Watch Dogs

 Xbox One
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 907 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 458 out of 907
  2. Mixed: 223 out of 907
  3. Negative: 226 out of 907
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  1. Nataraja
    Aug 19, 2014
    7
    General Overview: This game does a decent job of creating an open world with stealth and action options for completing missions. The story is decent, but not incredible and Aiden is a bit flat as a protagonist and the NPC's really carry the story, not the somewhat monotone main character. The AI can go brain dead or be over the top aggressive and incapable of missing or spotting you.General Overview: This game does a decent job of creating an open world with stealth and action options for completing missions. The story is decent, but not incredible and Aiden is a bit flat as a protagonist and the NPC's really carry the story, not the somewhat monotone main character. The AI can go brain dead or be over the top aggressive and incapable of missing or spotting you. The graphics are decent but not the quality as shown in demos, never the less the graphics are well done. The side missions are a mixed bag but there is a TON to do within the game. Not a must play but worth it if you want something slightly different from other open world titles.

    TL;DNR: 7; A decent open world game with a mix of stealth and action. It doesn't do anything really revolutionary but is a fun game with many things to do. The online challenges are great and a welcome addition. The story is decent although Aiden Pearce is NOT the star of the show - instead its the NPC's along the way that make the game intriguing. Shooting is decent, driving is a bit off and too "floaty" and the forced chase scenes are so variable and often can be frustrating with a lack of check points. Its a decent alternative to other open world titles and can be a lot of fun despite its issues in certain areas.

    Technology/engine: 6; The engine used is decent for the most part... but then you hit the stuttering and frame rate drops for no apparent reason, just at a critical moment and there were at least 6 complete crashes during the campaign.

    AI: 7: its okay and some of it can be challenging although it can also fluctuate wildly from brain dead to omnipotence in various missions in the campaign.

    Graphics: 7: Not the quality shown in demos but certainly not the worst either. There are places where the textures breakdown for no apparent reason and pop-in later. Cinematics are decent.

    Sound: 7: The sound is okay but there are somewhat frequent volume issues with news reports being jarringly loud or whisper silent. Occasionally there are real source to reception distance issues and your own sounds can be over the top loud when moving in stealth or completely absent with not justification for the variability. Over all the sound is acceptable, but there are some places with big issues that were clearly not resolved prior to release.

    Soundtrack: 6: Mediocre at best.

    Voice acting: 7: probably the best part of the game and again the NPC's steal the show with HUGE variability in Aiden and the constant repetition of phrases from the enemy NPC's and the distinctive mismatch of vocal ethnicity and model ethnicity mismatch is jarring in places. The NPC's have done a great job with the majority of the lines and really make the game entertaining.

    Crafting: 5: Its there but not in anyway unique or ground breaking. It fits for the title but that is about it.

    Customization: 7: There are some custom outfits for Aiden and certainly enough skills to be had, although you will have most if not all of them prior to finishing the campaign, especially if you complete the Gang Hideouts as you go that award a skill point per completion at a minimum.

    Game play systems: 7: Fairly standard fair but I will say that the cover system works very well. The driving is perhaps the worst and that you are given the WORST cars to choose from in the forced chase sequences takes what could have been fun and transforms it into a chore. The stealth and hacking are okay and the firewall hacking mini-games are occasionally a pain and overly repetitive.

    Controls: 7: the controls are generally responsive unless you have hit one of the frame rate drops in the game and then it becomes difficult. The general layout is okay and is mostly frustration free EXCEPT the driving which is poorly implemented.

    Story: 7: Its a decent story but not one that will set the world on fire. There are some genuinely sad moments and tough choice in the end but its the NPC's and their part in the story that elevate the game. Had the story about Pearce been on par with say T-Bone or Clara this would be a 9.

    Multiplayer: 8: The multiplayer mini-games are fun and a good addition to the title.    … Expand
  2. Phil133
    Jul 3, 2017
    7
    Worth a playthrough just to see the different hacking mechanics. The story wasn't fantastic and the 'side missions' were just time fillers - the gameplay itself was fun however It suffers from the usual ubisoft open world formula.
  3. Lilbutter
    Mar 17, 2015
    7
    I had fun with Watchdogs, but it doesn't even come close to fulfilling it's potential. The world just feels empty, the driving is awful and the story is forgettable. But the shooting is really satisfying and there is tonnes of content! I'd get it when it's cheap.
  4. Daelus
    Sep 13, 2015
    7
    First and foremost, anyone that rates any game a 0 is an idiot....period.....and to be fair, most people that rate games 10 are as well,,,,but I digress.

    Watch Dogs I feel missed on on being a very good game by a thin line. The story was cliche but good, a lot like Witcher, if you choose to ignore the contradictions it is easy to become immersed....if for what reason, you are not    First and foremost, anyone that rates any game a 0 is an idiot....period.....and to be fair, most people that rate games 10 are as well,,,,but I digress.

    Watch Dogs I feel missed on on being a very good game by a thin line. The story was cliche but good, a lot like Witcher, if you choose to ignore the contradictions it is easy to become immersed....if for what reason, you are not immersed, the story can seem uninspiring and nonsensical.

