There are several reasons to be excited about Watch Dogs. For one, it’s an open world game on next-gen hardware. Second, it’s an open-world game on next-gen hardware that’s trying something new. Third, it’s a big time investment by Ubisoft, and one that the billion dollar corporation isn’t taking lightly.
Watch Dogs represents Ubisoft’s updated strategy for the new generation of consoles. It’s a game that will certainly have sequels, and is reason enough for Ubisoft to move Assassin’s Creed away from its annual release schedule. The question is, is Watch Dogs good enough to warrant future releases?
Watch Dogs is set in a not so distant future Chicago, where TVs are mounted on the back of trucks and the entire city is run by a single complex operating system called CtOS. It stars Aiden Pearce, a calm man who walks around the city streets with his hands in his trench coat pockets. Surely he couldn’t be anything more than the average citizen… could he?
Aiden is a master of hacking and capable of breaching the CtOS network which not only controls Chicago’s infrastructure, but houses the information of over a million people. It goes without saying that he beholds a tremendous amount of power and responsibility. Sure, he might not be a superhero capable of flying through clouds and punching villains through concrete buildings, but his toolkit is potent enough to afford him the ability to manipulate the world around him.
Playing as Aiden you have control over these resources at your fingertips via his cell phone. A quick press of a button can hack into another citizen’s phone so you can listen in on their conversation. While there are many opportunities like this where hacking acts as just the hobby of a snooper, this power over information puts Aiden in a position where he can act upon his dream role of being an undercover hero. Unfortunately, early on in the narrative Aiden’s power works against him and costs him the life of a loved one, prompting a negative response from those around him. Consequently, his life was changed forever. Watch Dogs‘ journey is all about Aiden coming to terms with a world where his seemingly helpful acts have consequences. But risk doesn’t stop him.
The story remains interesting throughout, using beautiful motion captured cutscenes to depict the game’s many character interactions. Despite the game’s open-world nature, the narrative is a lengthy affair, presenting dozens of missions that range in style and manage to retain your interest by regularly introducing important scenarios so you don’t feel like an errand boy. One moment you’re operating undercover, tricking high-profile crime lords and stealing critical data using subterfuge. The next minute, you’ll be getting chased by police with a helicopter equipped with a huge flood light locked in on you. Darting around a corner and hiding in an alleyway with the car turned off is one of many ways to handle the situation.
It’s fun toying with enemies using Aiden’s adept hacking skills. At one point I opened a garage door and set off the alarm of the van inside. This lured a couple enemies to come check out what was going on, which I then responded to by shutting the door in front of them. They went crazy as they began pounding on the door and yelling for the alarm to stop. While this served no purpose other than some good laughs, it’s important to emphasize that there are a lot of objects you can hack and incorporate into your strategy.
Walk into a cafe and don’t like the music they’re playing? Hack the music player and change it. Driving through an intersection and want to get a pesky enemy off your tail? Turn all the lights green and cause a huge crash right behind you. Using the Blackout item you can even cause a complete loss of power in Chicago for a few seconds so you have plenty of darkness to disguise your six foot frame.
One novel way Watch Dogs explores hacking is by allowing you to take control of the plethora of cameras around the city, some of which are mounted on guards. This creates for some unique puzzles where you are transported into the CtOS network and must utilize problem solving to reach your target. In some cases this target is a server room with data you’re after. Successfully cracking your way into these valuable rooms makes you feel like a real hacker.
There are so many fantastic moments in Watch Dogs. Some of them come in the form of big narrative moments, while most of them happen naturally during your journey. One of my favorites is enabling explosives in enemy pockets. Seeing them freak out trying to grab the device and throw it away before it causes a huge explosion is a clever way to dispatch of foe. The A.I. is realistic enough that it makes playing around with Aiden’s skill set enjoyable, although they don’t seem to behave properly when a grenade is around. Oh well, easy grenade kills I suppose.
