Watch Dogs

 Wii U
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 195 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 118 out of 195
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 195
  3. Negative: 46 out of 195
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  1. xAcEx
    Nov 19, 2014
    10
    I cant understand the bad ratings here.

    For me its the best Watchdogs. Okay the Graphics are not so good like on PS4 or Xbox One, but the WiiU Gamepad makes the differnce.
    Its a cool feature to hack the people with the pad or us the map.
  2. Seemuhn
    Feb 21, 2016
    10
    This is the best game in the Wii U's library. I have only been playing this game ever since it launched. It has great characters and varied missions. Also the vehicle physics are better than in GTA 5. Its worth it to buy a Wii U only to be able to play this game with the Wii U's awesome gamepad.
  3. Nap03
    Dec 2, 2014
    9
    Ignore the 0 score nonsense. This is one of the best open world sandbox games in existence.

    Graphics: 7 out of 10 Let's get one thing out of the way. The frame rate isn't perfect BUT it's not perfect on any console. It runs well enough. The only time you notice the drops is while driving in certain areas, but it's not bad and never hinders the gameplay. There's only a few places,    Ignore the 0 score nonsense. This is one of the best open world sandbox games in existence.

    Graphics: 7 out of 10
    Let's get one thing out of the way. The frame rate isn't perfect BUT it's not perfect on any console. It runs well enough. The only time you notice the drops is while driving in certain areas, but it's not bad and never hinders the gameplay. There's only a few places, and only during the day, where the drop is really noticeable.

    Other than that the graphics are great. Especially at night while it's raining. The rain and water on the road looks amazing. I took 2 points away for the frame rate not being perfect and 1 point because even though the game looks great, it could look a little better. These two things are just a result of deadlines and a lack of effort by the developers. The Wii U is capable of more. They just didn't do it. Having said that the game actually does some things better than the PS4 in my opinion so I can't really complain. They did a good job.

    Gameplay: 10 out of 10
    Just wandering around the city, profiling people, and hacking their information is fun and addictive. Driving is nicely done with tons of different vehicles that all have different attributes and handle differently. I see some reviews saying the frame rate makes the controls sluggish. That's nonsense. The controls for some vehicles are very sluggish, but that's just how those vehicles control. They're all different and you can pick the best one to handle a particular situation. And that's the best part about Watch Dogs. You can have several objectives for missions, or side missions, that are the same, but how you got about completing them can be different every time. You get to choose how you want to complete a mission. This adds replay value as it's just fun to try and play the game differently. And if you get bored doing one thing there's TONS of other things for you to do and they are all fun. Tired of taking out convoys? Sit down for a game of poker. Tired of fighting crime? Go hop in a giant spider tank. Tired of the spider tank? Do a campaign mission. Tired of that? Go hack someone's router and invade the privacy of their home. You are rewarded for all of it. Every little side mission or investigation you take on rewards you and in various ways and eventually unlocks new content. All this content is addictive. I never get bored playing this game. I can't put it down. And if you don't like a particular activity you have the choice to simply not do it and you won't be punished. The only requirement is the campaign missions. Everything else is optional but I highly recommend you try out everything. Plus completing them unlocks new weapons, abilities, or vehicles. Speaking of vehicles. Once you've unlocked them you can simply order them with your smartphone app. So you always have them at the ready when needed. This is not available during missions so keep that in mind.

    Online: 8 out of 10
    And just when you're about to call it quits and go to bed someone will invade your game and try to hack you. Your job is to hunt them down and take them out. These one on one cat and mouse hack matches are a blast. They're challenging and offer a lot of room for creativity on both hacking, and evading your oppnent.

    I haven't tried an online race yet, but I can't imagine that being a bad thing. 2-4 players can face off in a race through the city. I'm betting all the players can try to hack things to slow down the others. I'm sure it's a blast.

    Profiling. Another cat and mouse where you basically just observe the other player by blending in and trying not to get caught. It's also a lot of fun. It's like the hacking but without the hacking and you need to stay close to your opponent.

    CTOS chase. In this one you race through check points in the city while another player controls the city infrastructure, and the police, and tries to stop you. I have yet to be the one to control the city, but the driving part is a blast. Evading the police, and traps, is challenging and exciting.