    Pros.
    Story has flow and the game is well paced,
    No shortage of open world activities to partake in.
    Casual driving is far more realistic than GTA V (see cons)
    Hacking is a great concept and they didn't miss pulling it off in a gamechanging way by much.....it never quite got there though as hey made too much hackable which took from he experience.

    Cons
    God the soundtrack was horrible....I rarely notice soundtracks but this one mut have had almost no budget and we wound up with 50 or so really bad songs.
    Driving at speed and specifically turning is bugged. The camera never catches up with the turn and you invariably crash.....unbelievable this didn't get fixed.
    Moving out of hiding/ crouching position is far too difficult....died far too many times as the character wouldn't stop hugging the wall!    … Expand
  5. AGrrrr
    Jun 5, 2014
    7
    Oh, what it could have been....Those are the words which continuously run through my mind while playing Watch Dogs, the new game from Ubisoft. To me, this reminds me of the Assassin's Creed series where the concept is great but the developers aren't able to fully utilize it.

    When I first picked up the game and started playing it, I was impressed by the realistic driving and the many    Oh, what it could have been....Those are the words which continuously run through my mind while playing Watch Dogs, the new game from Ubisoft. To me, this reminds me of the Assassin's Creed series where the concept is great but the developers aren't able to fully utilize it.

    When I first picked up the game and started playing it, I was impressed by the realistic driving and the many activities you are bombarded with out of the gates. However, none of the activities have lasting power and will shortly start to feel like work instead of play. There are the typical collection missions, puzzle missions and "go kill this bad guy" missions which all feel bland in general. Because of the hacking element, there is a different makeup for these side activities but are still obviously cookie-cutter molds from previous games.

    The online play is where Watch Dogs shines...at first. Hacking other players while they are in game is a great idea and I really wished they would've expanded on the experience. The idea is you can "hack" a random player while they are between missions on their single player campaign. You will be spawned into "their" city within close proximity of the player you are attempting to hack. Then you are assigned the task of hacking your opponent within a time limit of 5 minutes (which consists of getting close enough and within view of your target while holding 'X'). Once the hack is started, you must not be identified by the target while the process is finished and staying within the radius of the "hacking circle." This takes a reasonable amount of time and at every interval of %25, the search area becomes smaller which makes it more difficult to hide. This makes for a great game of cat and mouse and really gets the heart pumping no matter if you are hacking or the one being hacked.

    The problem is, much like single player, there's nothing to keep you coming back to do it again. Once you have learned how to effectively hack others and defend against hacking yourself, it becomes a chore to participate in these sessions. The other online modes give a good change of pace like online decryption and CTOS mobile, but suffer from the same fate. Ubisoft needs to understand multiplayer is the where the lasting power comes from and if a deep and immersive online experience isn't presented then interest will fade quickly.

