Watch Dogs

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5182 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,662 out of 5182
  2. Mixed: 913 out of 5182
  3. Negative: 1,607 out of 5182
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  1. Armis
    Jun 19, 2014
    6
    Horribly unoptimised for the PC. Chugs along like a fat guy with asthma. Add to that the horrible police rubberbanding (which makes it utterly impossible to ever, EVER lose the cops unless you have a gadget to prevent them spotting you in the first place. Just not fun.
  2. sashaCZn
    May 27, 2014
    7
    When they showed the graphics of Watch Dogs on E3 2012, I was so shocked, I thought it was the true next gen, but Ubisoft are natural LIARS!! If we compare the E3 2012 and the final game graphics, there is just nothing, that they showed.

    Bad Side - Graphics - Optimization - Car Physics - Stupid NPCs - Stupid mini-games - Boring singleplayer - Ubisoft servers (27.5.2014) - Bugs,    When they showed the graphics of Watch Dogs on E3 2012, I was so shocked, I thought it was the true next gen, but Ubisoft are natural LIARS!! If we compare the E3 2012 and the final game graphics, there is just nothing, that they showed.

    Bad Side
    - Graphics
    - Optimization
    - Car Physics
    - Stupid NPCs
    - Stupid mini-games
    - Boring singleplayer
    - Ubisoft servers (27.5.2014)
    - Bugs, crashes, lagging and a lots of more issues
    - Animations
    - Water
    - The City.

    Good Side:
    - The idea - hacking (the realization isn't so bad too)
    Unfortunately that's all on the good side.

    I am so confused. I don't really think, that I will ever pre-order games from Ubisoft.    … Expand
  3. jrob23
    May 27, 2014
    5
    It's just boring. It starts out promising but then gets monotonous and the driving is abysmal. The graphics are only slightly better than PS360. What sounded so promising when it was teased so long ago is just old hat by now and too ambitious. I think Ubi released it a year too early. It needed to be fleshed out more
  4. ynotownemall
    May 29, 2014
    5
    I played this game for about 1.5 hour, then realized I was bored and not having any fun at all. This game is quite simply boring and the graphics are well below par for how hard it rides your system. (i7 gtx660ti and 8gb ram)

    This game is a prime example of why you should never preorder games.

    Steer clear of this crap!!!!
  5. beamkiller
    May 28, 2014
    5
    I have purchased this game in preorder back in April. I have waited for it as a little kid, but Im dissapointed at all.
    I have installed the game via Uplay, I cannot play it a whole day. I got crashes, VCRedist errors, than crash to desktop, everything.
    Now I got in to game, reinstalled the whole game... But the city is a mess, the graphics is not the best, it is not smooth. The cars    I have purchased this game in preorder back in April. I have waited for it as a little kid, but Im dissapointed at all.
    I have installed the game via Uplay, I cannot play it a whole day. I got crashes, VCRedist errors, than crash to desktop, everything.
    Now I got in to game, reinstalled the whole game...
    But the city is a mess, the graphics is not the best, it is not smooth.
    The cars physics is terrible, I didnt see this kind of driver experience back to year 2000 :D.
    Mouse acceleration is stupid, the controls are stupid too.
    Its optimised for controllers not for keyboard and mouse.    … Expand
  6. maximilianschme
    Jun 24, 2014
    5
    I am disapointed...since the E3 2013 i was so excited for this game, an open world hacking game with a nice vehicle physics!
    So i pre-ordered this game...on release i played it...and it was terrible!
    Don't get me wrong, the singleplayer story isn't bad and it is some kind of fun, i mean you always feel like superman with all the powers you got (slow motion, hacking with one button,    I am disapointed...since the E3 2013 i was so excited for this game, an open world hacking game with a nice vehicle physics!
    So i pre-ordered this game...on release i played it...and it was terrible!
    Don't get me wrong, the singleplayer story isn't bad and it is some kind of fun, i mean you always feel like superman with all the powers you got (slow motion, hacking with one button, youcan buy every weapon/item at the start of the game).
    Okay first i will say something about the positives.
    The multiplayer is some kind of nice, no extra loadscreens, you sometimes doesn't even notice it at first.
    The graphics are very nice at night, at day it is "okay" not really nice but it could be worse.
    And i really like, that you really can move into a train, not just "press a button" and see the train in third person like in e.g. GTA IV.
    The shops are very detailed, you have bunch of minigames, there really nice for a short time.
    Also i like the diffrent informations and easter eggs about the people walking in the city.