    If you own a Wii U this is a must have for your library. It has off tv play for the gamepad which is the most underrated feature ever. Don't believe me? Wait till you get married and your wife wants to watch The Bachelor and you want to game. No problem. Plug in some headphones to the gamepad and you're good to go. The other gamepad feature is an interactive map of the city always at the ready. This is GREAT to have in a game like this with so many icons on the map and you can just set waypoints with the touch of the screen. The only disappointing part is the gamepad would have been great for the hacking mini game or controlling cameras. I wish that was there, but it's not. Still the features that are there with the gamepad aren't available on the other consoles and that makes this the best version of the game in my opinion. Buy it.    … Expand
  4. fanofdaladies
    Mar 2, 2015
    9
    The game looks great, its plays just fine. I found it to be enjoyable. Upgrading your abilities is cool as well. Pretty amazed that this game exists on the Wii U and for that I give ubisoft credit. There is no other experience like this available on the Wii U. Don't listen to haters the game runs just fine on the Nintendo.
  5. YesIAmAHuman
    May 19, 2015
    8
    I loath creating new accounts for sites but I had to create one for metacritic just to review this game. I've been playing it a ton recently and probably have invested somewhere between 25 and 50 hours by this point. The short story is that I feel like it's a really fun game. The combat system is pretty solid, as is the driving system. The graphics look good, even if they're not as good asI loath creating new accounts for sites but I had to create one for metacritic just to review this game. I've been playing it a ton recently and probably have invested somewhere between 25 and 50 hours by this point. The short story is that I feel like it's a really fun game. The combat system is pretty solid, as is the driving system. The graphics look good, even if they're not as good as the PC or "next-gen" console versions. The weapon variety is decent enough, given that you have several options for sniper rifles, at least 2 grenade launchers (my favorite), several machine guns and shotguns, and some silenced weapons that are great for stealth infiltration. In most missions you can choose to do all stealth or go in guns blazing and either can work if you're good enough. The gameplay system just seems solid overall.

    The game is not without some minor glitches. For example when attacking a gang hideout I've seen a gang member walk into a canister of propane, knock it over, and then it explodes killing the gang member. That gang member also had to be "taken down" and not killed so I failed the mission because of bad AI/physics on that one. Also the music was cutting out once during an intense battle and after many hours of continuous gameplay. But both of these previously mentioned incidents happened only once (so far) and in general moments like this are rare.

    There are some non-glitch problems that I should mention just to be fair. By this I mean things that aren't bugs in the game, they're correctly-implemented features, but they just aren't that fun to me. The cash runs and many of the digital trips, as well as some miscellaneous exploration options are things that I have little interest in after doing a few times. But the gang hideouts and chasing down random criminals as they commit crimes are things that I've found fun to play again and again. So it's really only the little extras that can be discarded.

    This game does NOT feel like a rushed port. I would have dumped this game fast if the quality were not very high, given that I've played several critically-acclaimed shooters and/or open-world games over the years and liked only about half of them. This game goes in my "like" list because the story, graphics, and gameplay are all good. Play through it and make sure you understand the control schemes, stealth options, driving and weapons, hacking and all the other gameplay necessities before you give it a verdict. In other words learn the game and get into it a bit before making a conclusion. In the very first few hours of playing I didn't like it but that's honestly just because I sucked at it and was fumbling around with controls and other things I didn't understand (hey, there's a learning curve on everything). Those who have played a lot of 3D shooters on consoles may become acclimated quickly, but those of us coming from the PC-shooters-world have to learn to work without a mouse.

