Sadly, just as I had expected, Watch Dogs and all of its legions of fans blinded by the hype would fall victim to it. It was clear when how much controversy surrounding the graphical downgrade of the game when Ubisoft had done the same thing with nearly every single demo they had done in recent memory (Far Cry 3 immediately comes to mind) that this would be different. Even if the game was absolutely perfect, people would still have been disappointed and angry because, for two years, they were being so ridiculously hyped up that Watch Dogs would never live up to their expectations.
For PC, running a Superclocked GTX 770 2GB with a 4.3GHz 4670k, it is fairly unoptimized. I DID fix a lot of my stuttering issues, however, by changing from fullscreen to borderless window so that could help a lot of people having issues. The game is still quite amazing looking with textures on high and everything else maxed, the water and reflections in particular are gorgeous and the lighting during overcast can be absolutely beautiful. The downgrade from E3 is noticeable, but I'm pretty sure that was going to be obvious judging by Ubi's previous exploits. The most major issue graphically has to be the pop-in though. That needs to be sorted out.
Now, for gameplay. Watch Dogs definitely thrives on how fun it is. Combinations of shooting, hacking, and stealth all provide incredibly rewarding ways to complete missions, gang hideouts, etc. I found many of this more comparable to Splinter Cell than anything else, in fact, which combined with your hacking abilities definitely isn't a bad thing. I am neutral towards the driving; it is very slidey and arcadey, which some people will love and some people will hate. I find it fun at times but it can also be very frustrating to handle, especially on KB/M. The progression system involves getting XP by doing various things in the game, and similar to the latest Deus Ex going stealthy will net you much more XP than going in guns blazing, which some may dislike. I personally found it a good incentive as I normally dislike stealth games but found it fairly enjoyable in this one. There are skill trees that range from hacking to combat to crafting, all of which you can invest in with skill points gained as you level. These provide a good sense of progression.
The coolest part about the game is probably the digital trips, which are extremely Saints Row-esque silly mini games where you'll blow things up in a spider tank or run over demons in a muscle car, among others. Some of these games even have their own skill trees and leveling systems. Definitely very fun and zany departures from the main game which, oddly enough, you can invest hours in at a time. Now, to one of the worst parts of the game.
The story simply isn't up to par. It's a classic revenge story overplayed time and time again, with most of the characters lacking any interesting or compelling traits. Aiden is the generic, grainy voiced action hero, who gets caught up in a larger plot as his quest for revenge gets him involved in even more trouble as his sister is kidnapped by his old partner. Its not a horrible story, and it is wonderfully voice acted and is extremely solid in length (~35 hours) but it is definitely not very memorable. The real star of the game is probably the city and its pedestrians.
The game world has a surprising amount of variety. There are poor slums, rich high rise districts, quiet suburban sprawls, and dark, secluded forest areas. There are a sufficient amount of creepy mysteries, easter eggs, and collectibles spread throughout the game world along with a ton of varied side missions for you to do. Each pedestrian has their own story that you can access using the profiler on your smartphone, where you can see their age, occupation, income, and any hobbies or unique traits they have. I thought there would be obvious repetition after an hour or so but it is very few and far in between and I still find new traits that I often laugh at.
So, Watch Dogs did not live up to the hype, but that was next to impossible anyway. It is still a very fun and enjoyable open world game with a solid amount of content and fun refinements to the genre.