    But now the worst part of the game...uff where do i start, there is so many.
    The whole world is boring, you can't do something, every building is CLOSED, you can only move into the few shops and THATS IT!? Even in GTA IV you could move in a LOT of Buildings, but in Watch dogs, it's like the whole city is just a background for a movie...and thats how it feel, empty city, just random people.
    Oh and if i talk about people, the "dynamic" missions you can start with people are like 99% the same and totaly Random, only your reputation will increase or decrease if you hurt some civilian.
    And thats the other point, why is there an reputation system? i hate it, it was annyoing in every other game...who decided what is good and what not? I mean cops can kill people and nothing happend.
    Oh Cops, they have a aimbot, they hit you no matter what, but there also very stupid, i think it is because the Console is the lead plattform...
    The weapon handling is not fun, it is way to much, the game really forces you to invest your poinst into the skills, so the weapons are not recoil so extreme.
    The Car physics are worst, it is very arcadig, like some very old need for speed game, you have the feeling driving a box with like no kind of real physics.
    Oh and the car-damagesystem you saw in the E3 presentation? forget it, even Saints'row games have a way better car-damagesystem.
    This game is terrible...i am a big fan of open world games, i love to explore the city, driving arround, i loved to do this in the gta series, because the car physics, the npc physics and the car-damagemodel were amazing, watch dogs has something from the 90s..    … Expand
  7. DanielCorfour
    May 28, 2014
    5
    Being hyped as the herald of the new generation, Watch Dogs fails utterly and it turns out to be a continuation of the old one. With the exception of the central mechanic: hacking, there is nothing new or fresh about the game, whether it is the:

    -cliche-ridden, generic story -cliche ridden generic characters -protagonist with a Christian Bale-esque Batman voice, whose main trait is    Being hyped as the herald of the new generation, Watch Dogs fails utterly and it turns out to be a continuation of the old one. With the exception of the central mechanic: hacking, there is nothing new or fresh about the game, whether it is the:

    -cliche-ridden, generic story
    -cliche ridden generic characters
    -protagonist with a Christian Bale-esque Batman voice, whose main trait is being a generic protagonist "who didn't ask for this"
    -gameplay elements that we've all seen in other open-world tomfoolery sandboxes.

    The game's biggest fault however is that it tries to be something it's not. There is a sort of cognitive dissonance going on between gameplay-story-premise. The game really tries to convince you that you're some kind of hero, with even a reputation system tracking how much of a c*nt you are. But it fails entirely because the only way to make money is by stealing it, and being an A-hole, despite the reputation system, has no consequence whatsoever. You can kill thousands of innocent people, cause billions worth of damage, and still be the "hero" at the end of the day. These types of game have always been about running around doing crazy things. And while others, like GTA and Saint's Row, wear it on their sleeves, this game tries to pretend the whole way through that it's a "Good little boy". And that kind of thing just sticks out like a 50 year old man pretending to be a hip and cool guy.

    Aside from that, the game is generally solid. The mechanics that are there are good enough, there are plenty of things to do, and hacking, while incredibly easy and using only a single button for everything, is generally fun.

    The fun however can be severely interrupted by some serious framerate issues. The optimization for this game is terrible. So are the controls. The whole game was designed with the console in mind, and they couldn't be bothered to make a decent PC port. Don't buy this for PC. I mean it. Stay the hell away from the PC version. If you're desperate then but it for PS4, otherwise wait till Ubisoft or some modder fixes the optimization.    … Expand
  8. calbertuk
    May 30, 2014
    5
    Decent take on an open world though slightly disappointing due to zero optimization done by Ubisoft. The game doesn't look good at all compared to recent high profile releases and that's even with decent specs. Story is unoriginal and drags on and on and game tends to get quite repetitive. Not an awful game but not what we'd been expecting.
  9. lmah
    May 30, 2014
    5
    The game is very buggy at launch, it should have been in beta but I guess developers think it is okay to release AAA games in this state now, all they are doing is disappointing their fans, they could have kept this in beta for a few more months and polished it up more. Without disappointing anyone. The state the game is in makes it look like a blatant money grab, they had greatThe game is very buggy at launch, it should have been in beta but I guess developers think it is okay to release AAA games in this state now, all they are doing is disappointing their fans, they could have kept this in beta for a few more months and polished it up more. Without disappointing anyone. The state the game is in makes it look like a blatant money grab, they had great marketing for this game but released a poor product, hopefully they fix the problems so they don't completely lose their fanbase.

    The bullshots kinda ticked me off, the game looked amazing, then once you actually play the game it definitely looks last-gen and not even impressive last-gen... average. I have the settings maxed out, down sampled from 1440p and tested all the AA methods and it is blurry. Also something is definitely wrong with the ultra textures they create stuttering even on my Titan Black, 840 Pro SSDs, 16gb of Ram and 4770k (@4.5ghz) processor. Had to turn them down to High to remove the stuttering.

