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28/10/2020

The OnePlus Nord is still the most affordable 5G smartphone in India, which in itself makes it great value. Apart from this, it's also a very good all-rounder when it comes to the cameras, display, battery life, and app performance. Google's recently launched Pixel 4a is here to challenge the Nord, but can it succeed?

The single rear camera is the highlight feature of the Pixel 4a, and this has been the case for nearly every Pixel smartphone so far. This year, the Pixel 4a fixes many of the shortcomings of its predecessor, making it a well-rounded mid-tier offering. It's time to see which smartphone offers the best value, and which one you should be putting your money on.

OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a: Price in India and variants
The Google Pixel 4a is only available in a single configuration and colour. It has 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, and is priced at Rs. 31,999 (with a temporary promotional price of Rs. 29,999 at launch time). The OnePlus Nord on the other hand starts at Rs. 24,999 for 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage; going up to Rs. 27,999 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage; and Rs. 29,999 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There's a choice of three colours, but some of them are only available on certain variants.

OnePlus Nord Review
In terms of value, the OnePlus Nord has an advantage with more variants at different price points.

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OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a: Cameras
Let's start with the camera tests, since this is what both companies boast of and most people are wondering about. Which phone captures better photos and videos?

Google Pixel 4a Review
OnePlus Nord Google Pixel 4a
Main Camera Resolution 48 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Aperture f/1.75 f/1.7
Stabilisation Optical Optical
Ultra-wide Camera Resolution 8 megapixels None
Aperture f/2.25
Macro Camera Resolution 2 megapixels None
Depth Camera Resolution 5 megapixels None
Selfie Camera Resolution 32 megapixels 8 megapixels
Aperture f/2.45 f/2.0
Ultra-wide Selfie Camera Resolution 8 megapixels None
Aperture f/2.45

From the table above, it's clear that the OnePlus Nord wins the numbers game as it has a total of six cameras, compared to just the two on the Google Pixel 4a. The Nord also has a higher resolution primary sensor, which in theory, should allow it to capture better detail. However, it goes up against Google's superior machine learning and AI post-processing software, which we've seen work wonders before, so it's time to compare the photos and see which ones are actually better.

In the first challenging backlit shot taken during the day, I found the Pixel 4a to do a slightly better job with HDR, as the warmer colours looked closer to the actual scene. Details were a little weaker though, and some textures on distant objects had a bit of noise, but all this was only noticeable after magnifying the image. The picture captured by the OnePlus Nord had a more neutral tone, which also looked good, and objects had slightly better detail thanks to the higher-resolution sensor. Looking at a closer subject, both phones captured very similar levels of detail, with the only difference being colour tones.

Tap to see larger image

Tap to see larger image



In close-ups, it's the Pixel 4a that takes the lead most of the time. In this sample of a flower, every single vein in the petals is visible, giving it a striking look. The OnePlus Nord boosts colours a bit and fails to capture the intricate details of the flower.

In Portrait mode, the Pixel 4a produced a striking photo with a neutral colour tone and good details. The OnePlus Nord was not too far behind, packing in good details too, but I found the skin tone it captured a bit too yellow for my liking. Both phones did a decent job when shooting objects too. The Pixel 4a lets you adjust the level of background blur in the Google Photos app after taking shots, but this can't be done on the Nord.

In low light, the Google Pixel 4a gets white balance spot on, with good exposure. However, if you magnify the image, details on objects are a bit weak. The OnePlus Nord captures slightly better details and exposure but the colour tone isn't accurate to the actual scene. Night mode on both phones worked pretty evenly, but the Pixel 4a did a slightly better job in preserving shadows, giving photos better contrast and depth.

Tap to see larger image



So far, the main rear cameras on both phones are pretty evenly matched when it comes to stills. The Pixel 4a does a slightly better job with portraits, and close-ups in general, in the daytime as well as in low light, but the OnePlus Nord manages slightly better details in landscape shots. It also has a leg up over the Pixel as it has an ultra-wide-angle camera and a macro camera, and a depth camera. While the usefulness of the latter two is debatable, no amount of AI wizardry can make up for the lack of a wide-angle lens.