    Hopefully, they will provide an update or DLC which will expand on the world they have created but as of now, they are in the same category as the Assassin's Creed franchise: Great idea but could have been so much more.    … Expand
  6. LUFCXI
    Jun 26, 2014
    7
    Enjoyable gameplay. Sadly graphics don't live up to anything near what they showed at E3 2012. Tough levels, lots of hrs of gameplay. If you like GTA V, this will tie you over until Oct 2014 when GTA V is released on next gen consoles but it is only a stopgap sadly. Saying that, I am giving it a 7 because I love the multiplayer aspect of it and the ctOS app is brilliant for battlingEnjoyable gameplay. Sadly graphics don't live up to anything near what they showed at E3 2012. Tough levels, lots of hrs of gameplay. If you like GTA V, this will tie you over until Oct 2014 when GTA V is released on next gen consoles but it is only a stopgap sadly. Saying that, I am giving it a 7 because I love the multiplayer aspect of it and the ctOS app is brilliant for battling against friends, regardless of the console it is on.… Expand
  7. D1eselmech
    Jul 16, 2014
    7
    Had lots of expectations for this games especially for being delayed for six months!! At first the game is great but after a couple of hours it just the same stuff, if your into assassin creed u might like this game, missions are kind of the same with chase at the end or follow someone, I can't lie I spent many hours playing....here is the list of pros and cons
    Pros:
    Hacking ability is    Had lots of expectations for this games especially for being delayed for six months!! At first the game is great but after a couple of hours it just the same stuff, if your into assassin creed u might like this game, missions are kind of the same with chase at the end or follow someone, I can't lie I spent many hours playing....here is the list of pros and cons
    Pros:
    Hacking ability is fun and new
    Lots of gameplay with free world and missions
    Online is fun with integrated multiplayer with single player
    Cons:
    Graphics are last gen
    No In depth storyline
    Driving feels weightless and sluggish
    This game is not bad just been expecting a break through game for the next gen system and yet no one has yet to provide one. This could have been easily made for the 360, I am just ranting on how the new gen of systems seem like they are the same as the previous gen    … Expand
  8. SimpleReviewz
    Aug 1, 2014
    7
    Reviewing this game will likely be difficult. While Watch Dogs does indeed have some good stuff in it, there's just one fact I can't get over with this game: Watch Dogs is not the game that was advertised or promised by Ubisoft. However, it wasn't hard for me to find good stuff in Watch Dogs, and vice versa. Let's start with the story. The main plot here is that Aiden Pearce's (mainReviewing this game will likely be difficult. While Watch Dogs does indeed have some good stuff in it, there's just one fact I can't get over with this game: Watch Dogs is not the game that was advertised or promised by Ubisoft. However, it wasn't hard for me to find good stuff in Watch Dogs, and vice versa. Let's start with the story. The main plot here is that Aiden Pearce's (main character) niece gets killed, and he basically goes on for revenge. Don't worry, it gets deeper from there. However, while the depth of the story strengthens, it also becomes slightly jumbled. It also takes notes from other revenge stories, like Batman. It can also get generic. How are the characters? The supporting cast is very, very unique. T-Bone will go down as one of my favourite characters in games this year. Another great one is Jordi, even though he was heavily under utilized. There are many others, too. Watch Dogs' biggest fault with its characters is that the one you play as is the most boring one. Aiden Pearce has absolutely no personality whatsoever, and I found most of his lines to be generic and stupid. Heck, I even began to hate Aiden. Overall, I found the story, plot, and characters of the game to be 70% positive, and 30% negative. Now let's get to the things that truly matter: GAMEPLAY. Watch Dogs does have new ideas to introduce to the open-world genre, but I did slightly feel like I've played games like it before. The one mechanic that made people get extremely excited over Watch Dogs was the hacking. You can hack cameras, grenades, communication comms, city bridges, doors, blockers, steam pipes, and much more. I found the game to have a good balance between basic action gameplay, and hacking. Overall, the hacking is just hold X to hack, but I did feel it added a great element to the game. Hacking was shown more dynamic before the game was released, though. The third-person shooting of the game is pretty good. I found the cover system of the game to be great and simple. You can also approach the combat in varied ways. Let's talk about the driving. Overall, most of the cars handle differently. However, some of them handled like the roads were covered in soap, which I disliked. The game's missions also have many car chases, and the car combat is meh. The only way you can approach it is to hack the city's things to make the enemies' cars crash. You can't shoot out the window. The game has a wealth of side activities that I found to be entertaining, too. I didn't like the game's graphics, though. On Xbox One, it honestly looks like last-gen. It irritated me that Ubisoft will show the game to look so amazing in the E3 demos, but downgrade it in the full game. WTF? Yes, Watch Dogs was NOT the game we were promised. Then again, there's fun to be had in the game. In my opinion, the game is a little better than the average open-world title. It will take you a long time to do everything. If you're a quantity over quality kind of person, the game is worth $50. If you're vice versa, the game is worth $20.… Expand
  9. MinorityBabble
    May 28, 2014
    7
    I've spent several hours playing Watch Dogs and I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing.

    It starts off solid with a bit of hand-holding, and prompts that get you acquainted with VERY basic game play. While this was useful it was both overbearing and inadequate at the same time. You're sneaking around through most of the introduction hunched over like Quasimodo, I wasn't (and I'm    I've spent several hours playing Watch Dogs and I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing.

    It starts off solid with a bit of hand-holding, and prompts that get you acquainted with VERY basic game play. While this was useful it was both overbearing and inadequate at the same time. You're sneaking around through most of the introduction hunched over like Quasimodo, I wasn't (and I'm still not) sure if I was even able to stand up straight. If I was, I have no idea what button does it. When you were standing up the movement seems sluggish and slow -- I'm not sure why this is how you're first exposed to the game, because it really like this later on.

    Once you've successfully slipped out of the stadium, you're thrown into an open world to just figure it out. You're told there is a car stashed for you, but since nothing is clearly explained it took me a moment to realize where it was on my map and when "how to" windows open, it's often mid-action, making it difficult to really take in what it's telling you.

    After walking a block or so (it took me forever to realize the RT was the sprint button) you hop in the car and head to your hotel room.

    I should have stayed on foot, even if it was going to take me all night. Driving in this game is a miserable experience. Every car is heavy, apparently lacks power steering, and is being driven with bald tires on iced over streets (which would explain why the streets seem to glisten). The button configuration isn't truly customizable and the driving mechanics/physics are awful; somebody needs to be fired over it. On the plus side, somebody realized that it's impossible to drive even a few feet without slamming into people, places and things, so they made the cars virtually indestructible.

    Your magical phone: For better or worse they don't really go into detail about how your phone works, but that isn't a huge deal, I don't want a bunch of laughably bad hacking jargon tossed at me for the sake of filling time. So, as far as I'm concerned, the phone works by holding the "X" button, and that's pretty much it.

    There are skill trees that are never fully explained and I have no idea how you build the points that allow you to unlock the tree.

    There is a story here somewhere, but hell if I can find it -- I've been wondering around exploring the city (on foot) almost the entire time.

    So many questions:

    When I go to investigate/prevent a potential crime, why are the criminals overly worried about me, but not any of the 987690378456 people walking by them? I'm just some dude looking at my phone.

    When they do commit the crime, am I supposed to kill them or just beat them? Does it even matter?

    Why is shooting at people so difficult?

    Why do two-bit thieves and purse snatchers have several cars full of armed mobsters on call?