    Ubi fix your game seriously and improve it. Make it the game we expected.    … Expand
  10. kavinh
    May 29, 2014
    5
    Oh boy this has gotta be one of the biggest screw ups ever. So firstly the guys who bought the game got screwed flat and simple, uplay is required to run the game and it's broken for alot of players making it impossible to install the game to begin with. Secondly the game has day 1 dlc in the form of "deluxe" edition ripping out roughly 2-3 hours of game content. Ironically the pirates gotOh boy this has gotta be one of the biggest screw ups ever. So firstly the guys who bought the game got screwed flat and simple, uplay is required to run the game and it's broken for alot of players making it impossible to install the game to begin with. Secondly the game has day 1 dlc in the form of "deluxe" edition ripping out roughly 2-3 hours of game content. Ironically the pirates got the game out 3 days earlier then release and there's already a uplay crack allowing players to skip the whole uplay process making the game actually run.

    Now onto the game putting aside the fact that it runs like trash on amd cards, the game is quite literally a gta clone, the hacking aspects are supposedly the highlights of the game but there's not really anything there. You can scan for profiles blow up/hack things but the game itself feels like a modded version of gta. The story is mediocore typical guy's family member dies, hunts down the culprits.

    What annoys me the most is that the game's world has nothing that makes it attractive, there's no interaction with others in the world outside of robbing their banks and a basic mechanic of stopping crimes before they start which quite literally is go to the area find the guy wait till a bar glows red then chase after him.

    The hype is honestly not worth it, it's just an average game with a mediocre story and honestly from the hours I've played I'd rather just play gta 4 again.    … Expand
  11. Armin
    May 28, 2014
    5
    This game is a huge disappointment. If you expected anything from E3 2012 when the game was first revealed with a demo. The game was overhyped. Not even the mission from E3 2012 is in this game. Most of the missions provide no excitement. The story starts off great with the first mission but then it just runs off a cliff. Its almost as if minimum effort was put onto the story speciallyThis game is a huge disappointment. If you expected anything from E3 2012 when the game was first revealed with a demo. The game was overhyped. Not even the mission from E3 2012 is in this game. Most of the missions provide no excitement. The story starts off great with the first mission but then it just runs off a cliff. Its almost as if minimum effort was put onto the story specially when there could of been so much potential. As for overall gameplay, they seem to try to mimic a hitman style of gameplay in the missions. There are a couple of bugs but some things that seem more of a miss.

    The only thing that is good about this game is the police AI. Thats the only part they did well in. Police chases are great on foot and in the car.    … Expand
  12. badd3vil
    May 28, 2014
    5
    1. stupid physics.
    2. CARS(((
    3.. And finally - this game is unoptimized sh*t.. run slowly on my 8gb and 7970 with high setting..
    this is not NextGen.. I worry about AC Unity..
  13. op8
    Jun 2, 2014
    5
    4.5/10
    Its good fun for the first couple or so hours, then the novelty quickly wears off and it all just gets so boring and repetitive.
    They try and entice you to do all the side crap, but its just boring busy work. Fundamentally the game is over simplified. Its very "last gen" in appearance (I hate using that word but ppl will understand what I mean). -graphically unimpressive.    4.5/10
    Its good fun for the first couple or so hours, then the novelty quickly wears off and it all just gets so boring and repetitive.
    They try and entice you to do all the side crap, but its just boring busy work.
    Fundamentally the game is over simplified.
    Its very "last gen" in appearance (I hate using that word but ppl will understand what I mean).

    -graphically unimpressive.
    -stuff like baked on lighting.
    -too many plain looking textures. (I have a monster of a rig and play on the highest settings @ 1440P).
    -character modelling looks plain and very last gen (but hey, they've made sure your coat tails wave around like crazy!!)
    -reflections on windows that don't match what they are reflecting because its all just drawn on. (seriously its really bad)
    -lack of bullet physics (e.g.no bullet splashes when firing into water).
    -hilariously bad A.I.
    -lack of overall realistic physics simulation.
    -duller then dishwater main character.
    -reasoning and motivation behind story lines is totally weird.
    (apparently if you walk into a prison with a gun and give yourself up
    you will get booked into the prison automatically like it was a Hotel, and get put into a cell within minutes).
    -did I mention the main character was dull?

    I mention the graphics because the game was billed as being a great looking innovative game,
    but it is nothing of the sort.

