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. Dealves99
    Sep 2, 2023
    7
    História boa em alguns momentos e parada em outros, personagem principal tem personalidade não parece genérico, diferente do mapa que não tem nada muito inesquecível. Gameplay é boa tem muitas opções de abordagem.
    Gráfico meia boca.
  2. Captiosus
    Jun 2, 2014
    6
    I'm revising my review after finishing all of the single player elements of the game.
    Pros:
    - Lots of things to do. - A decent illusion of choice regarding how to approach missions. - Multiplayer invasions are fun for a few times. Cons: - The story. My brain, it hurts. So many cliches. I thought the first two acts were bad, and then I got to act 4... where there's a Deadmau5 rip    I'm revising my review after finishing all of the single player elements of the game.
    Pros:
    - Lots of things to do.
    - A decent illusion of choice regarding how to approach missions.
    - Multiplayer invasions are fun for a few times.

    Cons:
    - The story. My brain, it hurts. So many cliches. I thought the first two acts were bad, and then I got to act 4... where there's a Deadmau5 rip off and two missions that contain every bad hacker and computer stereotype for the last 35 years, from Wargames to The Matrix.

    - The story 2.0. Aiden Pearce, the vigilante whose identity the entire world knows. That's a pretty shoddy vigilante. Imagine if everyone knew who Batman or The Shadow was within the first hour of their stories. They wouldn't be nearly as compelling, right? Neither is "The Fox", Aiden Pearce. Also, the secondary characters were supposed to be computer geniuses but came across as bumbling idiots (looking at you, T-Bone Grady).

    - Hacking. Press Q. Press Q. Press Q. Press Q. Press Q. There, I've summarized the entire hacking "mechanic" in the game.

    - There are perhaps TOO MANY things to do and TOO MANY things to collect, with very few of the collections or mini-games offering compelling rewards to complete.

    - The driving mechanics are atrocious which makes playing Online Race mode frustrating as hell.

    - Multiplayer becomes stale, fast.

    - Lastly, and obligatory: Terrible graphical optimization with clearly cross gen textures and engine design. Faces look great during cutscenes (which are rendered in real time) but beyond that, even on Ultra, the game is decidedly lacking in the graphics department.

    Clearly primed to be Ubisoft's next big franchise. Hopefully the next iteration has a less cliche story, more diverse hacking, and a better engine.    … Expand
  3. Masterhummel
    May 27, 2014
    6
    There's not that much to say about the graphic controversity. The game looks good, no doubt, but not nearly as good as in the E3 Trailers, Launch Trailer or Steam Shop Page Screenshots. By all means, this form of false advertising has to stop. Also, getting hours less of playtime because i didnt bought the "Digitale Deluxe" Edition is just wrong and should not be supported.

    For the game    There's not that much to say about the graphic controversity. The game looks good, no doubt, but not nearly as good as in the E3 Trailers, Launch Trailer or Steam Shop Page Screenshots. By all means, this form of false advertising has to stop. Also, getting hours less of playtime because i didnt bought the "Digitale Deluxe" Edition is just wrong and should not be supported.

    For the game itself, its your average GTA style game. The story is very odd and inconsistent. The one moment i beat someone up with a basbeall bat, then i'm visiting my nephew, then i'm suddenly Badass McBadBat again. The side Missions are extremly dull and usually consist of dozens of heavily armed dudes getting thrown at you. You have whole military-like mob convoys driving trough the city. Whoever runs the city is probably the worst police state in the history of gaming.

    The gameplay is uber-realistic. You have a three meter turn radius, every car handles like a formula one car that has tanked cerosine and the gunplay is quite odd. That said, there are good things in watchdogs and its fun to **** around with the city, but its not enough to keep me want to play it.

    In the end, Watch_Dogs is not a bad game. Its just extremely average.    … Expand
  4. lolmetacritic
    May 31, 2014
    6
    Game had a very promising start but after Act 2 (of 4) the writing goes straight out the window. The missions become repetitive and unimaginative. The game was a 8 eight about half way in but dropped quite sharply after that.
  5. JimmyDamage
    Jun 7, 2014
    6
    A fun open world hacking game. Graphics are decent and so is the gameplay. However, the product suffers from performance issues that can bring high-end machines to its knees.
    The biggest downside of Watch Dogs is the Uplay DRM, being offline, failing to sync savegames and trying desperatly to mimic Valve's Steam minus all the great features. Basically paying customers are suffering    A fun open world hacking game. Graphics are decent and so is the gameplay. However, the product suffers from performance issues that can bring high-end machines to its knees.
    The biggest downside of Watch Dogs is the Uplay DRM, being offline, failing to sync savegames and trying desperatly to mimic Valve's Steam minus all the great features. Basically paying customers are suffering because of bad business and service from Ubisoft.    … Expand
  6. Gullyvuhr
    May 27, 2014
    6
    The Critic reviews on this are obviously bought and paid for, so take them with a grain of salt.

