Watch Dogs review

by Illusivebroker on Jun 12th, 2014

Hype. It’s a simple, singular word that can do a lot for many forms of media. Hype can be done purposely or can happen accidentally; but depending on the outcome, the hype can have a good or bad effect. When considering the effects that hype can have on video games it’s a very uneven thing. On most occasions, too much hype can force a game into a state in which people expect far too much from the game. It’s understandable if the title has an fan base which has been forced to wait for years on end in order to see the definitive conclusion to their all time favourite series (I’m looking at you Half Life 3!) the hype was forced by the fanbase and it’s not the developers or games fault on that side. But when a publisher/developer feels the need to hype their titles on major scales there is a very high risk of forcing their titles into a state in which it just won’t meet the expectations. Nowhere is the latter that much more clearer than with Ubisofts latest AAA title; Watch Dogs!

Before I get into the game itself, let me give you a bit of background information. Watch Dogs was announced at E3 in the year of 2012 during the Ubisoft press conference. It was visually impressive during the reveal and looked to hold a lot of promise. But as each year passed, there seemed to be a pressing matter which was getting noticed. The quality seemed to be decreasing in small rates during each time that Ubisoft would be promoting their title. Now I know what you’re thinking, most games that are shown off at E3 aren’t usually part of the final product. The only issue hear was that Ubisoft seemed eager to promote and hype this title consistently through the years leading up to 2014. Like I said earlier, when a company themselves forces too much hype onto their product it can force the expectations set for the game to increase to unreachable levels. Ubisoft were hyping up the game so much that when the game actually came out, it was meet with a a mixed reception.

Looking at the core concept for Watch Dogs, it’s certainty one that’s unique. Well the concept might have been done before but never in the way or fashion that Watch Dogs looks to promise. So the game has you playing as Aiden Pearce a vigilante hacker within Chicago. Using the power of ctOS which is a networked Central Operating System that connects all the electronics within the city, Aiden has the power to access any information and control any electronics through the power of his smartphone. This concept is certainly an interesting one, and it kinda reflects a lot of danger that can come from modern day technology and how open we are online about who we are and what we do. While Watch Dogs uses this concept to give us an interesting setting and gameplay interaction, it feels like it’s never really explored as much as it should. It’s there and you use it to open a lock or spy on someone through their laptop camera, but it’s not really explored enough and it feels like a missed opportunity. To be honest the entire plot feels like a missed opportunity. Again due to the major hype I had anticipated a major story to follow along with this game, but in the end it was average at best. All due to the fact that not enough was properly expressed and presented and the game itself wreaks of franchise bait! It was a average story of revenge and going up against immense odds and coming out on top, such stories have been expressed so much now that they’ve turned into a cliché and Watch Dogs doesn’t work around it enough to make it feel interesting or different.

Gameplay wise the game itself is nicely polished. The biggest weapon at your disposal is your smart phone, due to the fact nearly everything electronic can be hacked and used against your enemies. There is a wide array of stuff to hack into and all use to your strategic benefits. Wanna distract a guard? Hack his cell phone or make an alarm go off near by. Want to kill a guard? Hack into their grenades and blow them up where they stand. The ease of access with the environment and your phone is incredible, you can play out any scenario anyway you’d like. I’d dare say that the stealth mechanics in this game work much more effectively than those in Assassins Creed. There’s also a wide array of weapons for you to purchase and unlock, all with different stats. Driving is steady enough, although the control on most of the cars can feel disjointed from time to time and I’ve often at times missed a corner while trying to drift. Hacking itself is simple enough, you hold down the square button to hack into any highlighted items in order to hack them; it should be mentioned some electronics require you to level up and adapt skill points into Hacking in order to be able to hack into tougher electronics.

When considering the level of side activities and missions that this game has it has to be said that you’ll have a fair amount to do. You’ll be overtaken with a multitude of missions in which you’ll have to take down criminal convoys and gang hideouts, as well as that you’ll be driving cars around in the fixer contracts and if that’s not enough there’s other 100 Hotspots to check in to. You’d think that’d be enough, but there’s even more, there’s criminal activities to prevent, a murder investigation, audio logs to collect and personal homes to hack into and intrude on. Then there’s mini games you can play all around the city. Are you starting to see the issue? It’s too much! Ubisoft overstocked this game with just too much content, and yeah if the content offered engaging challenge and deserving rewards then what’s the issue? The issue is that it offers little to no challenge on most cases and just boils down to plain repetition. Sure it’s good for the first few hours, but I’m like two weeks in and I’ve still not finished everything because there’s just too damn much to do.What I liked about Ubisofts other title Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag was that it offered a fair amount to do and rewarded you with so much. But all you get for doing these repetitive side missions in Watch Dogs is more guns and cars, and they’re not even unique! They just have a different colour or have minor stat change. It’s just a prime example of how forcing too much to do can deflate your engagement in the game itself. Something I do have to commend is the seamless integration of online play on Watch Dogs, you or your target will have no idea whenever they or you enter their game; which allows you to play it subtle and blend in in order to hack or tail them.

Graphic wise I was kind of disappointed, don’t get me wrong it’s a nice looking game; facial animations the graphics structure of the buildings around Chicago are very nice. But this game does not look like the game that Ubisoft showed to us two E3’s ago, this apparent major leap  into the next-generation is not a major step, it’s just average. There’s even a conspiracy that there was a graphics downgrade to fit the titles on current gen consoles as well as next-gen.

That’s where the issue of hype turns to this games main weakness. If Ubisoft played the title on a safe and marketable route then maybe this game would have turned out for the better, but when they stuffed so much hype with this game down our throats it forced our expectations to rise even higher. This game just couldn’t live up to it’s overbearing hype and it’s no ones fault other than Ubisofts. It’s not a bad game by any means, it’s good it has a lot to enjoy but in the end it’s just average and average is not a word that this game should be getting; considering all the hype that Ubisoft forced on it.

Rating: 3/5

 

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