Deluxe Confusion
Just look at this nonsense
It’s that time of year again, when
developers release games en- masse in hopes that several thousand copies will
find their way under Christmas trees come December. This year has been
especially hectic, because alongside the expected annual releases of Call of
Duty and EA Sports titles, we’re seeing more of franchises like Titanfall,
Dishonored, Battlefield, Gears of War, and the powerhouse that is Pokémon. That
is to say nothing of all the games released this year thus far, because
there’ve been a lot of great ones this year, as well as the compelling
non-franchise releases coming up, including the long-awaited Sony release The
Last Guardian. It’s a busy year for video games.
Tomorrow, those scandalous scallywags
over at Ubisoft are throwing in their two cents, in the form of Watch Dogs 2.
With no Assassin’s Creed release this year and their only other major release
this holiday season (that being Steep) only really catering to casual gamers
and fans of extreme sports games, this is their end of the year hot ticket.
That being said, you’d think they
would handle it better than they did the original Watch Dogs, right? Of course
not, because this is Ubisoft we’re talking about.
Longtime readers of these editorials
will know of my passionate dislike for Ubisoft. Aside from Konami, they are my
absolute least favourite of the major game developers. Regardless of what they
do, they always seem to find a way to mess it up and be relentlessly
anti-consumer at the same time, including such memorable tales as the broken
state Assassin’s Creed Unity was released in, their constant lying about Beyond
Good and Evil 2, their E3 presentations that frankly speak for themselves, and
the list goes on.
For me, though, their biggest offense
came in the form of the original Watch Dogs. Just for clarification, I never
actually played Watch Dogs (and I highly doubt I’ll play the sequel either),
but the marketing and full embrace of hype culture that came with the original
were downright nasty. To this day,
gamers still consider Watch Dogs to be one of the biggest disappointments in
gaming (aside from a certain sci-fi survival game whose name won’t be mentioned
here), and for good reason. The original E3 demo for the game looked far superior to the final product, their
much touted “hack everything” mechanic was rendered useless when it turned out
you could only hack what the game dictated you were allowed to hack, the
driving was awful, and the characters and story were dull and uninteresting.
Perhaps the most infamous part of the
original game was the jaw-droppingly enormous spreadsheet that was required to
know exactly what you got in each of the 9 (!!!) editions the game was released
in. Now, special editions have been a thing in games for a while. They
basically are the same game, except it costs more for some extra stuff. Aside
from netting you the season pass for games that are shamelessly trying to sap
your wallet dry, a special edition will occasionally give you extra goodies,
like exclusive in-game cosmetics, weapons, or even something big like an
exclusive statue, art book, or t-shirt if you pay extra. I’m not really the
type of person who buys these things, but if there’s an audience for it, I’m
glad people enjoy it. But seriously, look at this!
That’s just sad. For a game that was
regarded in the later years as a colossal disappointment, this just feels like
Ubisoft trying to make as much money as possible. Granted, robbing you blind
for a usually half-finished game is what Ubisoft does best.
But I love a good redemption story,
and with Watch Dogs 2 on the horizon, I had my fingers crossed that Ubisoft
would learn from their mistake and come back swinging. I’m naïve like that,
because this is Ubisoft we’re talking about, and Ubisoft doesn’t learn
anything.
While I can’t speak for the quality of
the final product itself, my first warning that something was amiss was the E3
demo and trailer. One of the major problems with the original Watch Dogs was
that, in classic Ubisoft tradition, our hacker protagonist was as adept at
firearms as a professional soldier. The thing about that ties back to game
theory itself; if you give someone an easy to use ultimate method of disposing
an enemy, you will always use that method. Think back to Super Mario Bros. What
would happen if Mario could both jump and kick, but the kick didn’t always kill
the enemies? You’d always use the jump, because it was both more powerful and
convenient. The same thing is the case here. Why use your hacking powers to
dispose of enemies when you have an assault rifle that will do the job quicker,
easier, and more efficiently?
But anyways, I’m getting sidetracked.
While at first it looked like they had done away with giving the protagonist
access to guns, Ubisoft being Ubisoft couldn’t keep their grubby little paws
off a chance at more violence. So, alongside his hacking abilities, he has an
end-all solution to every obstacle he faces. While yes, the gun does make it easier
to dispatch foes, imagine how much more interesting it would be if the only
tools you had at your disposal were your hacking abilities. Your character
wasn’t as strong as John frigging Rambo, and he had to remain in the shadows
while he hacked into computers and other technology. Sounds pretty cool to me.
But that’s the game itself. What about
the special editions? Are there just as many as last time?
Well, no. The good news is that the
number has been reduced from 9. The bad news is that there’s still 6, and in my
eyes, that’s still far too many.
For true Watch Dogs fans who want all
the bonus content the special editions net you, you need to buy the San
Francisco edition ($114.99), the Wrench Jr. Robot Collector’s Pack ($165.99)
and the Return of Deadset Collector’s Case (also $165.99), making up a grand
total of $446.97, giving you 2 extra copies of the game that you can use as a
lovely coaster set for your next dinner party.
While not nearly as flabbergasting as
the original 9 collector’s editions, this is just greedy. This is to say
nothing of the Season Pass that seems to be withholding content already on the
disc to fulfil that endless quest for more cash in Ubisoft’s pockets.
Considering this is Ubisoft, I’m not
surprised that they’re still trying to pickpocket money from fans of
collector’s editions and their season passes are as shamelessly dodgy as ever.
But still, this is incredibly greedy of them. The fact alone that there isn’t
an edition that includes all the bonus goodies is bad enough, but the $165.99
price tag for a video game that, if it follows in the footsteps of its
predecessor, won’t be that critically successful is completely galling. It’s a
pretty clear image of what the “triple-A” developers think of the people that
buy these games.
So I say to you this: use your money
the way you want. It’s your cash, after all. But if I can make a suggestion,
I’d say hold off on buying the Supreme-Deluxe-Robot-San
Francisco-Gold-Collector’s-Whatever the hell it’s called Pack. The more people
that buy these enormous $165.99 packs, the more incentive Ubisoft and some of
the other shady devs will have to do this more often. And even still, if you’ve
decided that if you buy the game you’re going to go with the highest priced
one, that’s fine. Again, it’s your money. But if I can be so bold as to make
another suggestion, remember Ubisoft’s past, and do not pre-order the game.
It’s coming out tomorrow. You can wait for reviews. And if this is able to help
someone make or not make a purchase, that’s my job done.
Song of the Week
Figured we’d go with a song from an
actually good Ubisoft game this week, so here’s Bud’s Theme from Grow Home. I’m
a huge fan of chiptune stuff, and while I’ve yet to actually play either of the
Grow games, the soundtracks are undoubtedly impressive.
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