On to selfies. With the beauty filters disabled on both phones, the OnePlus Nord had produced better selfies. It capturedt colours pretty accurately and even managed to expose the background correctly. The Google Pixel 4a offered up very good detail, but the colour tone was a bit too warm and not very pleasant. Both phones did very good jobs with Portrait mode sefies, blurring out the correct elements in the background. The Pixel 4a wins back serious points in low light, though.

Tap to see larger image



Thanks to Night Sight for the selfie camera, you can expect very good exposure and skin tones even with weak artificial lighting. The OnePlus Nord doesn't have the option of Nightscape for either of its selfie cameras, resulting in uneven exposure and weak details. In very dark environments, the Pixel 4a managed the impossible, making an almost pitch-dark selfie look well-lit, thanks to Night Sight. The Nord doesn't perform nearly as well in comparison.

The OnePlus Nord also has an ultra-wide-angle selfie camera, for group photos, which is handy.

The OnePlus Nord and the Google Pixel 4a capture high-quality, stabilised videos at 4K. The Nord can also shoot at 4K 60fps, which the Pixel 4a cannot. Other than a slightly warmer colour tone from the Pixel 4a, details, colours and stabilisation were comparable when shooting with both phones during the day.

In low light, the Pixel 4a takes the lead thanks to slightly better exposure and details with minimal shimmer when walking about. The OnePlus Nord still has a lot of catching up to do as details were comparatively weaker and there's an almost constant wobble effect if you pan or walk about. When shooting video with the selfie cameras, the Nord captures sharper-looking video since it can shoot at 4K, up to 60fps.

The Google Pixel 4a is a reliable performer in terms of photography, and Google's AI post-processing seemingly never ceases to impress us. However unlike last year with the Pixel 3a, the competition has caught up, and it's come to a point where software tricks simply aren't enough anymore. The OnePlus Nord might not have the best low-light performance with stills or video, but it manages to keep up. It also has other strengths such as the flexibility of having multiple front and rear cameras for various photography needs, which is what makes it the overall winner.

OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a: Design
Based on physical construction quality, I'd pick the Google Pixel 4a between the two. It's lighter, more compact, and has a very understated charm to it. The body is polycarbonate, just like that of the OnePlus Nord, but instead of a glass back it has a unibody shell which looks good and doesn't attract fingerprints. I really wish Google offered more colours, though.

If you want a bit of flash, the OnePlus Nord in this Nord Blue trim should be right up your alley. However, it's heavier and larger than the Pixel 4a, and due to its glass back, easily attracts smudges. Neither of these phones has any IP rating, but in my experience, they've held up pretty well so far even with not-so-careful use.

oneplus nord vs pixel 4a comparison cover ss

The Google Pixel 4a is significantly more compact compared to the OnePlus Nord



Both smartphones have OLED displays, with full-HD+ resolutions. They also support HDR10+ video playback. Colours and brightness are good across both displays, but a few things make the experience of using the Nord a bit better. For starters, it has a 90Hz refresh rate versus 60Hz on the Pixel 4a. This makes navigation and scrolling feel snappier and more fluid. The Nord also uses Gorilla Glass 5, compared to Gorilla Glass 3 on the Pixel 4a. Lastly, the Nord's display produces crisper whites compared to the Pixel 4a.

Coming to other physical differences between the two phones, the Pixel 4a has a headphone jack, which is missing on the Nord. However, it only supports a single physical SIM card (with the option of using an eSIM) while the Nord can accommodate two Nano-SIMs. The Pixel 4a has stereo speakers, which the Nord doesn't. Both phones have biometric authentication. The OnePlus Nord has an in-display fingerprint sensor and face recognition, while Pixel 4a users will have to make do with only a capacitive fingerprint sensor on the back panel.