    Am I supposed to feel bad stealing from people by hacking their phones? How am I any better than the small time criminals that are around every corner, and inordinately concerned about me personally?

    Can I change clothes or is everything just the same outfit with a different color scheme?

    Am I missing something? Why isn't the story progressing? Why isn't anyone calling me just to, if anything, nudge me towards progressing the campaign?

    SERIOUSLY: Why is driving so utterly frustrating?

    Contrary to the seemingly negative review, I don't hate the game, it's a really interesting concept, but still feels oddly limiting, considering how much is out there to find/explore. I'll certainly keep playing and try to see it through, but I feel pretty confident that no matter how much I end up liking it, I'll always feel that it has some serious game play mechanics issues that shouldn't exist in a next gen game, when games like GTA V and Saints Row 4 nearly perfected these things well over a year ago.    … Expand
  10. Agent-D
    Jun 4, 2014
    7
    Watch Dogs is a game that carries a lot of hype about being a true next gen game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I feel it's nearly impossible for anything to live up to the level of hype this game received. It is my intention to review this title fairly without any level of hype or hatred for this game as I never got in to the hype and I do not hate Watch Dogs.

    The narrative in    Watch Dogs is a game that carries a lot of hype about being a true next gen game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I feel it's nearly impossible for anything to live up to the level of hype this game received. It is my intention to review this title fairly without any level of hype or hatred for this game as I never got in to the hype and I do not hate Watch Dogs.

    The narrative in Watch Dogs showed promise at first but quickly starts to fall apart and not just due to the cliche vigilante revenge story. Certain narrative decisions make it little to hard to believe that anyone would make that decision and Intelligent characters start acting irrationally at almost the on set of the Pearce family saga and many players will put together the entire story line about halfway through. It's not that it isn't a fun story, it's just painfully obvious.

    A game I originally thought to have more in common with Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs is in every way an open world game in line with Grand Theft Auto and like GTA it falls victim to some of the common issues in almost all open world games. While it is obvious the game is also running on some last gen tech, I do not count off for that due to that being something of the norm at the moment, but we need to move passed this phase. Even with that said graphically I feel that it is a mixed bag. The game looks simply amazing at times, only to fall off at others. I perfect example of this is how almost every character outside of Aiden and Clara looks in game. Nicole & Jackson Pearce look like they had been ripped straight from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood graphically and placed in a game with a next gen version of Aiden and that not even getting in to how other non-important characters look far worse.

    The city is very hit and miss as well, I am not 100% certain what version of Chicago this is but it isn't remotely close to the one I have visited. Look I am not saying we need this 1:1 ratio of the city, but things should at least be close. Chicago is graphically inconsistent as well. It has some real beauty at times then the quality suddenly drops to muddy/blurry textures and bad aliasing. I am a bit concerned about the lighting and shadows in the game outside of direct sunlight as many of the lights at night do not cast shadows. That said I think the game looks astonishing at night when it's wet from rain and no visible light source around, but that in itself is the problem as they are covering up their faults by adding a layer of water to a darker landscape. Reflections in this game are rarely ever even used and in almost every event they are faked out to try to add to the realism, the issue I take with this is that the reflections are almost 100% of the time not even close to accurate. You might be standing on a rooftop looking at a window of an intersection when in reality it is a city skyline. I have found myself on street level staring in to a building that shows a road running right through the city and in to the building I am looking at, I then turn around and find river and a bridge.

    While the game is set at 30fps it has some frame rate issues on the PlayStation 4 (900p) and the Xbox One (792p). The drops are not considerable enough to cause a panic but should be noted after the game was delayed to correct issues like this.

    The game controls well and has some good mechanics with the hacking but lacks any real combat. Melee combat is really non-existent outside of the a quicktime style take down and shooting is a very basic version of the mechanics found in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. It just always feels so subpar in combat driving scenarios. That leads to another issue, for a game that tries to allow the player so many options to achieve their goals the game tends to fall back on one of two things, firefights and car chases. Hacking was suppose to be the thing that makes it stand out, but then it falls back to being GTA kill everyone or escape and the hacking is a minute tool used to change traffic lights or raise barricades / bridges. most of the time it's not even needed as you can get away with little no no effort (until much later in the game). While on driving, the driving in this game takes the poor controls of cars in every other open world game and decreases handling to make them that much more of a chore. Motorcycles are almost flawless so I highly recommend using those or the special stealth car unlocked in 'uplay'.

    The multi-player is unique and feels genuine, but is basically a trolling simulator The main quest will take one to two days to complete and the game offers enough side missions to make any 80 hour players scream with joy. The issue with those side activities is that once again like most open world games, they are very repetitive and lack any real diversity. Overall I think Watch Dogs is a solid game that everyone owes it to themselves to try, I feel that it is a very strong rental but not worthy of purchase    … Expand
  11. AuzzGames
    Jun 5, 2014
    7
    An enjoyable and graphically stunning game, but is let down for it's poor/confused story and lack of content, with a boring plot setup and little to nothing to do outside of the campaign, it can be easily overlooked and is nothing special for Next-Gen gaming.

