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. BoTheMastaOfAll
    Jul 12, 2014
    7
    Could have been great but has AAAisms. Final encounter is a slomo QTE, Aiden is hypocritical, and I never got to see the goth girls boobs.

    Seriously though, some elements are **** stupid. Yes the AI is pretty damn good. Some mechanics like hiding in your car are awesome, but most times the game is just damn inconsistent. How is it that enemies who don't know who I am are able to get    Could have been great but has AAAisms. Final encounter is a slomo QTE, Aiden is hypocritical, and I never got to see the goth girls boobs.

    Seriously though, some elements are **** stupid. Yes the AI is pretty damn good. Some mechanics like hiding in your car are awesome, but most times the game is just damn inconsistent.

    How is it that enemies who don't know who I am are able to get alerted because they see me? This is in public, in broad daylight, and unless Aiden is wearing some invisible sign that only enemies can see that says "Shoot me I'm the main character", he looks just like every other joe walking around.
    Nikki is broken out in a stealth sequence that you direct her in, kinda like in Blops 2 with the SR71 scene. Just shooting enemies would have been more fun.

    Legend of Zelda-style zoom ins. Seriously I think every time a new enemy walked into the fray it required its own 10 second clip of me watching them enter. Hell there was one time in a campaign mission when the last remaining bad guy outside a warehouse was supposed to drive off, initiating a chase sequence. The game required me to watch him drive ~100 yards from the warehouse to the street before I could control Aiden again.

    The game yelling at me to stay within the mission zone, with timers if I leave it. Seriously wtf.

    Gears of War slow walk. Remember how in GoW Marcus has to walk super slow to talk on the phone. This game does that... a lot.

    Zoom in on vehicle kills. If you take down a vehicle using your hacks, it zooms in on that vehicle in slo-mo, which since their often behind you, causes an inordinate amount of car crashes/civilian deaths when the camera returns to your perspective.

    Story from a high level is awesome, but the details make no sense. Literally everyone in the city knows you're the vigilante before your sister does. Hell during one mission where you need to prevent some dudes from telling on your identity (even though they only saw your face and don't know your name) I had a lady on the street say "Hey you're Aiden Pearce, the vigilante". Wtf.

    Also, despite the fact that the FREAKING RADIO says Aiden's the vigilante but has the support of the people, when your nemesis posts that to public tv, everybody goes bat **** crazy and tries to call the cops on Aiden.

    Side note, somebody deserves a medal for Lucky Quinn's character design. He's perfect.    … Expand
  2. Vespine
    Jun 5, 2014
    7
    I was unfortunately sucked in by the hype and bought it day 1. The game has a lot of potential but it just misses on so many points. It looks good, but not "amazing", it doesn't feel "fresh" at all, if feels like a **** version of GTA with Assassin's creed elements plus "hacking". Mind you there is actually very little of anything that resembles hacking, even a "game" version of it, mostI was unfortunately sucked in by the hype and bought it day 1. The game has a lot of potential but it just misses on so many points. It looks good, but not "amazing", it doesn't feel "fresh" at all, if feels like a **** version of GTA with Assassin's creed elements plus "hacking". Mind you there is actually very little of anything that resembles hacking, even a "game" version of it, most of it is simply: "press a button to hack". The focus is WAY too much on driving for a game that doesn't have great driving mechanics.

    On the plus side, some multi player modes have been really fun, unfortunately they are quite buggy and pairing is patchy, sometimes can't get an online session for ages. overall, if if it wasn't so hyped i probably wouldn't be so disappointed, I have been playing it and enjoying it, all the while thinking how much better i thought it would be ;) If you pick it up in a bargain bin a year from now, you'll probably love it.    … Expand
  3. Eroticus
    May 31, 2014
    7
    This game is great! Game play is fun and extremely interactive. Can't wait for the patches to smooth things out. That is why I give this game a 9 and not a 10, is because of the technical sloppiness.
  4. Nomus
    May 27, 2014
    7
    Ive spent 5 hours in the game. My thoughts:
    1. Story wise its pretty interesting. Kinda love that hacker stuff but i think that drama crap is pretty unnecessary
    2. Sandbox feels pretty dull. Yeah minigames yeah kinda. They are pretty repetitive but its just polished Saints row 3 3. Same with the car physics 4. Muliplayer is well...it usually boils down to the target hiding in really    Ive spent 5 hours in the game. My thoughts:
    1. Story wise its pretty interesting. Kinda love that hacker stuff but i think that drama crap is pretty unnecessary
    2. Sandbox feels pretty dull. Yeah minigames yeah kinda. They are pretty repetitive but its just polished Saints row 3
    3. Same with the car physics
    4. Muliplayer is well...it usually boils down to the target hiding in really empty place where you can't track him unnoticed or its just take the fastest car and leaves you. I kinda like the fact that you can be invaded all of a sudden but again it boils down to someone having a faster car.
    5. Gunplay is quite boring. All that hacking stuff becomes boring and repetitive at the 4-5th time.
    6. AI is ok. Nothing special
    7. Music is terrible except the part where you have to hack another player. Radio is just awful

    Again. They had alotof experience with AC series and still failed to come up with something original. Minigames doesnt make the sandbox interesting. The world around you lacks on ambient noises and that makes the world around you even more empty.    … Expand
  5. gustavorios2
    May 27, 2014
    7
    first of all: Don't let the low user score scare you from this title. It's a good game.
    Ubisoft made people wait a hole year for this game, and after that, another year. That made impossible surpass the expectations. That probably happened because the game is too ambitious.
    The game lacks its own style and looks like a copy of GTA, but that don't make it a bad game.
  6. skeith
    Jul 5, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. To be fair, this game is not as good as GTA V, but it is still a very decent game. No many games are playable if you always compare them to the greatest games. I really hope this game will grow in the future and offer more to things do in-game.