    One final remark I want to make is that it is nice to have the map on the game pad, although this isn't a huge selling point. If you have multiple consoles then it might be worth getting this game on the PC, XO, or PS4, but if you don't have such options and you're wondering if the game might be fun on your Wii U, then I can at least say that the game has been great for me.    … Expand
  6. ronvanopdorp
    Nov 18, 2014
    8
    Great game.......................................................................................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  7. Shion16
    Nov 25, 2014
    8
    I doesn't fix any of its problems but it looks and runs fine for the console, for the most part.
    Its not great but its better than the PS3/X360 versions.
  8. joelpereira88
    Nov 18, 2014
    10
    fANTASTIC game .........................................................................................................................................................................................
  9. wa2kool
    Nov 25, 2014
    8
    I feel sorry for Watch Dogs and all the criticism it's getting, mainly because of Ubisoft's current reputation and the immature gamers who don't give the actual games themselves a chance. After feel discouraged by some pretty ropey graphics and wobbly frame-rate, I managed to adjust my focus to how solid the gameplay itself is. Gameplay is deep and surprisingly varied for a Ubisoft game.I feel sorry for Watch Dogs and all the criticism it's getting, mainly because of Ubisoft's current reputation and the immature gamers who don't give the actual games themselves a chance. After feel discouraged by some pretty ropey graphics and wobbly frame-rate, I managed to adjust my focus to how solid the gameplay itself is. Gameplay is deep and surprisingly varied for a Ubisoft game. Hacking puzzles in and out of missions are almost always enjoyable and strangely exciting; especially the Grandma's Bulldog mission in Act 2/3? Driving, at first felt sub-par GTA quality but once you get used to the distinctly different control style, the driving is just as enjoyable as GTA, if not more-so when the hacking abilities are utilised. There is A LOT to do in Watch Dogs, though most of the activities are mission based and none are really based on having a good time (unlike GTA). Some of the missions have the dreaded insta-fail style to them, much to everyone's despair, though practice makes perfect right? Despite a fairly linear mission design, you can approach them in any way you wish, be it full on-assault, a fiesta of hacking distractions and takeouts, or simply evading enemies altogether, it's mostly up to you how you carry out missions. The story, I thought was pretty solid and engaging, while the voice acting is superb, save for a few poorly developed characters. In terms of the protagonist, he's a marmite kinda guy, some may think he's a self-indulgent idiot, others will think he's the perfect image for modern day masculinity and male protagonists; tough, but not ashamed to show emotion. The only thing I really detested about Watch Dogs is the music/soundtrack; IT. IS. AWFUL! From the licensed soundtrack selection, to the in-game music, it is completely discardable and unmemorable.

    Graphics: 7.5.
    Gameplay: 9.0.
    Features: 9.0.

    Overall: A minor masterpiece with a delicious buffet of missions, exploration, plot elements, and hacking mini-games with only a few technical shortcomings and a poorly selected soundtrack to hold it back. 8/10.    … Expand
  10. dazza450d
    Feb 23, 2015
    10
    Have you got a Wii U? Then get this game and enjoy. The driving experience is superb, missions are ace and on-line hacking is a gem. Do what you want, when you want sort of game, even if I had paid full asking price for this game I would be 100% happy.
  11. robson444
    Jan 18, 2015
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bardzo fajna gra, interesująca fabuła świetny hacking fajny model jazdy, niezła rozgrywka z użyciem broni , fajna ścieżka dźwiękowa no i możliwość grania na Gamepadzie na którym gra wygląda rewelacyjnie a do tego dochodzi świetna animacja postaci . Jedyny taki tytuł na Wii U . Polecam wszystkim prawdziwym graczom… Expand
  12. dmelendez34
    Apr 13, 2015
    8
    I have only played the first few missions so far but I am completely enjoying this game. I was afraid the critics would be right about the bad frame rate issues when driving but I have yet to see that and I have torn through the city going as fast as possible and not once have I seen any issues with the game/system being able to keep up with me. Maybe the issues the critics had occurredI have only played the first few missions so far but I am completely enjoying this game. I was afraid the critics would be right about the bad frame rate issues when driving but I have yet to see that and I have torn through the city going as fast as possible and not once have I seen any issues with the game/system being able to keep up with me. Maybe the issues the critics had occurred later in the game though.

