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. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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.
  10. 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!
  11. 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.
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. JJ2FAS4U
    Dec 29, 2021
    7
    Atmosphere: 8
    Enjoyment: 8
    Gameplay: 7
    Graphics: 7
    Music: 5
    Story: 7
    Total: 7.00
  19. 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.
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. DarrMunny
    Jun 3, 2014
    6
    Terrible driving mechanics worst ive played its like they have chucked it in for the sake of it, meaningless police chases for whatever reason just annoying really.To me there is no structure in the storyline it seems very haphazard, it just put me off completely.
  25. azgoodaz
    Jul 8, 2015
    6
    Watch Dogs? Well, it was a very very interesting game. The storyline could have been worked on, the driving sucked (it feels uncontrollable), the shooting is decent, and the hacking.. well you press "X". Hacking really would have been worked on, a lot. They should have put in more hacking buttons into the game to make it more challenging like a puzzle but it felt like "Press X to PayWatch Dogs? Well, it was a very very interesting game. The storyline could have been worked on, the driving sucked (it feels uncontrollable), the shooting is decent, and the hacking.. well you press "X". Hacking really would have been worked on, a lot. They should have put in more hacking buttons into the game to make it more challenging like a puzzle but it felt like "Press X to Pay Respects" (COD: AW joke) type of thing. Where you do it over and over again. But the loved the combat style of the game, you can do missions stealthy or you can just do it run and gun. I felt like it was a mix of GTA and Assassins Creed.

    If you loved this game and you gave it a 10/10. And if you have a Uplay account, you could use your points to unlock special gear/clothes. You can even use your points to buy a in-game car which is pretty cool, but again the driving in the game sucks. Lastly, they have a Watch Dog companion app which you can use that and play/race against the clock to out hack the user. For example, a player in-game can load of this gamemode and you the one the car have to race through checkpoints and get to the finish line. But on the app side, another player controls the city pipelines, cops, helicopters, and more to try and take you down.

    For some reason, if they do make a Watch Dogs 2. I wont be buying it, but I will be surly playing the companion app if they make another one because that was pretty fun.    … Expand
  26. twos
    Sep 22, 2014
    6
    Good story and really well executed game mechanics, but just didn't live up to the hype or potential of the overarching idea, I just felt like the solution to every problem was exactly the same and really simple, press x (hack) or shoot it. It's worth playing but I think you'd be best of leaving til it sits in the bargain bin.
  27. Quietlionmusic
    Mar 25, 2019
    6
    Best open world game yet. This game never seems to have a dull moment. There are so many different things to do and you want to do them all. Multiplayer is very unique and merges seamlessly with the normal gameplay. There are tons of side quests, mysteries to solve and objectives in addition to the immersive story line.

    My favorite aspect of the game is the fact that you can accomplish    Best open world game yet. This game never seems to have a dull moment. There are so many different things to do and you want to do them all. Multiplayer is very unique and merges seamlessly with the normal gameplay. There are tons of side quests, mysteries to solve and objectives in addition to the immersive story line.

    My favorite aspect of the game is the fact that you can accomplish tasks in different ways. You can go in stealth and hack your way in, bring down your enemies with the environment or you can go in guns blazing (and there are many guns to choose from).

    Graphically the game is beautiful. There is an absurd amount of detail. When you go to a fast food place you can read the menu. I have never seen an open world game with so much detail. This game was worth the wait and the extra time Ubisoft Montreal spent on it.

