Watch_Dogs Review: A Head Trip To Chicago

Review

May 27th, 2014 By Maya Mayfield

Watch_Dogs main story takes place in a not too distant future of Chicago, a place controlled by technological advancements all under the watchful eye of the ctOS operating system. You take on the role of Aiden Pearce, a local hacker who finds himself in very deep trouble after a hack job goes south.

The story starts with Aiden losing his niece in a horrific car crash -  an assassination attempt  ordered by the secret organization in response to the botched up hack job. What begins as a tale of revenge ends up becoming a full scale war against Chicago's most private, wealthiest criminal  elitists.  Despite the heart aching intro, we found Aiden's character to be sadly dull and lifeless, while his predictable one liners really made it hard to take his unfortunate tragedy too seriously or get too attached to his emotional journey for revenge.  For a title that Ubisoft have pegged as an ongoing series, we highly suggest a character redevelopment in future iterations.

Visually Watch_Dogs doesn't look as good as the iconic E3 demo we saw in 2012, even on the PlayStation 4 console. The game lacks a lot of environmental details, while most of the models appear to resemble that of very early last generation GTA series. If you are able to look beyond these graphical shortcomings however what you will discover is probably one of the most fun games since GTA V and Saints Row 4,  it just doesn't visually hit the mark after all the hype from what we saw during E3.

As we said not everything in Watch_Dogs is bad. Ubisoft have done an incredible job creating an impressive virtual world of Chicago. There are various themes and real life iconic locations to discover in the windy city from its bustling downtown streets to its idealistic suburban and more rural locations, all of which are full of secrets just waiting to be discovered. Ubisoft have spent a lot of time developing every NPC, which amazingly all have their own place in the world of Chicago. As you explore the city scanning its citizens, Aiden will be able to find out some intel on peoples earnings and discover their criminal background records or social status etc. This information makes no significant difference to the story but is a nice inclusion to the usual drones of faceless peoples  walking up and down the streets.

Though the main campaign of Watch_Dogs was disappointing to say the least, we did however find the game to be addictive no less. There's just so much wild things to do that you could find yourself easily free roaming for hours picking up interesting side quests and mini games. Hacking stuff isn't as ground breaking as Ubisoft Montreal have been promoting Watch_Dogs to be, but it is a nice and extremely convenient feature to have at your disposal while you cruise around town looking for trouble.

Using Aiden's mobile phone, you will be able to weaponize your environment (and NPCs) in a lot of exciting new ways.  Once you unlock everything, Chicago is pretty much your virtual playground to do as you please. If you are being chased by the law or some gangsters and you wish to evade their pursuit for example, you could raise the bridge or change traffic signs, manipulate billboards or raise road blocks to slow them down or destroy their vehicles.

You can also hack certain items turning them into explosive mines, or get access into different security cameras for different vantage points. Aiden has a variety of skill trees to improve from combat driving, crafting and hacking.  The Gunplay is fast and fun, with Aiden having some pretty sweet take downs and counter attacks when confronted by several enemies at once.

Hacking involves the use of several puzzle theme elements, which does add another interesting dynamic to the game, like using security cameras to view different angles in order to move items like warehouse shutters to access closed off areas. Using Aiden's phone you can also gain access to vehicles via NPC'S phone records, or by simply steal a car. This method is actually a lot more convenient than going back to specific garages every time you gain a new vehicle. There are also about fifty soundtracks on the radio station to listen to while cruising around Chicago with the option to also customize a favorite playlist. Driving vehicles is a bit disappointing as the games physics does feel a little bit off behind the wheel, especially when you consider how much damage you can actually do to the environment in a tiny car. As fun as driving around still is in Watch_Dogs the game does lose some of its serious edge becoming more of a wacky arcade style racer with visual limitations.

Multiplayer involves a number of interesting games like versus and an invasion mode. Versus are fairly straightforward usually consisting of racing other players, while Invasion on the other hand involves players seamlessly integrating into your game and vice-versa in order to hack you in return for profit. If you choose an invasion mission, you will have to locate the victim, identifying them among all the other innocent NPC's before completing the hack mission. This style of gameplay is very reminiscent of Assassin's Creed popular multiplayer assisnation modes but in a modern title.

What we really enjoyed about Watch_Dogs was the ton of extra content, which seemed to have a lot more attention poured into it than the actual campaign itself. There is literally an endless amount things you can do in Chicago, from playing some of the zaniest in-built arcade games we have ever experienced within an actual game to visiting night clubs,  drinking bars and playing chess. Ubisoft have even gone as far as creating a Foursquare check-in system into Watch_Dogs similar to how the app works in real life. Players can go up to one of the many iconic landmarks all over Chicago to check-in or compare their visits to other gamers. By check-in a certain amount of landmarks you will earn the bragging rights of being named Mayor of the city just like the real app.

Watch_Dogs in built video games are a trip, literally speaking, and was one of our favorite experiences in the entire game. Two of these games allow you to play them in Watch_Dogs open world environment but via an augmented reality. One of the mini games will find you shooting down virtual space aliens while roaming the streets, and another is a Mario style coin racer called Cash Run, where you run through obstacle courses collecting digital coins while avoiding skull holograms in the process.

The other mini games will take you on a virtual trip out of the open world and into Aiden's imagination. One of them lets you go on a psychedelic trip, jumping on bouncy flowers from one to another in exchange for points. Another turns you into a soul collecting Grim Reaper driving around in a hot wheel harvesting the spirits of the dead during the apocalypse. Another game takes you into the distant future where robots patrol the streets with a focus on stealth, allowing you to slowly free the fictional city one power grid node at a time.

Our personal favorite mini game gives you access to a giant Spider-Tank, complete with machine guns, melee attacks, missiles and the ability to walk and jump on walls between towering skyscrapers. Your mission is to annihilate as many people as you possibly can in the Spider-Tank, before the law can stop you. These mini games have a ton of details complete with their very own skill trees and upgrades, which makes Watch_Dogs worth getting for the experience alone.

Overall

Watch Dogs Out Now

Despite the lack of interest from Watch_Dogs main story mode, the game is actually a lot of fun and addictive to play. If you can look beyond the games visual failings and cliche one dimensional characters what you will discover is an open world adventure packed full of exciting mini games guaranteed to keep you and your buddies engaged for weeks dare we say months to come once all the hype as inevitably died down. It's certainly not as ground breaking as we thought it would be but if you are a fan of open world series like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, we would definitely recommend giving Watch_Dogs a look.

Score

4/5