Watch Dog metacritic reviews

[x EvilErmine x]

Breaking news! Hype train doesn't live up to it's promises!!

It was never going to be an OMG amazables game of a game, we all knew that. Most of us have been gaming long enough to realize that the hype surrounding a game 99% of the time has nothing in common with the game it's self. But some of us never learn, hence expectations are built and then dashed on the cold rocks of reality leading to the lower review scores.

Honestly the way some people were hyped for this game you would think it came with a free hookers and blow peripheral or something.

Personally I'm really enjoying playing it though. That might be because I didn't follow any of the marketing Ubi spewed forth and went into it with no expectations.

 

[Vrach]

If you press 'W' your car jumps forward like you slammed on the gas. It's nearly impossible to make small turns.

Agree with you on that one, it's ridiculous trying to start a car gently, roleplaying an innocuous driver to see the car, as you said, react like you slammed down the gas pedal like you never set foot in a car in your life or are starting a high speed car chase every time you get in a vehicle. It's cool for those "get in and let's get the hell out of here!" moments, but not so much for the other 90% "right, let's go and drive like a normal person".

The optimization is awful too. I was guessing it wouldn't run on my PC like a charm, but after seeing it stutter like hell without even nearly looking the part for it, I'm a bit annoyed. I imagine some patches are to follow, but if the whole AMD cockblocking thing is true, it may be a while. I'm getting a new PC soon anyway, so I'm not too bothered, but again, it just doesn't look nor feel like a game that should use as many resources as it does. If it looked like the game we initially saw at E3, I'd be fine with it, but as it is, it's just silly.

edit:
That all said, it looks like a solid GTA clone with a twist, which is close to what I expected of the game. I imagine gameplay will fun as hell once I update my PC as I like these kinds of open world "go nuts" games, so I'm not complaining too much. If we're talking scores, from what little I've seen, I'd give it an 8,5/10 if we're discounting the optimization issues.

 

[Vrach]

btw, this is based off a 360 version, so you're screwed without a gamepad, something that's always annoyed me about keyboard/mouse set up, it's either all go or all stop.

It works just fine in every GTA game I've played and anything similar. And I liked Saints Row approach to it where you could turn on "cruise control", which basically kept the speed at current level, allowing you to speed up with W and slow down with S. That worked great for a K&M setup.

I also have a controller from my PS3 (use it only for Dark Souls games on PC, but it works fine), but I still prefer the K&M setup for shooting and such. Btw, is there an option to shoot while driving? Didn't see one and it kinda annoys me, especially since you have focus mode which is perfect for that kind of stuff and the game is ripe for high speed car chases with loads of gunfire.

 

[drummond13]

Why tear into a game because it "didn't live up to the hype"? That's ridiculous. Judge it on its own merits, or lack thereof.

There are literally hundreds of games in which the user reviews are far harsher than the critic reviews. Usually the bigger titles.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

btw, this is based off a 360 version, so you're screwed without a gamepad, something that's always annoyed me about keyboard/mouse set up, it's either all go or all stop.

It works just fine in every GTA game I've played and anything similar. And I liked Saints Row approach to it where you could turn on "cruise control", which basically kept the speed at current level, allowing you to speed up with W and slow down with S. That worked great for a K&M setup.

I also have a controller from my PS3 (use it only for Dark Souls games on PC, but it works fine), but I still prefer the K&M setup for shooting and such. Btw, is there an option to shoot while driving? Didn't see one and it kinda annoys me, especially since you have focus mode which is perfect for that kind of stuff and the game is ripe for high speed car chases with loads of gunfire.

nope, can't shoot while driving, although enemies can. Its actually amother gripe I have with the game, as you can tell it was purposely left out to force you to use offensive hacking, which isn't immediately unlocked. Unlock steam pipe explosions, and the chases are much easier to handle. After you get over the fact of being forced into not shooting, offensive hacking becomes really fun, and the system is actually really lenient and user friendly in regards to timing and placement of the hacks. You'll see the squares line up and eventually flash blue, that's when to hit the hack.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

nope, can't shoot while driving, although enemies can. Its actually amother gripe I have with the game, as you can tell it was purposely left out to force you to use offensive hacking, which isn't immediately unlocked. Unlock steam pipe explosions, and the chases are much easier to handle. After you get over the fact of being forced into not shooting, offensive hacking becomes really fun, and the system is actually really lenient and user friendly in regards to timing and placement of the hacks. You'll see the squares line up and eventually flash blue, that's when to hit the hack.

Passengers can shoot, I think that's how enemies shoot you. Or it could be due to you having on hand on the wheel and one hand on the phone lol.