    I wont go into the performance issues, but its safe to say this is one *seriously* badly optimised PC game.
    There's tonnes of other stuff that makes this a below average game experience, but I think you get the picture.    … Expand
  14. fredinator
    Jun 5, 2014
    5
    Watch Dogs failed to deliver its main aspect and that is hacking. Sure you can hack everything but it feels like you just push buttons remotely. Instead they tried to copy GTA and added some hacking to it
    But they really failed with the multiplayer. There are so many problems with it that I don't want to write them all. Just know this. It does not work very well and when it works you may    Watch Dogs failed to deliver its main aspect and that is hacking. Sure you can hack everything but it feels like you just push buttons remotely. Instead they tried to copy GTA and added some hacking to it
    But they really failed with the multiplayer. There are so many problems with it that I don't want to write them all. Just know this. It does not work very well and when it works you may be getting a deathmatch rather than something with hacking.
    The singleplayer is not bad but it isn't very good either. If you can get the game for around 30 that is fair.
    The DLCs btw. are mostly all ripoffs.    … Expand
  15. Type4101
    Jun 10, 2014
    5
    Another lazy port in a long-line of lazy ports, Watch Dogs is a game that has too many other problems to suffer from poor optimization that should have been seen coming for miles. Ubisoft always does this, and it can no longer stand. The game itself should be solid--if a bit derivative--but many technical issues hold it back, and design decisions seem geared towards "dumbing down" theAnother lazy port in a long-line of lazy ports, Watch Dogs is a game that has too many other problems to suffer from poor optimization that should have been seen coming for miles. Ubisoft always does this, and it can no longer stand. The game itself should be solid--if a bit derivative--but many technical issues hold it back, and design decisions seem geared towards "dumbing down" the gameplay for reasons unknown. It is as if the developer believes people want less depth and creativity than other games in the genre provide. In the end, Watch Dogs is not the worst game, but doesn't live up to the massive hype. Sales have been brisk (I bought it too), so Ubisoft will certainly not learn a lesson from this one. I expect more poor quality games and lazy ports from the company until people stop buying the broken releases.… Expand
  16. Bloquer
    May 28, 2014
    5
    In a few words, hype have killed this game. Ubisoft now you have a big crap in your hands, how will you fix it? Now you only need to make a DLC with follow and hack missions to destroy it
  17. AdrianChan
    May 28, 2014
    5
    Watch_Dogs is a disappointment. It is kind of repetitive and the driving is one of the worst I have ever seen. Graphics are good but not impressive.4 Digital trips are actually quite boring. It is something that you only play once and you will never touch it again.
    but it has introduce some interesting new elements to the genre. The story is not bad and I personally think that the    Watch_Dogs is a disappointment. It is kind of repetitive and the driving is one of the worst I have ever seen. Graphics are good but not impressive.4 Digital trips are actually quite boring. It is something that you only play once and you will never touch it again.
    but it has introduce some interesting new elements to the genre. The story is not bad and I personally think that the multiplayer is quite good too. Besides, it has a massive open world for player to explore and there is a lot to do in the city
    It at least deserves a pass and it is definitely not a 0 or 3
    Quite a lot of improvements is needed. If they plan for a sequel they must not let us down again like this one.    … Expand
  18. Fosco1
    May 29, 2014
    5
    The game itself is beautiful, the graphics is good, so is the story and the gameplay, and believe me... it doesn't lag so much to me.
    BUT UBISOFT'S SERVERS... AND THE BUGS AND CRASHES...
  19. whatzitooya
    May 31, 2014
    5
    Watch Dogs' Disrupt is a new engine developed specifically for this game. It's based on the Assassin's Creed series' Anvil Engine and Far Cry 2 & 3's Dunia Engine which i could not ask for a better combination. But really though this one is a total disappointment. While undoubtedly beautiful, watch dogs has, surprisingly, a decent amount of glitches. Not to mention the stutter whichWatch Dogs' Disrupt is a new engine developed specifically for this game. It's based on the Assassin's Creed series' Anvil Engine and Far Cry 2 & 3's Dunia Engine which i could not ask for a better combination. But really though this one is a total disappointment. While undoubtedly beautiful, watch dogs has, surprisingly, a decent amount of glitches. Not to mention the stutter which indicates the lack optimization for PC. The worst part for me is the AI, they're really dumb, even though Disrupt's AI is based on Dunia. I even dare to say that Far Cry 3's psychotic and insane pirates are far smarter than any enemies in Watch Dogs. And the mechanics are too repetitive, many different tasks ended up on you chasing off the main target. Also, i won't advise you to get all of the unlockables since some of them involves a long and boring activities like playing a texas hold em poker or drinking challenges. Overall this is a very boring game, except if you want to know the main story.… Expand
  20. barney0001
    May 28, 2014
    5
    Was looking forward to Watch_Dogs, paid good money for it, it's utter bollax.