    Should you play? Yes. It is fun for a while, but games like GTA V and Saints Row are no doubt better games when it comes down to    An enjoyable and graphically stunning game, but is let down for it's poor/confused story and lack of content, with a boring plot setup and little to nothing to do outside of the campaign, it can be easily overlooked and is nothing special for Next-Gen gaming.

    Should you play? Yes. It is fun for a while, but games like GTA V and Saints Row are no doubt better games when it comes down to content and overall enjoyment.    … Expand
  12. Valdanator
    Jun 5, 2014
    7
    I'm writing this for the Xbox One version. The game looks great and the gameplay is ok. It does get a little repetitive and it does feel a lot like an unpolished Assassin's Creed. The driving is absolutely horrible, the vehicles are stiff and the damage they take is unrealistic. The story line is cheesy If you think you're buying a futuristic GTA V, then think again, this game is a lotI'm writing this for the Xbox One version. The game looks great and the gameplay is ok. It does get a little repetitive and it does feel a lot like an unpolished Assassin's Creed. The driving is absolutely horrible, the vehicles are stiff and the damage they take is unrealistic. The story line is cheesy If you think you're buying a futuristic GTA V, then think again, this game is a lot different than that. I think I bought it because I wanted something different to play and was expecting something more closely related to GTA. However, the game is somewhat fun and I'm looking forward to playing it again and see what happens. I have yet to beat it, but I don't think it's going to get much better than what it is now. I do not think that it is worth the 59.99 I had to cough up for it. If possible, I think one should rent this game. Overall, the game looks great and it plays ok. It does seem as if it needs more time on the development department.… Expand
  13. DirtierNewt
    Jun 21, 2014
    7
    Entertaining, but lacking any certain zeal to separate it from Grand Theft Auto. The story line and objectives were very similar, and, if given more time, I'm sure that the team creator could have made a very memorable and pleasing game.
  14. StewieGrif85
    Jul 7, 2014
    7
    Decent little game. I don't feel hard done by purchasing this game. now im 98% complete i feel its a good time to sum up my experience. I felt the controls for the game were a little clunky and the camera seemed to have a mind of its own from time to time. I felt the different missions:, campaign, fixer contracts, gang hideouts etc were great fun. Graphically pleasant and the overallDecent little game. I don't feel hard done by purchasing this game. now im 98% complete i feel its a good time to sum up my experience. I felt the controls for the game were a little clunky and the camera seemed to have a mind of its own from time to time. I felt the different missions:, campaign, fixer contracts, gang hideouts etc were great fun. Graphically pleasant and the overall concept a success. The only down sides i would say was the length of the game, compared to similars (GTA) i felt it was far shorter and map is probably a 3rd of the size. I expect this will increase on the second addition having all the hard work been put in to create textures, buildings, cars, and AI etc all done and some slight improves to be made the next time round. I felt the mini games such as digital trips and drinking games were a waste of time. i didn't get much if any enjoyment out of them. I merely participated for my quest to 100% completion.