Overall, the OnePlus Nord does have the better display but it's hard to ignore the comfortable size of the Pixel 4a.

OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a: Software
Software preference can be very subjective, but I think you should be happy with either one of these phones. The Google Pixel 4a should obviously be first in line to receive any major update from Google. The company promises a minimum of three years of OS and security updates. The user interface is clean without any bloatware and it has some useful gestures baked in.

oneplus nord vs pixel 4a comparison display ss

The OnePlus Nord and Google Pixel 4a offer bloat-free Android experiences



The OnePlus Nord runs OxygenOS, which up until now, has been the best skin on Android in our experience. It's similar to stock Android, in the sense that there's minimal bloatware and it's easy to use. However, you also get a bunch of useful add-ons such as Game Space to block calls and notifications when gaming, and gestures for things like taking a screenshot, etc. OnePlus also promises two years of software updates and three years of security updates, which is good.

OnePlus Nord vs Google Pixel 4a: Performance
For day-to-day use, the Google Pixel 4a and OnePlus Nord both perform very well. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G in the Nord is faster than the Snapdragon 730G in the Pixel 4a, but you probably won't notice this when using social apps or texting. The Nord has a clear lead in benchmarks for sure, but both phones do commendable jobs when it comes to playing games or multitasking. The higher amount of RAM in the top-end variant of the Nord should give it more headroom to continue operating smoothly even in the long run. The Pixel 4a is still a snappy performer though, and I never once felt any lack of power for everyday activities.

Videos look good on both displays, but sound is better on the Pixel 4a thanks to its stereo speakers.

oneplus nord vs pixel 4a comparison backs ss

The OnePlus Nord is an easy recommendation for most people, but the Google Pixel 4a is not far behind



Battery life is one of the biggest differentiating factors between the Google Pixel 4a and the OnePlus Nord. The Nord has nearly a 1,000mAh battery capacity advantage (4,115mAh) compared to the Pixel 4a (3,140mAh). While both phones will easily get you through one full day on a single charge, the Pixel 4a struggles to go beyond that, while the Nord easily lasts for a day and half or even more, depending on your usage. The Nord charges a lot quicker too, despite having a larger battery. This is because it supports 30W fast charging, compared to just 18W on the Pixel 4a.

Verdict: Is there a clear winner?
All things considered, the OnePlus Nord (Review) wins easily when compared to the Google Pixel 4a (Review). It has a more attractive starting price, better hardware, and much stronger battery life. Camera performance was also surprisingly competitive, and it's hard to ignore the usefulness of its ultra-wide-angle cameras. For most people, I think the OnePlus Nord should still be the phone to buy under Rs. 30,000 – plus it's 5G ready.

That's not to say I wouldn't recommend the Google Pixel 4a at all. It might not be as competitive in terms of pricing as the Nord, but given the cost of Google's previous smartphones in India, it doesn't look so bad. It has a reliable set of cameras, great software, decent overall performance, and acceptable battery life. However, it loses this battle since other than low-light camera performance, compactness, and stereo speakers, it's always a beat behind the OnePlus Nord.

28/10/2020

With Diwali 2020 just around the corner, Amazon and Flipkart are gearing up to cater to festive season shoppers in India. Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Diwali 2020 sale will offer another round of exciting deals and offers across all major product categories. In case you missed the first round of festive season sales on Amazon and Flipkart last week, the new Diwali edition sales will offer another chance to grab a new tech product or a Diwali gift for someone.

Amazon, Flipkart Diwali 2020 sale dates
Amazon's Great Indian Festival sale will continue during the pre-Diwali week while Flipkart will be running its Big Diwali sale from October 29 to November 4. Flipkart's Diwali 2020 special sale will go live for Plus members at midnight on October 29.