    Pros
    Some unique city interactions, providing different kind of chasing/ escape gameplay.
    Great stealth game-play compare to most open-world games.
    Beautiful world. I know its not great, but beautiful still.

    Con
    Very bad PC version. I have a decent PC and I still need to run it on medium settings. Hope this will be fixed
    Rather boring characters.
    Short story.
    Side quests are boring. ( I had high hope for the serial killer, but in the end its just another crime prevention.)    … Expand
  7. Banhammer0
    Aug 13, 2014
    7
    >GOOD<
    Watch_Doges, while it does underdeliver quite a bit especially in the graphics department (no doubt downgraded so console peasants didn't feel left out), isn't really a bad game.
    Free roaming in the city is quite cool, the hacking while simple is satisfying and the story is acceptable. The city is a little to small but very detailed and feels truly alive, bested probably only by    >GOOD<
    Watch_Doges, while it does underdeliver quite a bit especially in the graphics department (no doubt downgraded so console peasants didn't feel left out), isn't really a bad game.
    Free roaming in the city is quite cool, the hacking while simple is satisfying and the story is acceptable.
    The city is a little to small but very detailed and feels truly alive, bested probably only by GTA V.
    Multiplayer is surpirisingly original and good, best hide and seek I've ever played !
    Selection of weapons, cars and other unlockables is very good.
    Bugs are few but there are some issues in multiplayer connection.
    The bad part is for example side missions are extremely lazy and repetetive, grindy feeling they bring, game being too easy (to conform retarted casuals probably), story feeling cheesy, main character being sorta underdeveloped, most minigames are plain bad and pointless (apart from unlocks), day-1 greedy DLCs marketing. Meh.

    It's a fun game but ruined by slopiness and greed (which game today isn't though)
    Gets a flat 7/10.    … Expand
  8. MrMicrochip
    Aug 10, 2018
    7
    I liked this game! Obviously there are issues, starting from the failed promises the E3 Demo made. I played the game last year (2017) with graphical mods so I propably had a little better experience on technological wise than the gamers that played the game when it was released. Mouse is still terrible in this game, fortunately they fixed it for Watch Dogs 2.

    Anyway, the game was better    I liked this game! Obviously there are issues, starting from the failed promises the E3 Demo made. I played the game last year (2017) with graphical mods so I propably had a little better experience on technological wise than the gamers that played the game when it was released. Mouse is still terrible in this game, fortunately they fixed it for Watch Dogs 2.

    Anyway, the game was better than I expected. Graphics are nice (with "E3" mods) , story is weak, but not annoying at least. Gameplay is the best part of the game, there could be more ways to hack etc but for the most part gameplay is just what can be expected, it is the first game of the series after all.    … Expand
  9. jacobspeeds
    Jun 8, 2014
    7
    Really enjoyed this game. Getting it to run smooth took a while but it can be done with a lot of reduced settings...i had to run it at ultra low settings even having an SLI setup which on activating crashes the game (so i couldn't use)....reducing the textures removed all the stutter i experienced specially driving. Reminds you a lot of of splintercell's blacklist and assassin's creed.Really enjoyed this game. Getting it to run smooth took a while but it can be done with a lot of reduced settings...i had to run it at ultra low settings even having an SLI setup which on activating crashes the game (so i couldn't use)....reducing the textures removed all the stutter i experienced specially driving. Reminds you a lot of of splintercell's blacklist and assassin's creed. Plenty of side missions to unlock various weapons and abilities. The game is like a puzzle. Finding stuff takes some thinking and creativity making it a lot of fun! The cars look really good and the physics is awesome. I thought the plot was interesting too. I really recommend waiting for the game to be patched before experiencing the terrible and annoying lag. Even GTX titans can't run it smooth because of the bugs.… Expand
  10. Sojum
    Jun 15, 2014
    7
    I had to update my review after completing the game. It's a solid experience. I don't agree with complaints about graphics or driving. But the missions can get a little tedious and repetitious, and the hacking is not nearly as deep as it should be. The voice acting is top notch and the direction is well done too. Plot complaints are actually addressed as the story ends - there's moreI had to update my review after completing the game. It's a solid experience. I don't agree with complaints about graphics or driving. But the missions can get a little tedious and repetitious, and the hacking is not nearly as deep as it should be. The voice acting is top notch and the direction is well done too. Plot complaints are actually addressed as the story ends - there's more self-awareness of the double-standards of Pearce's vigilantism than the negative reviews would have you know. There are even some poignant moments. Maybe not worth full price, but certainly worth picking up when it hits the $30 - $40 range.… Expand
  11. twoeazy
    May 29, 2014
    7
    15 years back we had Neo and Trinity, and they had f*cking holes in their heads to plug in to the Matrix, not just iPhone-tapping "hacking". Now we have pervert-dressed Sam Fisher imposter and his superhacker friend Christy Mack doing supercool things like hacking others' iPhones with their iPhones. And hell, back in the old days one cool cyberpunk hacker story had Deftones instead of15 years back we had Neo and Trinity, and they had f*cking holes in their heads to plug in to the Matrix, not just iPhone-tapping "hacking". Now we have pervert-dressed Sam Fisher imposter and his superhacker friend Christy Mack doing supercool things like hacking others' iPhones with their iPhones. And hell, back in the old days one cool cyberpunk hacker story had Deftones instead of faceless electronic ambience. The game itself is fine, though. I don't care about graphics, and gameplay feels enough fun to f*ck around for a couple of hours a day.

