User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3903 Ratings

User score distribution:
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. Aug 6, 2023
    4
    Pros
    - the various hacking skills feel cool to use
    - bunch of cool ideas that unfortunately go unrealized Cons - the driving is awful - Aiden is monotone and boring throughout most of the story - the story itself is generic Not much to say about the original Watch Dogs. It is just the most bog standard Ubisoft video game you will play. Open world, meh story and a bunch of side
    Pros
    - the various hacking skills feel cool to use
    - bunch of cool ideas that unfortunately go unrealized

    Cons
    - the driving is awful
    - Aiden is monotone and boring throughout most of the story
    - the story itself is generic

    Not much to say about the original Watch Dogs. It is just the most bog standard Ubisoft video game you will play. Open world, meh story and a bunch of side activities. On the topic of those.

    So many side activities require you to drive. And my god is this driving one of the most broken things ever created. I personally believed that it was created by a group of chimps that thought cars stick to the ground like they weigh thousand tonnes and move like ice skates. I can't overstate how bad it feels to drive in this game. And you are going to be doing a lot of driving.

    Other than that the game is a standard cover shooter that is beyond braindead easy though looks good at times. And that is the thing with this game that pisses me off the most. This game has all the potential and no execution. Everything is half assed or down right boring.

    The story is a cliche revenge plot. The protagonist is a brooding monotone dude who has one or two good moments. The villains… Eh, who cares? Not memorable to survive in your head two days after you roll the credits.

    All in all, Watch Dogs is a bunch of good ideas and promises that go unfulfilled. Shame, I'd rather play the game from the trailers.
    Expand
  2. Jun 1, 2023
    3
    34/100 even as a kid i saw this as gta but worse .
  3. May 12, 2023
    0
    this game is rotten and ridiculous, the gameplay is horrible, confusing buttons, confusing missions, poorly balanced and everything else bad you can imagine. Ubisoft's worst game
  4. Apr 25, 2022
    4
    This game sucksss.... it has a horrible story, the 'missions' 90% of the time just consist of the side missions either repackaged or not even. The framerate is also horrendous i had drops at least every 10 minutes especially when a lot is going on. If you never played this one you didn't miss out on much a totally forgettable GTA ripoff
  5. Mar 13, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Personally, I think this game its overrated. The story shows to you a criminal who lost her sister-in-law, the only person who was happy with him. For his fault, Maurice killed her, and Aiden thinks that the only way to redeem is the revenge. But thats a big mistake. He tries to kill maurice, a few days, her sister gets kidnapped and he tries to go after damien, but hes does criminal things. After a while, he mets clara lile, her helper, after, he meet T-Bone, unfortunately, he starts to loose, things at the end of the because his obsession to kill damien, he loses clara, she is killed; he loses his family because they don't wanna be on risk, he loose his dignity and finally, when he kills damien, he kills his friend, jordi-chin. I personally think that the story represents how bad is the revenge, and how a criminal, usually can't become good person. Honestly, i hate the end because jordi-cin for no reason is still alive, but the story is breaking-down, you feel bad for the characters around Aiden pearce. The graphics are generic, in 2014 were good, but nowadays,
    some moments growned very bad at the time. The world is interesting, has some interesting activities but are very short and its easy to get the final trophie (platinum, in ps4, for example). The gameplay its very good, and the car persecutions are spectacular, with all of the hacks and slow motion, the final boss its very original, because you needd to drive around the city escaping and trying to go places wich in a short time, get hacked. The atmposhere is good, and dark. The game has a lots of bugs. Good performance. I recommend it, but only for 30$
    Expand
  6. Dec 5, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Nice game mechanically, the story sucks. Key events happen like they are marked off a list not making much sense. And then the god damn Damien sequence. Unavoidable CtOS scan and no idea where your objective is unless you made a god damn picture at the start. Ridiculous, attempted it multiple times, there is not a second to breathe on hard diff, no skill can help you and i don't bother lowering diff. Uninstalled don't care to see the end, the story went to **** anyway after forcefully killing a key character. Was wondering why the game was hated but now i get it. Wasted potential, wasted 5 h of mine, fire your writers. Expand
  7. Mar 9, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. MELHOR QUE GTA É A CABEÇA DA MINHA ROLA JOGO TODO CAGADO ATE NO PS3 E NO PC PIOR Expand
  8. Feb 22, 2021
    3
    Looks good and has an interesting concept. Starts well and gets your attention, but quickly becomes repetitive and boring. The side missions are a bland "copy paste" rush work that just wears you out without any real satisfaction. I have no idea what the story is about, even after playing it for more than 5 hrs. I made an honest effort to play this game, bit it just doesn't engage on anyLooks good and has an interesting concept. Starts well and gets your attention, but quickly becomes repetitive and boring. The side missions are a bland "copy paste" rush work that just wears you out without any real satisfaction. I have no idea what the story is about, even after playing it for more than 5 hrs. I made an honest effort to play this game, bit it just doesn't engage on any level.

