We can tell ourselves in advance: Watch Dogs Legion is a title that has it. While its two predecessors took as central figures Aiden Pearce and Marcus Holloway, this new episode has no main hero to present since we can control… almost everyone. Quesaco? Let us clarify this concept from the beginning: DedSec, the secret organization that uses hacking to assert human rights and expose the big bad guys, was duped as it should be in the middle of the capital English. Wrongly accused of having blown up half of the city, then dominated by a ruthless militia called Albion, the group sees itself reduced to nothing on British lands. But like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the crew regains strength and it's up to you, the player, to put it back on its feet and discover the truth while clearing your name. To do this, after choosing a character from the ten offered, you will have to recruit new members directly on the street. Worker, lawyer, investor, homeless, bus driver, retiree: regardless of profession, regardless of profile, all NPCs then become playable to take part in the campaign. A one-of-a-kind program in a single-player game, far removed from current narrative standards, which intrigues as well as frightens.
TO BEG
And that's what Watch Dogs Legion imposes: it has this really risky bias, that of diluting the player's identification through a whole panel of randomly created characters. Rather than betting on a single head, Ubisoft thus prefers the idea of embodying an entire group, constituting the Resistance within a gangrenous and criminal city. We are therefore not one person in particular but a microcosm of pirates with various skills, ready to fight for freedom and restore order in streets where violence reigns. This anthill in which it will be necessary to dive to draw new teammates is of an obvious originality that we must salute with dignity; however, and this is what we feared, it is the lack of attachment to most of these fellows that is quickly felt.
A true extension of your hand, the smartphone allows you to hack anything and everything and significantly influence your game.
Very quickly, we find ourselves preferring a head in particular, a few at best, and unfortunately neglecting our other recruits… if we however come to unearth one by ourselves. This risk-taking is therefore not completely mastered, and yet it was not for lack of involving our various heroes through fully scripted cutscenes, dialogues and action scenes. By betting on this batch of NPCs (who have no more NPCs than the name), the story of Watch Dogs Legion turns out to be less punctuated by strong or eccentric characters as could be the case in the previous game. Only the villains, each representing a section that we will have to defeat, offer a personality a little more flashy, although truly clichés for the most part. We will retain all the same some good reversals of situation and some surprising ideas even if, overall, it is clear that the writing suffers from an obvious classicism and structure. We do not come out of the story particularly convinced by his way of bringing things up, although the remarks, always dealing with digital addiction not a certain post-Brexit Manichaeism, are legitimate today. 
THAMES ON THE GOOD HORSE
But if this diversity of characters exists, it is also and above all to consolidate the gameplay. Each of the recruited NPCs will have their own weapon of choice - an adjustable wrench for a construction worker, a spray paint can for a graffiti artist, a silenced pistol for a hitman and so on - that will have to be used intelligently once in the field. Moreover, it must be admitted that after a few hours, the shootings still lack a bit of panache, precision and realism; they even turn quickly in circles if you often use your favorite characters since the arsenal is quite limited. But those who have already laid their hands on the saga should know it: the strength of the gameplay lies essentially in its way of approaching piracy. A true extension of your hand, the smartphone allows you to hack anything and everything and significantly influence your game. the weapons of our adversaries but also and above all in infiltration where it will be possible to interfere in an entire building thanks to security cameras, to download sensitive data remotely, to simulate an accident, to turn off scanners, to making it downright invisible, diverting a person's attention by ringing their phone... and so on.
This successful atmosphere goes hand in hand with a high-end graphic design which, however, turns out to be quite contrasting depending on the platform.
Thanks to the abilities of certain characters, it is even possible to infiltrate the field more easily by donning the outfit of their profession or using certain tools of their profession: then of course, it is always possible to go there as a huge sucker and, to tell the truth, we're doing pretty well shooting bullets in the skulls of all the recalcitrants. From 1), because the AI turns out to be particularly bad and full of incomprehension then, from 2), because the title really lacks moral force on that side That we kill a whole building (or even innocent people ), which we dodge, which we neutralize: the scenario will never change, even a bit, depending on your actions or your general way of playing. In other words, clearing an enemy building with a machine gun will turn out to be easier, faster and, therefore, not in the least punitive in the writing... which contradicts a bit the idea to embody the good people against the evil killers who dominate the city. That being said, Watch Dogs Legion nevertheless offers an intelligent, permissive level design which has the merit of giving players the possibility of approaching it as they see fit. And that's not bad enough.
VINCENT LONDON
The other undeniable strong point of Ubisoft's game clearly lies in the proposed universe: this London of 2040 is successful and offers a high-caliber artistic direction that we take pleasure in contemplating, almost everywhere. The various boroughs of the capital all have a different atmosphere and the reconstitution of the city represents, once again, all the talent of the firm to recreate credible historical worlds. The mixture of classical street architecture - these monuments, nomdidiou! - and futuristic signs, with neon lights, lead to a tasty result in which we take pleasure in immersing ourselves. Darker than the previous opus, the software is nevertheless colorful (in any case, much more than the founding episode) and from there to say that London is one of the main characters, there is only one step . The British spirit is particularly present there, whether it is the bars which smell good of Guiness, these so particular accents (it is an adventure to do ideally in VOSTFR) or these radios which praise many artists from the United Kingdom. United, from grunge rock to drum & bass and grime. 
This successful atmosphere goes hand in hand with a high-end graphic design which, however, turns out to be quite contrasting depending on the platform. As much the experience asserts itself completely on PC as on consoles, and more particularly on PS4 Pro (console from which we carried out this test), the result is uneven with present clipping and, above all, many technical problems. Many crashes, invisible enemies, characters running in place, a broken ragdoll, certain outdated light or water effects... Ubisoft's engine continues to do its thing and is clearly less well optimized on living room machines , not to mention loading times that do not really encourage changing characters on the fly. We will therefore wait to see what the next-gen versions have in store, which should certainly offer a formula worthy of the universe and its artistic direction, and what the next updates will be able to correct to stabilize this London trip. 
