After seeing the E3 gameplay of Watch Dogs, it was definitely one of my most anticipated games to be coming out on the Xbox One. Did it live up to my expectations? Or did Ubisoft fuck up again?
Released in 2014, a hacker by the name of Aiden Pearce seeks revenge after his niece was killed, in what was really a hit put on Pearce. Ubisoft have done it again! Aiden Pearce is up there with Connor from Assassin's Creed 3, as one of the worst protagonist I've ever played. Pearce looks poor, he doesn't stand out and other characters in the game have way better looking graphics. Not only that, he has a hilarious, clichéd, raspy voice. The guys a hacker for christ sake, he hides behind a mask and cap, he's not Rambo, he doesn't need a tough guy voice. I always say a game is doomed to fail if they make a protagonist so unlikeable.
I think making a game about a hacker is quite limited, there just doesn't feel like there's a lot to do or I'd want to do as one. I must say that being able to traverse through camera feeds is unique and well done. I enjoyed surfing the cameras and planning my next move. The game looks beautiful, the cars are new and shiny, the people however aren't in the same level, they look more like they were made only for last gen. You can use cameras to take out patrolling enemies, using explosions as they walk near something you can manipulate. The hacking is very simplistic, you just press 'X' and you can instantly see through a camera or blow up an exploit. It does make for fun and unique ways to take out enemies, but you can go in guns blazing or silenced weapons and takedowns.
I felt no attachment to any character's, Clara looked great compared to everyone else, Jordi and villians, Damien and Lucky are very well acted, but Damien doesn't look great with the graphics. Pearce had no connection to his it seemed, I think I was meant to feel something, his nephew never spoke, he just looked sad all of the time and then all of a sudden he spoke! They did hire a voice actor after all, they just chose to never use him. They just chose to make awkward cutscenes with the two together. T-Bone was one of the best, he is a hacker like Aiden, he featured often and is the playable character in the story DLC. I thought Jordi was under used, he was a great character that could've added more. Nicole, Aiden's sister was very well acted and she carried Aiden through every conversation they had together. Damien was another one who carried Aiden through the scenes. Why did they have to make us Aiden?
There were a lot of upgrades for you to choose from, but a lot weren't worth getting. Something annoying about the upgrades was sometimes they wouldn't save and you'd have to pick them again. There's a focus mode that slows down time and is very useful in helping you dispose of enemies quickly and efficiently. The hacking mini game was enjoyable and it was challenging too at times, having to link up all the wires in a time limit, wasn't always so easy. Like all Ubisoft games, there were towers that would unlock the map when you hacked them, there were often little puzzles to get to them, made it more interesting. The fast travel was super quick, you could hide in your car and switch off all the lights and you have a huge arsenal of weapons to choose from.
As well as a five act story, there's plenty of other things to do, there's side missions, activities and games to play. Each side mission has an ending mission, but are mainly a copy of the previous missions. You can clear gang hideouts and deliver cars in a time limit. There's cool games to play like chess puzzles, there's a drinking game which is fun and challenging too, but you have to wait ages for the button sequences, as you are forced to listen to their bullshit chatter while you wait for them to pour you a drink. There were even privacy invasions which had you hack into civilians homes and could see them in their private moments, a lot of the acts witnessed were pretty funny. When you were profiling with your phone you would get information on people you were looking at, finding out their salary and a fact about them like "Loves cats". A lot of these were funny and some made you want to kill them person, but it looks like they spent too much time making up facts than making the characters and acting better.
A lot of story missions had to be initiated with a phone call, if you had loaded up the game without doing the missions, you'd be treated with the same phone call every time you booted up the game without doing the missions and you can't even skip them. Frustratingly you couldn't fast travel or request a car delivery in missions. There were no waypoints when you started the mission, you had to manually mark the objective. The outfits were really stupid and brightly coloured, odd for a guy trying to be conspicuous. Money waw very easy to obtain and yet there was nothing to do with it. You'd be pulled away from a map icon you were looking at if there was another close by. Aiden would take so long to finish his sentences as he said what he was planning to do next at the end of each mission. You could lose a car you were chasing and yet you can track a train to find your nephew on foot, a car was parked through a gate and after clearing a side mission, I died after it and the respawn had me do the whole thing again, despite completing it before I died, that happened twice. Pretty disapointing after my expectations.
There was online for some reason, online free roam in a game where there wasn't much to do in single-player. Free roam with a friend could be great in the sequel, if there's things to do. The tailing and hacking were actually kind of fun, but the rewards were nothing, an XP bar that did fuck all. Hacking someone was really fun though, trying to hide and keep away from the other player was frightening and even funny when you could see them run around looking for you. You would have to initiate the hack and you had a minute to get into a hiding spot. While looking for somewhere to set up camp, the player started driving away, so I had to chase them so I didn't lose them, despite getting in the zone, I failed with two seconds left. I had a blast playing through the races with a friend, but only because we worked together to take out the other drivers, which lead to some hilarious moments.
My expectations quickly deflated once I started playing. Although parts of the game were fun, the main character, story and missions weren't always. It's a hard game to recommend and can only be described as a game you need to play for yourself and see what you think. I can't believe this game got a sequel and a movie announcements, but the sequel looks great and if they do some good coop stuff, it could be a lot of fun. Well done Ubisoft, you done fucked it up!
6.5/10
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