    The problem is, it makes me feel a little old and sad. Every modern game does, but this one does it the wrong way.

    Pro tip for Aiden Pearce: the best way to prevent someone from hacking your phone, or tracing it, is a switch-off button.    … Expand
  12. DemonicSoul
    Jun 23, 2014
    7
    Story:
    You play as Aiden Pierce, a grey hat hacker and vigilante. After a tragic accident kills his niece Lena, Aiden seeks to bring his own kind of justice to the people responsible, all while protecting his sister Nicole and nephew Jackson. Honestly, the story here is your generic revenge story mixed in with a "Taken" style kidnapping plot. You'll be able to predict this story and    Story:
    You play as Aiden Pierce, a grey hat hacker and vigilante. After a tragic accident kills his niece Lena, Aiden seeks to bring his own kind of justice to the people responsible, all while protecting his sister Nicole and nephew Jackson. Honestly, the story here is your generic revenge story mixed in with a "Taken" style kidnapping plot. You'll be able to predict this story and there's no plot twist here. Another problem is that it takes awhile until the story begins to pick up some steam. The entire 1st act along with half of the 2nd act felt boring and actually made me stop playing the game for a few days because I'd rather play something else instead. The 3rd act is where things finally got interesting but the ending also felt like a disappointing conclusion to the 30 plus hour plot. Aiden is also a pretty boring hero. He isn't as boring as a mute protagonist but he has no interesting personality traits and he often does a poor man's Christian Bale Batman impression. The side characters are WAY more interesting than Aiden since they have more personality in them, more charm, and some of them have a good backstory. On a side note, why didn't they resolve Poppy's side plot well enough? It felt so unfinished to have an interesting character for only 1 mission then to just throw it away like that. Overall, the story here is bad and Aiden is a boring hero. If the sequel is being planned, give us a more interesting hero Ubisoft. 4/10

    Gameplay:
    Watch Dogs's main selling point is in the hacking, and they did a solid job on delivering on that promise. With the help of some skills, you'll be able to hack objects like cameras, blockers, spikes, traffic lights, steam pipes, generators, and more. As said, you can unlock skill points via leveling up, or completing gang hideouts which are infiltrating a gang hideout and incapacitating the leader(s). You can use these skill points to unlock skills for hacking, driving, combat, and crafting. The crafting in this game contains a good variety of new gadgets to mess around with. You can craft devices that cause blackouts, jam nearby electronics (essential if you want to avoid the cops), IED mines, grenades, and pills that increase your focus. Focus is a feature that lets you slow down time while you're shooting, driving, or on foot. Think of Michael and Franklin's abilities from GTA 5 mixed together. Like with other Ubisoft games, there are a ton of activities to do outside the main story. You can hack cTOS towers to reveal items on your minimap (sound familiar?), take over cTOS control centers (also sound familiar?), solve crimes, complete gang hideouts and criminal convoys, hack into surveillance equipment and spy on other NPCs for a short period of time, and more. I also liked the stealth aspect of this game because instead of sneaking into a base and highlighting enemies as you infiltrate like in Far Cry 3, you can use cameras to highlight enemies, trigger noises and explosives, and generally mess around with the A.I. (go "Paranormal Activity" on them by making electrical objects go off around them). I also really liked the shooting in this game as it feels tactical compared to other open world games. Instead of going in guns blazing and shooting everything, you actually have to go behind cover and use your environment to your advantage. The driving in this game though sucks mostly due to how poor the handling is. I don't mind the arcade-y physics as it helps whenever your car crashes and trust me, you'll probably crash your car about a dozen times or more. I also DESPISED the cops in this game. They're way too accurate with their shots (I don't care about realism if it ruins the fun of a game), the helicopters are hard to get rid of unless you have the hacking skill or a grenade launcher, and since you can't shoot your gun while in a car, it can be a chore just to get away from them. There's also a lack of customization in this game as there's no gun or car customization, and the clothing options suck. There's also a reputation system if you're interested. The gameplay's fine, but its' missing some items. 7/10

    Graphics:
    On max settings, the game looks good, but they seriously downgraded it from E3. I'd suggest getting "The Worse" mod if you want more from your game. 7/10

    Sound:
    The sounds here are well made with the ACR gun sound probably being one of my favorite gun sounds in video games ever. The soundtrack is ok but it isn't as good as Saints Row or GTA. 7/10

    Multiplayer:
    There are 6 available modes here: Online hacking and tailing which are my favorites as they create good tension for both sides, Decryption which I wasn't a fan of, races, free mode, and mobile challenges which are fine alternatives. At least the multiplayer here isn't tacked on BS for once. 7/10

    Verdict: The game suffers from having too much hype and having an awful launch because of uPlay. I'd say lower your expectations and get this when the price drops.