    Bullet points:- -Doesn't work properly on Nvidia Surround, didn't they test it in 4 years development!? -Bugs!! -Constant FPS drop outs on high end PC, massively so when driving -Bad driving -GFX are nice to be fair, shadows are awful though Hopefully they'll improve things with a patch or two,    Was looking forward to Watch_Dogs, paid good money for it, it's utter bollax.

    Bullet points:-
    -Doesn't work properly on Nvidia Surround, didn't they test it in 4 years development!?

    -Bugs!!

    -Constant FPS drop outs on high end PC, massively so when driving

    -Bad driving

    -GFX are nice to be fair, shadows are awful though

    Hopefully they'll improve things with a patch or two, until then DO NOT BUY!

    UPDATE:

    OK, you make this game playable, try these tips:-

    -Use a controller, I'm using a 360 USB PC controller
    -Use the -disablepagefilecheck method of launching the game
    -Set your PC GFX like this to help stop FPS problems:- (Thanks to whoever wrote this)

    Refresh, Aspect Ration, and VSync are grayed out because...
    Window Mode: Borderless. This helps with FPS
    GPU Max Buffered Frames: 1. I read that nVidia cards work better with 1, so I just set it like that
    Textures: High
    Anti-Aliasing: Off
    Widescreen Letterbox: Off
    Graphics Quality
    Level of Detail: High
    Shadows: Medium
    Reflections: Medium
    Ambient Occlusion: HBAO+ Low
    Motion Blur: Off
    Depth of Field: Off
    Water: Medium
    Shader: Medium

    With these tips the game becomes playable at least, the driving still needs attention but the games not too bad.

    Good luck!    … Expand
  21. JackRB
    May 28, 2014
    5
    This is probably the biggest let down of the year for me. I had such high hopes for this game as I'm sure most people did. The game has the following main problems:
    -This game is too damn short! It is the same with most Ubisoft games nowadays but this took one day of playing it about 13 hours to complete the main storyline. I like games with long storylines and the GTA series has always    This is probably the biggest let down of the year for me. I had such high hopes for this game as I'm sure most people did. The game has the following main problems:
    -This game is too damn short! It is the same with most Ubisoft games nowadays but this took one day of playing it about 13 hours to complete the main storyline. I like games with long storylines and the GTA series has always got this right with the quickest person to complete it getting it done in around 24 hours which is pretty impressive.
    -The dialogue is bad, I mean it is ridden with clichés and you don't feel attached to characters, in particular Ray and Aiden the title character. You literally spend 4 missions going from a bar fight to Ray moving in with you and joining your team. Clara is also boring and I really just don't feel any emotion or attachment to any characters. Aiden was marketed as a hero and vigilante but the only real way to make money is to hack into innocent peoples bank accounts.
    -It ends up in the later missions just becoming bloodbaths while at first yes you can hack and sneak around and use security cameras, which was pretty cool, it ended up just being a few circuit boards that you can blow up and that's about it, and I found myself using my Assault Rifle more than anything else.
    -The game is unfinished, while yes the core game is there, I noticed a whole host of things were missing from the game or unused; vehicle horns are there but you're the only person who actually uses them, you are the only person capable of driving motorbikes and as no factions can use boats, you can escape from virtually any chase in a boat. Until you get to later missions and snipers shooting the boat a few time causes it to explode, or often when you crash into another boat it just disappears and you are left to swim.
    -The hacking offers little freedom, the hacking opportunities become scripted events where you `ride cameras` to get to a destination and there is no freedom involved here as there is a set path that you have to take and then hack into and then you're done.

    The positives were as follows:
    -The first mission, well the first few, were really cool and set a tone for the game that the rest failed to keep up to. For about an hour we had some fun cool missions and it actually seemed that we were going to get emotional development between the characters but we only met Nicky once before she was kidnapped and any chance to give us relate-able characters were all destroyed.
    -The graphics for the most part were solid, but were about the same as Grand Theft Auto's graphics so don't expect any game changers like we were promised.
    -The missions while they lasted while challenging were generally enjoyable and while they did tend to be shoot-outs, that was still a very fun experience, although is astray from what Montreal were originally intending I'm sure.
    -Car crashed are really realistic, by far the best sounding and looking in a game so far, although then they are ruined by the fact that no one ever gets injured or killed in car crashes and when cars go upside down you or an NPC just teleports out of it which breaks immersion in things that otherwise look pretty cool.    … Expand
  22. atkinsonandrew
    May 31, 2014
    5
    Played it and completed the story on a PS4. This game was hyped up a lot. The ads and demonstrations prior to launch didn't reflect the tone of the game very well. I couldn't help but think the story was trying to strike the same chord as The Last of Us did, but it didn't at all. The characters were all pretty hate-able, especially Aiden Pearce, the main character. He's completely insanePlayed it and completed the story on a PS4. This game was hyped up a lot. The ads and demonstrations prior to launch didn't reflect the tone of the game very well. I couldn't help but think the story was trying to strike the same chord as The Last of Us did, but it didn't at all. The characters were all pretty hate-able, especially Aiden Pearce, the main character. He's completely insane and doesn't understand when to stop. There is hardly any context to the characters' lives before the death of Lena.