    I will update my review in a few weeks, once I have done more mission and side quests. But after 2-3 hours I am looking forward to the rest of this game. One word of warning though if you have little ones around, there is a bit of cursing so you have been warned. I ended up playing on the gamepad with headphones, which took some of the decent gamepad implementations away from me, but worth if if I want to play with my children in the same room.    … Expand
  13. SuperkenGaming
    Sep 29, 2016
    9
    Watch_Dogs
    A Great game with inexcusable flaws
    Watch Dogs unfortunately suffers from hype... It promised amazing graphics and a deep open world, this is never achieved, but the 18 hour campaign featured here is one of the best open world campaigns I’ve played in a while.. Watch Dogs is a 3r5d person open world shooter game with a dash of puzzle… You play as Aiden Pierce trying to get    Watch_Dogs
    A Great game with inexcusable flaws
    Watch Dogs unfortunately suffers from hype...
    It promised amazing graphics and a deep open world, this is never achieved, but the 18 hour campaign featured here is one of the best open world campaigns I’ve played in a while..
    Watch Dogs is a 3r5d person open world shooter game with a dash of puzzle…
    You play as Aiden Pierce trying to get to the bottom of his Nieces murder…
    The story telling in Watch Dogs is great… Especially when your focus changes from your niece to someone else that I won’t mention to prevent spoilers, but I feel like the transition was perfect due to that connection… it makes you care... it keeps you pushing forward… but at the same time you’re still going after everyone involved in the initial hit…
    And again the writing and introduction to each character in the story is so great that you’ll either really love or really hate someone… you feel pierces emotion personally which creates a great deal of immersion in this story..
    To get information on locations you have to hack into buildings and severs…
    And there’s freedom in the way you can approach this…
    Watch Dogs works great as a 3rd person shooter with an intuitive cover system… an easy to access weapons wheel, tons of weapon variety, a great amount of ammo and crafting parts for bombs… a great stealth system to silently take enemies down or take them out with a silenced pistol…
    Or you can hack cameras and explosives…
    I personally had the most fun jumping from camera to camera, waiting for opportunities to explode fuse boxes, trigger alarms for a takedown set up… activating the grenades inside of enemy pockets…
    Many times during the story I didn’t have to fire a single bullet to get everything I came for..
    I hopped from camera to camera hacked into the system and left…
    Hacking here is very simple and comes down to a pipe type puzzle of feeding a blue line into other pieces and unlocking them. And these sections are the only mandatory hacking sections as again you can just play as a third person shooter if you’d like…
    Outside of the 18 hour campaign though is the open world of Chicago and unfortunately the open world is the weakest aspect in the entire game…
    Think of this more as a hub world to extend play time by spreading out mission locations, because ubisoft took 0 note in crafting this open world as it has issues in its open world I haven’t ran into since the PlayStation 2….
    Cars will disappear from where you left them if you run into a building to start a mission and come back out…
    During chases you have to ram cars to stop them or hack the world around you... which is actually a great deal of fun during intense chases, to blow up streets, raise bridges and road blocks while youre chasing or being chased by the police…
    But you cant shoot out of your window to shoot out tires despite enemies being able to shoot while driving…
    Another annoyance with these chase missions is that if you do get the person youre chasing stuck, you cant just pull them out of the vehicle theyre in… the only way to continue is shoot them through the window or get back into your car and ram them until they get out…
    This isn’t too annoying in story, but is highly annoying in online play when you have a random player trying to hack you…
    You can turn this feature off, but anyone at any time can enter your world and you can do the same entering there’s for rep, or co-op and competitive fun like races…
    But again these are real people... not ai controlled enemies, so trying to get a head shot on someone in a vehicles is much harder to do in this instance…
    And then theres hacking npcs to profile them…. To stop crimes from happening before they happen... I personally didn’t enjoy this aspect at all, I found it to be shallow filler and had no interest in doing random chases as again the campaign created such a great deal of urgency that it created tunnel vision for me…
    While Wacth_Dogs didn’t deliver the ground breaking experience it promised.. If you can look past those promises for what it actually is, it’s a great game with a great story.
    I give Watch_Dogs
    an 8.5/10    … Expand
  14. Killzonegaming
    Mar 12, 2015
    10
    Truly an unforgettable Ubisoft experience smashing together GTA and Assassin's Creed. Quite a sight to see. A 10 may be a stretch, but it CANNOT be missed. This is the definite version too.
  15. desy64
    Dec 6, 2014
    8
    Good game, nice stealth mechanics.
    Very immersive and takes time to master.

    Pros:
    + immersive city
    + diversity of main and side missions

    Cons:
    - sometimes unresponsive controls
    - 6 month delay...seriously, why?
  16. Jissu
    Aug 19, 2015
    10
    I did not like how Ubisoft treated us Wii U owners, however, that does not decide how good a game is.

    The game is solid and worth it. That's really all I have.