 

[Vrach]

nope, can't shoot while driving, although enemies can. Its actually amother gripe I have with the game, as you can tell it was purposely left out to force you to use offensive hacking, which isn't immediately unlocked. Unlock steam pipe explosions, and the chases are much easier to handle. After you get over the fact of being forced into not shooting, offensive hacking becomes really fun, and the system is actually really lenient and user friendly in regards to timing and placement of the hacks. You'll see the squares line up and eventually flash blue, that's when to hit the hack.

That's all well and good, but I still can't drive onto a bridge I set to open/rise up, quickly turn and shoot out the cops' tires to send them spiraling into the water

Seriously though, thanks for the info, it's a shame, I agree it feels forced, I had several situations in the game where I was trying every button I could think of to try shooting out of a car, until I said "alright, hold on a minute" and opened the controls hoping to find it. I was kinda hoping for a bullshit "you unlock that later" thing, it'd still be preferable to not having it at all

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Nope. Watch Dogs looks worse then low budget open world sandbox PC exclusives from 2008 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAYLHAPPkvw&list=PLD2B82E405CF9650C&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkLR2tYRubw&list=PLD2B82E405CF9650C&index=3
Incidentally, that game also has some of the finest graphics ins 2008. So I disagree with you.

I said:

The very best looking linear game is ALWAYS much much better looking than the very best looking sandbox game on the same hardware, it's not even close.

How is showing me an open world/sandbox game vs Watch Dogs (on different hardware) disagreeing with me?

 

[Schtoobs]

I think the game is initially underwhelming, but once you try more things out and get the hang of some of the more obscure game-play mechanics (cameras scanning further, semi-auto hack triggers during car chases)it becomes a really good game. The driving, much like sleeping dogs, suits the car chase game-play and not getting stuck on every single object at the roadside is a nice change, even if a bit unrealistic.

The PC version needs some graphical and control optimisations. I'm enjoying it a lot more than the last few similar sandbox games. I don't agree that this isn't next-gen. Some of the graphics are things we have seen before but there is definitely some really next-gen, albeit sometimes slightly subtle, graphics in there. I don't know how anyone could compare an open world sandbox to other more linear world games in terms of graphics. Skyrim is very pretty - not as good as watchdogs graphically imo but consider getting in a car in Skyrim and blasting your way across the map at high speed. It would die. And this is a completely new engine I think.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the multiplayer (which I usually don't like). There is a nice amount of content and variation. The mini games and AR games are very polished and better than any sandbox I've played including the funny saints row ones.

A lot of the negativity is obviously reaction to the graphical downgrading since 2012 and peoples massively over-the-top expectations. I've hyped games up in my mind myself many times, it always ends in disappointment, I've just learned (over 25 years) to take some of the blame for it. Colonial marines WAS definitely shit though

All just my opinion obviously. I don't doubt there are legitimate technical problems (I've experienced some myself).

Crap, no one is going to read all that...

TLDR: I really like it and disagree with most of the bashing its getting.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I am just saying that it does not have to be like that. Often open worls games or at least massive area games are just as good looking.

I've never seen an open world game look as good or better than a linear game on the same console.

 

[The_Scrivener]

Well the metacritic part is probably another social balance issue, "professionals" blow smoke up the big budget titles ass and people then go the other way and shit on it to try and even things out, not productive either way.

The game itself... is ok, just ok, nothing overly bad and nothing that would put it above competitors. If anyone asks I will still recommend GTA, Saints Row, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption, possibly even Mafia before mentioning Watch Dogs, because all the others have something unique that will stick with you in them and this one doesn't.

It's worse than that. Metacritic is a lobbyist aggregator. The most piss poor games imaginable still get mid-to high scores on every major review site. Gaming has no Roger Ebert. It has no review integrity outside of smaller publications with more credibility. Hello Escapist.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well the metacritic part is probably another social balance issue, "professionals" blow smoke up the big budget titles ass and people then go the other way and shit on it to try and even things out, not productive either way.

The game itself... is ok, just ok, nothing overly bad and nothing that would put it above competitors. If anyone asks I will still recommend GTA, Saints Row, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption, possibly even Mafia before mentioning Watch Dogs, because all the others have something unique that will stick with you in them and this one doesn't.

It's worse than that. Metacritic is a lobbyist aggregator. The most piss poor games imaginable still get mid-to high scores on every major review site. Gaming has no Roger Ebert. It has no review integrity outside of smaller publications with more credibility. Hello Escapist.

Not only does it not have a "Roger Ebert", it has the polar opposite: Dorito-gate