    The gameplay felt like a mixture of GTA and Assassin's Creed (which sounds really damn cool), but the execution was pretty poor. It has all the bells and whistles of GTA, but you're forced to sneak around and take enemies out one by one. Hacking isn't very difficult and it get's really repetitive after the first few times.

    The best part of the game are the mini-games. There are at least 6 fully fleshed out mini-games (not including poker) that are pretty fun. I played Spider Tank and NVZN for at least an hour each.

    Multiplayer is practically non-existent. It's not even worth it to try and explain it because it should have just been left out completely. They probably could have made a better game if they had.

    The game does look really nice though. Although there were some glitches and pop-ins here and there, it showed off the PS4's capability well. The character models looked excellent, and the cars look believable. The reflections on the buildings is bad though; the game looks exceptionally better when it's night time (in-game) or when it's raining. Some of the explosions and things you can do are awesome though. Getting away from the cops by raising a bridge and ramping over it is surprisingly satisfying. The black-outs are really cool, especially at night.

    Although it looks nice, it feels limited, and I don't really want to play it now that I've completed the main story. It's forgettable, but I enjoyed causing grandiose explosions and stopping cops with barriers that pop out of the street. Not a next-gen game by any means.    … Expand
  23. Lambretta
    May 27, 2014
    5
    Everybody thought that Watch Dogs would compete with GTA series. The truth is you will see more Assassins Creed and Far Cry in the game than GTA. The story is interesting and lenghty, the hack puzzles are challenging at the end, the fights have their moments BUT THIS DRIVING!!!! Seriously i thought it was a joke on the beggining. You simply cant drive. No physics, no handling, no logic,Everybody thought that Watch Dogs would compete with GTA series. The truth is you will see more Assassins Creed and Far Cry in the game than GTA. The story is interesting and lenghty, the hack puzzles are challenging at the end, the fights have their moments BUT THIS DRIVING!!!! Seriously i thought it was a joke on the beggining. You simply cant drive. No physics, no handling, no logic, nothing. GTA 3/Mafia had better driving than this 12 years ago. I also used a 360 controller on the pc, but still the same.
    The 70% of the missions is "jump the fence, kill everyone, hack this with a puzzle, escape".
    I played the game on realistic difficulty. Every time i just headshot everybody with silenced gun and procced.

    Battlefield 4 for example has very bad driving experience for cars and buggies, but its like the 1% of the game so it doesnt matter. But on watch dogs driving is 50% of the game and important to complete some missions, so it matters and ruins the whole experience. If it wasnt that the game is for 8/10 in my opinion.

    Is Watch Dogs a GTA replacer? No. In any way. All GTA clones always fail to imitate it. It gives the illusion of freedom and sandbox, but its restricted to gossiping citizens, and hacking them for stealing.
    Does WD live up to the hype? ABSOLUTELY not. So much marketing and advertisement before release, everybody expected something extraordinary and revolutionary. Big dissapointment. I feel bad for people who preordered.

    Is WD an OK game? Yes but not perfect. And since you expect perfection, its mediocrity is even more harsh. If you are rich or pirate go ahead and try it. But if you cant afford many games I strongly recomend to wait a GTA 5 release on the PC.    … Expand
  24. Rothy
    Jun 16, 2014
    5
    I would go so far as to describe this game as average. There really doesn't appear to be anything special about it, which is disappointing given all the lead up and hype prior to the games launch.

    Some points that really annoyed me. The driving mechanic felt poor - more akin to driving the Mako from Mass Effect than driving a car in GTA. The hacking - I found the hacking more    I would go so far as to describe this game as average. There really doesn't appear to be anything special about it, which is disappointing given all the lead up and hype prior to the games launch.

    Some points that really annoyed me. The driving mechanic felt poor - more akin to driving the Mako from Mass Effect than driving a car in GTA. The hacking - I found the hacking more challenging in Assassins Creed 4 (A game about pirates) than in this game (a game about HACKING!). There's no attachment to the main character, he's dull, tedious and nothing feels like it has a flow about it - it's just awkward. Also having one button to do almost everything, all you need to do during a car chase or almost anything else if hold 'Q'.

