Watch Dogs

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3903 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,988 out of 3903
  2. Mixed: 1,104 out of 3903
  3. Negative: 811 out of 3903
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
view
per page
  1. themostdef
    Jan 11, 2015
    3
    This game reminded me what a great game Grand Theft Auto is.
    I still can't believe Ubisoft considered this project to be GTA-killer.
    Main story is lame and boring. SPOILER ALLERT: AIDEN WILL GET HIS REVENGE.
    Side missions are repetitive and boring.
    Graphics are not impressive at all.
    Soundtrack is just bad.
    Gameplay is even worse.
    3/10
  2. Yas667
    Feb 17, 2015
    3
    Played for 3 hours... 5% of main story. Got bored and never played it again! There are some good ideas in the game but the whole package is very lacklustre and extremely repetitive. The main character sucks... the gameplay sucks.... the action sucks... not to mention the big lie by ubisoft around what it was suppose to look like to what it does... which is not even a next gen!
  3. erolsabadosh
    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.
  4. Ozymandias786
    Aug 30, 2015
    3
    Purely for the humour of finding out In game NPC information, otherwise it was nothing like e3 the promise it showed and what It could have achieved. All I was doing was playing as a character with an interesting skill set but failure to capitalise on this by ubisoft meant a lacking story and mediocre missions, I guess they were too busy developing the next assassins creed game to care forPurely for the humour of finding out In game NPC information, otherwise it was nothing like e3 the promise it showed and what It could have achieved. All I was doing was playing as a character with an interesting skill set but failure to capitalise on this by ubisoft meant a lacking story and mediocre missions, I guess they were too busy developing the next assassins creed game to care for this one, but Unity became a let down as well. Early faults in the game were present with invisible walls restricting movement on occasion.… Expand
  5. EshanBhatt
    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!
  6. rezamirzaei
    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
  7. miguellopez99
    Jun 1, 2023
    3
    34/100 even as a kid i saw this as gta but worse .
  8. FadeOutAgain
    Jul 16, 2014
    2
    You got me Ubisoft. So much hype, positive critic reviews that just gloss over this games flaws, and more hype. This game is broken and boring. Vehicular combat is atrocious, shooting is boring, hacking is a barebones gimmick disguised as a deep mechanic. It looks terrible on the PS4, the city feels dead. This is a bad game with excellent marketing. You're better off playing GTA V or DeuxYou got me Ubisoft. So much hype, positive critic reviews that just gloss over this games flaws, and more hype. This game is broken and boring. Vehicular combat is atrocious, shooting is boring, hacking is a barebones gimmick disguised as a deep mechanic. It looks terrible on the PS4, the city feels dead. This is a bad game with excellent marketing. You're better off playing GTA V or Deux Ex rather than their deformed love child.… Expand
  9. jacoforma
    May 28, 2014
    2
    What a disappointment.

    The graphics are above average but not nearly what we expect in next-gen. The gameplay is repetitive and ridiculous. There is no way to physically engage pedestrians to cause mayhem. Either hit them with your car (assuming they don't magically dive out of the way) or start a gunfight which ruins the fun anyways. The vehicle handling is a joke. The cop abilities    What a disappointment.

    The graphics are above average but not nearly what we expect in next-gen. The gameplay is repetitive and ridiculous. There is no way to physically engage pedestrians to cause mayhem. Either hit them with your car (assuming they don't magically dive out of the way) or start a gunfight which ruins the fun anyways. The vehicle handling is a joke. The cop abilities and response time and the entire chase sequences are complete failures. The hacking feature is silly - there is an object, hit the button and it will magically be hacked and will do one specific thing for you. Tada! The characters are completely forgettable.

