![]() ![]() The street art evokes the same creative vibe as the stunning graffiti you can spot throughout the City by the Bay. All the big landmarks are there, along with little descriptions explaining their significance to the city's history and culture. Watch Dogs 2 takes the right approach: mimicking the feeling of a city without needing every building in its proper place. Such a slavish adherence to real-world digestive tracts doesn't benefit the experience, just as a 3D-rendered model of my house would have no bearing on Watch Dogs 2's story or structure. People like to joke about the fact that we never see Jack Bauer take a single bathroom break during the real-time events of 24, but I'm certain that a shot of Jack having a meditation after his Venti columbian roast would add nothing to the show's overall entertainment. If you ever thought an open world felt bloated before, just imagine driving through countless residential areas just to get to your next mission. As some No Man's Sky players will attest, more space to explore does not equal more satisfaction or excitement - if anything, it dilutes the more thrilling moments with long stretches of mundanity. ![]() No matter how much money, labor, and disc space could go towards a AAA open-world game, it makes no sense to litter its world with ordinary buildings for the sake of 1:1 accuracy. Driving past a digital recreation of my home would've been a thrill to me (and possibly my neighbors), but for the other 99.99% of Watch Dogs 2 players, it would be meaningless. There will never be an open-world game that perfectly replicates an actual city, and there never should be. Despite having played through plenty of open-world adventures, the circumstances of my life made it so that only Watch Dogs 2 could lead me to this epiphany. I was so preoccupied with seeing my world recreated into a lifelike virtual playground, I didn't stop to think what that would actually mean. And in hindsight, it was silly of me to want to explore the street where I live in a video game. The neighborhood I live in is included in Watch Dogs 2's world, but it's so shrunken down that it's impossible to pinpoint the spot where my house should be. ![]() As I continue speeding down the Embarcadero in a stolen vehicle (in-game, mind you), the area I know by heart suddenly morphs into Fisherman's Wharf, skipping miles of blocks I was expecting to see. The map in Watch Dogs 2 is an impressive mirage: glancing at its versions of San Francisco, Marin County, and Oakland gave me flashbacks to all the times I've consulted Google Maps while exploring the city, even though the game space is a mere fraction of SF's actual size. And though licensing red tape prevents some landmarks from bearing their actual monikers (like Nudle Park baseball stadium in place of the actual AT&T Park), I took joy in spotting the Waterfront Cafe just past the Ferry Building - the exact same structures I use to judge my ETA during my commute to the office.īut then, my actual office building is nowhere to be found. I didn't have to climb a staggering number of stamina-draining stairs to reach it, but the in-game Coit Tower looks just like the genuine article (complete with its gorgeous view of the city). Japantown is one of my favorite hangout spots in the real SF, and visiting the iconic Peace Pagoda in Watch Dogs 2 put a smile on my face (even if the nearby architecture looks nothing like reality). Watch Dogs 2 cleverly dresses up some of its sidequest distractions as mobile apps, encouraging players to see the sights by taking in-game selfies near familiar tourist attractions or time-honored urban oddities. Though I couldn't completely lose myself to the illusion of this truncated San Francisco, I often marveled at the reminiscence that washed over me when idling around particular landmarks.
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