Amazon, Flipkart Diwali sales - Top deals previewed so far
Flipkart Big Diwali sale 2020 will offer deals similar to its Big Billion Days sale, although you can expect slightly higher prices for some of the products. Flipkart has revealed some of the upcoming offers on mobile phones, laptops, TVs, and other electronics that will be available during its Diwali special sale this week.

Flipkart's Big Diwali sale will bring discounts on Poco C3, Oppo Reno 2F, and the Motorola One Fusion+. The iPhone XR will be sold at a discounted price of Rs. 39,999 (MRP Rs. 52,500) which is slightly higher than the deal which was available during Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2020 sale earlier. But in case you missed it, you can combine this offer with the bundled payment discount to avail a similar deal.

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Similarly, Apple's iPhone SE will be available at Rs. 32,999 (MRP Rs. 42,500) and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ will be sold at Rs. 59,999 (MRP Rs. 85,000).

As for budget smartphones, Flipkart Big Diwali sale 2020 will offer discounts on Oppo A52, Redmi Note 8, and the Infinix Smart 4 Plus. LG G8X ThinQ will be sold at Rs. 24,990 (MRP Rs. 70,000) in a flash sale at 12pm on November 3. The dual-screen phone was sold in large numbers during Flipkart's first festive season sale this year. Besides smartphones, Flipkart Big Diwali sale will also offer big discounts on smart TVs, laptops, headphones, and other electronics.

While Amazon's Great Indian Festival sale will run alongside Flipkart's Big Diwali sale this week, you can expect the former to match prices during the sales. Make sure you compare prices on both the platforms, especially for popular products.

ALSO SEEHow to Find the Best Deals When Shopping Online

Amazon, Flipkart Diwali sales - Bundled offers
Flipkart has tied up with Axis Bank to offer a 10 percent instant discount to the bank's credit and debit card users. Amazon Great Indian Festival 2020 sale is currently offering 10 percent discount to Axis Bank, Citibank, and ICICI Bank cardholders but this offer will expire after October 28. You can expect a different set of bank offers from October 29.

Apart from payment offers, both Amazon and Flipkart will offer a range of bundled offers which include product exchange, no-cost EMI options on major payment methods, and additional discounts on select products. Using these bundled offers can further lower the effective overall prices, making deals even sweeter.

Stay tuned to our updates as we'll be bringing you the best deals from Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Diwali sales this week.

With Watch Dogs: Legion, the Ubisoft game about rebelling against surveillance states has finally arrived in the surveil...
28/10/2020

With Watch Dogs: Legion, the Ubisoft game about rebelling against surveillance states has finally arrived in the surveillance capital of the world: London. The English capital has one of the widest networks of CCTV cameras on the planet, with over 60 cameras per 1,000 people. Of course, that's not the only reason it's been picked. London is also one of the most recognised cities in the world. And Ubisoft Toronto — the developer who took over from Ubisoft Montreal, which is busy with another major 2020 release, Assassin's Creed Valhalla — also chose London for the diversity it offers, and the value of coming together to fight for a common good. That, in turn, fuels the new Watch Dogs mechanic: play as anyone.

It's why the game isn't called Watch Dogs 3 or Watch Dogs: London, but Watch Dogs: Legion. Unlike Aiden Pearce in Watch Dogs and Marcus Holloway in Watch Dogs 2, there isn't a central protagonist in Watch Dogs: Legion. Instead, you can choose to play as any London citizen (save for the antagonists that drive the story) once they have been recruited into the hacktivist group DedSec. It could be a young athlete, a beekeeper, a drone enthusiast, a professional hitman, a renegade judge, a former MI5 spy, or even an enemy who once hated your guts. Instead of building a legion of followers, as Watch Dogs 2 had you do, Watch Dogs: Legion wants you to assemble a team of myriad individuals — a maximum of 40 — who all bring something unique to the group.