    Overall a good game, worth a play but room for improvement in watch dogs 2 (which i hope happens) has the makings to be a great franchise.    … Expand
  15. Wastemaster24
    Aug 2, 2014
    7
    Watch Dogs is Ubisoft's brand new IP. It is set in the near future Chicago, where technology has completely taken over. And, everything is controlled by the CtOS (Central Operating System). You play as Aiden Pearce who sadly has the personality of the trench coat he wears. Anyway, Watch Dogs is a good game but not an amazing game by any stretch of the imagination. The story is ratherWatch Dogs is Ubisoft's brand new IP. It is set in the near future Chicago, where technology has completely taken over. And, everything is controlled by the CtOS (Central Operating System). You play as Aiden Pearce who sadly has the personality of the trench coat he wears. Anyway, Watch Dogs is a good game but not an amazing game by any stretch of the imagination. The story is rather simplistic but becomes a bit more complex as it goes on. But like in almost all Ubisoft games the story isn't the only thing you can do in the game. Watch Dogs has a number of varying side missions, my favourite by far is the gang hideouts, which contains the do as you like mentality when you could stealth the entire place not killing anyone or run in taking them one by one or run in gun blazing. When, I play Watch Dogs it isn't the story or the side missions or the characters that bring me back it is the city. Chicago is beautifully represented in the game and just walking around looking at the architecture and the landmarks is just overwhelming. Overall, for the first game in this franchise I think it is ok and I look forward to exploring the cities Ubisoft recreate in the next Watch Dogs.… Expand
  16. criticcymru
    Aug 25, 2014
    7
    Great game to "pick up and play" a good size story to progress through and more than enough side missions and objectives to complete. The actual storyline is slow and slightly repetitive with the side missions. Great start to a new franchise and looking forward more watchdog games in the future. Even though it didn't live up to the "hype" it received from its appearance at e3 in 2013.
  17. Carlinhoscwbr3
    Sep 9, 2014
    7
    Watch Dogs, much hype game that turned out to be average. I liked the campaign but the main campaign is short and has too many unnecessary side quests that might have served for the campaign not?
    And in a matter of Multiplayer was very bad, we tried to mimic the GTA Online did not work, it was horrible, very lag, horrible!
  18. blazerX
    Oct 5, 2014
    7
    It's a great game overall, but there are somethings that doesn't make it a keeper. It is a great game, the story is not that good, but the gameplay is awesome. Sadly it doesn't feels like a next-gen game, but is worth your time.
    Worth playing, but not buying.
  19. MultiJWalking
    Dec 3, 2014
    7
    This game was extremely over hyped, for something that could have easily been a Grand Theft Auto copy, turned out to be a rather disappointing game. It has some good ideas for multiplayer, giving the player the idea that only they are main protagonist, Aiden Pearce. I thought the multiplayer was entertaining for at least a couple of rounds of hacking, a weird variation of capture the flagThis game was extremely over hyped, for something that could have easily been a Grand Theft Auto copy, turned out to be a rather disappointing game. It has some good ideas for multiplayer, giving the player the idea that only they are main protagonist, Aiden Pearce. I thought the multiplayer was entertaining for at least a couple of rounds of hacking, a weird variation of capture the flag where one team has to corrupt a download to stop it from downloading and the opposing team does what the other team doesn't. The driving was stupid. Even though Aiden gives himself the title of 'The Best Driver In All Of Chicago,' he can't take one had off the wheel to shoot the enemy A.I. Instead, you can only use your phone to hack nearby stoplights, steam pipes, draw bridges, etc. I assume they wanted it to be a more of a hacking game, which is what the game is supposed to be but hardly is. The hacking part looks pretty cool, and I don't hack but i'm pretty sure hacking is not like dumb turn the thing to connect to the end objective. The story is mediocre at best, its about a thug who loses his daughter to a shooting and goes on a vendetta to hunt down and kill everyone responsible. The End! We'll be taking that 60 dollars now. All in all, this game is not that bad if you like open world sandbox games. I suggest you wait for this game to go down in price to maybe the 29.99$ - 19.99$ range. The most important point of any game is to have fun, and I did. I bet you will too if you don't mind the main protagonist having a lack of personality, you should be fine.… Expand
  20. r1anmadden09
    Aug 8, 2017
    7
    Was super excited for this game before it came out, but didn't end up buying it right away. I just picked it up for free on Games with Gold last month, so my expectations were at a reasonable level. I have finished the story, done most of the side missions, and spent a decent amount of time with online modes. Overall, I think this is a solid game. There is great fun to be had in thisWas super excited for this game before it came out, but didn't end up buying it right away. I just picked it up for free on Games with Gold last month, so my expectations were at a reasonable level. I have finished the story, done most of the side missions, and spent a decent amount of time with online modes. Overall, I think this is a solid game. There is great fun to be had in this game, even if it doesn't live up to the massive hype. The story is one of the weaker elements in this game. Aiden hardly shows any emotion throughout the campaign, and it started to give me the impression that he doesn't care about anyone around him, even though the game constantly told me he does. His actions frequently put his loved ones in danger, and despite attempts to make Aiden show remorse or question his actions, they aren't convincing, as the dialogue is average and his character is so stiff.
    He and everyone else is well voice acted though. The side characters are much more interesting and give the story much needed personality and energy. The villains are also disappointing. The simple revenge story quickly unfolds and becomes more about the city and the crooks within it. However, the final twist, while I certainly did not see it coming, made the main villain look like an idiot, as his motivations were pretty unspectacular and small minded. The storyline was decent and did its job well enough. I did enjoy playing through it though, mostly because of the open world and the mission design and variety. The open world, while nowhere near the size of GTAV, is amazingly detailed. Ubisoft, love them or hate them, knows how to make an open world. The NPC's also give the city surprising life, as the little ctos blurbs tell a story about each person as you walk by them, and give each pedestrian character. They also do more interesting things like play recreational activities, protest, sell you **** and freestyle rap. The things people say, rap, or sell do repeat a couple times though. The game has great animations as well. Aiden especially. He stumbles and shies away when you blow up a fuse box close to him. He sidesteps and puts his hands out to protect himself when almost getting hit by a car. It's pretty cool. The driving can be annoying, however, as the driving physics could've used a bit more polish, as they are incredibly inconsistent. Driving motorcycles always feel great, however, which is really weird. The combat is also great, as most missions give players the freedom to take any approach. There were too many auto-fails for my liking, (my ideal number would be zero), but the ones that don't auto-fail leave it completely up to you. I chose the stealth approach, which works better imo, which includes using lures, silence pistol headshots, and hacking the cameras to take advantage of enemy weaknesses before approaching. You can disable their phones so they can't call in help, explode grenades on someone's body, or mess with their radio so you can take them down without them noticing. Or if you want to take the loud approach, you can. The gun arsenal is familiar but fun nonetheless. You craft endless explosives using materials bought from pawn shops and slow down time using your magic focus ability. Hacking works well with both of these approaches as well. The hacking is simple and refined, and it allows for fast hacking even in the middle of intense combat. The cover system is also amazing. I've never had a problem with it. It's quick and snappy. The side missions, while plentiful, are mostly the same, as the typical Ubisoft formula of the same side missions repeated throughout the map is on display here as well. While they are fun (gang hideouts are the best) I wish they were most thematic, like the tombs from old ac games or stuff from far cry. But they aren't, so stuff in the world, including the scenery, starts to feel the same after a while of play. However, side missions do give you skill points, which you can use on a surprisingly great skill tree. The online modes were another surprise to me. They were some great fun. 1v1 hacking is great, and the fun is completely different depending on whether you're the one getting hacked or hacking someone else. One is frantic, the other is intense and nerve racking as you pray the other player doesn't find you. It's almost felt like a silly horror game the first few times I played, as I knew if the other player found me I was screwed. Online decryption is also great, where you and your team hold a file to finish decrypting it, while the enemy tries to steal it from you. This mode is super hectic, as there are some truly wild moments that happen here, from running over an entire team with a car to constant trading with the file while decryption is at 99%. The other ones are decent. Online tailing is fun if you don't want to try. Online free roam is eh, as there are a ton of restrictions like not being able to punch people.    … Expand
  21. Xbox1Guy
    Nov 27, 2015
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The thing that bothers me the most is that there is really nothing to do much after you finish the game. The story line is really dull, it's about seeking revenge of a person's son or daughter dying (I forgot his name and which person in his family dies).… Expand
  22. oldmaster1818
    Oct 15, 2021
    7
    Watch dogs was a surprising good game that did most things quite well. Set in an awesome location, it was a lively city with plenty of activities, and with the ability to hack most things lent itself to a good experience. Sure, the game could have been better, but for a new Ubisoft brand, I was happy enough.

