A Watch Dogs Defender: Stop with the GTA

My name is Khasym, and I like Watch Dogs....

But for some reasons, some good, and some bad, I seem to be in the minority. WD is a fun game, that really does bring you into a different world(worlds if you count the Digital Trips) and is a solid next gen title. But everyone from Total Biscuit, to Jim Sterling, seems dead set to bag on the game as much as they praise it. Others just flat out hate it, and almost everyone who reviews it, makes the obvious comparisons to GTA. So, in a hope to move away from "Why isn't this GTA?" comments, I would like to point out the following:

• GTA is made by Rockstar Games. Watch Dogs is made by Ubisoft.

Yes, this is shocking, but Ubisoft didn't actually make GTA. Ubisoft has had plenty of open world experience on their resume with Farcry and Assassin's Creed. They know how to make a world engaging on THEIR terms, rather than copy/pasting Rockstar's formula. So you aren't going to have the same mechanics that a GTA game does. The cops in both games, have wonky detection protocols. There are clear bugs to exploit in both games. But none of these problems, detract from either game.

• GTA is no more thematic than Watch Dogs in terms of weaponry.

You cannot stroll into a gun store, walk out with an RPG, a mini gun, and enough armor, ammo and vehicles, to re-enact your version of the North Hollywood Shootout. Complaining about the weaponry or the lack of this or that gun, in either game, is relatively pointless. Comparing the weapon lists, is even moreso. Watch Dogs is a sneaky game built around one city. GTA V/OL is a driving/sailing/flying game with shooting elements, built around one county. Both have their appeals. Saying one should be more like the other, or disliking it because it isn't, is how we wound up with the CoD/BF situation.

• A trailer does not a game make.

If you watched the E3 2013 trailer, expecting that level of fidelity before the PS4 and Xbox One were even out, you are the type of gamer that Aliens: Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever were made for. If the gameplay were utter crap, but Watch Dogs had that level of visual quality, would it be any better of a game for it? E3 is where we go to get a glimpse of future titles. It is not the benchmark for what a future title may ultimately look like. Names may change, gameplay may change, why is it graphics have to be dialed into exactly how the final product will look. Watch Dogs has atmosphere in truckloads. You can walk around Chicago listening to musing and hacking people's phones, and not feel the least bit bored as you listen in on the virtual lives around you. The facts that the anti-aliasing isn't QUITE as crisp as a top notch PC rig, or that things pop in at a distance, are wholly ignorant of the game quality. We're losing the forest of quality, for the individual trees of optimization.

To sum all this up, I have nothing against you if you don't like Watch Dogs. I didn't like Bioshock or Bioshock Infinite regardless of their graphical or gameplay quality. But I don't judge Bioshock against something like Half Life or Halo. It's just not my kind of game. Judge a game independent of external pressures. Don't let other games, or a trailer released almost a year ago, be the benchmark you need to judge a game on.

I love far cry 3, but yeah I get what you're saying, but it's inevitable WD will get compared to gta, any third person open world game will get compared to gta.

but the only way to judge a game is by others in the same mold. So not only is it fair to judge it by GTA but bioshock to half life/halo is also a fair comparison. That's how it works.

@mattykovax: Not true. Do you need to see ANOTHER game like Ride to Hell: Redemption or Earth: Year 2066, to judge how BAD those games are? A game should sell you on it's own merits. and it should dissuade you from it's own faults. World of Warcraft is a perfect example. Functionally, they didn't do anything that was new in MMO's. But they put together a very slick, streamlined(for the time) MMO, that convinced people to abandon their lives and sink headfirst into WoW. It's success didn't come from copying other MMO's, least not till later. They simply took the elements of MMO's that worked, packaged them around the Warcraft Lore, and made sure that fun was the first word people thought of. You didn't need to know Everquest or Asheron's Call or Ultima Online to enjoy WoW. it was your break in point to MMOdom.

You have things that exist in a space. in this case open world third person action games. they do not exist in a vacuum. Yes a truly bad game will just get called that and forgotten, a true classic will rise above most of the time. But what we are talking about is neither. We are talking about two competent games that exist in the genre, in the same market, competing for the same dollars. Watch dogs is not marketing itself as something new, nor to some other genre space. its is straight out attacking the same space in the market that GTA is in, and trying to get you to spend your money there instead.

Same as how Bioshock was competing with halo 3 and COD at the time, all competent shooters competing for the same dollars. So my point stands.

GTA is shit, so if Watch Dogs has competent controls, it's already the superior game.

Well i just uninstalled watch Dogs and might play at a later date. So far this gen has sucked. I no its only beginning but unfinished games and quick time events are getting the norm. I have been done twice now by £40 both times. i no X-Rebirth not classed as a proper next gen title but still it was meant to be better then it was and still is unfinished. Just ordered wolfenstein for PC and if this turns out to be utter rubbish and unfinished then i might have to start looking for a new hobby. Only game i have enjoyed in a long time was Tombraider 2013 that was quite gooooood and at least optimized for PC even though it did have quite a few quick time events..

I am actually playing the TR reboot right now and I have to say it is one of the few games I have played that the QTE's are not only done well but in some cases even help with the pacing and storytelling. Not saying they should be there at all but if they have to its a good example of how to do them without being complete shit.

Watch Dogs is on PC thats all i need.

That alone makes it 100 times better than Rockstar and their "GTAV" console only crap.

Watch Dogs is shit

GTA V is the superior game simple as that

I won't

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA9BEA4Hxs

GTA V has rock solid controls, so that post is completely invalid.

@speedfreak48t5p: And it's the only one with controls that aren't like walking around with a dump in your pants. My point is that the games (these days at least) seem to value design and technology over, you know, actual fun gameplay. And most of what GTA does, other series do better. So nope not invalid.

@jimmy_russell: Not trying to troll, just speaking the truth, bub.

Does the main character not know how to run?

@ShepardCommandr: "Watch Dogs is shit

GTA V is the superior game simple as that"

Reply

Care to elaborate on why you think? that otherwise it's just an empty statement. Just saying

I'm so glad someone finally gets it. I think people are still stuck in a GTA mindset, and that's why they're unfairly comparing Watch Dogs to GTA 5. They are very clearly trying to do different things, and yet everyone wants to say "Oh why aren't the guns as good as in GTA" or "I wish I had the kind of true freedom I have with GTA." Get a grip, people, this game isn't trying to be GTA, so why do you even compare it?

With that said, I'm having a blast with Watch Dogs. Definitely one of the best games I've played all year, next to Dark Souls II and South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Crap story and crap protagonist. Typical stereotypical Ubisoft fluff. Game-plays great though, the hacking aspect is really fun. The stealth is surprisingly decently done as well, reminds me of Splinter Cell.

@uninspiredcup: To each their own, but I'm actually liking the story and Aiden's personality. I think the game environment and audio files are meant to be the social commentary, while the campaign is connecting you to the protagonist, which I think is a very good disconnect. Any time they combine a message with a protagonist, it tends to become a bit inconsistent.

@Khasym: GTA V is the biggest game, and Watch Dogs is similar and people are going to compare it sadly. Even though they are very different in tone and world

So the games don't control poorly? I remember that half the time in GTAIV, he would randomly run out from behind cover when I just wanted to peak or he wouldn't reload in the middle of a firefight. Maybe I am over exaggerating the awfulness of the controls a bit, but compared to a lot of other open world games, you can tell resources went elsewhere, rather than making the game more playable and enjoyable.

Theres one similarity between ubisoft and rockstar, they both make terrible PC ports. But i'll put my vote to rockstar for being a bit worse in this category.

And also wtf does uplay do and why do i hate it?