This could be something obvious, like expertise with guns or drones, or access to resources such as a flashy car or construction tools. Or it could be something different. For example, a homeless man who sweeps the streets helps him blend into the environment, escape detection, and evade pursuit. Operatives, as they are called on Watch Dogs: Legion, have weaknesses too. Some include being a shopaholic, less physically fit, gambling away money, or giving themselves away in stealth due to a chronic medical condition.

Speaking of stealth, Watch Dogs: Legion involves a lot of it. It's not only DedSec policy to use weapons as a last resort, which is the game's way of asking players to prioritise hacking, the thing that drives Watch Dogs. Rather, going in guns blazing will attract so much enemy firepower that you're likely to find yourself overpowered. Even if you manage to sneak in quietly, there's always the rise of being spotted by a human or a drone. And if you don't take them out quickly and silently, it'll escalate to gun use. I found it much better to remain at a distance, hack phones to distract opponents and security cameras to discover a path to the target, use drones to move around facilities and then use the all-new “spiderbot” — an eight-legged drone — to get the job done.

Day Zero
All this helps you tackle the threats hanging over London. Those threats not only touch upon the ideas that have been running through Watch Dogs' core from the start — the likes of datamining, mass surveillance, government overreach, and invasion of privacy — but also trade on civil rights, militarisation, immigration, authoritarianism, artificial intelligence, and human consciousness among others. In doing so, it's able to draw parallels to British history, from the recent debacle of Brexit to its days as a colonialist force. Watch Dogs: Legion shows London at its most dystopic, where football stadiums have been converted into “processing centres” for immigrant detainees, and where civil liberties are routinely and aggressively violated, with the casual oppression on the streets.

Watch Dogs: Legion begins with a series of coordinated terrorist bombings (they will remind many of the 7/7 London bombings) in a near-future post-Brexit London, after a DedSec member and a talking artificial intelligence called Bagley put an end to a plot to blow up the Parliament (which is naturally inspired by Guy Fawkes' infamous failed Gunpowder Plot). A rival hacking group called Zero Day blamed DedSec for the attacks, and its members were largely hunted down and killed. Meanwhile, London's Metropolitan Police is disbanded, and private security firm Albion takes a very literal hands-on approach to rule of law. Albion is once described as the largest private army in the world. Bagley jokingly compares them to the British government, though in this case they are more like the East India Company.

With London's DedSec affiliate at its lowest, Watch Dogs: Legion asks you to pick your first new operative from 18 presets. With assistance from Bagley the AI and access to DedSec code embedded into ctOS (central Operating System) that has centralised all computer networks, you set out to build a resistance to take down the new military rulers (Albion) and find the real culprits (Zero Day). But that's not all. There are four main storylines on Watch Dogs: Legion — Zero Day hackers, Albion private security, Clan Kelley mafia, and a techpreneur called Skye Larsen. To help in your quest, you can even recruit Albion employees and members of Clan Kelley, who help you gain access to restricted locations that would otherwise be a lot tougher.

watch dogs legion review zero day watch dogs legion review

The unseen face of Zero Day in Watch Dogs: Legion
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

Team up
Recruiting is at the heart of Watch Dogs: Legion, and it helps unlock gameplay choices that were not possible before on previous entries. For instance, a construction worker can stroll into a construction site undetected. Barristers, on the other hand, will help reduce jail time for your operatives. You'll need them if you're arrested — depending on modifiers you've got on your team, you'll be locked out of your character for 20 minutes; that increases with successive arrests — which happens if you're detained in a place you're not supposed to be. Watch Dogs: Legion also offers an optional “permadeath” feature. If all your operatives are dead, hospitalised, or arrested at the same time, the game ends. Of course, this is more palatable in a game where you can have a team of 40 playable characters.

As you roam around London, you can select any passer-by to see what they have to offer. If you think they would be a good addition, simply add them to the team. In some cases, this would be enough to make them join DedSec. But in most cases, you will need to chat them up. Watch Dogs: Legion will also suggest you to hire skilled recruits from time to time. These recruit missions are temporarily available and must be started within the time mentioned. The process usually involves doing a life-saving or professional favour before they agree to come on board. It involves a bit more work if the person you're trying to recruit doesn't like DedSec. And if they are a sworn enemy of DedSec, forget it, because they will never listen to you to begin with.

