Ubisoft gave up on their idea of having a modern-day Assassin's Creed installment, transforming this project into a separate franchise. Is the game any good? It's certainly better than Assassin's Creed in that its gameplay actually presents a bit of a challenge that requires a modicum of effort, whereas you could put AssCreed on an auto-run mode where you can relax on the couch to watch your character play the game for you and it wouldn't change a thing. But does WD deliver on Ubisoft's insistently overhyped promises to revolutionize gaming forever? No, it really doesn't. In no way whatsoever is WD original, innovative, or revolutionary enough to qualify as a must-buy purchase for even the most avid AAA console gamer - let alone someone with a more refined taste palette.
The story in this game involves tracking down a number of people in Chicago via hacking their phone/computer/vibrator/whatever because of their possible involvement in an ordeal that killed the main character's niece. Any plot kicked off by the death of a small child is running the risk of being manipulative and lazy, but the lack of any real introduction, prologue, or any scene that establishes the main character and his family BEFORE the accidental murder really makes this feel a nominal excuse plot on the level of Mario setting off to save Prince Bubblegum (I'm pretty sure that's her name).
Except, if this is a paper-thin excuse plot to hack things and kill people for ten hours, why are we constantly hammered with protracted manipulative scenes that do nothing but detract from both gameplay and the overall feel of the setting. Aiden Pearce is your generic gruff late-thirties White male going on a generic vengeance/redemption quest (hello Talion from Shadow of Mordor), his sister is a generic young mother who does nothing but worry and complain, his nephew is a generic autistic kid who almost never talks or does anything but sit with a sad face, and his niece gets killed before we even know of her existence. Who exactly are we supposed to care about in this family? Is Ubisoft so arrogant and dismissive towards its consumers (customers, clients, johns) that it injects woefully underdeveloped generic family drama into a game that in no way requires it, and thinks the audience will swallow it all up because it's cinematic and shit?
The rest of the plot is vague, arbitrary and non-descript, things happen for a while and then they stop, with no rhyme or reason beyond giving an excuse to drive from A to B and then hack/stealth/shoot a bunch of enemies. Except, once again, a paper-thin excuse plot is dressed up in over-long, over-dramatic, and under-developed cinematic scenes populated exclusively by one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs. There's not a single character in this game that can't be perfectly summarized by their job description - a goth chick, an old mobster boss, a Black gangbanger - nobody has any personality or function beyond their obvious role.
The ending left an obvious sequel hook and hinted at bigger things going on behind the scenes. Well, if there's more important things going on in this universe, why don't you base the entry installment around these things, instead of spoon-feeding us arbitrary crap and then gasping at the wonderful things we will surely witness if only we cough up more dough in 2-3 years when the inevitable sequel is released.
Watch Dogs gameplay has four different modes - driving in an open city area, stealthing your way through enemies, hacking electronic devices, and there's the third-person shooter part. Add to that a variety of side-activities, mini-games, virtual trips, a moderately-long story sequence, and you've got enough to entertain you for a week or so. The game plays like a GTA clone (with crappier car physics) wearing a Deus Ex-style get-up (hack anything by holding Q for half a second) that whipped up a traditionally shallow and over-pretentious AssCreed type of story that takes itself way too seriously for the third-grade cyber-schlock that it actually is. At least, unlike AssCreed, it actually has a stealth system, mostly based around clicking C to hide behind cover and navigating the cameras in hopes of doing something useful. The hacking stuff is silly but fun, sadly, mission design doesn't make full use of its capabilities. Some missions leave it up to the player to decide whether to reach the objective through hacking, stealthing or shooting, but others arbitrarily force you into shooter mode by omitting useful electronics and dumping a shitload of enemies in front of the entrance door. You can't close doors in this game, btw. You can't properly open them either, you just shove it open with your face, and then it will stay open forever. Who needs door interaction in a game that heavily features stealth?
The graphics are pretty good, Chicago looks polished and pristine and there's lots of attention to detail in the visual presentation area. Apparently, Ubisoft graphically downgraded the PC version to keep it from outshining the consoles, poorly hid the tracks, tried to deny the tampering, and then ignored hordes of angry PC players complaining about the difference between preview videos and the actual game. Since then, a bunch of modders undid the downgrade, allowing graphics-concerned players access to full visual glory. I personally couldn't be bothered.
Even aside from the downgrade and lying scandal, the PC port is beyond crap. Controls are needlessly spread all over the keyboard, as though made for an octopus, and performance is atrocious on even the most high-end machines, including those running Titans. I suffered from random frame drops and terrible stuttering that made the game unplayable, thankfully a forum post suggested tweaking with the game's VSYNC settings in Nvidia Control Panel that completely removed the problem.
The score is decent enough by itself, but it's used in a terribly repetitive way - many missions gave me a headache by repeating the same three notes over and over until I fulfilled the objective. I don't know why they needed it to be so repetitive, considering these three notes are always a small excerpt from a larger sound track - just play the whole thing, morans.
I messed around with some of the side content after finishing the story, ultimately I don't regret playing the game but I can't see myself returning to it at any future point, nor would I be upset by news of a suddenly cancelled sequel. Good for what it is, but overhyped and takes itself too seriously. In other words, typical Goobersoft.
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