In light of Watch_Dogs 2, it's now time for me to totally re-write a review of the first game. Everything you need to know, the pros and cons (scroll down), and a little backstory. Watch_Dogs is another example of "flawed game does not mean bad game". It DOES have issues (I've listed them in the cons) and it has been left slightly unfinished, but it generally made me more entertained than frustrated, personally. The only thing I regret paying full-price for the game is its bad PC port...

The 2012 gameplay reveal was indeed amazing, and graphically stunning. I fell in love with the game once I saw the player could hack the city's environment how he wanted in a free-roaming world back in those days. With the 2013 trailers and actual release, the graphics and some small details were evidently toned down and that was indeed disappointing, but did that mean hacking gameplay was removed? Hell no. Gameplay and content wise, the actual release is for the most part what I expected and I had fun with the game's mechanics.

Watch_Dogs is a game that can be categorized as an "open-world GTA-like game", but with a twist. The ability to hack the city at your advantage with the press of a single button: jamming traffic lights to cause havoc in intersections, triggering explosives, controlling trains, stealing money from a civilian's bank account, causing blackouts, and so on. Nothing innovative, but still something hardly seen in free-roaming games.
Some missions are non-linear, meaning that you can go stealth, guns-blazing or just pure hacking. Outside story missions, there are A LOT of different secondary activities to do on the map (that reward you with XP points and, sometimes, audiologs to learn more about story and lore). Also, Thanks to the hacking mechanics, the game has got some unique multiplayer modes and invasions à-la Dark Souls.

The story is probably a "love it or hate it" kind of thing. You play as Aiden Pearce, ex-criminal and hacker who wants revenge for the murder of his niece. Meanwhile, Chicago operates under CtOS, a system that connects everyone and everything, at the cost of people's entire privacy. Hackers like Aiden can in fact bypass these systems to control the city.
I found the storyline to be good (especially since I'm a fan of revenge-style stories), just the script is a bit "meh" at times. The main protagonist isn't likeable to many people since he is not a charismatic character, but for me, it fits with the story and the atmosphere of the game. He is psychologically letdown, thinking that he himself was the cause of his family tragedy. Meanwhile, the secondary characters are charismatic and bring a bit of more life and humor to the game.

Reminder that this game has a shady PC port. With a bit of search on Google you can tweak the settings to make it run stable. A more important reminder, do not run Ultra textures if you do not have a graphic card that uses at least 3GB of VRAM.

+ Fast-paced hacking mechanics and gameplay possibilities
+ Very detailed city and living environment
+ Immersive shootouts and car chases
+ A ♥♥♥♥ton of secondary activities and mini-games
+ Dark atmosphere (very reminiscent of old Driver games)
+ Audiologs enrich the lore of Watch_Dogs' universe
+ Unique multiplayer

- Bad PC port. Heavy on requirements, mouse acceleration/aim assist.
- Multiplayer suffers from "meh" netcode and hackers
- Sub-par graphics
- Clunky controls and not-so-responsive driving controls
- Very stiff car collision physics
- Lack of a melee combat system
- Online progress is tied to game completion (so you will not be able to reach 100% since the online community is dying)
- Very repetitive "random crime" activities
- A couple of minor bugs here and there

Subjectively speaking, I had so much fun playing the game and I would recommend it. Objectively speaking, while it can be definitely enjoyable, it deserved the "mixed" (60% positives) reviews because of its flaws, that could have been easily fixed even with game updates. Ubisoft should learn to consider bug reports and player feedback post-launch as this is not the first time they leave issues into their games like that.

You may think he's hacking on that phone of his, but really, he's playing Pokemon GO.

A lot of interesting puzzles. Good mix of driving, combat, exploring, problem solving, and leveling. Simply a fun game all around.

buy the geforece gtx 960


gives you around 50 to 80 fps, no stuttering its all fixed


10/10 - sexy graphics

Great game

Pros:
Story - 8/10
Graphics with worse mod 1.0 - 9/10

Cons:
Release Date: 27 May, 2014 and still broken ._.

Died because of ubisoft, slowly was pushed out by 600+ developers. Full of bugs but is overall a great game, don't have too high expectations.

*insert "hilarious" and "original" joke about inability to watch dogs*

Ultra textures still stutter even with 6gb of VRAM.

The game is fun. Aiden is pretty cliche, but there are other characters (Tbone and Tobias) that I enjoyed immensely. The Bad Blood addon is pretty fun, but short.

The major crimes of the game is basically because of Ubistench.

Low under 30 FPS on a pretty good machine, regardless of settings.
Standard Ubisoft gameplay, climb tower, unlock stuff, etc, youve played one Ubisoft game, youve played most of them.
The driving is BAD..I just couldnt stand it, and ignored a pretty large chunk of content due to it, easily the worst part of the game.
The hacking is nothing more than turning knobs around, simple but pretty repeatative.
The "morality" system is pretty wonky too. Ill be running from the police, and a cop would hit me into a pedestrian and IM the bad guy? Wat? Oh but carjacking someone, then blowing up a steam pipe and killing a bunch of people when i turn all the lights green at an intersection is a-OK.


Buy is on sale.

So I took my dog to the "Dog Park" today, I watched him play with all kinds of dogs from Golden Retrievers, Hounds, Bull Dogs, Poodles, German Shepherds, Chihuahuas, Pugs, Boxers, Rottweilers, Pinchers, a Great Dane, and an Australian Shepherd. We we got home my mom asked, "What did you do today?" I replied, "Watched Dogs"