To recruit someone who hates DedSec (a red thumb signifies that on their profile), you'll need to “deep profile” them, an option that becomes available with a tech upgrade. This shows their full daily calendar, from what they do for work, the friends and family they see, and any illicit activities they are up to. The game will highlight recruitment opportunities as you browse through their calendar, and you might have to spend some time observing an individual before you chance upon something you can use to recruit them. Watch Dogs: Legion wants its fictitious near-future London to feel like a living, breathing city, and the developers say they have spent considerable time to ensure that these routines don't feel like a hotchpotch of elements fused together by sheer randomisation.

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The profile UI you see when you hover over anyone in Watch Dogs: Legion
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

For all the work that has gone into crafting the London populace, the interactions between them are hardly convincing. Your operatives simply walk up to strangers to try and recruit them. If someone walked up to me on the street in a heavily militarised city, asked me to help build a revolution, and join an organisation that's being blamed for multiple terrorist attacks, I would laugh at them and say: “Are you a cop?” It feels unrealistic that strangers would open up to each other so quickly, as Watch Dogs: Legion shows. The game does much better with the tinier throwaway moments. If you roam around in your Albion uniform outside of missions, prepare to hear profanity-laden insults shouted at you. “Pig” is among the words used.

Hack and drone
Watch Dogs: Legion currencies
There are three in-game currencies in the new Watch Dogs game. The previously explained Tech Points (a green hollow diamond) allows you to buy and upgrade tech. ETO (e symbol) is the game's version of bitcoin that has replaced the British pound. It is used for all purchases inside in-game clothing shops and such. And finally, there are WD Credits (gold coin inscribed with “W”) that are bought with real money in the menu store. It can be used to buy not just cosmetics but also ETO, a collectibles map, and new operatives.
Of course, the more important thing is what you get to do with your recruits. Most missions are about figuring out a building's labyrinthine layout by hacking into CCTV cameras and looking for the most hassle-free path to the assigned target. The last bit is usually a ctOS access port or an item that can be triggered or picked up by your spiderbot — that must stay hidden from enemies and enemy-controlled drones. In some cases, you'll need to unlock a network by solving a puzzle that involves a bunch of levers to reroute data flow. And sometimes, you will have no choice but to walk into the front door to physically interact with an object.

To help you stay undetected and navigate the complex web, Watch Dogs: Legion gifts you a wide array of technological upgrades — gadgets, weapons, hacks, and more — that you can unlock with “Tech Points”, one of three in-game currencies. You can make yourself temporarily invisible with AR Cloak or cloak enemy bodies with AR Shroud. You can disrupt enemies or jam their guns as you can get in closer for a melee takedown. Or you can distract them as you covertly make your way elsewhere. You can also disable/ hijack enemy drones or even have them betray their masters. Or you can deploy your own spiderbot with an automated turret to cover angles for you.

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Hijack drones and turn them on enemies from a distance in Watch Dogs: Legion
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

At times, there are so many things to hack in Watch Dogs: Legion, that with a quick glance, I wasn't quite sure what the cursor and imaginary line that points to it was actually attached to. Owing to that, on a couple of occasions, I accidentally triggered something I didn't want to, which led to guards being alerted and a temporary setback. In short: the UI can get overcrowded.

For our non-lethal tastes, Watch Dogs: Legion feels very much a drone game. After all, the spiderbot is technically a drone too, given it's a remote-controlled vehicle. My favourite mission takes place on the smallest of scales — it involves a mini-mini-mini-drone — and still kept me at the edge of my seat, thanks to the tiny margins that you've to perform within and the fact that it lacks in checkpoints, which means you've to be extra cautious. Another enjoyable one is set inside Big Ben, turned into a vertical platformer.