    The graphics in the game are underwhelming to say the least -- and this was supposed to be it's strong selling point. This is also under the premise that the game is playable for you at a decent frame rate, which as of the date of writing this it isn't for everyone. Lots of trouble there.    The Critic reviews on this are obviously bought and paid for, so take them with a grain of salt.

    The graphics in the game are underwhelming to say the least -- and this was supposed to be it's strong selling point. This is also under the premise that the game is playable for you at a decent frame rate, which as of the date of writing this it isn't for everyone. Lots of trouble there.

    That being said, go look at the last review of Grand Theft Auto and add in a that it's an awful port with a less than engaging story involving characters you'll find it very hard to care about, the controls are about as sluggish as possible with no hope of fine movements without a lot of trial and error sensitivity changes outside of the game, and a story line that just doesn't make much sense.

    This game is at best Grand Theft Auto with a focus on hacking. At worsts, it's a really bad Grand Theft Auto with a focus on hacking. Don't get me wrong, the idea of hacking is a great inclusion -- you just can't insert it into what looks like an attempt at a rockstar game and hope it carries the weight all by itself.    … Expand
  7. chrispDUCK
    Jul 13, 2014
    6
    Graphically fantastic once modded, overall story okay but game gets rapidly repetitive and unsatisfying. Earn lots of money but not much to spend it on - outfits all look largely the same, weapons can't be upgraded and much of the time spend with grenade launcher and silenced handgun. Devs could learn a lot from games like Skyrim that have more configurable gameplay.
  8. 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.
  9. Bastrion
    May 28, 2014
    6
    Way overhyped, but enjoyable once you get past uPlays connection issues (which have become less of a problem since launch but still there).

    Graphical optimisation is poor, but the graphics themselves are great on Ultra settings, just a shame that you can't play it on Ultra without frame skipping and slowdown. Storyline is bland and boring, nothing at all like how it was advertised    Way overhyped, but enjoyable once you get past uPlays connection issues (which have become less of a problem since launch but still there).

    Graphical optimisation is poor, but the graphics themselves are great on Ultra settings, just a shame that you can't play it on Ultra without frame skipping and slowdown.

    Storyline is bland and boring, nothing at all like how it was advertised during the E3 promos and recent storyline trailers, but the side missions and additional stuff is on par with GTA V, which is not what can be said for the driving. The cars drive like they are made of unresponsive clay with lubricant on the tyres, and seem to pivot rather than drive like any open world game cars I have played with. The motorbike is great though, which I use whenever possible. It feels like it's designed to not drive at full speed around the city, and instead drive like an old lady, following all the lights and signs etc.

    The UI is good, feeling clean and slick, giving little bits of information about everything around you as you approach it, and often giving you a chuckle as you find out what people have been searching for online, or buying alot of, or taking part in, via the little pop up vignettes that show on any NPC in the game.

    Good points:
    - City is huge (not compared to GTA V but big enough)
    - Graphics are lovely after you find your sweet spot
    - Side missions and free roaming is great fun
    - Multiplayer is really original, and alot of fun to play

    Bad points:
    - uPlay (forced DRM, online reliance for the good features)
    - Day 1 DLC (big bad move for any company to do this)
    - Storyline feels boring and empty, characters have no personality
    - Car driving is absolutely awful (really really bad)
    - Hacking, while intended to be simple, feels over simplified
    - Game is barely anything like the one that was advertised
    - Price is ridiculous, I got it for free and still feel a little ripped off
    - If GTA V was out on PC, this game wouldn't get a second look from anyone

    Overall, I am enjoying it, performance issues aside, but only really for the stealthy part of the gameplay and the secondary quests, as the main storyline is boring. Would recommend, if you can pick it up cheap on Kinguin or similar.    … Expand
  10. robni2852
    Jun 27, 2014
    6
    With a story that is just laughably (not in a good way), driving physics which make it seem like Chicago is covered in thick layers of oil, hacking tools that simply boil down to 'push x to awesome', and all the other baggage that comes with it being an Ubisoft game, this game is simply not very inspired, and at times, incredibly dull. While the hacking is simple, it can be fun at times,With a story that is just laughably (not in a good way), driving physics which make it seem like Chicago is covered in thick layers of oil, hacking tools that simply boil down to 'push x to awesome', and all the other baggage that comes with it being an Ubisoft game, this game is simply not very inspired, and at times, incredibly dull. While the hacking is simple, it can be fun at times, and there is some enjoyment in using hacking effectively to get away from cops, or catch people you are chasing. And doing all the Watchtowers just using the cameras was a fun puzzle to solve.
    But the game falls so far short in many other places that it just isn't that great taken as a whole.

