Watch Dogs. This one was an interesting case. I was never too interested in the watch dogs series and as time went on and games came and went, I never really looked back at the slammed and forgotten venture that was 'Watch Dogs'.
Watch Dogs came out in 2014, a very busy year for Ubisoft; new Far Cry, The Crew and two Assassins Creed games with tons of indie games to bolster. But this year Ubisoft wanted to kickstart a new franchise, centered around modern day and the ever developing world that is technology. Without going too far in depth with the topics, it's safe to say that 2014 wasn't the best year for Ubisoft. Public opinion started to become wary of them and many were displeased with the games they were outputting. And so, Watch Dogs was born into a pretty rough spot, many would say 'destined to fail', but did it?
When the trailers and demo's were shown years prior, it looked spectacular. Graphics never seen before on any console, the movement was fantastic, the hacking was intriguing and the game looked like a breath of fresh air. And when the game finally came to fruition, folks were unhappy. The game had a serious downgrade in the graphical department, things didn't look amazing, things looked average, standard 360 graphics, nothing more. The graphics weren't the problem, the lie was, and so forth, the internet was flooded with Ubisoft's colossal disappointment. Comparisons between the demo's, trailer's, sneak peaks and all were compared with the game folks had bought, shock horror, people felt betrayed, as if they'd hyped the game up so much to get folks to buy it, they'd forgotten to properly develop the game. Whether you can interpret that as being either dramatic or harsh, doesn't change that they'd lied to people for their own gain, consumers don't like being lied to, and if they have been, they vote with their wallets.
After many had written Watch Dogs off as a cheap, reused con for Ubisoft to hash out to fulfill a profit margin, what was left for those who stuck with it? Well, about what you'd expect.
The gameplay, to start off with, was very rigid in it's gunplay but fairly free in its movement. It adopted a cover system with a basic weapon wheel to match. The guns were fairly generic as you'd expect from a modern day shooter and the shooting was more so akin to the Hitman games (Kinda) it focused more on planning and tactics rather than your own brute force, using your hacking skills to gain an advantage in the fight, or by using stealth to take down your enemies with the hazards in and around the area. You couldn't really rush in a fight, even with your unlocked skills, you were never really a tank (At least never had the health of one) you try to charge a guy head on? You're gonna die pretty quick.
However, speaking on the aforementioned gunplay there is one fairly critical flaw in the game: At around Act 2 or 3 of the campaign, you'll begin fighting the heavy enemies, big guys with big armour and even bigger guns but the problem with that is that once you kill them you can start picking up the LMG, 'The Big Gun'. This gun, so easily picked up after you've fought one or two of these heavies, negates any other combat situation. For the most part, there isn't a need to use another gun other than the U100 ('Da LMG') as it runs off the same ammo as any AR and it melts through hordes of enemies. If you're going through combat situations, try to limit your use of it as it honestly makes gunfights a little too easy.
Besides from that, there is the surprisingly good driving mechanics, it's a bit more realistic in it's speed and physics style. The vehicles you can choose are super boring though, let me put that out there. But anyway, back to driving. Car chases are actually a big highlight in my opinion, cops are actually pretty smart when driving, there isn't a ridiculous amount always coming after you, usually just enough for you to have a competitive getaway from, but are the chases fun? Hell yeah they are. This game has a skill wheel you can add to, in four categories; hacking, combat, driving and crafted items. And my god, the hacking perks are so awesome. There's nothing more satisfying than being in a high speed chase with four cop cars, to then blow a steam pipe to send them all flying, I mean honestly, it's pretty damn cool.
Oh, and just to quickly speak on it. This game's also gotten an online mode that it constantly pushes onto you (It ain't too active nowadays). It's got few modes where you'll hack each other, race, compete for an objective and mess about in free roam and to it's credit, the free roam is up to 8 people which is pretty good for a single player focused game, even though I doubt you'd get a full lobby in its heyday, let alone now, but it's there for a one time play with your mate to mess around in Chicago and cause some havoc but to be honest with you there isn't much to speak about.
Now, the final thing I wanted to mention about the gameplay was the open world aspect. Being an open world game it should have a good open world...right? Well it's average to be honest. There isn't anything to do in it other than the main missions. Sure, you could stop a criminal convoy or take out a gang hideout, maybe even stop a crime until you realise once you've tried this mission once, it's the same every time. Stop a crime? Wait in the area until the guy is about to kill someone, then rush in and beat 'em up. Convoy? Wait until they go over a steam pipe. Hideout? Kill everyone but one guy who you have to beat up. It's just monotonous. And it isn't to say that open world games can't have simple, repetitive side missions to do as a little XP buff or to try out a new gadget or weapon but that's all this game has as side quests. Other than that it has little petty collectibles, fetch quest missions and ctos towers that reveal shops and the occasional hideout. I will say the digital trips are kinda cool but not something you could get more than one or two plays out of. Overall, the open world is very bland and cookie cutter, as if they tried the bare minimum with it.