    If the game fine tuned the bugs out, it would be much better.    … Expand
  28. ignostia
    Jun 26, 2014
    6
    When I first started playing Watch Dogs, I went in with high hopes, desperately anticipating a revolutionary open-world shooter unlike anything the gaming community had seen before, as this was how it was advertised. This might be a reason why I, personally, didn't like this game as much as most people. At first, it seemed very good. The stealth elements partnered with the large scale andWhen I first started playing Watch Dogs, I went in with high hopes, desperately anticipating a revolutionary open-world shooter unlike anything the gaming community had seen before, as this was how it was advertised. This might be a reason why I, personally, didn't like this game as much as most people. At first, it seemed very good. The stealth elements partnered with the large scale and highly detailed environments made for a largely enjoyable opening sequence. Then it all went downhill from there. The missions following were tedious and boring. The freemode didn't have enough things to do, and overall, the random online PvP's that would happen during freemode or while starting missions were the icing on top of the pile of crap advertised as a cake.… Expand
  29. ezerik
    Jun 11, 2014
    6
    I was excited for this game in light of the small selection of games on Xbox One. Gotta say I'm disappointed. It feels like Watch Dogs tries to do GTA but it doesn't come close to doing GTA as good as GTA does GTA (if that makes sense). Hacking is unique and brings a good amount of cool features. Otherwise, it feels like a poor man's GTA. That's the best I can describe it. Multiplayer isI was excited for this game in light of the small selection of games on Xbox One. Gotta say I'm disappointed. It feels like Watch Dogs tries to do GTA but it doesn't come close to doing GTA as good as GTA does GTA (if that makes sense). Hacking is unique and brings a good amount of cool features. Otherwise, it feels like a poor man's GTA. That's the best I can describe it. Multiplayer is clumsy - you can invite friends to the same game, but I haven't figured out how to assure we're on the same team. Driving isn't as smooth as you'd like. Graphics are straight, not spectacular. Haven't felt like playing it much, already back on Titanfall more regularly. It's not awful but it's ok.… Expand
  30. DarthGoogle
    May 30, 2014
    6
    I was hopeful when I opened the packaging that this would be the best game ever. Sadly - Ubisoft forgot to pay gamers to leave favorable reviews. I'll take you through the good and the bad as I see them and you can decide for yourself.

    The Good: The graphics are great. Some of the best and the close up perspective makes you feel immersed in the game world. The amount of things to    I was hopeful when I opened the packaging that this would be the best game ever. Sadly - Ubisoft forgot to pay gamers to leave favorable reviews. I'll take you through the good and the bad as I see them and you can decide for yourself.

    The Good:

    The graphics are great. Some of the best and the close up perspective makes you feel immersed in the game world.

    The amount of things to do is unlimited. There are so many things you could forget the side missions and do your own thing without the story. This could be good or bad.

    Diversity - there are a significant number of diverse characters with different ideas and professions. However after about 5% into the game you'll start getting repeat conversations and find people with the same issues.

    The Bad:

    I am a stickler for gameplay. Being a former video game producer I can tell you that bad gameplay will always kill a game. Of course you'll get the fanboys who love it no matter what but if you thought you were getting a modern day Assassins Creed you are in for a rude awakening.

    The games AI is dreadful. You are always the focus. If enemies shoot at you and some passerby calls the police, the police show up to shoot you. Not arrest you, detain you, but full on shoot to kill. I had one point where a guy shot at me robbing a woman and the police officer standing there just turned and shot me.

    The Police always know where you are even when you are hiding. I was hiding behind a wall when someone heard shots and called the police. The police showed up and even though I was hiding they all walked pointing their guns towards my hiding spot.

    The game forces you to play its way. I don't like open world games that tout freedom to do things as a way to force you to do things that make it impossible. Forcing you to use melee to take down an enemy surrounded by armed thugs seems a bit on the dumb side without even giving a reason for it. You can kill all the enemies but shooting that guy is off limits.

    Why did Namco make this game? Everything about this game feels like you are playing a Konami light gun arcade game. From the large yellow bullets to the campy game dialogue that is almost cartoony. The game is right up there with Lethal Enforcers... I mean they could have named it that and it would have been true tot he name.

    Everyone recognizes you. Why? Isn't the purpose of being incognito to not be recognized yet everyone on the street knows who you are?

    You can walk around and shoot people but melee is out of the questions unless you are taking down a scripted bad guy. It's like melee was an after thought.

    Multiplayer - nothing says fun like being constantly interrupted during your game by people randomly hacking you without a choice. Don't want to be online? Well then you don't get anything for online and it resets everything.

    Steal from everyone - Here's this guy who is a vigilante, but he has no issues robbing people who are foster parents, cub scout leaders, and social workers. Also if you find someone with a criminal record and you kill them... nope that's your bad. You should not have been a vigilante on that. It's like the information given to you is so you could ignore it and it's pretty much useless. You NEVER use any of it. The good guy shouldn't be stealing money from the accounts of someone who is a charity worker or someone who just got diagnosed with cancer.

    Vehicles handle like crap.

    Getting into cover and then trying to get out of it is impossible at times. This is especially noticeable if you are use to playing GTA and trying to sprint after the guy.

    CONCLUSION - All in all this is an okay game. It's not world changing or even worth playing over GTA. The game sets a new low for gameplay. Kids under 16 will like it, but anyone with a true affinity for games will not. If you like being limited in your gameplay this is probably the best game for you.    … Expand
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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

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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.
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  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.
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  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.
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