    Rating: 7/10    … Expand
  13. captainkane
    Jul 12, 2014
    7
    Watch Dogs is competing in a genre created by Rockstar’s GTA series. So how does it hold up? Underneath the hood, Watch Dogs is a hybrid of Deus Ex Human Revolution, Sleeping Dogs, and Far Cry 3. Well, I find it more enjoyable than Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 and the combat mechanics superior to Sleeping Dogs.

    For the most part, I'm like the game. Fictional Chicago feels real. The visuals and    Watch Dogs is competing in a genre created by Rockstar’s GTA series. So how does it hold up? Underneath the hood, Watch Dogs is a hybrid of Deus Ex Human Revolution, Sleeping Dogs, and Far Cry 3. Well, I find it more enjoyable than Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 and the combat mechanics superior to Sleeping Dogs.

    For the most part, I'm like the game. Fictional Chicago feels real. The visuals and lighting are impressive. Although graphic quality is a sticking point with gamers lately, most are over zealous. Watch Dogs maintains high graphic fidelity while simultaneously pushing cool visual effects. When Aiden's profiler app is active, information is constantly streaming in about people and environments. Viewing Chicago thru a hacked camera takes mere seconds as the whole world is shifted to different perspectives. Even fast traveling is speedy. These seamless transitions are handled in true Ubisoft fashion. That's a good thing. Despite the huge world, it only takes up 22gb of space. THANK YOU UBISOFT!! I'm tired of 50gb+ games that offer less and look worse.

    Hacking is easy, unlike the cumbersome minigames in Dues Ex HR. In combat, hacking can be combined with stealth to provide tactical advantages. Players can craft items that will distract opponents or knock out the power grid. Hacking bridges and stoplights while driving allows speedy getaways. So one touch hacking makes sense and keeps the pacing brisk. Or players can use lethals and blow up everything in sight. And focus mode slows down time long enough for players to pick off a few baddies. The cover system is perfect for stealth, and focus mode is a treat for those who like to place headshots. However, driving is clunky and cars handle horribly. Unfortunately, players are forced to complete dozens of frustrating chases.

    There are side missions, but they don't feel quite as repetitive as Far Cry 3. There are different online game modes such as racing, and players can invade other people's games. Fortunately, the invasion mode can be turned off for those who only want to focus on the missions.

    Unfortunately, the game is not PC optimized. There is micro stuttering, fps drops, and sound hiccups. Thankfully, ATI’s latest beta driver address those. Now, I generally only experience problems if textures are set to Ultra. For now, I'm forced to leave textures at High. Occasionally, the game force quits and frames still stutter. Without ATI's effort, Watch Dogs would be unplayable. The game is extremely RAM hungry. My system RAM will peak at 5gb but my GPU's VRAM won't go past 70% load. That's a console port legacy and explains the issue with Ultra textures.

    Although gameplay is fun, there are frustrations. I can't tell Aiden which car door to exit. I've automatically exited the side of a car taking all the gun fire. Stupid. I wanted to exit the passenger door and use my car as cover while placing a few shots. Nope. And I agree with critics that hacking is superficial. It seems most beneficial while evading pursuers. However, I really think Ubisoft is trying to force players to use multiple play styles. If all enemies could be hacked, the game would be too easy. If hacking was complicated, then it becomes Deus Ex. The dilemma for Ubisoft was establishing the right balance. It wants players to engage in combat. So hacking is only advantageous for gaining intel, thinning out enemies, or escaping.
    Aiden's carries every gun, lethal, and hacking device he touches. Also, his phone (the primary hacking device) has an infinite power supply. Even if the battery drains, recharges quickly. Need grenades? Just craft those on the go. Get the point? It’s way too easy. The missions can be challenging depending on the approach players take. But there is always the temptation to take the easy route: Blow everything up and shoot survivors. There is one huge annoyance. If Aiden dies during a mission, his car disappears. So players can be stuck with a POS clunker for one of the dozens of chases unless they restart the mission.

    The story is OK. It doesn’t have the depth of Sleeping Dogs, but it’s more enjoyable than FC 3. The ceaseless propaganda is annoying . Even if car radios are disabled, advertising and "news" will still play conveying the same message over and over: Is technology evil? Are we giving up privacy for convenience? I'm tired of hearing that every 2 minutes. The lack of subtlety is irritating after the 10th time it plays. Dues Ex did a much better job conveying a similar message.