And then we finally move onto the story. Probably the second of Watch Dogs most critiqued aspects. I'm not gonna go into great depth on the details as there isn't a need to go all out because of it but I will do a quick overview. The story is a classic vigilante, revenge plot, stemming from some sort of traumatic event that haunts the hero whenever he sleeps. That hero being, Aiden Pearce (Watch Dogs...3rd most critiqued aspect) who has been described by many as 'The most boring protagonist in gaming', which is...fair.
Aiden is basically if batman was a hacker...and killed people, like a lot of people. But with Aiden it can be taken multiple ways, he's a fairly generic character with a fairly generic motive, niece got killed, swears revenge on those who killed her, yada yada. He oddly reflects the city he's in, a dull, moody, damp individual (Please don't hate me Chicagoans), he's described as the vigilante and kind of lives up to the name, he can be a bit of an ass and isn't afraid to intimidate and kill to get what he needs. The truth is that he's a pretty wooden character who could be placed in a lot of other revenge plot games, but to be honest, I like him. I appreciate his simplicity and I felt like I could connect with him on a personal level, while not being a good character on a technical level, he's pretty good in my book.
I know that I focused solely on Aiden but that just because there isn't much to talk about in the story, it's okay, the other characters are fine and there are some emotional and tense moments but there really isn't much to talk about. Though, in honesty, the first time I played this game, I did not see Clara's twist coming, that actually blew me away and kind of kicked the story up a notch or two.
Welp, in conclusion I suppose. Was this game really that bad? Was the story awful? Should you never touch this game? Was it all that? Eh, not really. When the game released, it looked average, it felt average, it was just...average. I'm playing this because of Watch Dogs legion, it reminded me that this franchise still existed, it made me want to replay the first couple just to look back with a fresh pair of eyes and a more fair and critical mindset and honestly, I'm not disappointed. For me this was a boredom play, I had some time and a bit of curiosity and I'd recommend you to do the same. This isn't a game I'd rush to save in a fire but If it was there, I'd probably grab it (Disclaimer: If you are in a fire, never, ever, rush to save a video game)
Watch Dogs came out in 2014, a very busy year for Ubisoft; new Far Cry, The Crew and two Assassins Creed games with tons of indie games to bolster. But this year Ubisoft wanted to kickstart a new franchise, centered around modern day and the ever developing world that is technology. Without going too far in depth with the topics, it's safe to say that 2014 wasn't the best year for Ubisoft. Public opinion started to become wary of them and many were displeased with the games they were outputting. And so, Watch Dogs was born into a pretty rough spot, many would say 'destined to fail', but did it?
When the trailers and demo's were shown years prior, it looked spectacular. Graphics never seen before on any console, the movement was fantastic, the hacking was intriguing and the game looked like a breath of fresh air. And when the game finally came to fruition, folks were unhappy. The game had a serious downgrade in the graphical department, things didn't look amazing, things looked average, standard 360 graphics, nothing more. The graphics weren't the problem, the lie was, and so forth, the internet was flooded with Ubisoft's colossal disappointment. Comparisons between the demo's, trailer's, sneak peaks and all were compared with the game folks had bought, shock horror, people felt betrayed, as if they'd hyped the game up so much to get folks to buy it, they'd forgotten to properly develop the game. Whether you can interpret that as being either dramatic or harsh, doesn't change that they'd lied to people for their own gain, consumers don't like being lied to, and if they have been, they vote with their wallets.
After many had written Watch Dogs off as a cheap, reused con for Ubisoft to hash out to fulfill a profit margin, what was left for those who stuck with it? Well, about what you'd expect.
The gameplay, to start off with, was very rigid in it's gunplay but fairly free in its movement. It adopted a cover system with a basic weapon wheel to match. The guns were fairly generic as you'd expect from a modern day shooter and the shooting was more so akin to the Hitman games (Kinda) it focused more on planning and tactics rather than your own brute force, using your hacking skills to gain an advantage in the fight, or by using stealth to take down your enemies with the hazards in and around the area. You couldn't really rush in a fight, even with your unlocked skills, you were never really a tank (At least never had the health of one) you try to charge a guy head on? You're gonna die pretty quick.
