Platforms: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Watch Dogs quickly became the unintentional spokesperson for the new generation of consoles.
Stemming from its fantastic surprise appearance at E3 2012, it looked like a sneak peek at the eagerly anticipated next generation of consoles. A stage demo showing a new franchise with impressive visuals and intense action will do just that. Flash forward past its delay that kicked it out of both console launches, Watch Dogs is finally upon us, in all of its hacking, open-world glory. Watch Dogs probably isn’t that open-world game that many have built it up to be, but it does know how to borrow enough good ideas and sprinkle in some great ones of its own.
Watch Dogs, in a reductive way, can look as though it has ripped out the best parts of other games and glued them together. The free running is strangely reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed, the cover system is almost straight out of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, you climb to towers to unlock the map like every Ubisoft game, and the driving, combat, and open-world structure can be likened to Grand Theft Auto. It would naive to brush off the similarities but equally as ignorant to say Watch Dogs doesn’t put them together well and dress itself with its own special sauce.
The most unique thing Watch Dogs does is the oft-discussed hacking. While its unreasonable to think that a single OS runs everything, it gives Aiden, the protagonist, total control. Using cameras to survey the environment and finding the best route to the hackable object are tasks that feel refreshingly cerebral. Puzzles like this do a remarkable job of changing up the gameplay pillars by not slowing them down, but adding to each.
Cover-based shooting is one of the aspects that hacking helps build upon. Useful and responsive cover transitions make hiding from bullets feel smooth, but the tightness of the fundamental act of shooting sets it above the genre’s low standard. Aiming is incredibly responsive and the act of shooting isn’t plagued by the inaccuracies of other open-world crime games. These other games usually use shooting as a means to get to something else, but Watch Dogs makes the mere act of shooting worth it in it of itself. Aiden may be frustratingly delicate since his trenchcoat isn’t bulletproof, but his fragility doesn’t halt the flow of action too often. That’s saying something given how many times you’ll OD on bullets.
Most scenarios don’t even have to be tackled with loud firearms because Watch Dogs welcomes players who would rather try to sneak instead of shoot. Aiden’s stealth moveset is pretty basic since most of you interaction involves getting behind someone and tickling them to sleep. However, once you mix in the ability to distract and cause blackouts, it hops past the border of being overly simplistic and into the territory of being a viable option. Sneaking isn’t as complex as something like Splinter Cell but it has just enough nuance to support itself.
Sneaking is something a hacker might do.
Combat and stealth are strengthened by the simple-to-use hacking. Raising cover, prematurely detonating enemy grenades, stunning enemies, and blowing up parts of the environment help spice up the basic, if solid, cover-based shooting. Tactical use of hacking can even the odds and yields more options during shootouts. More options lead to more possible choices and more choices are always a good thing.
Hacking is also possible while driving, but it doesn’t make the driving that much better. Cars are very tank-y, which doesn’t allow them to maneuver very well but, in turn, lets you unrealistically bulldoze through most traffic situations. Plowing through vehicles head-on and facing little consequence is silly but it makes the driving portions a tad more tolerable since taking down vehicles can be tedious. Police chases exemplify this feeling since their relentless aggression makes escaping a nightmare. Hacking steam pipes and traffic lights can get you out a bind, but since you can’t shoot while driving and ramming vehicles isn’t particularly effective, some chases can go on for a bit too long.
The prime way to get from place to place.
Although that’s assuming you don’t crash head-on into one of the many failstates. The rare flexible objectives don’t balance out the many that aren’t as lenient. Strict, sometimes-foggy mission guidelines will punish you if you hop slightly out of line which is usually in the form of getting detected. Get used to that “Mission Fail” screen because you’ll be seeing it over and over and over again. For a game with such a huge map, it can feel quite hypocritical to push the player into situations with such little wiggle room.
This huge map houses Aiden Pearce, our gravelly protagonist, as he hacks all of Chicago to find out the reasons behind his niece’s murder. Pinpointing the people responsible sends Aiden down a path of mutual backscratching to eventually exact his revenge.
Cliché as it sounds, which, let’s be clear, is pretty cliché, it moves along at a steady clip but isn’t without its issues. Aiden, along with a handful of the cast, straddles the line of being average. Not great. Not terrible. Just there to perform basic, plot-moving functions. There are couple standouts on both sides of the moral fence, but the most important people are just sort of there. This includes Aiden and his forced relationship with his sister and, nephew. We are told Aiden cares for them, which is the entire crux of the narrative, but we aren’t really shown in order to come to that conclusion ourselves.
The whitest bread man of white bread men.
Regardless, the plot is simple and told well enough to grab and hold your attention. Getting wrapped up in the conspiracy is great bait that strings the missions together well, which is remarkable given how most open world games go through significant lulls. Being consistently entertaining is a worthy compliment to a game that stretches far past fifteen hours.
For a game so focused on online hacking, the online portions are both hit and miss. As you are playing through the campaign and have an internet connection, you can be invaded by another human that is after your data. You have to discern which NPC is a real person and kill them or you have to hide as you hack them. It may take a match or two to acclimate, but the seamlessness of it all and the stealthy pace make this stand out. This mode feels a lot like the multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed since they both exude that incredible feeling of outsmarting another human.
Watch Dogs fumbles the online free roam and deathmatch though. Shooting and hacking weren’t designed for multiple humans so both modes are sporadic cacophonies of nonsense. And besides, online free roam with other humans can just lead to petty dickishness.
Got ’em. That ain’t no NPC.
Whether or not Watch Dogs looks as good as that infamous 2012 E3 reveal is debatable, but Watch Dogs looks sharp even with that comparison. Effects looks nice, the lighting and shadows are realistic, and the clean sheen on everything is respectable, but the body and facial animation on the main characters is the most impressive. While I can’t help but think what it would have looked like if it weren’t restricted by the last generation of consoles, Watch Dogs is a technically savvy looking title.
Soundtracks are always vital in this genre but Watch Dogs can’t find its groove. The original composition can create an appropriate atmosphere, but the radio is too sporadic to fit any sort mood. While you can customize it in the menu, there aren’t designated channels, so the jump from rap to rock to folk can be jarring. Traditional radio channels would fix this small issue but even the included songs aren’t even standouts in their respective genres.
Watch Dogs, in a few ways, is similar to the original Assassin’s Creed. A fantastic premise that takes place in a whole new world, but one that is infected by a handful rotten ideas. Although, Watch Dogs gets far more right on its first try than the original Assassin’s Creed ever did and subsequently becomes a game I want to play more of. Enough of the great ideas get time to shine while showing room for improvement and the stumbles aren’t severe enough to dissuade me from playing a sequel. If this is the “Assassin’s Creed 1,” then I can’t wait to see how the inevitable “Assassin’s Creed II” turns out.
Watching Dogs:
+Tight shooting coupled with solid, simple stealth and neat hacking mechanics
+Story flows well
+Pretty visuals
+Online invasions are a novel idea
Watching Cats:
-Most characters don’t have much personality
-Fail states are infuriating
-Online team versus modes are lame
Charge Attack 