    Buy in the bargain bin, and you'll feel much better about it. .    … Expand
  11. ausgebombt85
    Aug 18, 2014
    6
    Is this a good game? Well, yes... barely.

    Watch Dogs is an entertaining ride for a while, but its open world concept is misplaced. Yes, you can go anywhere in Watch Dogs' Chicago, but if its not servicing the story, then there's not much to do. You can hack people, listen in on random conversations, stop thugs and petty bad guys, play lame barely fleshed out mini games and go on digital    Is this a good game? Well, yes... barely.

    Watch Dogs is an entertaining ride for a while, but its open world concept is misplaced. Yes, you can go anywhere in Watch Dogs' Chicago, but if its not servicing the story, then there's not much to do. You can hack people, listen in on random conversations, stop thugs and petty bad guys, play lame barely fleshed out mini games and go on digital trips. This last part is the most engaging part of all the "randomness" of Watch Dogs, most specifically the Spider Tank is really fun and weirdly satisfying.

    Watch Dogs graphics are overall very good, but its not what was advertised. Even if you dont care all that much about graphics, you should feel strongly about fake advertising, and this is where its at.

    Even the highly publicized fact sheet you get from citizens, as much as it is amusing for the most part, has zero to do with the plot and its randomization is inexplicable for the most part (it seems that, according to Watch Dogs, most people in Chicago have a weird sex thing going on).

    The driving is forgettable at best, even Mafia 2 had better driving than this.

    For Ubisoft's Watch Dogs it was all about the flare, the particles, the wind blowing and lights exploding (although the best is saved for the rupturing of underground pipes, that's an amazing effect for a skill you pick up a bit into the game). Not a lot of the budget went into the story itself, or the gameplay for that matter.

    Should you play Watch Dogs? Yeah, why not.

    Will you love it? Maybe, if you're just getting into gaming... but being let down is more likely, especially if you've been following this release since E3 2012, thinking it would be the be all end all of open world games.

    Spoiler: Its not.    … Expand
  12. Pots_Talos
    Jun 23, 2014
    6
    Fun but forgettable. Very clunky controls with keyboard and mouse makes playing with a controller a must. Since UPlay is also attached to it I rated the game a point lower.
  13. SeverityOne
    Jun 20, 2014
    6
    This game is a bit of a mixed bag, in more ways than one. It tries to be a lot of things (open world, GTA clone, role-playing... something like a cross between GTA and Skyrim. The result is a game that excels at certain things, but fails woefully at others.

    Pros: * A LOT of work has gone into the design of "Chicago". And it's clear that there's a lot of affinity for the place; one set    This game is a bit of a mixed bag, in more ways than one. It tries to be a lot of things (open world, GTA clone, role-playing... something like a cross between GTA and Skyrim. The result is a game that excels at certain things, but fails woefully at others.

    Pros:
    * A LOT of work has gone into the design of "Chicago". And it's clear that there's a lot of affinity for the place; one set of collectibles is about city hotspots, that tell some story about Chicago (often involving Al Capone and other gangsters).
    * There are little things that add nothing to the gameplay, but so much more to the atmosphere. For example, somebody is playing with a football, trying to keep it up and losing it; somebody else is welding a pipe; a third guy is painting over graffiti. It makes the place much more alive, more real.
    * The puzzles are, by and large, fun. You have to try to hack something, and follow lines to where there's something you can unlock. Sometimes it's visible, sometimes you need one or more cameras. You then get treated to scene that can be fun, or disturbing, or anything in between.
    * The way you can control the world with the "hacking" is endless fun. I could spend hours watching cars crash because I hacked traffic lights.