    Pros- Very well designed city (with nice rendering, reflections, chimney    Watch dogs was a surprising good game that did most things quite well. Set in an awesome location, it was a lively city with plenty of activities, and with the ability to hack most things lent itself to a good experience. Sure, the game could have been better, but for a new Ubisoft brand, I was happy enough.

    Pros-
    Very well designed city (with nice rendering, reflections, chimney smoke effects and water)
    Voice acting is top shelf
    James Dean lookalike in that coat!
    Hacking games are great fun
    Jumping camera to camera is brilliant
    Texas Holdem/Chess is a nice diversion
    Storyline/Campaign was nicely serious in tone, and not over-the-top like GTA/Saints
    Weather-Rain system rocked!
    Chicago looks lovely at night
    Heaps of weapons

    Cons-
    Driving felt floaty and simple, although I did get used to it
    Clothing options are only reskins
    Npc's faces and modelling gets very repetitive
    Song-track listing should have been so much better
    No customization on vehicles or weapons
    The final mission had both good parts and poor parts unfortunately.

    Also note that the dead zone on the control pad was so tiny that my worn out Xbox kept making the character auto walk everywhere. With no option to change the dead zone or a second controller the game soon became a chore. Only play this this game with new devices!

    Game Content- 8 out of ten
    Fun Factor- 7 out of ten

    Overall- 7.5    … Expand
  23. alexstunky
    May 25, 2018
    7
    No soy de los que les importa la capacidad gráfica que ofrece el juego, aun que si es un punto muy importante, pero no lo es todo, sin embargo aquí si debo de ser honesto, vaya mentira por parte de Ubisoft lo mostrado en gráficos para presentar esto.
    sin embargo no es un mal juego, es entretenido, aun que si faltaron demasiadas cosas para poder hacerle competencia a GTA V como ellos se lo    No soy de los que les importa la capacidad gráfica que ofrece el juego, aun que si es un punto muy importante, pero no lo es todo, sin embargo aquí si debo de ser honesto, vaya mentira por parte de Ubisoft lo mostrado en gráficos para presentar esto.
    sin embargo no es un mal juego, es entretenido, aun que si faltaron demasiadas cosas para poder hacerle competencia a GTA V como ellos se lo propusieron. Su historia esta entretenida, mecánicas muy interesantes por hackeo, aun que la conducción es muy mala en ciertas situaciones.
    Conclusión: Tiene potencial esta saga, ojala con entregas futuras mejores este concepto de hackeo que tiene buena pinta.    … Expand
  24. zNeverSleeping
    Oct 29, 2020
    7
    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good X Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{Gameplay}--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good X It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{Audio}--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good X Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{Audience}--- ☐ Kids X Teens X Adults ☐ All    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    ☐ Beautiful
    ☐ Good
    X Decent
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ Don‘t look too long at it
    ☐ MS-DOS

    ---{Gameplay}---
    ☐ Very good
    ☐ Good
    X It‘s just gameplay
    ☐ Mehh
    ☐ Watch paint dry instead
    ☐ Just don't

    ---{Audio}---
    ☐ Eargasm
    ☐ Very good
    X Good
    ☐ Not too bad
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ I'm now deaf

    ---{Audience}---
    ☐ Kids
    X Teens
    X Adults
    ☐ All

    ---{Difficulity}---
    ☐ Just press 'W'
    ☐ Easy
    X Significant brain usage
    ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
    ☐ Difficult
    ☐ Dark Souls

    ---{Story}---
    ☐ No Story
    ☐ Some lore
    X Average
    ☐ Good
    ☐ Lovely
    ☐ It‘ll replace your life

