Watch Dogs: Game Review

Watch Dogs

Since Ubisoft’s official announcement at a press conference at E3 2012, the world has been waiting in anticipation to take on the role of Aiden Pierce and explore the ctOS version of Chicago. Not on the same page? Well, think of living in a city devoid of privacy where every single human being is constantly monitored and watched upon by the system while a hacker takes on a mission to find the killer of his loved ones by accessing that virtual program.

That is what exactly the open world action-adventure game titled Watch Dogs offers us. Since its release in May 27th, the game has been making waves across various platforms including PS3, Xbox 360,PC and eighth generation consoles (PS4 and XboxOne), which was particularly the main focus for the developers who wanted to make it a breakthrough game on the next-gen platforms. The story follows Aiden Pierce, a hacker whose niece was assassinated accidentally as he infiltrates the futuristic version of Chicago in pursuit of the killer.

The fictional city is being controlled by a supreme central operating system (ctOS) program which was designed after a hacker caused a blackout in north-east America which led to 11 casualties. The program monitors and controls all the operational and functional aspects of the city as citizens are living under a virtual dictatorship. And Pierce, keeping a low profile under a baseball cap and grey turncoat, has Chicago in his hands, more precisely in his smartphone.

That is what makes this navigating vigilante powerful enough to take on the system. From a third-person perspective, you will be engaged mostly with this handheld device which seems to be the answer to everything. Every electronic device tied to ctOS is accessible through you phone as your hacking powers extend from listening to private conversations and texts to tampering around with city infrastructures.

The phone is equipped with multiple applications notably the ‘profiler’ which allows the gamer to have unwanted access on any citizen. On top of that, you will also have the ability to view a pre-meditated act of violence from a civilian in your vicinity. Interacting with the environment is a major aspect as the device allows you to hack into security cameras, breach ATM pins, retrieve bank funds and unlock cars and new weapons. Moving on to a broader aspect, players can raise and lift bridges, stop trains, toggle traffic lights to their advantage while driving and black out the entire city, even slow down time to shoot with Aiden’s ‘focus ability.’ All these features will give the gamer a godlike feeling who can influence the proceedings with just a press of a button.

Aiden Pierce using the profiler to identify the citizens

But to think that your whole dominating experience will solely be based upon slickness and techie natured wittiness can be deceiving as the game also involves open combat situations where you need to use a gun to solve the problems at hand. That may arise when you fail to breach a camera or a security door. Sometimes it may seem like a friction between stealth and hide n’ seek shooting as Aiden will have to hide behind covers and engage in gunfights with enemies or sometimes civilians( the violent ones). The combination of stealth and combat is mostly effective against guards and city police when trying to situations to create diversions or create cover. One thing which is unbelievable about Aiden is that he is projected as a character who seems to be good at everything. Be it cars, guns, gadgets or being covert, Aiden gets an A+ rating in every department.

And then, there is this zone of Aiden’s character which cannot be called either a protagonist or an antagonist. Because sometimes, you become the Garret (Thief) of Chicago where stealing from civilians become a constant habit without any consequence as the character reputation aspect is insignificant. Over abusing your power as one could call it. As the game progresses, new abilities begin to unveil by completing side missions and collecting various items from the in-game world, such as finding QRS codes on the sides of buildings or finding ctOS servers collecting information on the citizens of Chicago.

But again, this is where Watch Dogs can be unrelenting. The story itself is predictable at times with relatively plain characters filling in roles in an already uncovered plot. In terms of gameplay, a player may deviate from the actual storyline for large portions and get caught up in innumerable side quests. It may vary from solving a crime to playing chess games. To sum it up, Watch Dogs will always keep you engaged as there are a vast amount of things to do.

A view from the hacked camera to locate enemies and security grids.

One more area where gamers can feel that it gets lackluster is the driving segment of the game. Except those cat and mouse police chases where you get to snap the traffic lights in order to obstruct the police from catching you, there have been complaints about how the driving seems uncontrollable with dry car sounds and nothing new to offer. The same tediousness also comes up while trying to hack a security door as the flow of the action may seem to be elongated by the fact that you will have to keep on hacking one camera after the other in the network system in order to open just a door.

Moving on to the graphics and presentation, the developers have spent a laudable time in crafting and designing the fictional city of Chicago. The well laid structure and dense surroundings are truly remarkable while every infrastructure has an original feel to it. You gradually explore the urban and rural areas of the city as the story unfolds and of course if you engage in the various side missions. But the facial details and character visuals can be a little questionable to a gamer after the high standards of animation we have been treated to by games like L.A. Noire or Beyond Two Souls.

Bottomline

The friction between a gadget genius and a warfare hero can be confusing at times, but that doesn't stop this game from being called a versatile adventure. If you want to take the low route through smoothness, you can. If you want like to engage yourself in action and shoot your way, you certainly can. Just imagine yourself in a GTA V environment, only on more serious grounds and situations. That is what makes this open world game so exciting and appealing. So come and explore the city, fiddle around with the omnipotent program ctOS, and play yourself as an outright character amongst a bunch of ordinary people. Not a landmark game for the next generation consoles in any way as it was described by the developers on its release, but it surely is an enjoyable and unique experience.

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System	Windows Vista (SP2) Windows 7 (SP1) Windows 8 and 8.1 Note that Watch Dogs only supports 64 bit OSs.
Processor (CPU)	2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 3.0 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940
System Memory	6GB RAM
Video Card* (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX460 AMD Radeon HD5850
Hard Drive Space	25 GB
Sound Card	DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
DirectX Version	DirectX 11
Internet	Broadband connection required for multiplayer mode

Recommended System Requirements
Operating System	Windows Vista (SP2) Windows 7 (SP1) Windows 8 and 8.1 Note that Watch Dogs only supports 64 bit OSs.
Processor (CPU)	3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 3700 4.0 GHz AMD FX-8350
System Memory	8GB RAM
Video Card* (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GT600-series AMD Radeon HD7000-series
Hard Drive Space	25 GB
Sound Card	Surround Sound 5.1
DirectX Version	DirectX 11
Internet	Broadband connection required for multiplayer model

Rating : 7.5/10

Here is the gameplay trailer.

You can buy a copy of Watchdogs online on Games The Shop here.