_Achievement-Review:

Difficulty: 3/10
Approx. time invest: 50h
MP-Achievements: Yes
Misc / Activities / Collectables: Yes - a lot
Missable Achievements: None
DLC needed: Yes - "Bad Blood"

Watch_Dogs was overall a pleasent surprise and fun to 100% - even though it overstayed its welcome with all the activities, that got repetitive real quick.

_Story
The story, aside from a few rare highlights, was rather forgettable and not particularly immersive. The protagonist, Aiden, tried too hard to be the edgy uncle—confronted with the consequences of his own choices, questioning himself—only for you to immediately return to the open world, shooting, looting, and killing.

In the end, it's a classic revenge story. The dialogue is decent but nothing special.

_Immersion:
The game attempted several innovative mechanics (for its time), which I appreciated—especially the consequences of killing too many civilians. The more reckless you are, the more civilians recognize you, and news broadcasts launch awareness campaigns that put your face everywhere, forcing you to hide.

Unfortunately, the first mission in the stadium was the only time I truly felt the power of being the "Hacking Superman of Chicago." There was no other moment that recreated this feeling on the same scale.

_Worst Achievement:
"Social Lubricant" - It is so damn boring!


_Recommendation:
Watch_Dogs is this action movie you put on, when you don't know what to watch.
It has its moments and is quite enjoyable.

Undoubtedly one of the most infamous games of the 2010s, Watch_Dogs was the start of a promising new IP for Ubisoft, revealed at a time when the company was arguably at its peak in terms of game-making quality. Its initial showcase not only presented an intriguing, pervasive computer system concept that continues to age better with time, but showcased graphics which were simply beyond comprehension within that era. It certainly got me on board, hyping up young Drill to the point of preordering the collector’s edition, which I’ve still only done a handful of times to this day. And while it may have disappointed a lot of people when it released, I remember having fond memories of it, from the character of Aiden and the world of Chicago, to the unique online modes and neat side activities. After replaying the game more than ten years since I first completed it, I have found my opinion to be largely unchanged; I still believe it is one of the better open-world experiences you can play today, and one of Ubisoft’s best games in general.

Playing as the gruff, no BS, uncle-turned-vigilante Aiden Pearce, you immediately have the goal of seeking revenge on those who harmed his family, which just so happens to tie into a Chicago-wide conspiracy involving an omnipresent computer system, a couple of well-established crime gangs, and a blackout that impacted the entirety of Northeastern America in 2003. This is a narrative that’s more driven by the strength of its characters than its various plot beats, as the mystery is largely your standard crime affair with a bit of a hacking spice mixed within.

Whilst many found Aiden to be a boring, generic revenge man, I’ve always been fond of his personality, deciding to take matters into his own hands out of perceived necessity, fully morphing into a vigilante who loves what he does as the story moves along. There’s a solid supporting cast too; Jordi’s a wise-cracking fixer who steals every scene in his limited number of appearances, T-Bone radiates experience and a drive to make up for the mistakes of his part, and the main antagonist of Damien becomes progressively more unhinged as Aiden does what is asked of him, but not in the way he was asked to. Ubisoft certainly could have gone further with thematic depth here, but this is undoubtedly one of their stronger narrative efforts.

What most surprised me when comparing the gameplay of Watch_Dogs to the marketing was how similar they turned out to be. Considering this was one of Ubisoft’s first cracks at a GTA-inspired title, it’s impressive how satisfying the gunplay is. Weapons have a decent amount of recoil, and the sounds are very weighty, so not only do they feel great to use, they demand precision aiming for gunfights to be successful, especially when the challenge of this game and intelligence of the AI is above average, even on Normal difficulty. It strikes a great balance between arcadey and realistic; mindless running and gunning will only get you killed.

But the star of the gameplay show is of course the contextual hacking system, which serves to maintain the unique identity of Watch_Dogs all of these years later. Various objects in the environment can be activated to give you the edge during a combat encounter; you can create cover, overload pipes to stun your foes, set off explosives, or even cause a mini-blackout to completely throw your enemies off. Stealth also benefits greatly, allowing you to survey any environment covered by security cameras and help plan your course through a tough encounter. My favourite area to use this system is actually the various car chases you’ll get into, as it gives you numerous routes to fight back against your pursuers if you know where and when to best use the city as your weapon, an especially crucial asset here as you’re not able to fire out of your vehicle. The implementation of hacking is ultimately a straightforward but highly flexible system that gives every player the freedom to express themselves game beyond the limits of your typical shooting, stealth and driving scenarios.

All of these areas are put to full use within the mission design of the main campaign, which is consistently varied and entertaining all the way through. The design of the combat spaces makes going loud or stealth equally viable options, with plenty of unique hacking opportunities to make use of and give missions a standout identity. There’s one where you have to infiltrate a prison with a limited gear set, forcing you to focus on stealth and hacks to make it to your target unseen. On the other end of the spectrum, what would be a typical ‘defend an objective’ mission is completely augmented with the hacking system, as the game throws dozens of enemies at you, forcing you to use all of your tools smartly to overcome the odds. They saved the best till last though, as the final mission is an absolutely mental chase across much of central Chicago, relying on the hacking knowledge you've gained to make it through unscathed; it’s one of my favourite missions in any game, period. Of course, there’s plenty of your typical Ubisoft open-worldy content if you can’t get enough of what’s on offer here, but it’s pleasing that so much thought was put into this quest line.

It's also worth mentioning the unique multiplayer modes, the main of which allows a random player to infiltrate your instance of Chicago to hack you, leading to a game of hide and seek in a concentrated area of the map. These don’t happen too often, but they are always tense and enjoyable, and end up being a nice diversion from your planned activities. The servers were a bit dodgy when trying to join specific people, but it still works surprisingly well after all these years.

Where the marketing completely fell flat compared to the final product is graphics, which were certainly fine back in 2014, but have not aged as gracefully as the rest of the package. Character models are not very realistic, environments look okay but lack detail when it comes to textures, even at max settings, and the lighting in particular feels very flat during nighttime. There are various mods which bring the visuals closer to the original demo, but that doesn’t change that the execution of the base game in this area left a lot to be desired, especially when compared to other equally ambitious titles of that era.

I don’t hold this too much against the game though, as the design of the world of Chicago more than makes up for it. Each district has a distinct visual identity and story to tell; the central area is densely populated and lively, while the south is a run-down industrial district with gives off a completely different vibe, and the north-west is a mini countryside space that achieves at being intentionally disconnected from every other area on the map. This of course leads to diverse gameplay spaces, but also a world that is simply great to drive about and explore, even without a specific goal in mind. Nonetheless, there are a fair few interesting diversions which are worth dipping into during your downtime, including poker, a tricky drinking game, and some nice chess puzzles.

I don’t have too many bad words to level at Watch_Dogs. Even more than a decade after its release, it still has elements that sets it apart from many other games on the market, including its fantastic open world, fun hacking mechanics, and unique multiplayer modes. It certainly failed to deliver on its graphical promise, but by my money, it succeeded at nearly everything else it needed to, and then some. Though I am left wondering what a remake would look like, if only to realize that original vision we saw all the way back in 2012.

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