    This game is best described as Assassins Creed without the heart and soul put into it.    … Expand
  10. XspidervenimX
    May 27, 2014
    2
    I picked up midnight release and already traded at walmart for 35$. For me it should have never been released. It's not fun or interesting and looks dated. But graphics don't matter if it's fun and it is not . Some interesting ideas in concept. Poor AI, boring hacking, repetitive game play and simple graphics. I bought ps4 version due to ubisoft and invidia deals blocking AMD. NoI picked up midnight release and already traded at walmart for 35$. For me it should have never been released. It's not fun or interesting and looks dated. But graphics don't matter if it's fun and it is not . Some interesting ideas in concept. Poor AI, boring hacking, repetitive game play and simple graphics. I bought ps4 version due to ubisoft and invidia deals blocking AMD. No reasons to waste your money.… Expand
  11. mcmunsta
    Jul 18, 2014
    2
    For a triple A title I was sincerely disappointed with the game play. I simply didn't have fun and the game felt pointless and monotonous to me. The story didn't grab me and about 4 hours in I knew that I was going to regret my purchase. The environment didn't feel alive to me to be honest. It lacked grit I suppose.
  12. ransom34
    Jun 29, 2014
    2
    This has to be the most overhyped and overrated game this generation, and in addition to dumping/nerfing all the promised features, it literally plays like a dumbed-down, freedom-stunted version of the original GTA. No, not GTA V, as this game isn't even close to that, the original GTA. The promised "open world" is a joke, and you literally can't do anything outside the limited number ofThis has to be the most overhyped and overrated game this generation, and in addition to dumping/nerfing all the promised features, it literally plays like a dumbed-down, freedom-stunted version of the original GTA. No, not GTA V, as this game isn't even close to that, the original GTA. The promised "open world" is a joke, and you literally can't do anything outside the limited number of scripted actions. Driving is a joke (think an old PS2 arcade game), the story is idiotic and the mission selection is extremely limited. And worst of all, it looks like crap on next-gen systems, and is obviously a straight port from PS3/Xbox 360. Extremely disappointed and this game will tank at retail very soon.… Expand
  13. Maxson
    May 30, 2014
    2
    When Ubisoft brought out the first preview for this game at e3 2012, I was blown away by the hacking mechanic in the game. Sad to say this but after playing for more than 10 hours, this game is boring...Ubisoft advertised the game by putting "Hacking is your weapon", well in the game..guns are the strongest weapon. Plus the developers decided to downgraded the graphics thanks to theWhen Ubisoft brought out the first preview for this game at e3 2012, I was blown away by the hacking mechanic in the game. Sad to say this but after playing for more than 10 hours, this game is boring...Ubisoft advertised the game by putting "Hacking is your weapon", well in the game..guns are the strongest weapon. Plus the developers decided to downgraded the graphics thanks to the current consoles...sigh. Most overrated and overhyped game of this year.… Expand
  14. pzol
    Jul 21, 2014
    2
    The idea of the game sounds good, but after 2-3 hours it is totally boring. It's a GTA clone, without the wits, without the humor, without the charm. The story execution makes you yawn.
  15. Raiden94
    Jun 16, 2014
    2
    I'm not gonna start blabbing on about how the game is nothing like what they showed us 2 years ago, because let's face it, no game ever looks as good as its E3 demo.
    No, the reason I'm here is because I played the game, and after 40 hours of endless "stop this crime" missions, I have concluded that Watch Dogs is one of the worst open world games to come out in a very long time. My major    I'm not gonna start blabbing on about how the game is nothing like what they showed us 2 years ago, because let's face it, no game ever looks as good as its E3 demo.
    No, the reason I'm here is because I played the game, and after 40 hours of endless "stop this crime" missions, I have concluded that Watch Dogs is one of the worst open world games to come out in a very long time. My major issue with the game is how dead and empty it feels. Every single mission is milked and repeated over and over again. Several times I found myself asking, didn't I kill this guy before? Didn't I stop this crime a couple hours ago? Didn't I chase this car yesterday?
    I struggle just to explain how repetetive the game is. It's the same with the story. Every single story mission finds you hiding behind a dumpster trying to hack SOMETHING.
    Which brings me to the hacking, the main gimmick behind the game. How is it? Well, for an hour or so, it's actually quite fun. But once you realize that every single hack is scripted, the joy ends. You see, the hacking is basically "press 'square' to watch an animation of something happening". Eveything from exploding underground pipes to moving bridges is scripted.
    When the ONLY marketing draw of the game is bad, you know the game is screwed. But no, the mediocrity continues.
    Before I talk about the driving, let me get this out of the way. As a main character, Aiden is worse than AC3's Connor.