    Watch Dogs is a great effort by Ubisoft into GTA's world. In fact, I say it’s a must own. Despite the gimmicky hacking, the game is fun. I'm disappointed by the buggy PC launch. The PC gaming market is much larger than big publishers acknowledge, just look at Steam's success. ATI did what it could, but Ubisoft needs to push more patches now. The game deserves an 8 out of 10, but poor optimization and poor driving mechanics are impossible to overlook.    … Expand
  14. Llaerrick
    Jul 7, 2014
    7
    having spent a lot more time on this (after initially reviewing it at a 6), i've decided to do a second review and up the score to a 7 (edging closer to a 7.5). yes there are some issues in the game. but in terms of Single Player game-play, i've not had much performance issues of bugs. SP is somewhat enjoyable and while the hacking itself is limited to either contextual button-pressing orhaving spent a lot more time on this (after initially reviewing it at a 6), i've decided to do a second review and up the score to a 7 (edging closer to a 7.5). yes there are some issues in the game. but in terms of Single Player game-play, i've not had much performance issues of bugs. SP is somewhat enjoyable and while the hacking itself is limited to either contextual button-pressing or puzzle-solving, it's the contextual use of the hacking abilities/tools that make the game fun. of course, you could pretty much just run around and shoot things GTA-style but that isnt the essence of the game and isnt remotely fun. on the other hand, using environmental hazards/contextual hacking to accomplish the mission is far more fun and fulfilling. what makes this game really stand-out is the online multi-player integration. the online aspects and modes fit in very well with the theme and background of the game. online invasions and the threat of invasions from other online players is compelling and adds a lot of zing to the game. unfortunately, there should be slightly better online integration (or some filters that can be toggled allowing you to join/invade players of an acceptable ping). but overall, still enjoying it after considerable play-time.… Expand
  15. Alsvha
    Jun 1, 2014
    7
    Well - have mixed feelings about this one.

    The main gameplay is rather simplistic and uniform. Run or drive around doing and mostly pressing Q to hack something, and occasionally shoot at something. But it is strangely intriguing to escape the police by stopping a train, jumping in and drive on. Also there's some stealth gameplay when taking out gangs and racing gameplay when driving    Well - have mixed feelings about this one.

    The main gameplay is rather simplistic and uniform. Run or drive around doing and mostly pressing Q to hack something, and occasionally shoot at something.
    But it is strangely intriguing to escape the police by stopping a train, jumping in and drive on.
    Also there's some stealth gameplay when taking out gangs and racing gameplay when driving challenges (although car handling is waaaay out the window and actually quick frustrating as your over civilians for penalty).
    There's gameplay where you stop crime where it can be difficult to avoid detection (eagle eye NPCs) and then take down the culprit at the right time. So there's a good deal to do - but as said - most of the time it's rather uniform and ultimately simplistic.
    It's also completely overpowered that you can almost instant hack from surveillance camera to camera and blow up bad guys that way - but I guess it would be difficult to make a proper stealth game when the theme is hacking.
    Money in the game comes from just randomly hacking civilians back accounts and then going to an ATM - again - rather simplistic.
    The story I've not advanced much but it is also a minor thing compared to the sandbox game.

    I did get some sort of hacking mini-game when hacking a cTOS tower, but there wasn't much game in the mini-game as it was just pressing some nodes to allow a data flow.

    I did try an on-line portion and this might be where the game shines a bit more. There are a number of missions where you either hack or prevent hacking from real life player enemies and some driving contests (which given the handling of the cars could be quite chaotic). Unfortunately I suck in this game and failed my first on-line mission terrible - so newbies might get run over by experienced players and that would kill the on-line part for newcomers and detract a lot from their experience - but I think the online part could be an addictive and different experience compared to so many other games. Especially if they expand a bit on the missions and make a few more non-combat missions.

    All in all - the game is decent enough in smaller doses (I don't see myself playing 4 hours in a row) and does have a lot of qualities. But it is let down by simplicity which makes me wonder what they've actually spend all the time on.

    The city is beautifully created - but as always with all these games. There's not much to do as most building are closed to you. A lot of civilians are rendered giving a nice populated feel to the city, but these moving objects are little other than ways to get cash.

    For a game with the hacking theme I feel this game misses it mark and it could have been much more fleshed out instead of just pressing Q to hack traffic lights, Q to hack trains, Q to hack signs, Q to hack for money, Q to .... well, you get my drift. It could just as well be any theme game.

    But all in all - it still is strangely fun, but it just falls short. It's definitely not a 9 or 10 game but neither is it a 0 or 1 game.
    7/10 from me so far    … Expand
  16. Trance
    Jun 25, 2014
    7
    Great game, horrible performance, steep requirements.

    Most people complain about the games driving, not me it's nothing revolutionary but it does the trick. Pretty game to look at if you have the right hardware, deep and engaging storyline, protagonist is intriguing. The hacking isn't perfect but it works and gives you a real sense of control. The open-world seems a little similar to    Great game, horrible performance, steep requirements.

    Most people complain about the games driving, not me it's nothing revolutionary but it does the trick. Pretty game to look at if you have the right hardware, deep and engaging storyline, protagonist is intriguing.