    Dull.    … Expand
  25. Sabatasso
    Jun 5, 2014
    5
    This game is the best example of what's wrong with computer games today;
    A) It has good graphics and a large world where you can go about your own business
    B) It is very simple and pose hardly any resistance; success one way or another is guaranteed for the player What part B coul've said is that it's dumbed down to a level where it's actually an insult to the people who buy the    This game is the best example of what's wrong with computer games today;
    A) It has good graphics and a large world where you can go about your own business
    B) It is very simple and pose hardly any resistance; success one way or another is guaranteed for the player

    What part B coul've said is that it's dumbed down to a level where it's actually an insult to the people who buy the product, which is actually Ubisoft's speciality.

    What do I rate this game at? Well, it's not a 0 but it far from a 10. I'd say 5 is a fair and balanced grade that says everything about this product as a whole.    … Expand
  26. MyklR
    Jun 17, 2014
    5
    I don't understand the complaints about the graphics, this game has freaking outstanding graphics, but that's about where the awesome ends. Driving is crap, once you get moving in the car more than a few blocks, you start to stutter and pause for many seconds at a time and when you get unstuck, you find yourself in a tree or smashed into something else. One button hacking is boring, TheI don't understand the complaints about the graphics, this game has freaking outstanding graphics, but that's about where the awesome ends. Driving is crap, once you get moving in the car more than a few blocks, you start to stutter and pause for many seconds at a time and when you get unstuck, you find yourself in a tree or smashed into something else. One button hacking is boring, The whole "online" aspect of it, people just popping into your game randomly to screw with you is really a massive game killer for me.

    All in all, this game is all hype. Can be fun, wait for a 50% off or more sale to buy it. I got it for free so, I got my money's worth.    … Expand
  27. i_nesm
    May 31, 2014
    5
    I was really looking forward to playing this game, I found the story interesting and original, but the controls are awful, specially the mouse, it's a mess. I don't think I can play it like this.
  28. DaGleese
    May 28, 2014
    5
    Not so impressed so far...

    If I turn a blind eye to the massive problem's I've had with Uplay, and just focus on the core game, my impression so far is the following: Sluggish driving with and without an xbox 360 controller. Your vehicle feels like it is being sucked in to pretty much EVERY obstacle that enters it's proximity The story... I have no idea what is going on to be    Not so impressed so far...

    If I turn a blind eye to the massive problem's I've had with Uplay, and just focus on the core game, my impression so far is the following:

    Sluggish driving with and without an xbox 360 controller. Your vehicle feels like it is being sucked in to pretty much EVERY obstacle that enters it's proximity

    The story... I have no idea what is going on to be honest, just got up to the bit where you meet up with badboy17, and so far... Aiden was at a baseball game... he escapes and causes a blackout, he goes home and sleeps, he goes to a birthday party of a kid with no friends, he kills a pervert, then he meets badboy17. I have no idea what I'm doing here, what I'm fighting for, why am I breaking the law? Perhaps the story develops throughout the game, but at the moment it's really not sunk me into it at all.

    The AI is among the worst I've ever seen. To the point that I'm starting to think it's some kind of optimization problem. The AI somehow knows when you stealthtakedown an enemy NPC in a hidden spot, they know you took him down and they know exactly where you are at all times. Every AI members heads straight to your location on melee takedown and as of that moment you can no longer hack wthout being taken out. The best thing to do is find a bottleneck doorway that they will have to enter thorugh to get ot you and proceed to blast each NPC that enters until they are all dead in a pile of 30 men in the doorway, then step over the bodies and walk through the rest of the mission completely uninhibited and completely bored. I seriously think perhaps my copy is bugged or something, but I tried verifying files etc and it's still the same. This CAN'T be the actual AI of a 2014 game, surely!

    The shooting with mouse and keyboard is bad, the controller is worse! It just feels laggy all the time, I wondered if perhaps it was too much for my PC (Core i7 4770k, gtx 770, 16gb ram) but on fraps I'm getting 50-60FPS at all times using nvidias recomended settings for the game, so I guess this is just how it plays?

    The game just does not feel right to me at all, it doesnt feel fluid, running is like wading through a tar pit and driving is like sliding around on a bar of soap in a bathtub. I really like the concept, but between the so far unremarkable story and just poor core mechanics of the game, I actually don't feel any drive to keep on playing.

    I hope that it is all just an optimization issue, I could handle the poor story if the game was a joy to play, but as it stands at the minute it's buyer's remoarse 101 for me.