    Driving, as you must have heard a thousand times, is awful. There are no propper physics and the car damage belongs to the PS2 era. The only vehicle that was remotely fun to drive is the motorcycle.
    In brief, the game is terrible beyond redemption. The only thing that is actually good is the soundtrack.
    We all know Watch Dogs 2 is coming out in 2015, or if things go south, 2016, because it's Ubisoft. So let's hope WD2 takes the same road AC2 took: Turn a mediocre game into game of the decade.    … Expand
  16. Kehferey
    Jun 20, 2014
    2
    This game is a ****fest. Unfinished, riddled with bugs and glitches, has unforgivably bad optimization, forced mouse acceleration, dead enemies respawning when you reload the game to a state which they were already dead and the list goes on. The graphics are not even good! It can't come close to deserve the hype it got. The reasons this game is getting 80 something from reviews areThis game is a ****fest. Unfinished, riddled with bugs and glitches, has unforgivably bad optimization, forced mouse acceleration, dead enemies respawning when you reload the game to a state which they were already dead and the list goes on. The graphics are not even good! It can't come close to deserve the hype it got. The reasons this game is getting 80 something from reviews are reviewers are probably bought out and the hype makes people think this game is good. Couple hours of potential fun can't make this messed up game deserve its asking price and the place it has among gaming community. Do spend your 60 dollars on this. You deserve better.… Expand
  17. chhenriksen
    Oct 21, 2014
    2
    I preordered this because I needed a game to play on PS4 (because, let's face it, at this point in its life cycle, it's a Netflix machine most of the day) and what I got was one of the most bland, mediocre games I've ever played.
  18. POEPOEPOE
    May 27, 2014
    2
    I decided to give this game an oportunity even if i wasn´t impressed by the trailers. So today i bought the game and oh god what a shame. This game is boring, mediocre, with nothing new. You think the hack stuff is new? Nop, Deus Ex does something similar and in much better ways.
  19. jinkaesh
    May 27, 2014
    2
    20 horas de juego - 30 horas de misiones secundarias. ¿Realmente espere todo este tiempo solo para eso? Ademas el contenido grafico expuesto en la E3 fue solamente una farsa, me siento realmente descepcionad.
  20. Slumbaa
    Jul 11, 2014
    2
    This game is just so boring. That even when I start to play I simply quit. I do max 1 mission or even just a side missions before I quit. Its nothing like what I thought it would be. Nothing like AC4 or FC3. Just a horrible game. AC and FC are amazing. WD is just not close to them. Its great game but just looks ugly, yes I know its meant to be very good looking. But I am talking about theThis game is just so boring. That even when I start to play I simply quit. I do max 1 mission or even just a side missions before I quit. Its nothing like what I thought it would be. Nothing like AC4 or FC3. Just a horrible game. AC and FC are amazing. WD is just not close to them. Its great game but just looks ugly, yes I know its meant to be very good looking. But I am talking about the colours and landscape. Its a boring old city with alot of black, brown and dark blue and it always seems to be night time. Story is good but the rest is horrible. Cars dont drive well at all I cant do a turn with crashing. If this was an attempt to rival GTA it was not great. However I am so damn excited for the new AC. and ACBF is on top of list for the best games I have ever played. Without a doubt. WD however doesnt even break top 10.… Expand
  21. I_Hate_Minions
    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.
  22. Nellistos
    Jul 28, 2014
    1
    Last generation graphics, broken reflections, limited car damage, broken physics (see how poles break), stoned pedestrians, city seems deserted at times. Uninspired and generic open world, concept has holes and fails common sense, why does a hacker has to wonder on the streets, why all communication and data is wired within city's electricity infrastructure, who knows? Nobody, justLast generation graphics, broken reflections, limited car damage, broken physics (see how poles break), stoned pedestrians, city seems deserted at times. Uninspired and generic open world, concept has holes and fails common sense, why does a hacker has to wonder on the streets, why all communication and data is wired within city's electricity infrastructure, who knows? Nobody, just serves the hack concept. If you value your time look elsewhere.… Expand
  23. No1Mugster
    May 27, 2014
    1
    GTA has set the bar too high. Not only is the story boring but the graphics are nothing like that we saw a year ago at E3. The driving in this game is awful, just awful. The hacking gets boring after 30 minutes. All I can think while playing this game is...I feel like playing GTA.
  24. earbus
    May 27, 2014
    1
    Just an absolute joke hype hype hype all I heard the game is just dull so many others trying different things , sandbox hell as far as I am concerned you have played this before I thought this is just more boring.
  25. Doctective
    May 27, 2014
    1
    I've been very excited for this since the reveal, and I can safely say that most of the stuff shown off is in the game, more or less.