    Cons:
    * Performance is not all there. Before the Geforce Experience set the optimal settings for my card (an ageing GTX580) it was almost unplayable, especially when driving. Now it's OK, although there's still the occasional glitch.
    * The game forces you into a certain way of playing, and that's annoying. I can very well decide for myself how I play. Case in point: gang hideouts.
    * Some (side) missions you fail time and again, especially if you don't play the way the game wants you too. There's an incredibly high annoyance factor at times, especially when you need to melee (not shoot) someone, or even three, while his mates will shoot at you, call reinforcements, and do all sorts of things to make you fail the mission.
    * Uplay. I don't want yet another pointless launcher on my PC. I've got Steam and that's all I need. I don't want to have to create an account either.
    * Server availability. In the first few days it was terrible; now it's OK. But why do I need to connect to their servers if I want to play?
    * Online elements. There's this thing called "online invasion", switched on by default, where some random player breaks into your session and steals your points. It took me three or four times before the settings understood that I really didn't want this. Helloooo! There's a reason why I play single player games: I don't WANT to play with others. But even after you switch off Online Invasion, you still get constant requests for races, hacking or whatever from other people. And this you can't switch off. Worse, you need to do some of these things in order to unlock weapons and such.

    So for an open-world game, it's pretty pedantic in thinking that it knows what's best for you. And that's its major weakness, together with the sometimes nigh impossible side missions.    … Expand
  14. BalicanBreeze
    Jun 7, 2014
    6
    The port is rather bad, there are a lot of menu and control issues. If those got fixed, the score would probably be raised to a 7 or maybe 8. It's not a bad game, just a bit boring story and outdated mechanics. Some of the mini-games are cute, which certainly raises the score. Inferior to similar open-world games like Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row and GTA. The concept is great, and this gameThe port is rather bad, there are a lot of menu and control issues. If those got fixed, the score would probably be raised to a 7 or maybe 8. It's not a bad game, just a bit boring story and outdated mechanics. Some of the mini-games are cute, which certainly raises the score. Inferior to similar open-world games like Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row and GTA. The concept is great, and this game could have been so much more. It feels rushed, despite the delays.… Expand
  15. diendjap
    May 27, 2014
    6
    Pros:
    - Enjoyable story
    - Graphics are comfy (nowhere near the e3 level though) - Cool concept - Alright multiplayer Cons: - Limited music choice, no radio - Gunplay is generic - Most minigames such as ctOS towers and hacking are copy-pasted from other Ubisoft Montreal games - Ridiculously bad physics - Missions are repetitive - Side missions are boring - Skill tree is useless    Pros:
    - Enjoyable story
    - Graphics are comfy (nowhere near the e3 level though)
    - Cool concept
    - Alright multiplayer
    Cons:
    - Limited music choice, no radio
    - Gunplay is generic
    - Most minigames such as ctOS towers and hacking are copy-pasted from other Ubisoft Montreal games
    - Ridiculously bad physics
    - Missions are repetitive
    - Side missions are boring
    - Skill tree is useless and serves no purpose other than locking out features from you at the beginning of the game
    - AI is underdeveloped
    - Driving isn't arcadey nor realistic, it's outrght bad.
    Overall, the game isn't bad and you can have some fun with it, just don't expect anything groundbreaking.    … Expand
  16. Krysen
    May 28, 2014
    6
    Again Ubisoft showed us that they can't produce an open world game.

    You just have a few oppurtunities and after 4 Hours playing, i had every hacking skill. The story is boring, protect your sister, save the child, take revenge. Just like a bad movie, it feels like ubisoft took the easiest reason to kill people, REVENGE in a bad way. The Graphics is good at night, but i hate the    Again Ubisoft showed us that they can't produce an open world game.

    You just have a few oppurtunities and after 4 Hours playing, i had every hacking skill.

    The story is boring, protect your sister, save the child, take revenge. Just like a bad movie, it feels like ubisoft took the easiest reason to kill people, REVENGE in a bad way.

    The Graphics is good at night, but i hate the plastic Faces of most of the characters, it should be better for a new generation game.

    The driving mechanics also feels terrible, and if u want to adjust the camera, sometimes it just jumps way too far.

    The killing animation with the baton is always the same and sneaking feels terrible because of it. I dont think hitting someone with a baton is silent and you can't stranglehold someone for a shooting. Its not much but it should be possible.