    I'll see how this game looks in a while after updates and then I'll update my score and opinion when the game's condition (hopefully) has improved.    … Expand
  29. BigDaddyQc
    Jun 3, 2014
    5
    I'll be quick. nd this is from a legitimte copy from Steam/PC:

    My RIG (Worth more than 3,000$): Windows 8.1 i7-4930k 4ghz 16gb RAM 21330mhz EVGA GTX 780TI Superclocked SSD Pro: -Good idea in general for the idea around the game -Good selection of vehicule -Hacking is fun while driving -Good amount of weapons/Tools -Some good visual effects -Open world with barely no    I'll be quick. nd this is from a legitimte copy from Steam/PC:

    My RIG (Worth more than 3,000$):

    Windows 8.1
    i7-4930k 4ghz
    16gb RAM 21330mhz
    EVGA GTX 780TI Superclocked
    SSD

    Pro:
    -Good idea in general for the idea around the game
    -Good selection of vehicule
    -Hacking is fun while driving
    -Good amount of weapons/Tools
    -Some good visual effects
    -Open world with barely no loading screen
    -Side mission are repetative but entertaining
    -interesting multiplayer
    -Good amount of content/collectibles
    -Interesting skills tree / skills points
    -Slow motion/bullet time hability

    Con:
    -Graphics are nowhere near what was advertised (shame on you Ubisoft)
    -Very badly optimised. Performance/frame rate can vary ALOT. Main issue is STUTTERING. Frame rate can be good most of the time but when you drive a car the game as a very poor way of streaming textures thus the game will have those mirco freeze/stutter. It is unnaceptable to have this kind of performance on a rig of this kind. This game was supposedly developped on PC as the lead Platform. This is a lie and shame on you Ubisoft. You did exactly like Assassin Creed III and IV. But this game runs worst than both.
    -Story is very average.
    -Graphics are not that good. No where near Crysis 3 and/or what was shown at E3 or in every trailers
    -Music is bad
    -Characters are not interesting and pretty dull. Alot of stereotype.
    -Chicago police have no boat?!
    -Car physic/driving is terrible. Very arcade style and not realistic. Breaks immersion in a game where they try to make it real.
    -Money has no purpose. you gain money fast and beside buying gun, you wil quickly have more than 100k and have nothing to do with it. No house or garage to buy.. Only thing left to do with that money is to magically order cars via your phone.
    -No customisation/attachments for your weapons. Gun shops have tons of things but no accessory of any sort.
    -No customisation for car.
    -No way to keep any car. No garage. You do have acces to "safe houses" to rest/safe your game, but they are pretty much useless. Thus the lack of customisation I guess.

    Overall a very average experience 5/10. In this day and age where this kind of open world game will be compared to GTA, this one dont have what it takes to live up to the hype. Those expecting a GTA V with hacking will be dissapointed. The game had no where near the budget of GTA, and I can live with that. But for me, just the fact that this badly optimised PORT from consol and the fasle advertising from all the trailers means that UBISOFT really needs to go back to their hoeworks. Specially after a 6 months + delay.    … Expand
  30. IDeathstalkerI
    Jun 2, 2014
    5
    The more you play the game the more you get bored.. Watch dogs is more like Sleeping dogs, I know you know why.. Because Sleeping Dogs is True Crime that is owned before by ubisoft, Same graphics, and physics just with a different story and characters.. I hate Sleeping dogs car handling but it's playable but in Watch Dogs, it's a pain in the ass! one tap on a key and your car will turn soThe more you play the game the more you get bored.. Watch dogs is more like Sleeping dogs, I know you know why.. Because Sleeping Dogs is True Crime that is owned before by ubisoft, Same graphics, and physics just with a different story and characters.. I hate Sleeping dogs car handling but it's playable but in Watch Dogs, it's a pain in the ass! one tap on a key and your car will turn so sharp like a retard.. I hope that the "The Division" will not suck like this :( the game has a potential but it needs a lot of polishing..… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
20
#20 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 3, 2014
    79
    Ubisoft's flagship title has a really, really repulsive protagonist. The entire storyline feels like it was cranked out of a automated story generator. On the positive side, Watch Dogs looks really good on PC, especially after modding the graphics to match the visual splendor of the early E3 demos. [Aug 2014]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Jun 29, 2014
    70
    There are some strong gameplay elements in Watch Dogs, but overall it's merely an adequate open world game. [July 2014, p.46]
  3. GameCritics
    Jun 23, 2014
    80
    Nothing could have realistically lived up to the immense level of hype that Ubisoft stirred up for this game, and while I value strong narratives and envelope-pushing technological advancements, I place just as much importance in the ability to enjoy the gameplay that's being offered to me. Watch Dogs is one of the more exciting sandbox games of the last few years, and if this is to become Ubisoft's next big franchise, I'm excited to see where they take it.
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