    Poor story, unlikable characters with little or no development, limited customization options, awful vehicle handling, repetitive gameplay and worst of all: horrendous combat mechanics (like no shoulder swap of weapon).
    Expand
  9. Dec 30, 2020
    0
    Today you actually notice how boring the first part was compared to the sequels. The story was good but it was told so tough and the side missions were almost all lame.
    The worst part is the control of the cars which has never been improved.
  10. Aug 5, 2020
    4
    One of the most disappointing games of the generation. Extremely buggy at release, I even got two game breaking bugs in week one. Bland characters, mediocre story and horrifying driving mechanics. While it has an interesting hacking component and surprisingly fun multiplayer modes, it still is a major letdown
  11. Jun 20, 2020
    3
    not much to say for a game that is so dull and forgettable. 3/10 just because the idea and parts of the hacking gameplay was very enjoyable. being able to control so much around you was fun, but nothing else was. The city is dull, the characters are forgettable and boring. The graphics even for the time were horrible. Why would anyone play this with GTA V out there???? Makes no sense to me!
  12. Jun 7, 2020
    3
    This game has a lot of potential but throws it all away with boring repetitive missions. Bought it on sale and still wish I hadn't spent the $20.
  13. Feb 17, 2020
    0
    This is by far one of the worst games I've ever played! Its disgraceful! I can't believe ubisoft sunk this low! Its clunky as hell the side activities are abysmal! Like literally things you'll find in a arcade! This game is disgusting and a embarrassment!! Shame on ALL involved! Ubisofts worst game my margins!!!
  14. Jan 27, 2020
    1
    Average revenge story. The MC is boring like most people say, but his voice actor is on point. The gun play is terrible, along with the driving, even after 5 hours of playing, still can’t get a feel for either The hacking is awesome, aside from the timed hacking spots. I don’t care for events with timers. Overall:wait for sale.
  15. Nov 15, 2019
    4
    I am really not into crime driven games set in contemporary real world settings. This game had some neat ideas with how hacking is used. Beyond that this IP seems like another GTA/Saints Row wannabe. The combat and driving elements have two issues. One performance seems to drop and secondly it is not that much fun to shoot and/or drive. Yeah a big open map, but with only copy paste stuffI am really not into crime driven games set in contemporary real world settings. This game had some neat ideas with how hacking is used. Beyond that this IP seems like another GTA/Saints Row wannabe. The combat and driving elements have two issues. One performance seems to drop and secondly it is not that much fun to shoot and/or drive. Yeah a big open map, but with only copy paste stuff to do. Most of the side activities just did not resonate. Sometimes a story can save a game and pull me in. A generic tale of revenge wasn't really a show stopper. After a combined total of several hours gameplay I was kind of bored with this one. No interest in the MP side of this game. So maybe that is a chunk of the score I am missing out on. Expand
  16. Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game stopped in the middle of the tutorial. "installing 41%". climbed to 45% after 10 minutes.
    "Do you want to quit? Progress will be lost". I had very low expectations but this joke surprised me anyway.
  17. Aug 2, 2019
    2
    The car mechanics were made by a beaver. The story was made by beaver. The characters were made by a beaver. The people who like this game are beavers. The game was made by a beaver.
  18. May 25, 2019
    4
    What a boring game. It's as if developers target was to create the greatest open world game, but forgot to put in fun or quality content.

    I'm one of those people who stayed under a rock just to avoid all the hype the game was getting, so don't expect me complaining about how graphics are downgraded or how Ubisoft was lying straight to consumers faces. Gameplay: Car physics and
    What a boring game. It's as if developers target was to create the greatest open world game, but forgot to put in fun or quality content.

    I'm one of those people who stayed under a rock just to avoid all the hype the game was getting, so don't expect me complaining about how graphics are downgraded or how Ubisoft was lying straight to consumers faces.

    Gameplay:
    Car physics and handling is terrible, feels like something from the PS2 era. Even the terrible handling of True Crime felt more realistic or fun for that matter. Same goes for weapon handling, AI is as bad as you can expect, they'll be either staying in one place and show themselves for a few seconds just to shoot and then hide again in the same place, or run towards you. It's already a clumsy game, yet they managed to screw the melee system that you can knock someone only if you're playing a stealth mission.

