This game had made gamers all over the world drool with its trailers and gameplay videos. I along with other gamers were really disappointed when Ubisoft postponed the release date of the game. So when I finally got my hands on it, it was no less emotional than finding a long lost brother.
The game is of course open world with plentiful opportunities of exploration. It does live upto the expections that it had created when I had first seen the trailer/teaser on youtube. The game's concept is focused on how privacy is slowly becoming a myth in a world controlled by computers through 'ctOS' which is administered by corporations.
"Our primary source of inspiration comes from the real-life intersection of technology and security where our citizens, our government and the infrastructure of our cities are increasingly networked. " --Jonathan
The Story
The story features the protagonist Aiden Pearce, who tries to solve the mystery of the incident that killed his niece. This leads him to hacking his way through the city of neo-Chicago. Someone seems to be trying to threaten or possibly harm his family.
The game starts with an intro-video showing Aiden in some public place and another guy behind a bunch of computers. they seem to be siphoning bank accounts with some sort of collaboration, when suddenly there is a security alert showing the intrusion of an unknown third party.
Apart from the main story there are other activities in which the player can engage himself: mini-games and augmented reality games like chess, drinking game and so on. The side missions include gang hideouts, fixer contracts and criminal convoys. Gang hideouts test your stealth skills,fixer contracts test your driving skills and criminal convoys test your driving as well as combat skills.
There are also these tiny missions where you need to prevent crimes and take down the criminals. This builds your reputation. The bar when full says 'vigilante'. I don't know how this brings about any difference to the game there in. Neither have I got the opportunity to find out what happens when you fill the negative portion of the reputation bar or in other words lose your reputation to the maximum extent.
Someway into the game you are introduced to the multiplayer mode where you can get contracts to hack into real players' data or do something similar. The same can happen to you.
The Gameplay
The gameplay is solid to say the least. Actually it is an understatement. Initially you have limited skills in all departments of hacking, driving and combat. As you progress through the story and complete tasks, you get skill points which you can use to upgrade your hacking driving or combat skills in the 'skill tree'.
From simple cameras and mobile phones (smartphones) you will be able to upgrade your skills to control traffic lights , bridges and blockers. You can use them to your advantage during escaping pursuits. Pardon me if I am emphasizing on the hacking part too much. But that seems to be the core element of the game.
There are a variety of cars available throughout the city. The muscle cars allow you to engage yourself in vehicle combat where you can ram enemy vehicles to shut them down without the risk of of blowing up your own car in the process. There are these performance cars that make you the king of highway or any straight road for that matter. The sports cars enable you to take swift turns which are of utmost necessity during pursuits. The 'car on demand' app on your in-game smartphone allows you to purchase cars anytime you want. However you need to unlock each car before you can purchase. This you can do by hacking the smartphones of the pedestrians. I found the driving pretty smooth though to a friend of mine, it appeared pretty cumbersome. Especially playing with the traffic signals, raising blocks and bursting steam pipes to neutralize cars in pursuit were pretty fun.
The combat and gun-play are pretty main stream, though I like the way Aiden takes down enemies with his signature retractable stick. As is the case with most of the third person shooting games nowadays there is an option of slowing down time whose advent was seen in Max Payne 2 (as far as I remember; do correct me if I am wrong) and was further seen in games like GTA V. This option is a simple upgrade called 'focus' which you can avail at the earliest stage of the game. Never for once should one think that this game is similar to GTA games. For one thing combat needs to be avoided as far as possible as the player's health seems to be very low. Three bullets are all that are needed for Aiden Pearce to collapse like a puppet. Yeah, the death animation IS that lousy.
Speaking of my preference of hacking to combat while undertaking a mission reminds me of one of those early missions where I had to hack into the ctOS of a particular area for which I had to enter a construction site. Perhaps I had not yet gotten rid of the GTA-ish mayhem way of tackling missions that I failed consecutively thrice when I tried to enter the through the door and take down enemies one by one. Later I realized how simple a task it was where all I had to do was hack camera to camera and finally to another camera which was fitted on one of the guards who would himself go to the server room thus automatically giving me access to it.
Evading the police seems more difficult than GTA and you cannot roam the streets gun in hand expecting no one to care until you start shooting people, cause as soon as they see a man carrying a gun they react. And by react I don't mean running about but calling 911 for help. This means the police will be after you.
Verdict
Verdict the game lives up to my expectation. Free roaming is much enjoyable. The hacking bit brings up something new to the gameplay that we are so used to. Side activities are fun. The death animation could have been better. Definitely this is a must buy for all.
Pros
1. Good gameplay
2. Side activities
3. gorgeous graphics
4. multiplayer seamlessly merging with single player
Cons
1. Death animation
2. The criminal activities missions seem repetitive.
rating: 8/10
Trailer
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