    The hacking isn't perfect but it works and gives you a real sense of control. The open-world seems a little similar to GTA IV just denser and it's fitting for the game.    … Expand
  17. Matius98
    May 27, 2014
    7
    Game is not done. Optimization sucks. Bugs are everywhere, and they got almost one year more to work on game. Really, how they couldn't finish this **** Only thing that make this game 5 is potential and complete new game... Ohh sorry - not complete for sure.
  18. Darkin20
    Jun 14, 2014
    7
    Game is pretty fun and has some interesting dynamics but the fact that there is a save game corruption that you can't get out of and need to restart from scratch is inexcusable. Maybe when they get that fixed i'll bump up the score but taking 2 weeks already with no end in sight is not a good thing. Too bad, I was really liking the camera games.
  19. isg1983
    Mar 15, 2016
    7
    Finished the game in 2016. Seeing that in 2014 technical issues caused mayhem amongst reviewers and my review for 2016 (which plays without problem) goes like:
    1. Story is passable, plays a bit repetitive, other than that, it is really ok, good ideas on sci-fi side but not much on the action side.
    2. Overall atmosphere is also not bad and brings you in, side quests are fun and so much to    Finished the game in 2016. Seeing that in 2014 technical issues caused mayhem amongst reviewers and my review for 2016 (which plays without problem) goes like:
    1. Story is passable, plays a bit repetitive, other than that, it is really ok, good ideas on sci-fi side but not much on the action side.
    2. Overall atmosphere is also not bad and brings you in, side quests are fun and so much to do.
    3. Driving has issues solely because they tried to make it realistic and failed. Sometimes it plays so good and sometimes really bad. I assume no one wants a realistic driving experience in a open world game. Also collisions and fog still cause weird fps drops.
    4. Shooting is not bad but gives you a hard time unless you unlock some skills.
    A nice game overwhelmed by technical issues in the past but you can play it without hesitation now.    … Expand
  20. gamiseta
    May 27, 2014
    7
    For all those who might get the idea that this game is basically GTA with hacking.

    It is not. This point is actually important because if you keep comparing this with GTA you will fail so I suggest you to compare this game with AC series for more accurate feeling. I'll start with the graphics. Although they are not as good as E3 demo, graphics are actually quite nice but there are    For all those who might get the idea that this game is basically GTA with hacking.

    It is not.

    This point is actually important because if you keep comparing this with GTA you will fail so I suggest you to compare this game with AC series for more accurate feeling.

    I'll start with the graphics. Although they are not as good as E3 demo, graphics are actually quite nice but there are some stuff like fake reflection that kinda throws you out of that universe but textures and waters are awesome. And by saying waters are awesome they are INCREDIBLY awesome. Seriously, Ubi should promote the hell out of people dealing with water stuff. Other than that graphics are not as bad as people say they are.

    I'll agree with music though, it REALLY sucks. I mean I can understand that they don't want to spend a lot of money with copyright stuff but they should've thrown some famous hit songs here and there that will make you feel badass. You may have experienced some audio stuttering so for that I STRONGLY suggest you to do the following:

    -Create a shortcut of watchdogs.exe
    -right click->properties->add "-disablepagefilecheck" without quotes at the end of the "target" section

    Since this is a Ubi game, it is filled with bugs and optimization problems (as expected from Ubi) so I think you might wanna wait until a patch fix or Nvidia update for optimization but by adding -disablepagefilecheck, I managed to get all stuttering to stop and experienced an acceptable overall framerate

    The story is actually quite good, I mean it is a little bit cliche but characters feel real (unlike Connor from AC3...god I hated that character...). Also hacking stuff is kinda fun but it might get repetitive over time. Also Ubi could have spent a bit more time and resources to make this game open as hell; for instance by adding hacking option to a lot of buildings to see inside of the apartments. I mean they have that in the game but they could've made it in every building and with random results (sometimes the apartment could be empty or could have several different scenes, like at first there are some couples arguing and at a later time those couples are divorcing etc...). Hacking through stuff to see everywhere is a giant privacy problem, one that could be used to create an amazingly immersive world. Random npc reactions around are good enough IMO so the city feels live enough.

    Car physics feels really weak though. Most of the time it is just you driving a carton box around, it doesn't have the "car" feeling to it. Although there are a lot of side quests and collectibles around, it gets repetitive easily and you start to feel that they are just burden to you and skip them. On a side note, I STRONGLY suggest you to try out the spider-tank minigame, because that was THE most fun I've ever had in this game!

    AI is really cool. They don't pop their heads for no reason and tactically they do fine against you (flanking and shooting at you the moment you pop your head out). Also I find the options of hacking before and while fighting satisfying. You can use cameras to see the battlefield and approach tactically to it by using different hacking tools on your opponents' technology.

    Generally the game is actually quite nice and different, even though it doesn't have that "next gen" feeling to it so I can understand fellow reviewers' disappointment with it but I suggest you to buy this game and play it, you are not going to be sorry, as long as you don't see this game as "The ultimate hacking game" or "GTA-Killer" rather than "an action game in which you use hacking and guns to get around".    … Expand
  21. MaskedMetal01
    Jul 7, 2014
    7
    I'll be honest. I didn't like this game all that much. I didn't get into depth with all the main characters. The hacking was a good concept but the story was lackluster. The driving mechanics were passable.
    The graphics downgrade was disappointing, but at least it could be re-enabled through a mod for PC.
    I liked the gunfight mechanics. I liked how you could go for either guns blazing    I'll be honest. I didn't like this game all that much. I didn't get into depth with all the main characters. The hacking was a good concept but the story was lackluster. The driving mechanics were passable.
    The graphics downgrade was disappointing, but at least it could be re-enabled through a mod for PC.

