In this game the action moves from the Windy City of Chicago to the sun-kissed (and occasionally foggy) streets of San Francisco. The protagonist also changes from the dour Aiden Pearce to the happy-go-lucky Marcus Holloway, who proves his mettle by breaking into an evil surveillance tech company to erase himself from their database and is invited to join hacktivist group DedSec to go and hack everything in sight.
Gameplay is similar to the first game, but with a few new twists. Remote control drones - both flying and wheeled - make an early appearance, allowing Marcus to scope out an area and lay traps for guards before breaking in. As well as the evil tech bro villain, you get to take down biker and drug gangs, a sinister tech based religious cult (no prizes for guessing what this is based on) and an Internet search company complete with a Silicon Valley campus headquarters.
Some missions require a bit of lateral thinking to find a way onto rooftop locations, but there are usually fork lift trucks and scissor lifts parked nearby, and even cranes that allow you to hoist yourself up on a precarious looking platform. I love the way that Marcus sits down crosslegged with his laptop when he is remotely hacking one of these things as it bounces around in an alarming fashion.
The network hacking puzzles are back, with the occasional added frustration of timed levels that are triggered by moving certain tiles. The trick with these is to set as many nodes correctly as you can before triggering the timed sections. The difficulty level is also reasonable - there aren't as many frustrating points as the first game, and the final mission is also pitched at the right point so it is challenging but completable in a couple of attempts.
The side missions are similarly good, with each one being triggered by hacking a particular phone and getting involved. There's an enjoyable Uber driver style taxi game with getting passengers to their destinations on time without upsetting them by crashing or in one case performing stunt jumps for an internet influencer to post on her channel for likes. I also enjoyed the challenge of taking a selfie at each notable location in San Francisco and posting it on a photo sharing app on your in game phone, getting comments from your team mates.
The level progression is linked to gaining followers for your own DedSec app by each audacious hack adding so many additional followers. It feels a little hokey, but it fits the theme. The banter between the DadSec team members in the HQ hack space is nicely done and you get to know each of them in turn. A particular highlight is when the team has to go on the run and ends up at a Burning Man style festival in the middle of nowhere to regroup.
The graphics are very nice, making use of some wide open spaces looking out across the bay as you speed across the Golden Gate bridge. Locations include the city itself with enjoyably steep streets, Oakland, Alcatraz and Silicon Valley on a decent sized (but not overwhelming) map.
It's a great game and on a par with Watchdogs Legion for me.
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