Watch Dogs was one of the most anticipated video games of the year especially after its delay. The hype has been growing along with the gaming community's expectations. This game was supposed to be the first truly next-gen game. Sadly, this new IP did not live up to our expectations; it is not the "next-gen" experience we were looking for or expecting. Quite simply, it feels like any other game. That being said, it's a good game. It is a fun game with some new ideas in a beautiful city.
Story - 6.0: The story's main fault is that you simply don't feel invested in what's going; it doesn't make you care. The game tries to make you care, but it fails. The main reason the story fails to make you care is that the main character, Aiden Pearce, is boring. He is such a flat character. From the way he talks to the way he walks around, everything he does is singular and bland. The game tries to justify this by saying that he hides all his feelings and tries to make him a psychological study by the end of the game. I just don't see or feel that. He's just boring. His story in the game is nothing but cliches until the very end. The supporting characters are interesting enough especially a character named Jordo, but none of them make me care enough. The game has its memorable moments in his quest for vengeance, but the game's stupid ending simply reminds you how much you don't care about what's happening in the story. What's interesting about the story is the world it takes place in. The city has cTOS which monitors everything and is controlled by the company Blume. There is a a group called Dead Sec who wants to bring down Blume and wants to be the "Watch Dogs" of the city. But these different groups and company's are wasted potential. They are hardly in the game. They are simply talked about and are set up for future games. I want a greater focus on these groups in future installments.
Gameplay - 7.0: This game is pretty fun. I love being able to hack the city of Chicago's traffic lights, bridges, phones, cars, blockers, scanners, trains, and so on. There is so many possibilities when playing this game. The combat is very fun with a very crisp cover system, but stealth is even more fun. The cover system combined with crafting and hacking makes stealth varied and immensely satisfying. Unfortunately, the game is held back by repetitive side missions and some frustrating story missions. There is so much you can do in Chicago, but most of it isn't fun. From the beginning, the game forces all of its side missions in front of you with repetitive "crime in progress," uninteresting fixer contracts, and very out of place augmented and virtual reality game modes. They simply aren't fun. The only augmented reality game mode that's fun is when you use a spider tank to destroy Chicago. It is very fun, but it doesn't feel like it belongs in this game; it feels out of place. The fun side missions are convoys and gang hideouts. Those missions feel varied, interesting, and challenging. Many of the story missions are very fun, but other missions are unbelievably annoying or boring. For example, the missions that involve vehicle stealth where you try to get from point A to point B without being detected by the police. These missions are extremely frustrating. You could do everything right and still be detected. You can use the game mechanic to hide in your car so the cops can't see you; but for some bizarre reason, the cops will then get out of there cars to investigate your car. You can't drive away without them spotting you immediately, and they will find you in their inspection. These missions are the worst and shouldn't make a return in the next game. Some of the best moments of the game, however, are chases and escapes. These missions are fun especially when you can use your hacking to stop your pursuers or the person you are chasing.
Multiplayer - 8.0: The multiplayer is the part of the game that actually feels next-gen. You can seamlessly enter another players game and either observe them or hack them. Hacking someone else's game is an exhilarating experience. You quietly attempt to remain hidden while you watch your victim try to find you. It's very exciting. However, being hacked isn't nearly as fun. I'm not saying this because I'm bad at it because I'm actually not. I'm pretty good at defending. I've only failed two times. It's not as fun because it's kind of annoying. You are playing your game, and you're are trying to get to the next mission and then the game says you can't start the mission because you are being invaded. It simply get's annoying after awhile. There is also other game modes such as races which are okay. There is online decryption which is very chaotic and isn't very fun in my personal opinion. If you have a group of friends online, decryption is a must play game mode. When playing by yourself, it's not that fun. I never got to play free-roam because I refuse to make a UPlay account. The fact that you need one is stupid. Overall, the multiplayer is one of the game's better features.
Graphics/Performance - 8.0: Watch Dogs is a great looking game, but it doesn't look as good as it could have for next-gen especially when it's graphics looked better at the E3 demo two years ago! That's simply deceiving right there. There are glitches, texture pop-ins, and the occasional frame rate issues. For the most part, the game performs well.
Verdict - 7.0: Watch Dogs is a good start to a new IP. It brings some interesting ideas to the open-world genre and has it's moments of enjoyment. But its lack of an interesting story or main character, its repetitive missions, and its frustrating moments hold it back from being the ground breaking game we were all expecting it to be. I look forward to where the series goes next, but I expect Ubisoft to make some serious improvements.