    There are plenty good open world games, which have more to do, better animation even if they are some years older. I just dont understand why Ubisoft isnt able to make a game with penty more features. Like every other game of ubisoft u can discover everything in Act 1 and test every hacking skill.
    And after that there is nothing more to discover    … Expand
  17. Jonhuggs
    Jun 3, 2014
    6
    Oh watch Dogs, I want to love you, but I can only like you. First let me say that I'm "trying" to play this game on an AMD HD 7870. Ultra settings will KO my computer to the tune of a Blue screen of death(which I didn't even know could still happen as it's been years since I had one, like 4 iterations of windows ago) High settings will get me about 20-25 FPS, while playing on medium willOh watch Dogs, I want to love you, but I can only like you. First let me say that I'm "trying" to play this game on an AMD HD 7870. Ultra settings will KO my computer to the tune of a Blue screen of death(which I didn't even know could still happen as it's been years since I had one, like 4 iterations of windows ago) High settings will get me about 20-25 FPS, while playing on medium will get me 45-60 on foot, but in car it drops to around 30, playable though, just not what I'm used to with other more graphically impressive games, even another Ubi game ACIV runs great on my system, here's hoping the promised update helps. Now to the actual game, it's good and fun, it's kind of a mixture of GTA, Splinter cell, with a little Assassin's creed on top. It has a good story, although it can be predictable. I like the way you can attack missions head on or use stealth and cameras to neutralize the enemies. I do recommend this game and from what I've read if you run Nvidia, you'll likely have a smoother experience with it, but for us AMD users it's not really optimized very well yet and might be worth waiting on if you haven't picked it up yet.… Expand
  18. Razark9
    Aug 5, 2014
    6
    This game is not all that bad, well, at least not for me. The game ran decent on my computer.

    Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 i7-3820 CPU 3.60GHz 16GB ram. It's not perfect either though. I felt that Aiden was a very cliched and boring character and the story was ¨ok¨. Gameplay was pretty good and I liked using the environment to my advantage, but it gets boring after a while. The online    This game is not all that bad, well, at least not for me. The game ran decent on my computer.

    Nvidia GeForce GTX 780
    i7-3820 CPU 3.60GHz
    16GB ram.

    It's not perfect either though. I felt that Aiden was a very cliched and boring character and the story was ¨ok¨. Gameplay was pretty good and I liked using the environment to my advantage, but it gets boring after a while. The online is hopeless. It takes forever to find a match and there's a few hackers. When you first find a match with 6 or more people without hackers it can be really fun. Back to singleplayer. A lot of people didn't like the side missions, but I adored them. :)    … Expand
  19. JamesTheThird
    May 28, 2014
    6
    THIS IS NO GTA!

    Let me start by saying that I’m writing this review on the second day after the game has been launched, so there are many issues that may be improved in the future, however my score and the review is based on the current state of game. I was really impressed when I started playing. The first mission gave a hint of what possibilities a player has and there are lots of    THIS IS NO GTA!

    Let me start by saying that I’m writing this review on the second day after the game has been launched, so there are many issues that may be improved in the future, however my score and the review is based on the current state of game.

    I was really impressed when I started playing. The first mission gave a hint of what possibilities a player has and there are lots of them when we are talking about all the interactions except driving, which I will cover later. Blackouts, raising road blocks, messing with street lights, hacking into people’s phones, robbing their bank accounts, listening to private conversations - this is something that has never been available in any other game so far on that scale. The variability of all the tasks/missions you can take up is amazing. Shooting is decent. You can sneak your way in knocking enemies out or shooting them with a silenced pistol or you can shoot your way in with carbines, shotguns, grenades and many other. You can also use a range of many useful gadgets or hack into various devices to blow them up or just to distract enemies. This is all Fun with a capital F.

    Now let’s look at some drawbacks. The game is quite difficult so you will repeat a lot of sequences. It’s only a matter of time when you will get irritated because of the fact that you cannot skip cut-scenes. You can neither save your game whenever you like, since there is only auto-save option. Driving is far from comfortable. Perhaps if you have an Xbox controller (as this is the only supported controller in PC version) things are better, but using a mouse and a keyboard will probably give you a headache. I would say car handling is somewhere between GTA and Saints Row IV - not so bad, but not good enough. Car damage is totally unrealistic. Drive straight into a wall with maximum speed - not only will you survive but your headlights will still be intact. Since this is game that promotes stealth it’s kind of puzzling why it is not possible to shoot lights - the only way to turn them off is to use a blackout gadget or blow a power transformer. The story is dull like Bold and Beautiful TV series. It all revolves around revenge - a motive old and exploited from all possible angles in entertainment. There is no humor. The main character is hard to be liked. The choice of clothes he can wear consists of changing colors mainly. You cannot reject a phone call. You have to get out of a car to start a mission. The reflections in shop windows are not real and look funny. The subtitles are shown in such a way that the last word of a sentence appears in the second line while the first line is already gone, which makes it hard to read. You cannot travel by taxi. You cannot store your vehicles although you can call for any vehicle you have unlocked. The radio resets every time you leave and enter a car. Some may say these are minor drawbacks and it may be true, but there is one that must be stated. You cannot shoot from a car! You may say it’s not a big deal until you have to do a mission, where you have to stop a guy. He has a car, you have a bike. Try to stop a car with a bike with no weapons, driving on a highway where there are no traps, road blocks you can use to your advantage and at the same time 4 other cars are trying to push you out of the road and are shooting with whatever they got. That’s where I got stuck in the game. I cannot abandon the mission, I cannot load a savegame from before, so the only option for me is to try until I succeed (I have tried about 20 times already) or wait for the developers to kindly enable shooting while driving.