    The problem is that's really it. The game working the best is there in the trailers, far away from your own control. Except for the scripted instances, the actual open world element to Watch_Dogs is a full lackluster. Instead of investing so much into    I've been very excited for this since the reveal, and I can safely say that most of the stuff shown off is in the game, more or less.

    The problem is that's really it. The game working the best is there in the trailers, far away from your own control. Except for the scripted instances, the actual open world element to Watch_Dogs is a full lackluster.

    Instead of investing so much into advertising the game as whatever it is supposed to be, a lot more money should have instead been invested into making Watch_Dogs actually what Ubisoft is trying to make us believe what it is. I'm not saying it's false advertisement, but it seems pretty clear that they went all the way hyping up a very mediocre game while being perfectly aware of that.

    PS: Also, considering this was advertised as "true next-gen experience", it's a joke that this game is running on the lowest resolution/framerate combo yet on PS4. Battlefield 4, while 900p, at least ran on 60 frames per second.    … Expand
  26. Teh_Beavs
    Jun 4, 2014
    1
    I would love to give this game a 7 or 8 which is what it was looking like from the first time I got to play it. But after day 1 The game will no longer load. A lot of people are complaining about bugs or game not loading at all like me. I give this game a 1 because that was the amount of days I got to play it since launch. If you are on the fence of buying this game I would say passI would love to give this game a 7 or 8 which is what it was looking like from the first time I got to play it. But after day 1 The game will no longer load. A lot of people are complaining about bugs or game not loading at all like me. I give this game a 1 because that was the amount of days I got to play it since launch. If you are on the fence of buying this game I would say pass because there is a good chance you are flushing your cash down the toilet. Over a week and Ubisoft wont even address the issue. besides a tweet "we are working on it" I will not be supporting any further Ubisoft titles and neither should you.… Expand
  27. Stoneprep
    May 27, 2014
    1
    If you are looking for an awesome game to hold you over until fall, I would say get Wolfenstein. I was extremely stoked about watchdogs before playing it, and was extremely let down. People say that it is the first installment so give it a break. I completely disagree with that statement. They have seen what a polished open world sand box game with lots of detail is like, and in no doubtIf you are looking for an awesome game to hold you over until fall, I would say get Wolfenstein. I was extremely stoked about watchdogs before playing it, and was extremely let down. People say that it is the first installment so give it a break. I completely disagree with that statement. They have seen what a polished open world sand box game with lots of detail is like, and in no doubt played their competitors game.

    Cons:
    1: Driving is horrible.
    2: Detail is simply left out (you run over a fire hydrant and sit over the spout and the water goes through your car, like it's not even there).
    3: Customization is lame. Do you want your trench coat in black or red/several other colors?
    4: Hacking doesn't feel innovative at all, it's actually pretty boring. Tired of looking at people through cameras already.
    5: You can't drive and shoot!!    … Expand
  28. PooPaDuke
    May 27, 2014
    1
    At the 2012 E3 reveal Watch Dogs was a promise of the future. It looked amazing, everything was clean. physics were unprecedented: vehicles acted believably upon collision. In the following years as the game was displayed more and more that original vision was put into question. Now the game is out for the final judgment on how it stacks up to that original vision.

    The version I played    At the 2012 E3 reveal Watch Dogs was a promise of the future. It looked amazing, everything was clean. physics were unprecedented: vehicles acted believably upon collision. In the following years as the game was displayed more and more that original vision was put into question. Now the game is out for the final judgment on how it stacks up to that original vision.

