Watch_Dogs - Review
When Ubisoft first showed Watch Dogs the gamers around the world started to drool with the possibilities of what the next generation of open world games could be like. Now that its here, did Ubisoft live up to their own hype?
You play as Aiden Pearce, a hacker who uses his talents for some less than ideal purposes. During a job, Aiden and his then partner Damien are interrupted by another hacker which causes them to stumble upon something dangerous. So dangerous is it that hits are put out on Aiden and Damien to ensure they wont talk. In the process of being attacked, Aiden's niece is killed and this is the catalyst for Aiden to ensure all involved will pay.
As you progress through the story, you will encounter some friends, some foes and some that bounce to either side of the line. Your first mission will see you acquiring information from someone connected to the events of your niece's death. As you progress you will uncover various secrets that will expose the seedy side of Chicago and also parts of Aiden that even he wont admit.
For the most part the story is pretty basic, it follows the standard rules of revenge, but upon learning some hard truths towards the end of the story it does shake things up just enough for it to be interesting.
This is the first true open world that Ubisoft has created, and while it is an impressive effort the city feels fake. As you move around the city you can undertake various side jobs to boost your reputation or increase your cash and almost all of them work really well in the context of the story and setting. Its just a shame that the city itself is perhaps the biggest let down of this game. The city is full of various people, going about their day, doing what they do. However in trying to make the city feel so alive, I believe Ubisoft have left it feeling empty. In just driving around, going from place to place, I saw multiple groups of people rapping on street corners, people tripping over their own feet and then looking back to be amazed by it. It is the first game in what I can only assume is going to be a new series and with any luck they can correct it with the next game.
As you would no doubt know by now that the main tool at your disposal is hacking, but Aiden is no slack he is also a pretty mean driver, shooter and parkour fanatic when the need calls for it. The shooting mechanics found in the game are solid, with Ubisoft having a background in shooting games before this is expected, the parkour again is solid and you can thank Assassins Creed for that. Driving however is hit and miss, which is surprising; Some of the cars handle more like boats on land than cars and almost all of the cars take off like rockets when you hold down the accelerator. When you are in missions where speed is needed it is welcome, however should you want to pull off any driving tricks such as 180's the cars have more of a habit to spin all the way around.
Bikes fair a lot better than cars in this regard, but apart from that cool look of the coat flapping in the breeze, bikes are not that good for escaping Fixers or the Police. In fact as you make your way through the game you will unlock more cars including some really special ones. There is one mission that sees you unlock a retro looking car that became my default going forward and while others may not have the trouble with the driving like I did, but upon seeing that Reflections, best know for the Driver series, help with making the game it raises questions about why its so strange.
Hacking on the other hand is really simple and works extremely well, in fact this is the single element that takes it from just another clone to a whole new level. As you cruise around Chicago you can hack traffic lights, steam pipes and more which can help you escape notice or just be a pain. In fact hacking city infrastructure is mostly pointless unless you are escaping from pursuers. However, with you phone on you can learn loads about the citizens of Chicago, including names, jobs, income, travel history, online searches and more. As you hack citizen information you can unlock new songs for your media player, one time hacks for your hacking needs or the ever important cash.
It’s with this hacking that you can uncover peoples darker sides, which mostly end up being that someone will have done something pretty silly and you end up tracking down a package. It’s the side quests that add more to the city and make it feel more alive than anything. Head over to the park and play some chess, or some skill games involving chess pieces. Perhaps some games designed to test your poker skills, with or without the aid of hacking near by cambers for the upper hand. Or should you really want to try something different you can try some AR games with your phone that will see you running about to collect some digital coins, or taking on invading alien armies. Digital trips make up the last of the side quests that are interesting, drive a car of damnation as you take down hordes of zombies or become a giant robot spider, the choices for side quests are quite entertaining. But they are not all you can do.
Outside of the main story line, Chicago is filled with a range of people up to no good. Should you find yourself in need to see what people do in their own homes you can hack into their cameras and find out. Perhaps you want to clean up the street gangs or earn some extra cash by becoming a fixer. These side missions will actually earn you rewards such as new weapons, cars or cash. While they are not something you need to do to progress through the main story, doing even a handful of these missions will level you up more and allow you to be able to unlock new skills.
So the city of Chicago offers a lot of options for the aspiring hacker, it also offers more should you take the game online. Online you can attempt to steal data from other players, participate in online races or even capture the data games where you and a team of players have to acquire the data and protect it while its decrypted from the opposing team.
Watch Dogs is a very pretty game, in fact it is strange that’s it’s the best looking when the weather turns bleak and the rain starts to pour in. During the daylight hours Watch Dogs is a fine looking game, but nothing as major as was promised during that first debut. Aiden moves around with so much ease it really is something to behold. His level of detail in the coats that he wears to the interaction level with various items around the world are pretty impressive. Enemies however are not that impressive, while they move around fine, they all tend to have very basic faces and features. Most of the outfits are cookie cutter driven as well, thankfully the supporting cast of characters fair a lot better.
Clara, T-Bone, Jordi, Lucky Quinn, Iraq, Damien and the rest are all well detailed and move around with a real sense of weight that will have you thinking they are real people. Each of the voice actors lends a credibility to the character that helps sell it even more. Clara is the person you will spend more time interacting with than the rest and she sells this level of detail and immersion like no one else does. The citizens of Chicago however fall into the row of detail just below the enemies, not bad looking but nothing especially stunning either.
Sound however is perhaps the biggest let down of the game, with what can only be described as a very strange music selection and it does downhill from there. The music that plays when you are driving about comes from Aiden's phone, so it’s a personal MP3 collection of sorts. Except there is no way to disable any song, its either all on or all off. Of course you can skip songs that are playing if you don’t like it, but when you are busy trying to escape the last thing you want to be doing is music management. However the music fairs much better than Aiden does, in fact this is the worst part of the game. Aiden as a main characters is fairly predictable, nothing that he does is out of character for the style of character they are offering. But the voice they have provided the character is beyond confusing, as he speaks he questions his actions about killing people, but then goes and kills more and it gets worse, for almost all of the story Aiden sounds like he has an army of frogs in his voice, but then occasionally it sounds like someone else is voicing the character with some dialogue that sounds nothing like the Aiden we have been playing with for so many hours.
Such a blaring change is something that should have been caught at some point by the testing team, but it was not and the game suffers for it.
Watch Dogs is a great first attempt at building a new series and a new world, but as with most first attempts the grand design over shadows the end result. Excellent hacking and side missions help keeping this game from being just another open world game and elevate it to something more, but a soul-less city and odd sound design keep it from achieving the level it should have been.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Ubisoft
The Pros
+Hacking does not require a degree to understand
+The games secondary characters are eclectic and fun
The Cons
-City feels lifeless
-Sound design is very weird, once you hear it, you will understand