    All in all, I strongly advice that you wait for the game to be fixed before you buy it, unless you don’t mind all the things mentioned earlier. I haven’t brought up the online issues, because I believe they will be fixed soon.    … Expand
  20. roflCyclone
    May 27, 2014
    6
    Do you wish this game was GTA V?

    So does Ubi Soft. Driving mechanics are awful, graphics are shoddy, discouragement of offline play is questionable, and the whole game is an attempt to emulate something great rather than create it. Hacking is pretty damn fun, but I'd hoped for more from this game after waiting so long with so much hype surrounding it. If you're desperate, wait till    Do you wish this game was GTA V?

    So does Ubi Soft.

    Driving mechanics are awful, graphics are shoddy, discouragement of offline play is questionable, and the whole game is an attempt to emulate something great rather than create it. Hacking is pretty damn fun, but I'd hoped for more from this game after waiting so long with so much hype surrounding it. If you're desperate, wait till it's on sale. If you're desperate. Definitely not worth $60.    … Expand
  21. alexferriswheel
    May 28, 2014
    6
    Clunkly controls and driving are almost game breaking. Shame because the "feel" of the world is spot on. Still fun...just not as good as it could have been.
  22. Pickle-Tickler
    May 27, 2014
    6
    Does this game live up to the hype? No. Does it deserve a zero score? Absolutely fu**ing not.
    People giving this game a zero score need to go have a cry, this game is still a fairly decent game, it's no GTA by a long shot, but still one of the best games this year. Is it downgraded since the 2012 E3 footage, yes. But im'm not one to care too much for graphics. I must admit the driving is    Does this game live up to the hype? No. Does it deserve a zero score? Absolutely fu**ing not.
    People giving this game a zero score need to go have a cry, this game is still a fairly decent game, it's no GTA by a long shot, but still one of the best games this year. Is it downgraded since the 2012 E3 footage, yes. But im'm not one to care too much for graphics. I must admit the driving is god awful and I get constant frame skips whilst driving so I had to lower the texture quality from High to Medium even though the game runs really smooth whilst on foot. Controlling driving is probably the worst I have seen in a third person open world game ever, EVER, even with a gamepad. Besides driving, the game is really solid, the world feels alive, and with the help of the profiler gadget, it really helps humanise the NPC's. The hacking game mechanic is a really nice feature and can cause some really amazing action sequences and cop chase strategies. Stealth is really fun, gunplay is nice and smooth, haven't finished the story mode yet but from what I've played it's not too bad. Do I recommend you get this game? Probably not. At it's current price of $75 (Australia), wait for the price to go down, or save your money for the upcoming steam sale.    … Expand
  23. braindamage
    May 18, 2015
    6
    its not the worst game Ive ever played, and im not sure what people are complaining about I got it for free and it was something that kept me entertained back in the summer of 14
  24. RMDsilva
    Nov 17, 2014
    6
    Game looks good. But what else?
    Open world GTA-like games have been plenty and this one tries to be a little original with the hacking theme. Comes off as an "okay" game.
    Story/theme-wise, it's interesting. Superficially. Characters are quite 2D and the revenge thing just.. makes less and less sense the more the story goes on. Dedsec (anonymous) and Blume (the IT evil corporate guys    Game looks good. But what else?
    Open world GTA-like games have been plenty and this one tries to be a little original with the hacking theme. Comes off as an "okay" game.

    Story/theme-wise, it's interesting. Superficially. Characters are quite 2D and the revenge thing just.. makes less and less sense the more the story goes on.
    Dedsec (anonymous) and Blume (the IT evil corporate guys who watch everything) are just there, there's no development or deeper questions.