    I liked the gunfight mechanics. I liked how you could go for either guns blazing or choose stealth.
    The cut scenes are some of the best I've seen in a video game, very cinematic. Animations are really good, especially of that of NPCs, disregarding some.

    Side missions, at first, seemed nice, but they get really repetitive later on.

    Overall, the hype surrounding the game kinda made it a disappointment, but it was definitely enjoyable.    … Expand
  22. BrutalBran95
    Jun 19, 2014
    7
    first of all who ever rated under 5 is a total gta fan boy this isnt a bad game i havent played much my self but so far the story is amazing the hacking is fun and boring the world is really nice and active dont see where low rating comming from yes its been massivlyh over hyped but still decent game p.s F U ubisoft 7/10 overall
  23. Mahdiar
    Dec 12, 2015
    7
    Gameplay : 7
    Graphics : 8
    Story : 6
    Sound : 9
    **********************************************************************************
    Overall : 7
  24. Deonord
    May 27, 2014
    7
    So boring game with bad physics, bad story and stereotyped missions and faces of main protagonist are like from 5 years old game or worse. No emotions, no fun Developers should look on Crysis 3 faces. . Really disappointed.
  25. tomasz009
    Nov 24, 2014
    7
    First of all, these **** giving the game an instant 0 because of performance issues are stupid. Yeah, I know, it can ruin your experience of the game, but does it eliminate all its merits? I have the privilege to run this game with an i7 4770K and a GTX 780, so I know I probably lack some perspective, but it still doesn't make sense.

    Anyway, Watch Dogs is a solid game. Solid hacking,    First of all, these **** giving the game an instant 0 because of performance issues are stupid. Yeah, I know, it can ruin your experience of the game, but does it eliminate all its merits? I have the privilege to run this game with an i7 4770K and a GTX 780, so I know I probably lack some perspective, but it still doesn't make sense.

    Anyway, Watch Dogs is a solid game. Solid hacking, gunplay, plot, setting, and graphics. While, like many others, I'm disappointed with the downgrade in graphics from the E3 2012 trailer, it still looks good, especially at night. Only thing I'm scared about is Ubi downgrading The Division, which would be blasphemy. The 'press button to hack' feature works pretty well, and I had some cool moments taking down traffic with them. It's not really as exciting as you'd think hacking would be, but it's alright.

    Guns are good, with a wide, meaty selection, but apart from some scripted 'waves of enemies' moments, I pretty much beat the game with headshots from a pistol. If you can beat the game with an M1911 you get a quarter into the game, it's a bit broken. Stealth works well though, except why even use take downs if they attract every damn enemy when you use them on just one guy...

    Environment-wise, Chicago feels like a gritty urban city with a wide variety of socio-economic classes. Pawnee...ehh, does every open world GTA-like game have to have a rural area a la San Andreas, who did it first? The story missions used Chicago well. Apart from that, I felt no need to explore the city; it was just darting from story mission to story mission. I didn't touch the vigilante missions (except for the introductory one) and unless I run out of games to play, I probably never will.

    Finally, characters and story. The game is presented as ~ultra-hacking thriller~ but it barely has sense of humour. When it does, it comes from the stereotypical characters, which don't get me wrong, I liked, but it was a bit too predictable. Jordi Chin, the wise-cracking Asian-American; Clara Lille, the 'punk/underground' chick; T-Bone, the trailer trash. Now they did have unique features, particularly Clara and T-Bone, but surprisingly, my favourite character was Jordi.

    Aiden Pearce himself? Bastard needs to smile. I mean, I get the game is meant to be hard-hitting and ponderous, but his stoicism just made him dull most of the time. He's a badass, sure, but I don't careeeeeeeeeeee about his damn nieeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeee...why should I? I heard her talk for like 10 seconds. Why is her death so affecting? Take the time to make us care Ubisoft. Also Damien is **** annoying and not in an interesting way.

    Yeah...game was solid, but not fantastic. Ubisoft needs to stop rushing/confusing endings as well, as yet again, Watch Dogs' is. I'd give it like, 6.8/10.    … Expand
  26. SXIIID
    May 30, 2014
    7
    it is not a bad game...well i didn't go with the hype and expected it to be worse....so no disappointment there.
    in the first place i bought it as a benchmark, to find out if my pc was really not capable to play it at high or ultra...well fact is i have a phenom x4 965 and a radeon 6870. it runs....somewhere between high and ultra. so just some made up hardware specs to by a console. for    it is not a bad game...well i didn't go with the hype and expected it to be worse....so no disappointment there.
    in the first place i bought it as a benchmark, to find out if my pc was really not capable to play it at high or ultra...well fact is i have a phenom x4 965 and a radeon 6870. it runs....somewhere between high and ultra. so just some made up hardware specs to by a console. for thos who got a black screen or even freezing: update your drivers. that happened to me as well before the release.