    The location itself is alright, but there are some awkward moments. Take for example civilian cars, you will never see in a car anyone else besides the driver(except for police and henchmen in the story missions). I find that small detail very annoying since that's something that was not an issue since GTA3 which came out in 2001. If you visit any store more than once you will quickly notice that the visitors do the same thing every time you enter. So most of the stuff is copy/pasted and scripted, hence the world feels more lifeless than it should.

    The hacking part can be in some respects fun, but it can be limiting. For example: wouldn't it be fun to crush your card with a container? According to the game, nope. If you put any vehicle under, I guess then your hacking system get some kind of guilt or something, it won't do anything. You want the train to hit the car or Aiden because he's a lifeless tool? I guess you can't because the train has feelings now, but explosions are ok.

    Missions/Campaign: Yet another terrible mess. The only positive thing I can say is the hacking part, but even that part gets annoying when you see that's the only thing they have to show outside all the generic open word stuff. Those hacking puzzles and finding the targets through the camera overstay their welcome, just like tank missions in Arkham Knight. The plot is poorly executed, main characters are boring, I don't feel any sympathy for characters that have fewer emotions than my neighbors' old cat.

    If there is one thing most developers have learning for the past 10 years is that tailing missions are boring, so you have to ask why didn't these developers get the memo. Chase missions would have been fun if the car handling/physics weren't so stiff. And every time you're a bit behind you gets warning that you're losing the target and it's annoying because of the counter stopwatch which refreshes to the start quite a lot. A good example of how broking the stealth/tailing target is the mission where you're following Iraq's cousin, you will fail even though you can see him right across the walking path. A lot of times I failed missions because I didn't know what to do, and they happen to have the worst possible checkpoints as if developers were trolling just for the fun.

    A lot of times, it's much easier just to kill everything that moves, rather than avoid or use hacking gadgets for a stealthier approach. As a vigilante, you'll be killing more often policemen than escaping them, because it's just less annoying.

    So yeah, mission design is not great.

    Sound/Music:
    The music playlist, outside of a few songs nothing else either good or worth listening. It's the type of music artists put on albums as a filler. Whoever was choosing those songs, your hipster music is terrible.

    If I have not mentioned gun or vehicle sound, well it mediocre, just like the rest of the game. If you're reading this far, this shouldn't be surprising.

    Conclusion: The game is mediocre at best. Some will find it appealing, because of the hacking features, but in my case, it quickly wore off. I would recommend to try it out only if you have nothing else to play, which is very unlikely.
    Expand
  19. Sep 4, 2018
    0
    thisgame is a joke. broken and empty. but the best joke of all is that the media gave this garbage an 8.0
  20. Jun 13, 2017
    4
    Effectively boring. The concept is great, the execution poor. I feel if it had been in development longer or perhaps they are attempted less it could have been an enjoyable game.
  21. Mar 8, 2017
    4
    Not good at all. No need to go into any detail on this one as there is already lots of negative reviews out there to read. The only thing amazing about this game is that it got a sequel.
  22. Oct 6, 2016
    0
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
    Horrible piece of ****
  23. Sep 26, 2016
    4
    I'm just writing at least 150 characters because I wanted to save this review in a more convenient way to look back at scores that I had given stuff as a user.
  24. Sep 11, 2016
    0
    This game is extremely overrated. I'm not worried about the graphic drops.. i bought this game 2 YEARS ago... and only played a bit of it because its so BORING! The story is horrible as well!
    I am finally just now beating it and i'm reminded how tedious the missions are! Cannot believe people would want a sequel when there's much better games out there!
  25. Aug 22, 2016
    4
    Watch Dogs is the worst game of Ubisoft. The story missions are mostly boring and unclear. Due to problems with the story the map loses its potential. The world is visually good-looking but characters and cars are not. Chicago feels empty and you have nothing to do except annoying side missions. Vehicles have ridiculous acceleration so you have no time checking your surroundings. PhysicsWatch Dogs is the worst game of Ubisoft. The story missions are mostly boring and unclear. Due to problems with the story the map loses its potential. The world is visually good-looking but characters and cars are not. Chicago feels empty and you have nothing to do except annoying side missions. Vehicles have ridiculous acceleration so you have no time checking your surroundings. Physics of the game are terribly unrealistic, enemies are too stupid or too clever but never even close to normal. The genre Watch Dogs is competing is just way too harsh for it. Hacking is the key element of the game and sometimes it causes unexpected death of Aiden Pearce or somebody he was supposed to protect. Very often you are about to hack some gates or traffic lights but Aiden decides to commit suicide by exploding himself with steam pipe... and mission failed. It is somewhat annoying when some other player invades your game during your casual gameplay and you have no time for their mierda del toro. The good thing is that you are able to invade their games as well. One of the few good things is that you will earn relatively multiple easy trophies from the game... Expand
  26. Jul 15, 2016
    4
    Good graphics. Nice driving and GPS system. But the game overall is boring and repetitive, the story is the same old cliche. This is Ubisoft being Ubisoft again.
  27. Feb 15, 2016
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. tenia que ser de los idiotas de UBISOFT, creo que es la empresa mas nefasta de los últimos 10 años, debería llamarse, promise-soft, puras promesas, un downgrade vergonzoso, una imitación en chafa de GTA, pero como region 5. que pena que este tipos de juegos sean lanzados, con tantos errores, con tanta mentira para que la gente lo pueda comprar en preventa... si, lamentable que en esta nueva generación muy pocas empresas sean honestas... comenzó mal con lo de que no se tenia una beta para los usuarios, muchos errores incómodos, pareciera que estas jugando un titulo de PS2 Expand
  28. Feb 8, 2016
    1
    The good:

    not fun to play
    gets boring fast
    the mission design is horrible
    Vehicle handling is poor
    Uninspired and generic open world, concept

    the bad:

    you need to pay to play this piece of s$#&
  29. Jan 17, 2016
    0
    This will not be a gentle read. Watch Dogs, aside from a terrible title, fumbles in its ugly, clumsy man-hands, a terrible nonsensical narrative, underwhelming character mechanics, ridiculously outdated physics, and even after keeping my distance for over a year; going back to this game with the mentality of a last-gen mop up; I can't emphasize enough just how infuriating the pacing,This will not be a gentle read. Watch Dogs, aside from a terrible title, fumbles in its ugly, clumsy man-hands, a terrible nonsensical narrative, underwhelming character mechanics, ridiculously outdated physics, and even after keeping my distance for over a year; going back to this game with the mentality of a last-gen mop up; I can't emphasize enough just how infuriating the pacing, character, and plot development really is. It's unsatisfying when it should be clutch-critical, incredibly ridiculous when it's implied to be intimate, and lofty with a constant "head in the clouds" delivery when all the performances suggest there should be a great gravity about the situation. Its bad enough that the main character is supposed to be emotionally distraught yet through game-demanding-actions consistently falls to express that, but to force the player to become just so distraught over things like game mechanics and plot development, is not only a cheap parlor trick, it's an express ticket to "wtf review-land". If you're like me and gave this game a (cough* second *cough) chance, please, for the love of all that is holy, refrain from doing so and save whatever resource it would take you to acquire it. Money, time, pride, favors of one sort or another; just spare yourself the grief and stay away from this slog. This is literally the first game I have ever played which made me wish I could get back every single second I spent in it. Every would-be redeemable element of this game odd so strongly overshadowed by disappointment that even playing through to remind myself how it concluded was something I simply could not stomach. Worst. Game. I. Have. Ever. Played. And yes, I did play the original ME3 ending. Watch Dogs, as it sits now, is not only not worth the time. It's an insult to the industry. This makes HAZE feel understandably hyped. Expand
  30. Oct 19, 2015
    1
    When Ubisoft showed what the world of Watch Dogs would be like.....I was excited. What I got was nothing remotely close. "you will never see the same NPC ever" 5 minutes into the game I see 5 bloody clones. The graphics are nothing spectacular as well. What they showed was something amazing but days before release they announce a graphical downgrade that really impacted the game. The gameWhen Ubisoft showed what the world of Watch Dogs would be like.....I was excited. What I got was nothing remotely close. "you will never see the same NPC ever" 5 minutes into the game I see 5 bloody clones. The graphics are nothing spectacular as well. What they showed was something amazing but days before release they announce a graphical downgrade that really impacted the game. The game play it self is very predictable, repetitive and dull, not to mention the story did not connect to the player at all. This game must be avoided .....period. Giving a 1 only because some losers put some hours of their life into making a **** game then over glorifying it to get rich...scum. Expand
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 80 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 80
  2. Negative: 0 out of 80
  1. Aug 6, 2014
    85
    Watch Dogs is a fun open world experience. However, the repetitive chases and the formulaic gameplay tend to get tedious and boring after a while. As such, you might want to enjoy the different multiplayer experiences and take frequent breaks to just roam around the city.
  2. CD-Action
    Jul 25, 2014
    70
    It’s a bold first step on the new terrain for Ubisoft. The game is enjoyable, offers some interesting mechanics and lasts for long enough, but is bland as a whole. The characters lack personalities, the city could use more distinctness and the story is instantly forgettable. [07/2014, p.46]
  3. Jul 18, 2014
    85
    Overall, it is almost without a doubt the best platformer that has popped up on the current generation of consoles and is a bedrock on which Ubisoft could build a brand to remember.