    These negative reviews are being biased against Ubisoft for treating us poorly, not based on the actual game itself.
  17. tre802001
    Aug 30, 2015
    8
    Watchdog was very fun and enjoyable. The negative ratings is confusing. The game is how I expected. An open world game with a different take. The same as Scarface, Godfather, and Saints Row. The game has a lot of content. There is some repetitiveness to the game but overall is fun to play. I enjoyed the story and gameplay was good.
  18. DukeJon
    Apr 16, 2016
    8
    The closest thing you'll get to GTA on the Wii U. Whilst it lacks GTA's satire, polish and sense of fun this is still a strong sandbox game. Plenty of missions, an interesting hacking feature that allows you to control aspects of the city of Chicago from your phone, and good stealth and shooting options. It's true that the frame rate suffers during parts of the game (particularly whenThe closest thing you'll get to GTA on the Wii U. Whilst it lacks GTA's satire, polish and sense of fun this is still a strong sandbox game. Plenty of missions, an interesting hacking feature that allows you to control aspects of the city of Chicago from your phone, and good stealth and shooting options. It's true that the frame rate suffers during parts of the game (particularly when driving in the rain at night) but I have to say this really doesn't detract from the game a great deal. There are so many things to do in watch dogs. Not just all the collectables, but a ton of mini games such as car racing, chess, poker, etc. It will be a long time before you complete this game. The use of the Wii U pad seems good at first, but as with other games that use this feature (eg. ZombieU) you soon realise that looking from your TV to your gamepad and back isn't practical in most situations, so for this reason I don't feel this is a better version of the game than on other platforms. That said, this is a hugely enjoyable game with lots of replay value and well worth adding to your Wii U collection.… Expand
  19. viniciushylian
    Nov 12, 2015
    9
    gostei muito do jogo, é muito melhor que gta em questão de história, ele ficou ótimo no wii u, só não dou 10 porque ele não utiliza muito as funções do controle do wii u, ficaria bem legal se pra virar o carro você tivesse que virar o controle.
  20. larrycom
    Oct 2, 2015
    8
    Un buen videojuego, aun quitandole todo el hype que se le hizo para las demas plataformas, queda lo que realmente es, un buen juego, no es mas que eso, innova con esas mecanicas de hackeo para los curiosos, incluso para mi fue entretenido leer conversaciones (ficticias) ajenas. La cantidad de cosas que se pueden hacer ademas de avanzar en la historia es inmensa, no todas son divertidasUn buen videojuego, aun quitandole todo el hype que se le hizo para las demas plataformas, queda lo que realmente es, un buen juego, no es mas que eso, innova con esas mecanicas de hackeo para los curiosos, incluso para mi fue entretenido leer conversaciones (ficticias) ajenas. La cantidad de cosas que se pueden hacer ademas de avanzar en la historia es inmensa, no todas son divertidas pero hay para todos los gustos. La historia no es epica para nada, pero esta bien. La conduccion no es buena, pero con el viaje rapido lo que menos querras hacer es conducir. el jugar con las camaras es divertido. Es un buen juego, no es el mejor juego, pero es un buen juego.… Expand
  21. o_rfilho
    Sep 13, 2015
    8
    As much as I am angry with Ubisoft with screwing up with Watch Dogs on the Wii U its still a beautiful game with some what smiles especially when you near to the end
    as a Wii U owner we need more games from third party but more good games Watch Dogs is a good game graphic wise and game wise
  22. vinicius77777
    Feb 25, 2016
    8
    ótimo jogo, curti muito. ele tem uma história interessante, personagens ótimos, boa jogabilidade, missões ótimas, bom modo online e bons gráficos. só não dou 10 por conta de alguns bugs como por exemplo: ao envés do carro amassar a grama ele atravessa a grama. e também você não consegue mandar solicitação de amizades nas partidas online do jogo.
  23. FunkyKong84
    Nov 8, 2018
    10
    Amazing game. I love everything about it and I believe that the online hacking mode is one of the most fun things I've ever played in a video game. It's pure enjoyment to play this game on the WiiU Gamepad and I'm sure that in other systems the experience is not as enjoyable as playing this awesome game on your couch without having to play it on the TV.
  24. Joe2539
    Jan 3, 2023
    10
    Very Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best Wii U Game of 2014
11
#11 Most Discussed Wii U Game of 2014
9
#9 Most Shared Wii U Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 2 out of 15
  1. Hobby Consolas
    Jan 23, 2015
    80
    Watch Dogs for Wii U is a solid sandbox, with good ideas and an original setting, but missions get boring and some game mechanics are not well implemented.
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  2. Multiplayer.it
    Jan 15, 2015
    68
    Watch Dogs comes on Wii U six months after the original release with no extra content, no DLCs and some framerate issues: definitely not a big deal for Nintendo users.
    Read full review
  3. SpazioGames
    Dec 17, 2014
    70
    There's no reason to buy this WiiU version over any other, especially because the framerate can be very choppy at times, but the game itself is still worthy if you didn't' have the chance to play it elsewhere.
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