Game review: Watch Dogs

If Assassins Creed, Batman Arkham city and GTA 5 had a child then it would probably look like Watch Dogs the latest offering from Ubisoft montreal, this isn`t a bad thing by any means yet it doesn`t come up to the standards of the afore mentioned titles.
By Dayvid
Published 11th Jun 2014, 21:00 BST

So here’s the story line which is pretty bland really, you play as Aiden Pearce a sort of moody self-styled hacker/vigilante a character lacking somewhat in personality I thought.

The story begins with a hack on a hotel lobby going Pete Tong and results in an unknown super villain retaliating against poor Aiden, the ensuing chaos results in in the death of his niece and so the mood is set for a bit of classic revenge and looking for answers the usual stuff really and not worth dwelling on.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dull story aside Watch Dogs is all about technology and with your handy hacking mobile (which never seems to need recharging I noticed) you can hack into almost anything (remind you of batmans hacking device?) the city is full of cameras and you can hack into them and even jump from one to another, also the player can hack into other peoples phones and devices (exploding a grenade on someone’s belt is a nice touch)

The characters are the usual stereotypes and fairly one dimensional

Ok now for the game play well it is very similar to GTA 5 in many ways with moving from mission to mission and avoiding the cops and the bad guys, yet it doesn`t have the polish of GTA 5 with the open world city of Chicago which does look good, and the weather and daylight changes add some atmosphere this still comes across to me as a modern day Assassins Creed.

Even though you have a variety of weapons at your disposal (eventually) the game is more about stealth than running about blowing people away.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Graphics are good with nice details and with plenty of side quests and missions to play it makes for a good 40+ hours of game play.

Driving takes a bit of getting used to but I found this to be the most fun especially when the cops are in pursuit and you can hack into barriers and traffic lights to cause all kinds of mayhem (rewarded with a crash cam view if you pull it off correctly).

There are plenty of upgrades to your character as well which do help but don`t make the game that much easier.

Summary

Watch Dogs is a fun to play game but for me it came across as a Assassins Creed/Batman/GTA 5 wannabe, story is bland and uninspiring plus the characters have the charisma of a wire coat hanger, but if you put all that aside and look at Watch Dogs as just another game then it’s not that bad.

Watch Dogs

Developer: Ubisoft montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

PC

PS3/4

Xbox 360/One

WiiU

Genre: Action/Adventure

Release Date 27th May 2014

Graphics: 4/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Story: 2/5

Overall: 4/5