    to the game it self: it tells the story abaut aidan apart from the mainquest and describes his person more passive, which has to be mentioned because even the magazines don't get that.
    the missions are, ...well let's say not linear, but remind of crysis 2: they feel open but aren't.
    city itself feels empty and sidemissions are not as interesting as we were shown.
    the graphics are a bit ridiculous if we think of the specs. what concerns me the most is the bad port as expected. i really have to switch my graphic card from automatic to highspeed manually cause the program ignores that...this really gave me a shock on my first lunch when i saw the fps.
    i bought a key through the internt (~36€). this is a fair price i think, but i wouldn't buy it for a higher one.    … Expand
  27. paul_
    Sep 26, 2014
    7
    I need to write - I do not complete this game - but its not so bad like most of users are saying. If you will not compare it to GTA5 you will be find and maybe you will fins a little fun playing this sandbox
  28. FredPL
    Jul 13, 2014
    7
    The game isn't so bad as every one says. It just isn't what they told us it would be. Still it's a good game, only good. The campaign is short and not worth remembering. But you will still have a lot of fun from hacking, running from police, shooting and hacking other players.
  29. zombiechan
    May 28, 2014
    7
    The game was fun, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but still fun. The AI can be dumb at times and a few graphic glitches here and there(not to mention issues with UPlay), but still worth the money.
  30. Contrabardus
    May 28, 2014
    7
    I previously gave this game a 4 due to several issues with the game. However, since then I've updated my driver [an update was not available when I first reviewed] and there has been a patch.

    My biggest gripe was that the driving was near unplayable, since then the issue has been fixed. Now, I want to make clear that this is not the best driving game ever. The cars controls have been    I previously gave this game a 4 due to several issues with the game. However, since then I've updated my driver [an update was not available when I first reviewed] and there has been a patch.

    My biggest gripe was that the driving was near unplayable, since then the issue has been fixed. Now, I want to make clear that this is not the best driving game ever. The cars controls have been fixed to the point that they are functional to a reasonable level.

    I was also unable to use a few graphics options due to bugs such as flickering lights, and motion blur not properly working. I am now able to turn all settings up to Ultra and run the game without issues.

    The problem with frames dropping in areas with lots of dynamic lighting has also been cleared up. I think that same issue was what was causing the difficulties with driving the cars.

    At any rate, the game is much better than it was in my initial review. It's not as good as GTA V by any stretch, but there are a lot of fun elements.

    Hacking should be more involved than it is. I get one button for quick hacking options, but the hacking minigame for unlocking the areas could have been used more for some of the more stationary hacking situations, like ATMs and such.

    Graphically it's very pretty, the shooting isn't bad. Again, it's not GTA V, but it took a few cues from that game and it works.

    It's shorter than it should be. For an open world game the campaign is painfully short. There isn't a ton to do in the city, but it'll keep you busy for a week or so if you do everything. Again, it's not GTA V. The graphics are technically better GTA V, but the setting isn't as dynamic. Chicago isn't extremely colorful and diverse, it's got the same issue as GTA IV as the colors are rather bland and the neighborhoods look largely the same. It's realistic, but not visually all that appealing. Details are nice and it looks great on ultra, but the bland urban setting keeps it from being as interesting as GTA V.

    The soundtrack isn't bad, but it's not great. I don't usually turn the tunes off, but rarely pay attention to them.

    Don't expect a GTA clone. It looks a lot like one, and has taken some inspiration from GTA V in the interface and controls. I compared it visually, and yes you can steal cars and create havoc, but this is much more like Infamous meets Assassin's Creed. You're not nearly as nimble as either of those games, but mission structure, story, and the types of activities you'll be doing are more similar to those games than GTA.

    This doesn't live up to the massive hype but, it's still a good game. Things have improved since it was released a great deal, just make sure you have the latest drivers for your GPU.

    I recommend waiting for a Steam sale or a pretty good sized discount before picking it up. It's an ambitious title with a lot of neat elements. Using the environment through hacking is a lot of fun. This is essentially a superhero game, but your super power is your phone's ability to interact with the environment and NPCs rather than energy blasts. The morality system isn't the best I've seen, but it's not the worst either. It's no worse than the one in Infamous and works pretty much the same way. Your choices are essentially be Batman, or be the Punisher. I suppose you could go for all out murderous evil, but the game isn't really intended to be played that way. You can, but the mission structure is pretty much laid out for either Batman, or the Punisher, or some medium between the two. As with most morality type games, you're expected to go with one or the other for the most part.

    Skill upgrades keep things interesting and work similarly to Infamous, though there are no purely good or evil powers that I'm aware of. It's more a case of picking what matches your playstyle the most, and then getting the rest just for the hell of it.

    The game isn't near as bad as many of the current reviews make it sound. At present, the bulk of them are from the pre patch release. They are perfectly justified as the game should not have been released in the state it was in, but since then the issues have largely been resolved and the game has become a decent superhero game.

    I recommend it, but I recommend a rent or picking it up on sale. It's a lot of fun, but not really worth paying full price for due to the length and bland setting. It's a cool idea and when it works it works well, definitely worth giving it a go when the price drops for sure.    … 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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