The reveal of Watch Dogs was met with incredible hype. It was considered to be one of the first truly next-generation experiences. The graphics were meant to be extraordinary. The gameplay involved a rogue vigilante who could hack into streetlights, networks, and personal information without breaking a sweat while evading authorities in a game of cat and mouse. It was seen as something that would break new ground but, in reality, the game only broke itself.
Critic reviews averaged out to 77 out of 100 on Metacritic while user ratings reached a saddening 4.6. Much of the outcry against the game came from its technical issues on PC. For many PC gamers, Watch Dogs was virtually unplayable, or completely hobbled by graphical problems and a poorly executed port. A quick look at the Metacritic user reviews gives you a sense of the full extent of the game’s issues, and there are many. For console gamers, criticism of the technical side often focused on its visuals. It appeared no more aesthetically impressive than what the Xbox 360 or PS3 were already capable of, and in practice it wasn’t.
Aside from the technical problems, the game also suffered from an apparent lack of development across every aspect of it. The central concept was hacking the world, an action that would reasonably require at least some degree of effort, but it was reduced to a single button press. I understand the concept is relatively new to gaming, but it felt incredibly underwhelming to hack everything with such ease. And when I say everything, I mean everything. You can hack a grenade in an enemy’s hand and force it to explode. How you hack a grenade is never explained, but in Watch Dogs you’re apparently not meant to question it.
The combat system is presented as stealth-oriented, built around a cat-and-mouse dynamic with targets and pursuers. Instead, the game funnels you through monotonous side missions to earn enough money to buy guns, explosives, and more guns. When combat is unavoidable, the experience is nothing beyond your average third-person shooter.
As for the environment, the open world presented in Watch Dogs is nothing to be impressed by. Compared to Grand Theft Auto V, Watch Dogs’ map is a child’s sandbox in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Regardless of its size, the game is almost impossible to drive through. The engine sends cars sputtering through walls, launching them improbable distances, applying minimal damage, or warping them around in ways that defy explanation. It’s funny at first and becomes a genuine nuisance quickly.
If navigating the environment wasn’t frustrating enough, the AI is horrendous both in and out of combat. Firefights, explosions that rarely kill you, and bodies dropping in the street never seem to register with ordinary citizens going about their day. As for law enforcement, non-lethal tactics don’t exist. Bump into a police car and prepare for a firefight.
Speaking of firefights, a shot to the knee will disable even the most heavily armored enemy, but a headshot kills any target instantly regardless of their difficulty level. Civilians die from a shot to the foot. Mix in some road rage and you’ll find the game can barely track how much momentum the player has at any given moment. Hit an enemy at high speed and he might walk it off without a scratch. Take a minor bump from a passing car and you might die instantly. With all of these ways to die, you might expect meaningful failure states, but you respawn a few feet from your body with full ammunition. Failure is not penalized. Even the karma system barely registers. In my experience it altered a single outcome across my entire playthrough.
As for the story, it was nothing more than a bland carbon copy of previous Ubisoft titles: a rogue vigilante fighting an overwhelming evil. The karma system was supposed to affect choices and character interactions but your hand is held through every mission as if you had never touched a game before. There are glaring plot holes and character inconsistencies in nearly every cutscene. By the end I was pushing through just to put it down for good.
This was nothing I hoped Watch Dogs would be. It was a broken, poorly developed game that should never have been released in the state it was in. It felt like a bad alpha build of something that could have been great. Instead it was a colossal failure. Don’t waste your time or money. I’d give this a solid 4 out of 10, a score I’m not even sure it deserves.