There’s a lot of flexibility in how you approach combat situations. Although there are a couple mandatory combat and stealth scenarios, the bulk of situations will allow you to employ finesse, brute force, or a mixture of both. What makes this particularly noteworthy is how well implemented both are. If you’re a stealth oriented guy like me, using a silenced pistol, hacking equipment, and traps requires patience and precision, but can get you through just about any scenario without engaging enemies. Best of all, it’ll keep you in control of the situation at all times. When placed in a situation where your AK-47 and sniper rifle are necessary for the task, you’ll find that the gun play has a great feel to it. Aim assist can be adjusted in the settings, and on default the mechanics lend themselves to rewarding you for good aim while not making it a headache to deal with an army of armed guards. This mixture of intense combat and stealth espionage at play makes you feel like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. You really are a badass.
Different players will incorporate different parts of the game into their strategy, and to make sure their specialization is rewarded there’s a skill tree present. With four different sections (hacking, combat, driving, and crafting) you can become a master in any of these areas. Although, early on you’ll definitely want to unlock Focus which allows you to slow down time Max Payne style—my goodness is it fun to use—and make sure you have the ability to hack many different object types. Steam pipes, spike strips, and transformers can provide huge relief during difficult situations.
The city of Chicago is large and detailed. Driving from one side to the other could take you several minutes so you may want to use the trains or fast travel from safe houses to get around quickly. Broken up into a few different districts, it has a good sense of variety—especially when compared to inFamous: Second Son. In rich areas you’ll find tall skyscrapers, successful businessmen, and nice cars worth stealing. Speaking of which, driving in Watch Dogs is something you’ll do a lot of. It’s arcade style with impossibly fast cars that generate 10-g forces during acceleration, and are impossible to flip. The handling and mechanics stand out as a sore thumb in Watch Dogs‘ gameplay, although it isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just isn’t great like the rest of the game.
Watch Dogs benefits from a great soundtrack that you can customize and play or stop at any time you desire. The tracks range in genre so you should be able to find at least one track you enjoy cruising through Chicago to. You’ll even unlock up to 21 additional songs by hacking citizens around the city. It’s nice to be able to listen to some tunes without being forced to listen to something you don’t like.
During missions the game will capitalize on big moments by layering in multi-movement scores. It’s easy to feel like a hero when you’re trying to rescue someone and the music evolves as you proceed through new phases of your mission. You may need to pause from all the adrenaline coursing through your veins.
The presentation could have used another layer of polish. On one hand, the motion capturing is great, and so is the look of the game when it’s raining or night time. On the other, day time looks flat. When the sun is out, the game, even on next-gen consoles and PC, looks as if it’s missing something. The balance of colors just doesn’t look quite right, and it doesn’t help that many of the vehicles are reminiscent of Gran Turismo 5‘s standard cars. Although this is disappointing, when the sun goes down or the rain clouds come rolling in, the game looks stunning. Long draw distance, environmental variety, and a surplus of active citizens creates for a wonderful look at virtual Chicago provided the sun isn’t out. You may just find yourself accelerating time in your safe house to avoid playing during the day.
This is an open-world game, and it wouldn’t be a great one without some quality side content. In this regard, Watch Dogs hits a home run. There are lots of cool side quests and mini-games. Climbing CtOS towers to unlock new objectives and access to CtOS in that area is important and weaves together platforming and puzzle in ways that may surprise you given the game’s action-adventure nature. QR code puzzles take some thought, and home invasions let you enjoy the world from an NSA point of view. You can also gamble money (money is used to buy new clothing, cars to summon, and more) in chess, poker, slot machines, and much more. Most notable of the side content are the five Digital Trips which serve as large scale mini-games. In other games these could be considered DLC since they’re an absolute joy to play and have enough features to retain your interest for upward of an hour each.
Between the lengthy main story and side content you’ll be quite busy, but you’ll definitely want to make time for Watch Dogs‘ multiplayer element. Hacking in particular could very well be my favorite online game mode in any console game I’ve ever played. Essentially, you play a game of hide and go seek with a stranger. You’re able to invade their single-player game—Dark Souls style—and try to hack them while avoiding their detection. If you’re invaded, it’s up to you to find the player hidden in the vicinity. Sound easy? It’s not. The invading player looks like a regular citizen and is able to blend into the environment easily. Learning how to quickly find good hiding spots and move around like an NPC is the key to being a great online hacker.