    ---{Game Time}---
    ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
    ☐ Short
    X Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{Price}--- ☐ It’s free! ☐ Worth the price X If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{Bugs}--- ☐ Never heard of X Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs    … Expand
  25. JJ2FAS4U
    Dec 29, 2021
    7
    Atmosphere: 8
    Enjoyment: 8
    Gameplay: 7
    Graphics: 7
    Music: 5
    Story: 7
    Total: 7.00
  26. spockivi
    Jul 19, 2023
    7
    Enjoyable gameplay. Sadly graphics don't live up to anything near what they showed at E3 2012. Tough levels, lots of hrs of gameplay.
  27. TheQuietGamer
    Jul 15, 2017
    6
    Ubisoft's latest open-world series puts players in the role of a hacker fighting crime as a vigilante in a city where everyone and everything is connected by technology. With the help of your trusty cellphone the world becomes your playground. You can interact with various parts of the world around you in new ways. You can do some nifty stuff, but unfortunately Ubisoft Montreal failed toUbisoft's latest open-world series puts players in the role of a hacker fighting crime as a vigilante in a city where everyone and everything is connected by technology. With the help of your trusty cellphone the world becomes your playground. You can interact with various parts of the world around you in new ways. You can do some nifty stuff, but unfortunately Ubisoft Montreal failed to come up with any new, inventive scenarios to capitalize on this. At the end of the day the game just boils down to another open-world experience filled with tailing missions and bland side-activities.

    There's a lot of content in this game. However I found none of it to be very interesting. The side-activities are dull and the story missions are the same chase and infiltration challenges we've seen time and time again. To make matters worse they rarely make good use of your cool hacking abilities. I do appreciate how outside of a few mandatory stealth levels you are given the freedom to approach objectives how you would like. Both the stealth and the guns blazing approaches feel great. Choosing to go all stealthy is where the hacker theme really shine. Systematically taking out enemies by hacking cameras from a distance and screwing with the environments is a lot of fun and encourages smart thinking and creativity. It's a lot like the Batman: Arkham games. Combat is smooth and even features a bullet time ability that feels ripped right form Max Payne.

    This sort of brings me into my next point. You'll notice that Watch Dogs is borrowing from a lot of better games. You can feel traces of Grand Theft Auto in the world and even Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed series in the very structure and activity design. This all leads to a sense of déjà vu and over familiarity that keeps Watch Dogs from ever really taking off. You've seen a lot of this before and it was better there. Especially since the game gets a lot of little things wrong. For example, driving is loose, awkward, and imprecise making chases and tail missions a pain. Getting chased by the police is a much too aggravating experience due to how annoyingly persistent they are and how long it takes to for them to loose interest once you finally due manage to slip out of their view. Oddly enough, there's also a reputation system that seems to serve no purpose at all. It's inclusion is a mystery that only seems to be in place because other open-world games have had them. Despite high production values and excellent work from the voice actors, the story is bland and uninteresting.

    To go with the always connected theme the game carries, you have the ability to jump into multiplayer content at any time while playing the game. You can access this stuff from your phone or stumble upon it randomly while exploring. Like the rest of the side-content I gave it a try but just wasn't compelled to actually do any of it. That's the game's real problem. There's nothing to actually hook you here.

    Ubisoft Montreal chose to stick to the standard open-world tropes. There are some good ideas here and fun moments, but the majority of my enjoyment came from just randomly walking around the incredibly detailed and well-made open-world and hacking people's implants for free stuff. The actual missions and challenges left me wanting as they usually failed to take advantage of the hacking abilities the game gifts to players. A shame, because when you are using them the game can be pretty fun because that's when it's at it's most original. As it stands, Watch Dogs is a standard open-world experience that gives you cool hacking abilities and largely fails to make them feel special at all. It's not bad, but you simply have a lot of better options out there.    … Expand
  28. 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
  29. Kazlowe
    Jun 1, 2014
    6
    It's a fun game, but after you play a bit, you realize it's just a reskin of the same systems and mini-games found in AC and Far Cry. There's iteration but not as much innovation as they claimed in the pre-release. There also seems to be little character motivation to do any of the stuff outside the campaign, but that sandbox has it's own charm as well. Wait for a sale or rent it.
  30. Armis
    Nov 14, 2014
    6
    Horribly overhyped dull piece of crap. 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.
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Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Best Xbox One Game of 2014
9
#9 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2014
16
#16 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Pure Xbox
    Oct 21, 2014
    80
    If you were expecting Watch Dogs to take the genre in new directions then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. With that being said, Watch Dogs is still an engaging and often times surprising action game.
    Read full review
  2. The Digital Fix
    Jun 25, 2014
    70
    With this introduction to the world of hacking Ubisoft have created a behemoth of an IP, one that promises much. Like its predecessor though, we’ll have to wait for the tighter and more focussed second iteration, removing what didn’t work and improving that which did, to realise that full potential.
    Read full review
  3. X-ONE Magazine UK
    Jun 3, 2014
    70
    Consistently entertaining but lacking in originality, Watch Dogs boasts a hugely promising concept but finds itself coasting along on the triumphs of others. You won’t be disappointed, but you won’t be surprised either.
    Read full review
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