Warning: Mild Spoilers (nothing that will ruin the experience, but some elements are not known to a person who is just now beginning their game)
Pros
- The City -- Like any open-word game, the setting is the deciding factor. Big buildings and country back roads have been done, but it's the little things that set Watch_Dogs apart. Little things like the ambient conversations, the accessibility of hidden places, and the variety between the northside and the southside. Shortcuts are everywhere and getting from to and fro never feels like a chore.
- The People -- The hilarious freestyle cyphers, the conversations between folks who don't know you're listening, varied responses from bumping into bystanders, and the sometimes touching moments that occur when you eavesdrop into someone's home. In one instance, I hacked an elder man's voicemail messages to hear his son pleading with him to come and stay with him so he could take care of him--but the old man was dead on his living room floor. A deep story told from a single interaction, and this game is full of them.
- The Story -- Aiden Pearce is a less-than-colorful main character, and many will cite his "grayness" as a detraction. But Aiden is just a reflection of circumstance. It's characters like the eerily cold Lucky Quinn, the deceptively calculating Iraq, and the always-on Jordi Chin who make the story go. I cared about Nicole Pearce's fate. I wanted to end Damien's life for involving her. Each story mission begged me to keep playing so I could find out what happened next, and that is all that can be expected from an open-world game.
- RPG elements-- Player experience and leveling skills never felt arbitrary. Each acquired skill made the next mission or side mission easier, up until the very last mission in the game.
- Lots of distractions -- The gang hideouts occur in varied locations, and offer stealth and action combat that's as good as any game in the genre (reminiscent of the latest Splinter Cell); they never get boring. Also infinitely fun are the Criminal Convoy missions, which give the player freedom to set up ambushes at any point along a route. There are so many ways to complete them--you can set IEDs in the road and blow up the lead vehicle, then move in and knock down your target in the confusion, or you can headshot the target's driver from an overpass from distance and force the passenger to flee on foot. These are just two examples of how I do them, but it's really up to the player's imagination. So on and so forth for hunting a serial killer, shutting down a human trafficking ring, and eliminating a gun-smuggling operation. Though these get tiring after a time, the completion of each is satisfying (for example, getting to the next-to-last mission in the gun smuggling side mission unlocks a silenced assault rifle, which is as awesome as it sounds). I spent hours just playing Texas Hold Em' and Chess to pass the time.
- Driving -- Every vehicle controls as it should, and the braking and turning makes you feel like Jason Statham in Transporter 1,2, and/or 3. Add the focus element and the ability to off-road, and it becomes fun just to cruise, especially with the ability to go behind the wheel in first person and actually feel like you are in the driver seat. I found the Fixer contracts that are essentially the game's version of races to be less fun after the 20th, but that is more my personal preference for on-foot combat than the lack of fun to be had there for people who like driving games.
- Hacking -- This part should be self explanatory, but imagine how fun it is to turn out all the lights in building, disable calls to the police remotely, set up roadblocks to ward off pesky pursuers, and essentially control traffic without ever feeling TOO powerful (the battery on the phone does a good job of limiting this).
- Combat-- Each gun in this game has its own personality, and there are many to choose from. Sometimes I'd clear out the perimeter with a .50 cal sniper rifle, and then move in with my silent pistol to dispatch the leftovers from cover without ever being seen. Other times I'd lure a bunch of enemies into thinking I am trapped, while motion-detecting explosives litter the path to my location, and I wait with my assault rifle for whomever survives. Shotguns and melee? Sure. There is a feeling of genuine excitement that comes over you when a restricted zone is filled with dozens of enemies, and there are 10 different ways to infiltrate.
- Graphics/Sound -- Great lighting, great texture work, solid character models. Fantastic voice acting, powerful gun sounds, and great ambient noise. The soundtrack wasn't my cup of tea, but it provided lots of variation.
Cons
- Ambiguous Morality -- Aiden Pearce is the Vigilante, a guy who protects the innocent and goes after those who would prey on the weak. Aiden Pearce is also a douchebag, who will steal the last $530 from your bank account and feel nothing.
- Enemy AI -- Enemies are challenging for the most part, they will flank you, toss grenades to flush you out, and are relentless at later levels. But sometimes they will walk right in front of the line of fire, right after I just took out one of their comrades at the same location.
- Pointless Elements -- Why would I spend 20K to order that car from my Vehicles on Demand app when I can just steal the same car for free from virtually anywhere. Why do I have $120,000 from stolen ATM money with nothing to buy? Barcode scanning...meh.
- The DedSec component wasn't explored thoroughly enough, IMO. Who are they? What do they really want? I guess that is a question for DLC.
Conclusion
Technically, the game fits right into the tier of open-world games that stand beneath Rockstar's heavily-funded GTA V. It's not going to knock GTA off its pedestal, but what open-world game could? We'd have to wait for Watch Dogs IV to see that. What makes it exceptional as its own animal outside of the obvious comparisons are the hacker elements, which also separates it from games like Saint's Row and Prototype. The most important question remains after all of it: Is it fun? I can honestly say that during the 20+ hours it took me to complete the main story and most of the side missions (70% completion), that I was never bored for longer than 30 seconds (the ONLY thing I got bored with were fixer mission retries during some of the tougher runs that don't allow mistakes). This game is highly recommended for any fan of open world shooters.