However, speaking on the aforementioned gunplay there is one fairly critical flaw in the game: At around Act 2 or 3 of the campaign, you'll begin fighting the heavy enemies, big guys with big armour and even bigger guns but the problem with that is that once you kill them you can start picking up the LMG, 'The Big Gun'. This gun, so easily picked up after you've fought one or two of these heavies, negates any other combat situation. For the most part, there isn't a need to use another gun other than the U100 ('Da LMG') as it runs off the same ammo as any AR and it melts through hordes of enemies. If you're going through combat situations, try to limit your use of it as it honestly makes gunfights a little too easy.
Besides from that, there is the surprisingly good driving mechanics, it's a bit more realistic in it's speed and physics style. The vehicles you can choose are super boring though, let me put that out there. But anyway, back to driving. Car chases are actually a big highlight in my opinion, cops are actually pretty smart when driving, there isn't a ridiculous amount always coming after you, usually just enough for you to have a competitive getaway from, but are the chases fun? Hell yeah they are. This game has a skill wheel you can add to, in four categories; hacking, combat, driving and crafted items. And my god, the hacking perks are so awesome. There's nothing more satisfying than being in a high speed chase with four cop cars, to then blow a steam pipe to send them all flying, I mean honestly, it's pretty damn cool.
Oh, and just to quickly speak on it. This game's also gotten an online mode that it constantly pushes onto you (It ain't too active nowadays). It's got few modes where you'll hack each other, race, compete for an objective and mess about in free roam and to it's credit, the free roam is up to 8 people which is pretty good for a single player focused game, even though I doubt you'd get a full lobby in its heyday, let alone now, but it's there for a one time play with your mate to mess around in Chicago and cause some havoc but to be honest with you there isn't much to speak about.
Now, the final thing I wanted to mention about the gameplay was the open world aspect. Being an open world game it should have a good open world...right? Well it's average to be honest. There isn't anything to do in it other than the main missions. Sure, you could stop a criminal convoy or take out a gang hideout, maybe even stop a crime until you realise once you've tried this mission once, it's the same every time. Stop a crime? Wait in the area until the guy is about to kill someone, then rush in and beat 'em up. Convoy? Wait until they go over a steam pipe. Hideout? Kill everyone but one guy who you have to beat up. It's just monotonous. And it isn't to say that open world games can't have simple, repetitive side missions to do as a little XP buff or to try out a new gadget or weapon but that's all this game has as side quests. Other than that it has little petty collectibles, fetch quest missions and ctos towers that reveal shops and the occasional hideout. I will say the digital trips are kinda cool but not something you could get more than one or two plays out of. Overall, the open world is very bland and cookie cutter, as if they tried the bare minimum with it.
And then we finally move onto the story. Probably the second of Watch Dogs most critiqued aspects. I'm not gonna go into great depth on the details as there isn't a need to go all out because of it but I will do a quick overview. The story is a classic vigilante, revenge plot, stemming from some sort of traumatic event that haunts the hero whenever he sleeps. That hero being, Aiden Pearce (Watch Dogs...3rd most critiqued aspect) who has been described by many as 'The most boring protagonist in gaming', which is...fair.
Aiden is basically if batman was a hacker...and killed people, like a lot of people. But with Aiden it can be taken multiple ways, he's a fairly generic character with a fairly generic motive, niece got killed, swears revenge on those who killed her, yada yada. He oddly reflects the city he's in, a dull, moody, damp individual (Please don't hate me Chicagoans), he's described as the vigilante and kind of lives up to the name, he can be a bit of an ass and isn't afraid to intimidate and kill to get what he needs. The truth is that he's a pretty wooden character who could be placed in a lot of other revenge plot games, but to be honest, I like him. I appreciate his simplicity and I felt like I could connect with him on a personal level, while not being a good character on a technical level, he's pretty good in my book.
I know that I focused solely on Aiden but that just because there isn't much to talk about in the story, it's okay, the other characters are fine and there are some emotional and tense moments but there really isn't much to talk about. Though, in honesty, the first time I played this game, I did not see Clara's twist coming, that actually blew me away and kind of kicked the story up a notch or two.
Welp, in conclusion I suppose. Was this game really that bad? Was the story awful? Should you never touch this game? Was it all that? Eh, not really. When the game released, it looked average, it felt average, it was just...average. I'm playing this because of Watch Dogs legion, it reminded me that this franchise still existed, it made me want to replay the first couple just to look back with a fresh pair of eyes and a more fair and critical mindset and honestly, I'm not disappointed. For me this was a boredom play, I had some time and a bit of curiosity and I'd recommend you to do the same. This isn't a game I'd rush to save in a fire but If it was there, I'd probably grab it (Disclaimer: If you are in a fire, never, ever, rush to save a video game)