fight against Albion, an oppressive security company that took control over London after DedSec was framed for a citywide bombing. The gameplay primarily revolves around traveling across a detailed rendition of a near-future, hi-tech London, and completing seemingly endless, repetitive missions. Being a metropolis-based open-world game, expect the genre’s typical trappings: lots of driving, causing vehicular mayhem, running from innumerable enemy grunts – in this facet, Legion is as run-of-the-mill as can be.

Legion’s defining aspect, however, is the ability to recruit – and assume control of – any of London’s 9 million citizens, as a new DedSec hacktivist. While this concept sounds fresh and intriguing, it is, unfortunately (and understandably) poorly executed. After the first dozen recruits, it becomes obvious that creating identities for millions of potential recruits walking around London would require a fair bit of random generation. The randomly generated dialogue lines and character features are often unintentionally comical and awkward, with the PS2-era face animations on PS4-era character models causing a severe immersion break in an otherwise decently fleshed-out world. While Legion boasts impressive concepts, tone, and graphics, its consistently mediocre and uncreative execution of said strengths makes it decidedly boring, oftentimes more tedious than fun. 

Just Cause 4 (2018)
Developed by Avalanche Studios, Just Cause 4 follows Rico Rodriguez – now with a grappling hook and wingsuit – through the most standard of open-world adventures.

Despite several new mechanics, a larger open world, and bizarre weather events, Just Cause 4’s novelty wears off like a hastily painted sheen of gold paint on an off-brand plastic toy from the dentist’s office. The entire game has essentially been experienced after the first 3.2 microseconds.

However, for those of whom that have no problem with this, the game is stupidly entertaining – just like all the previous Just Cause installments. Doing just about anything will cause an infinite horde of enemy soldiers coming in any imaginable vehicle to descend upon you – all of whom pose absolutely no challenge. The entire world, including the hapless civilians, can be used as a sandbox for goofy mechanics like balloons that raise anything 50 meters in the air, to which rockets can be attached. Everything else, though, is inexcusably bad. The storyline is comically uninspired, and the graphics are somehow worse than the previous iteration.

However, by all but completely turning off the brain, one can actually find genuine fun in Just Cause 4. The effort to create something interesting and creative is clearly there, and the game seems endlessly hilarious when played with a friend. I honestly cannot recommend picking up this title nor avoiding it.

Developed by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo, Nioh 2 is the long-awaited (and superior) sequel to Nioh.

Nioh 2’s strongest aspect is definitely its combat, whose depth may or may not even exceed the FromSoftware titles to which it looks for inspiration. While not nearly quite as refined or elegantly animated as that of Bloodborne or Elden Ring, Nioh 2 has truly distinguished itself through a number of highly original mechanics that set Nioh 2 far apart from the myriad other Soulslike clones that now saturate the market. Namely, Nioh 2 brilliantly addresses the cumbersome nature of Soulslike combat that turns many prospective players off to the genre: a technically demanding but rewarding “Ki Pulse” executed at the right time will allow the player to instantly regain a significant quantity of stamina. With this mechanic, the dread of waiting for agonizing stamina recovery that dictates every decision in traditional Souls games is eliminated. Further, the Ki Pulse doesn’t draw away whatsoever from the high skill requirement many players seek in these games; instead, it places more emphasis on the precise timing that already defines the genre and creates a sense of confidence, without removing the careful nature of enemy encounters players have come to love. I find myself returning to FromSoft titles and wishing they, too, had this mechanic.

New to Nioh 2 as well is the Yokai system, which allows the player to perform a number of flashy tricks – an impressive gimmick. A somewhat contrived story, repetitive enemy design, and uninspired setpieces are fortunately outweighed by a thoroughly complex combat and gear system that makes Nioh 2 more enjoyable than not, despite its demanding gameplay. Highly recommended.