Hack your way to get revenge in Ubisoft Montreal latest and most anticipated game this year, Watch Dogs. This game is probably one of the biggest and most hyped game in 2014. Since the first gameplay video emerged in 2012 that shock and awed the gaming industry with its amazing looking graphics and awesome gameplay. So, can it live up to the hype? Well, Watch Dogs is not a perfect game, but it certainly a fun one.
Story (7/10)
+ pretty good revenge tale that get tangled in a big conspiracy
+ pretty nice script
+ great support character, especially Jordin Chin which is in my opinion the best sidekick ever in the Ubisoft universe. Clara and T-Bone are great too!
- not so strong main character, probably because of the awesomeness (and sometimes the over-the-topness) of the support characters, makes Aiden fail to stand out.
- each chapter (act) feel disjointed and most of the time our lead character only work as an errand boy, helping one character getting this in order to get the main story progress
- the mystery surrounding the conspiracy is really not interesting enough so the build up and the revelation feel bland, at least to me.
- the tone of the story is absolutely not fit with the silliness and the fun you get from the city.
Gameplay (9/10)
+ hacking is amazingly awesome!
+ use the city's infrastructure as your weapon works really well. Getting away from enemy by raising the bridge, playing with the traffic light, or blow up the pipe line is so satisfying.
+ using profiler to open up more hacking opportunity against your enemy is great.
+ stealth works perfectly, just as awesome as Far Cry 3. You can tag enemies, distract them, and even kill them remotely by hacking your environment.
+ the third person cover based shooter mechanic works perfectly
+ you can upgrade Aiden's ability in combat, driving, hacking, and crafting
+ tons of side mission like fixer contract, gang hideout, and opening ctOS server and tower
+ tons of worthy collectibles and side activities, collecting hundreds of voice records, investigating missing people, tracking human trafficking, and peeking into somebody's house are so fun to do.
+ just like all open world game from Ubisoft all of those side missions and collectibles are not hidden, you can easily access them by liberating ctOS server and tower. This is actually more fun than wandering a very big maps for hidden letters or ufo components
+ hacking mini games is pretty fun to do, it's basically just like that water pipe mini games on Bioshock
+ AR phone games and digital trips are great and awesome! These games inside game are engaging and varied, you can easily get invested for hours in these games, just like how you spend time on your mobile game.
- the car handling is a mess, especially for sport and performance car. Although it's not as bad as Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs, it still far from GTA. Kinda funny that the most controllable car in this game is big suv and truck.
- sometimes the vault button (O) is not working, no matter how easily climbable the fence or wall in front of me. This annoying thing can be frustrating when you try to escape by foot.
- annoying bugs and glitches, i get trapped in side mission twice even when i already finish the main objective, killed or escaped the enemies. Some enemies (that i need to take down, not kill) also get trapped in their already burning car or somehow hovering in the air.
- you can't arrange the icons on the map. It would be nice to be able to turn off some of it (especially the hotspot icon) so i can easily get what i really want because it's just too crowded.
Graphics (7/10) PS3 version
+ Chicago is beautifully reimagined in this game with tons of details
+ pretty steady framerates
+ awesome UI as always
- pop up textures in nearly every part of the game. Sometimes the engine simply give up to render it
- lightning and shadow get mess up, it's pretty weird that the shadow simply disappearing when you walking through them. Maybe Aiden is a giant glow stick.
Now, i know that it's really not fair to judge this next gen oriented game based on its port to last gen console but Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is also a cross gen game but it look great on PS3. GTA V is a last gen game but it looks fantastic with obviously larger game world. That's why i'm very disappointed that Ubisoft didn't even try to optimized the last gen version of Watch Dogs, this game is easily the worst looking PS3 game from Ubisoft.
Sound (7.5/10)
+ pretty nice music collection although i thought Ubisoft would put more dubstep music on this game >_<
+ great voice acting.
+ nice gun sound effect
- no radio, just 'mp3 player'
- tons of bugs in audio department. Sometimes the fx sound simply disappear, often the news audio gets cut abruptly for no reason or gets in never ending loop. Same thing happens on the DecSec audio
Verdict (7.7/10)
Watch Dogs is a fun game. The game shine so bright when it doesn't take itself too seriously. Messing around with the city, playing the silly and fun mini games, or just watching video footage from surveillance around the city are the best part of the game. It's kinda sad that the story failed to support it, as well as the technical aspect of the game (on the PS3 version i played). It still a worthy game, but you better buy the next gen or PC version.