    Gameplay-wise, hacking was.. well, press Q for everything. If I wanted to do something quick, I really had to use "focus" (bullet time, slo-mo, wtv) to not hack a camera instead of exploding a wall or something completely unrelated. Not to mention it's not too easy to "aim".
    Bit silly, and while it's fun that you can do it at all times (getting credit card info from random people while chasing someone? check) it's also quite limited to specific environment cues. So, meh.

    That said, the driving and shooting and the generic open world thing is just "okay". I miss the driving experiences of GTA, for example. Especially when running away from the police in this one. Just, urgh. Because with the hacking theme, they just seem to always know where you are, unless you get offroad or do something silly. Pro tip: grab a boat and get the helicopter disable. No more chases.

    So, in the end, it was alright. But definitely not beyond that.    … Expand
  25. politon2k
    Jun 15, 2014
    6
    + Acceptable story. + Good gameplay. + Lot's of things to do. - Obvious downgrade, and Ubisoft still not recognize it. - NAT error 100% of the times i try to play online (and it's not my problem, because for the first two days i've played perfectly online. Tried all Ubisoft suggestions/solutions, none of them worked, loss of time). - After the credits, the game was not responding. I close+ Acceptable story. + Good gameplay. + Lot's of things to do. - Obvious downgrade, and Ubisoft still not recognize it. - NAT error 100% of the times i try to play online (and it's not my problem, because for the first two days i've played perfectly online. Tried all Ubisoft suggestions/solutions, none of them worked, loss of time). - After the credits, the game was not responding. I close Watch Dogs, reopen it to complete some secondary missions, and surprise: Now my save file is corrupted and the game is unable to load it (it freezes during the process.… Expand
  26. xenochrist
    May 31, 2014
    6
    This game is not good.
    The pc version is even worse.
    The car driving sucks, there is a lag in the steering, the camera sucks, and the damage and speed is **** Also, alot of the game is driving away, which is such a chore. The combat is lame, it is clunky and the no gore makes it really empty feeling. the stealth is fun, but the dumb controls and ai makes any man rage. Exploring the    This game is not good.
    The pc version is even worse.
    The car driving sucks, there is a lag in the steering, the camera sucks, and the damage and speed is **** Also, alot of the game is driving away, which is such a chore.
    The combat is lame, it is clunky and the no gore makes it really empty feeling.
    the stealth is fun, but the dumb controls and ai makes any man rage.

    Exploring the world for unlockables was the only thing i found fun.

    The game overall is a chore to play. each missions is just a mini game with cut scenes. you do the same mini games but at different locations and different 'story' to them.
    the hacking theme is almost childish. 'press q to be a haxooorrrr'    … Expand
  27. bilel
    May 29, 2014
    6
    ok game but not good or great with repetitive game play it gets boring from the second hour of playing, the graphics are great but the game has some glitches and the car driving gameplay is very bad ,doll and poor the worst driving gameplay in any game in my opinion, i hope the sequel can be more interesting.
  28. 0hope
    Jun 11, 2014
    6
    Although it's been a while since game came out i still felt like i should write something soo.....
    Even with new AMD drivers (14.6.) you wont get that better performance in Watch Dogs, this brings that 'nVidia meant to be played' to whole new level which is just sad.
    And 2nd thing about Watch Dogs that put most ppl away are rather sloppy controls. I'm not talking about hardware issues    Although it's been a while since game came out i still felt like i should write something soo.....
    Even with new AMD drivers (14.6.) you wont get that better performance in Watch Dogs, this brings that 'nVidia meant to be played' to whole new level which is just sad.

    And 2nd thing about Watch Dogs that put most ppl away are rather sloppy controls.
    I'm not talking about hardware issues and crap (which exist like crappy forced mouse acceleration) but how simple things like aim camera and free camera movement speed are inconsistent and that requires some getting used to, just like driving controls ...