London Calling
As you build out your DedSec team and tackle the missions, you'll get the opportunity to explore London. Well, more like a compact and redesigned version of eight London boroughs: City of London, City of Westminster, Camden, Islington & Hackey, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth, and Nine Elms. I took a walk along some non-touristy London streets that I remember and found them to be massively compressed. Albion has a tight grip and heavy presence across London, but you can do a bunch of activities to “free” boroughs and turn them into a defiant force. Freeing a borough not only reduces Albion presence and makes its populace easier to recruit, it also unlocks new missions, a skilled operative (no recruitment needed), and the locations of all Tech Points.

You can move around London's boroughs on foot, in vehicles, or on the top of cargo drones. We didn't enjoy driving in Watch Dogs: Legion as there seems to be no weight to the game's cars. Bikes feel heavier and hence control better. You can also turn on a new “Autodrive” self-drive feature for all vehicles on Watch Dogs: Legion if you don't feel like driving. You can use this to look around the world for hacking or recruiting opportunities, but Autodrive is buggy. It ran over a pedestrian once and brought down Albion heat, which forced me to take manual control if I didn't want to be arrested for the AI's fault. In other more forgivable cases, it would end up in the wrong lane and then have to take a detour, increasing driving time.

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Bikes are admittedly more fun in Watch Dogs: Legion
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

And that's not the only bug in Watch Dogs: Legion at launch. We encountered severe frame rate drops on multiple occasions with the Xbox One X. Watch Dogs: Legion also got stuck on a loading screen once; I waited 10 minutes and then killed the game. There are a lot of loading screens in general and they take a while (a minute easy). It's a shame Ubisoft didn't use the London Underground like Marvel's Spider-Man did for New York Subway to infuse some creativity into loading screens. Speaking of the Underground, you can use its stops for fast travel, which I preferred over driving.

Theoretically, that should be much less of an issue on next-gen consoles. Watch Dogs: Legion arrives on the cusp of console generations, with new machines due in two weeks or so. This isn't the best version of the game, and neither is this the complete experience. Ubisoft will ship four-player co-op multiplayer in December, and that is why this review pertains to single-player only. In its current state, Watch Dogs: Legion is largely about avoiding or studying humans. As such, it can feel like a lonely game. And since you can recruit and then play with anyone, there's no personality to the characters and no one you particularly care about. Watch Dogs: Legion lacks a soul. It's also a passive game, since there's no active push-and-pull. Albion took over London, and now you push them out one borough at a time.

Some of this is fitting, for what it's worth. For a game about hacktivists whose expertise lies in getting access to data that is being hidden or secured to keep the public in the dark, Watch Dogs: Legion usually tasks you to do just that — information retrieval. Multiple storylines deal with the human element, and how that's being erased with the promise of a safer and more advanced world. Except that's not what it's really about. Surveillance capitalism reduces humans to numbers and patterns, and if those ones and zeroes are going to take on the insidious power structures, it's going to require a large group of dedicated individuals — a legion.

Pros:

Ability to recruit any passer-by
Recruiting offers unique gameplay choices
De-emphasising guns over hacking, stealth
Attention to detail to London's diversity
Near-futuristic London looks believable
Some small-scale missions are terrific
Cons:

Lacks in personality
Citizens' behaviour in militarised London unrealistic
Too many hacking opportunities causes overcrowded UI
Frame rate drops on Xbox One X
Driving is not enjoyable
“Autodrive” is buggy
Long, bland loading screens
Rating (out of 10): 8

Gadgets 360 played Watch Dogs: Legion on the Xbox One X. The game is available October 29 worldwide on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. It costs Rs. 3,999 on PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store, $44 (about Rs. 3,250) on Epic Games Store, and €60 (about Rs. 5,200) on Ubisoft Store. You can also get Watch Dogs: Legion as part of UPlay+ (soon to be Ubisoft+) for €15 (about Rs. 1,300) per month.

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