Watch Dogs Review (Xbox One)

Ubisoft’s most anticipated game of the summer or rather of the year is here, Watch Dogs is officially available today. It has been in production for five years, it was delayed from a launch late last year, but they did it to make sure it was perfect and all the loose ends were tied up. You take the role of Aiden Pearce and he is looking for revenge. There is large main campaign, plus many other missions, as well as a very large role. Of course there is an online component to the title as well. We know that Watch Dogs is a very anticipated title, but is it the best? Keep reading to see our full thoughts on this title.

Campaign And Missions

The main campaign of the game is very thrilling and moving. It will pull you right in from the very first mission and keeps you in until the last mission of the last act. For starters, something you will notice very quickly, is that there is no set path. Each mission is unique and requires a lot of thinking, I like to think of them as puzzles or mind games. Aiden Pearce quickly turns into a different person, he is shaped by the violence around him and that he causes, you will also notice that he is haunted by his family tragedy. Something that he will try to get revenge for, from the very beginning.

The tragedy it self was bad, it resulted in the death of Lena, Aiden’s niece. While I won’t dive into how or why, this changes the dynamic of his family. His sister Nicole is heartbroken and his nephew, Jacks, is seeking therapy for it. It leads to some crazy chases, which results in taking care of his family. The man he turns into or at least the man who they see him as, leads to some very interesting complications.

Overall, the campaign is a monstrous and phenomenal ride, you will not want to put the game down. The idea of mystery mixed with an action and adventure game, leads to a great story line. One that makes you think, wonder, and ponder; It results you in having to think of different ways to achieve the objective.

The game is set in the city of Chicago, and yes the classic L-Train is here. It is set in a futuristic Chicago, but one that is not very far away. The city is run by one operating system and that is ctOS. This runs everything, from traffic lights, to pipes, to security cameras, and much more. This can be used to your advantage and your disadvantage. Going along with this, is knowing how to use in an effort to complete the objective. In some cases, you won’t even have to step into the building, you can do it remotely through cameras, then finish it by hacking.

On top of the main missions, you have side missions, investigations, collectibles, and mini games. For instance, after you complete the main missions you are only around 25% done with the game. These side missions bounce off of the main missions, you can also do contracts. These require you to use profiling and combat, all of which you get a good amount of time with the core gameplay.

Graphics And Gameplay

Lifelike is a true judger for video games and Watch Dogs get’s a full 100% on graphics. I did not experience any lag or glitches, overall it was a very positive experience. Day and night look really nice, the graphics are defiantly on par with Grand Theft Auto V. In terms of weather, the rain and stormy nights look really realistic and add to the intensity of the game. The music and scenery will switch and leads you to want to complete the objective even faster.

Gameplay is just as good, very easy controls and there was no lag here also. Driving cars is pretty good, sometimes the viewing angles it atomically switches to are a little hard, but you can customize your view. The weapon wheel is nice and comes in very handy, similar to what we saw in Grand Theft Auto V and other open world games. There is walkthroughs from the beginning to the end to help you through the game. Through skill points you can upgrade your weapon wheel switch times.

ctOS, Hacking, And Your Smartphone

The power of a simple smartphone, can be extraordinary and in Watch Dogs you take that power to the extreme. Let’s say you’re driving down the main avenue in Chicgao and you have some people following you and need to get rid of them, well this where your skills will come in handy. By completing objectives and missions you unlock new items and get skill points. One area of the skill points, is hacking and it comes in very handy and is necessary. Through this you can gain the ability to blow up steam pipes, explode transformed, gain control of camera, switch traffic lights, open bridges, and more. This will help you both in free roam and in the many missions.

The smartphone is not just used for hacking, but it is how you can check your progressions, get cars, and more. You can view how far you have progressed in the game, access the skill menu, see available contracts, buy cars, leaderboards, field guides, and more. DedSec is the hacker group that isn’t the biggest fans of ctOS, but you will learn more about them and specifically badboy17 as you move forward in the game. The smartphone is very handy and helpful, it adds another level to game.

Mutliplayer 

Ubisoft and the entire development team of Watch Dogs wanted a completely seamless experience between single player and multiplayer, I am happy to say they have done this. If you are driving around the city, you may have online contracts pop up and immediately you are in the online experience. For instance some of these contracts, are hacking contracts. In these you hunt down other fixers and hack them to get information you need, through these you learn how to use the power of ctOS, as you cannot harm the fixer. Then with tailing contracts, you use the skills of stealth, to monitor and tail someone. On top of this you have to profile and find the correct people, as it might be in a crowd. There is a traditional multiplayer mode, called free roam, in this you can explore Chicago hunt down other users and invite your friends to join in. Via the companion application on your smartphone, you can have fund with your friends and other players. You can also race online with friends or other users, hear you have the chance to reap the awards. Lastly, for those who like decrypting, you get special contracts which require you to get the data, decrypt it, and then deliver it.

Bottom Line

Ubisoft has a winner on their hands and with that being said, it is a very good winner. Watch Dogs is the best game of the year so far and it is for several reasons. We have seen open world games before, but not one that has a story line so  thrilling and not one that sucks you into it. On top of this, the ctOS system provides new ways for you to game and to think about the game. Watch Dogs does a great job of making the players think and use the tools in the best ways possible, depending on how you use them it can change the direction of the game. And it provides a choice, you can try going about the missions without using the hacks and the technology, but when you use them you experience new ways for solving the problems presented and to get the objectives. The pehenmonal missions and story line, are paired with a seamless multiplayer and single player experience. This seamless experience is not seen on any other titles currently on the market. Lastly, all of this paired with excellent gameplay, realistic graphics, and powering sounds. If you are only going to get one game this year make it Watch Dogs, it is a game that everyone can enjoy and from the first time you play it, you will be begging for more. Watch Dogs is available today, May 27th 2014, and Click Here To Get Your Copy. We would like to thank Ubisoft for providing us with a copy of “Watch Dogs”.

Gallery