    So yeah once you pass that you can actually enjoy game and its not GTA clone as some expect it to be.
    There is plenty of stuff to do in city but you are not pulled by hand for everything and that stuff requires good old explorations.    … Expand
  29. EloHeaven
    May 27, 2014
    6
    At first it's interesting and gives some new stuff like hacking traffic lights, exploding pipes under the road, but it's fun for a short time. Later those hacks doesn't even interest you, so the game becomes another GTA and GTA is better fullfilled. Driving is bearable, but a bit sad that this game at first supposed to be driving/racing game. Only first and second act was interesting inAt first it's interesting and gives some new stuff like hacking traffic lights, exploding pipes under the road, but it's fun for a short time. Later those hacks doesn't even interest you, so the game becomes another GTA and GTA is better fullfilled. Driving is bearable, but a bit sad that this game at first supposed to be driving/racing game. Only first and second act was interesting in story wise, after that I just wanted to finish it and put it a side.… Expand
  30. Zombinedotrar
    May 27, 2014
    6
    I enjoyed my time with Watch Dogs, however it never managed to live up to expectations or feel more than an average GTA clone. The hacking is the most notable reason for this, as it has become almost completely sidelined instead of the central mechanic of the game. Instead of working on a wheel where you could select the hacks you wanted to use, hacking is now limited to "PRESS Q FORI enjoyed my time with Watch Dogs, however it never managed to live up to expectations or feel more than an average GTA clone. The hacking is the most notable reason for this, as it has become almost completely sidelined instead of the central mechanic of the game. Instead of working on a wheel where you could select the hacks you wanted to use, hacking is now limited to "PRESS Q FOR AWESOME" style situational button prompts. It is very limited and compared to the original E3 footage, highly disappointing. Nothing in the game managed to reach the heights of that footage, and as a result everything ends up feeling rather middling.

    Instead of being a Deus Ex: Human Revolution style look at the moral and ethical problems associated with mass surveillance like it was originally intended, the game is instead a combat heavy open world game. Many times it was just easier and less troublesome to go in guns blazing instead of opting for the stealthier approach. This might have been alright, had the gunplay not been painfully mediocre. The game's arsenal is completely generic and dull, and I managed to go through the game with nothing more than a pistol. one of the other weapons are interesting, and everything feels very limp to fire. Enemy AI is also functionally braindead, resulting in the game feeling very dull and uninteresting to just shoot the place up, while being completely unfulfilling to stealth and hack your way through.

    The story goes from interesting to mundane, and the pacing is usually fairly terrible. The game has many amazing ideas yet never capitalizes on any of them. Though the game opts to go for a GTA clone open world style game, there is almost no attention to detail in the world to make it feel alive like every other GTA has. Even comparing it to GTA IV, a six year old game, feels unfair to Watch Dogs. The city feels bizarrely lifeless and disjointed, with very few small details to make it feel vibrant and alive. Watch Dogs' city is just entirely uninteresting.

    I played the game all the way through on PC, on an i5 4670k and a GTX 770, with 8 GB of RAM. Despite the very high specs I have, the game is so atrociously optimized I couldn't run it at a steady framerate on ultra. I had to lower many of the settings to achieve an acceptable framerate and even then the game was highly unstable, dropping from 60 frames per second down to 20 at the drop of a hat. It is seemingly random. Load times are equally as random, sometimes loading an area in as little as 5 seconds, up to a minute for no apparent reason. The PC optimization was apparently handled by Ubisoft Kiev, who did such an abysmal job it completely took me out of the game for a long time. It is frankly unacceptable that Watch Dogs can only hit an average of 40 FPS on high-ultra settings when I can run Metro: Last Light at 45-50 steady FPS on ultra. LL is a much more graphically advanced game than Watch Dogs, which has absolutely no reason to consume so many resources that results in frankly disappointing graphics.

    While the game looks fairly good at night, and during rain, it simply looks terrible during the day. The daytime lighting is awful, colors are all washed out, shadows are weak and occasionally there are NO shadows in some building interiors. During the day you can also see how low quality many of the art assets are. A lot of the textures look great, but there is a huge disconnect when you go from an area with great textures and lighting to an area with low quality, blurry textures and bad lighting. It is very unpolished graphically, but at least at night you can't see how low quality many of the textures are. I preferred to switch to night time every chance I could because the daylight is just so much worse looking and it has no reason to be. To once again compare it to GTA IV, it looks only slightly better than that game during the day.

    The story mission design is fairly standard, but it's the side content that suffers the most. The minigames are terribly boring, and the crime missions are all literally the exact same foot chase repeated over and over again. You can walk down a single street and might encounter 2-3 crimes, yet they all play out the exact same. This repetitiveness, combined with the lackluster hacking, make the game feel completely hollow. It simply doesn't have anything to set itself apart from other open world games out there like GTA, Sleeping Dogs, or Saints Row.

    It's not all bad though, the game is still fairly enjoyable overall. there is a lot of fun to be had if you can find it. My favorite part of the game was walking around at night profiling strangers. This was surprisingly comfy and enjoyable, and I came back after finishing the game to do it some more. Overall the game is competent but only slightly above mediocre, with a ton of highly disappointing aspects. It's worth a single playthrough, but only the story missions are really worth a look.    … 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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