    The version I played was on PS4 and can't speak to the PC version, however, the first thing you notice is how bad the game looks. I usually don't complain about aliasing but it's a big problem here. The shadows have an ugly dithering effect on their edges. Texture quality is all over the place. Items, vehicles, pedestrians, textures, will pop-up all the time in one of the worst immersion breaking aspects of the game. Overall the image quality is inconsistent and nowhere near what was shown at E3 2012.

    While the game was sold on it's beautiful immersing world eventually graphics can be forgiven if the gameplay is good. That's not the case here. Gameplay is as equally bad as the visuals.

    As soon as you notice how bad the game looks you'll notice how bad it feels. You start off in a small area and it feels cramped. The camera at maximum sensitivity is too slow with heavy acceleration layered on. This contradicts and hinders the playability of some of the arcadier distractions. By itself that's bad enough but upon any movement of Aidens body the camera wobbles around like an inebriated infant. The end result feels like you're wrestling with your avatar instead of being him.

    Vehicle handling is just as bad. Even smaller sports cars feel wobbly and unresponsive. It's not a proper feeling of the weight of a vehicle. It just feels like trying to make a lump of play dough go straight in mud with a tooth pick. Vehicle collisions is another major letdown. Maybe the intent was to make the game forgiving but the result is that there is no sense of impact or inertia to collisions. If you hit a vehicle in any way but with dead center of your grill the non-player cars will just fly away and you'll keep going as if nothing happened. If you played the True Crime games this is exactly how it feels.

    There are four different camera modes when driving. From behind, a more top down camera that give you a better view of the road ahead, hood cam, and most interestingly the cockpit cam. Unfortunately, the cockpit cam is useless since there's a very small allowable viewing angle and the camera is too slow to look around anyway. You can't even look to the left of the wheel.

    One of the game's main selling points was the hacking. You could do some neat things with it like check most pedestrians backgrounds, steal their money, or predict whether they'll be a victim or criminal. However, in practical gaming terms it just acts as a long distance interact button. It's nice but by itself it won't carry the game. Also, the effects and indicators associated with
    hacking look bad and don't blend well with the world.

    Overall, this is a game that fails on all of it's promises. It doesn't look good nor does it play well. The game was more than five years in the making with half a year delay and it still ended up feeling like a bad GTA clone from two generations ago. It's one standout feature doesn't do anything to change that. People like to quote Shiguru Miyomoto's, "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." If that's the case this game needed another five and a half years of development.    … Expand
  29. KyleFinlayson
    May 28, 2014
    1
    This game is very familiar in many ways. The world is almost a replica of Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City, the missions all feel very much like Assassin's Creed and the gameplay like any third person shooter. Units oft have started this cycle of familiarity, because they know it sells, look at Assassin's Creed. Even though by 3, people were still buying the game, despite the awful forcedThis game is very familiar in many ways. The world is almost a replica of Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City, the missions all feel very much like Assassin's Creed and the gameplay like any third person shooter. Units oft have started this cycle of familiarity, because they know it sells, look at Assassin's Creed. Even though by 3, people were still buying the game, despite the awful forced stealth missions, horribly underdeveloped characters and story, terrible dialogue and most of all, repetitive missions. People still bought it and said "wow best game ever." Watch_Dogs is Ubisoft's way of molesting their customers, except it's more like date rape because they all agreed to it, including me.

    First off, the main character is a cardboard cut out of any third person action game. He's boring and at times unbearably tiring. This character's design is almost exactly the same as an Assassin from the later Assassin's Creed games. Moving onto missions, the prospect of hacking becomes old quite quick as missions degrade into go here, hack that, do some running, or sneak. He game claims to have a busy open world, by busy it means terrible AI and the same one man trying to mug a lady 100 times over. Random events don't become random after about half an hour because they're all the same and it's more fun to try and avoid getting involved.

    Hacking something is quite interesting he first time, although, becomes quite ordinary after the tenth time. You're limited to hacking only a number of special highlighted objects in the world. In the end I wasted money on this, you don't have to as well.    … Expand
  30. xpto2004
    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$#&
Page:

Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best PS4 Game of 2014
4
#4 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2014
9
#9 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 80 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 80
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 80
  3. Negative: 0 out of 80
  1. Softpedia
    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.
    Read full review
  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. SpazioGames
    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.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »