I have had my hands on watchdogs for 2 days now and what’s clear already is this is a title that will require many, many days, probably weeks, to fully appreciate and understand. There is not much for easing new players into this much anticipated world apart from a fairly simple opening narrative. This introduces a revenge theme where the brooding player character, Aidan Pierce, isI have had my hands on watchdogs for 2 days now and what’s clear already is this is a title that will require many, many days, probably weeks, to fully appreciate and understand. There is not much for easing new players into this much anticipated world apart from a fairly simple opening narrative. This introduces a revenge theme where the brooding player character, Aidan Pierce, is searching for answers about the death of his young niece following a past hack that turned bad. Aidan with the help of some shady Dedsec (a sort of hackers anonymous) individuals go about getting to the bottom of why this family tragedy has befallen and why his family still remains in apparent danger.
Upon entering the free game world for the 1st time after the opening story sequence I was overloaded with a massive array of features in very vivid and lively Chicago. It’s not to say this is a bad thing, plenty of titles introduce players to new games with slow, unimaginative tutorials and introductions, while better games immerse players early on incorporating game features that players will need to master. Watchdogs doesn’t really do either instead the game drops the player in and says here’s everything we got, go nuts!
In fairness there are short tutorials for pretty much every activity and feature which are triggered as and when they are required as well as the player being able to access them anytime through the in game Smartphone. At first the sheer amount of information dropped at once seems overwhelming, with map icons for campaigns, side missions, collectibles, exploration, activities, investigations shopping and more. However after playing a little while it gets easier to process everything and develop a style of progression you’re comfortable with although this is frequently interrupted by constant remote alerts of crimes and criminals to stop. This can be a blessing and a curse, particularly for somewhat OCD gamers like myself that tend to leave no stone unturned.
As for the gameplay itself, it came as quite of a surprise how similar I found the set up to GTA titles. The level of openness is impressive and praise has to give to the level of detail gone in which really makes the city feel alive everywhere you go. I did expect however a bit more cohesion between the player’s story and the game world. We knew before release that the player would be some kind of technological vigilante super Assange, however where this suffers at first is there is no real effort in establishing a motive for the players’ activities. I’m still unsure if Aidan is a hacker turned vigilante, or a vigilante who happens to be a skilled hacker. Again, the narrative at the beginning doesn’t really attempt to reconcile the two so there’s no real purpose to why Aidan should be stopping organ traffickers and potential violent criminals and fraudsters (while at the same time ripping off ATM’s!) What is interesting is the natural Moral compass imbedded in the game using a fairly simple reputation system. Going on a GTA themed joyride and mowing down lines of civilians will severely damage your reputation and make the game much more difficult (and annoying) by increasing chances a citizen may call the police on you and trigger what I have found to be long and frequently difficult pursuits. It is possible however to jam a 911 call or just bully their mobile phone off them. Trust can always be earned though, and stopping street crimes (although fairly repetitive) increases your reputation particularly if non-lethal force is applied, on this note, taking out cops in Arnie, Terminator 2 style by shooting out their legs is also useful as your reputation decrease is less severe than going full on Arnie terminator 1.
The main selling point for watchdogs that separates it from other open world action games is the tech heavy focus. The players Smartphone is a powerful and enjoyable tool and the real time hacking features are unique to the world of gaming. Activating a profiling mode provides Aidan with general (and amusing) information on any citizen or enemy as well as potential access to their bank accounts or even music collections as well as detecting possible crimes and people/places of interest. Probably the most satisfying and engaging feature is Aidan’s ability to hack into the city’s CtOS network which controls everything from surveillance and electric grids, to street furniture and lockboxes. The dastardly smile on my face the first time I caused a super slow motion police car crash by changing the red lights must have been wider than the Chicago River. The usability of these features depends on if the city district the player is in has had its CtOS tower hacked in a somewhat assassins creed viewpoint unlock style. Some of these towers require parkour and puzzle solving to reach while others require stealth or straight up brutality to reach, Watch dogs does a great job of allowing the player to choose their own style for most situations, it is noted that the parkour features although simple are responsive and effective. Several hilarious decryptions are also available once you have successfully downloaded into some of these stations where you find out just how intrusive CtOS can be on its own citizens lives, from hacking into household camera’s to capture certain, home movies, *cough cough* to analysing people’s health and personal habits.
What came as quite a surprise is how smooth the combat system plays, Watchdogs rivals and exceeds even the best 3rd person cover shooters. The cover system is simple and responsive with easy transitions not only round corners but even to cover points at long distances. There is a wide range of weaponry and crafting items to employ which when combined with combat hacking really provides the player with a feeling of control and skill while at the same time never being too easy due to its realism and responsive AI. Most engagements can be quickly pre-planned and strategized by the player. Find hard cover, then watch with glee as you hack into a series of cameras that allows the player to tag enemy positions, unlock doors, set off multiple distractions and even wirelessly hack enemies ear pieces, mobile phones (to text them amusing messages regarding mortgage rejections and more) and remotely set off explosive devices they happen to be carrying. Once the wireless mayhem has reduced your foes to paranoid wrecks, it’s time to move in and pick them off, or perhaps after profiling a guard and learning he’s excited for his daughters 2nd birthday, take them down with a riot stick or just waltz past.
Perhaps some of the best moments I have had with watchdogs so far have not been campaign or side missions but rather in the alternative mode. There’s plenty of Fixer contracts to engage in for cash and experience points ranging from stopping a convoy to taking the Chicago PD on a wild goose chase. There’s also the hugely enjoyable “digital trips”, kind of techno induced acid trips which includes one activity called the “spider tank” which had me bouncing in my seat in excitement as I manoeuvred a giant robotic spider across the streets and rooftops of Chicago destroying everyone and anyone. The other game mode that has to be given praise is the embedded online features through the Smartphone online contracts. Although I get the feeling I have not got to sample all watchdogs multiplayer has to offer, what I have played has been smooth, exciting and tense. Although not directly linked to the story the invasion and tailing modes link to your wider role as a hacker where other real world players will invade your game session and attempt to hack your smart phone to gleam data from you while you are given a set time to find the hacker and put them down. The longer you are hacked the smaller the search area becomes with the tension retching up to find the geeky little thieves. On the flip side, you can hack some other poor fixer’s phone. Winning these hack duels grants notoriety points which grants useful special unlocks such as special ammo and vehicles. Another immensely exciting mode is a retrieval mode that consists of two teams driving and shooting it out to decrypt a single file package, the team who has possession of the file when 100% decrypted wins, how you get to that point is completely up to the players. The synchronicity between online contracts and the single player world is very exciting for the future of shared world games, and transitioning between the two is mostly fast and does not feel separated or restrictive, although it would be nice if there was an option to allow a friends list only option as I can foresee myself telling a would be hacker where they can stick their Smartphone for “invading” my game.
Looks wise Watchdogs is finely polished and quite striking although I have not really had a wow moment so far in regards to its next gen visuals. The detail however is impressive with weather and lighting effects realistic and ambient touches such as trash floating along the floor in the wind. Up close character details are sharp and refined but once again probably still a little short of being the title that really pushes next gen graphics. The overall style seems to mix a blend of urban, cyberpunk and metropolitan styles although it hasn’t fully engaged me atmospherically to a point I could say it has its own distinct ambience or unique look. I would have liked to see a bit more of a distinct effort to engage the player into a stylised world and was probably expecting something a bit darker and underground.
Overall it’s clear that after just a couple of days with watchdogs there’s so much in terms of content and execution to keep a large spectrum of gamers interested and happy. For open world aficionado’s and accomplishment guru’s there’s a mind bogglingly comprehensive progression system including campaign, general experience, skill points and unlocks, side missions, investigation, exploration, collectibles, interactions and activities. Watch dogs does a fantastic job in rewarding players for fully experiencing its vast open world features with progression wheels for absolutely everything with rewards, unlocks and special items making all activities worthwhile and not just extra’s to the main missions. For the more action orientated players the gameplay and scenarios are exciting, immersive and fairly challenging, with plenty of features to provide play style and options. The combat system is enjoyable and rewarding and the AI responsive.
My first impression of watchdogs is it seems to just fall short of being a truly iconic next gen title however there’s so much going on that you won’t have time to really care especially when raising a bridge behind you with cadre of cop cars in close pursuit. The graphics on the whole don’t quite provide the outstanding next gen visuals I have been waiting for however there are plenty of visual features and effects for eye candy. It would have gone a long way having a deeper opening narrative and character introduction to link the story to the wider game world giving it some perspective, and emotion, although there’s plenty of scope to develop this as the campaign unravels. The scope and scale of the game together with the well-crafted combat and unique game features will make Watchdogs worthwhile the time required to hack in for a large percentage of gamers.… Expand
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