I originally played this back in 2014; I dropped it very early because of the gameplay and real life. I wanted to give it a second chance since I liked the concept. This is gonna sound like a long rant but please remember, not everything is taken so seriously. I have fun with these.
Let's start with the concept and story. Playing in an open city as a hacker vigilante appeals to me. Most of the gameplay mechanics are generally fun. You can hack terminals to help you catch criminals on foot or while driving. You are able to spy on people and use cameras to plan your routes. While some missions require you to be hidden and sneaky, most of the open world missions let you start and end with a gunfight. I had more fun exploring the city and playing the side missions.
The main story is a revenge-fueled cat and mouse. It may sound interesting but it's less fun to play. Aiden, your playable character, is a combination of a stoic, stubborn hero (he is the only one that can save his loved ones) with a violent streak (he will do whatever is necessary to protect them). This makes him quite boring and predictable. He makes every situation worse. Because he has a one track mind and zero ability to reflect on his emotional state, he continuously uses others to get what he desires while ignoring the people he claims to care about.
Cue the two female characters that only exist to push his character forward. His sister that constantly has to hold his fragile, guilt ridden baggage over her deceased child and the hacker friend that has to pay the price for his poor actions. The two women are only there as caregivers for this poor, beaten down vigilante. Story and characters are not this game's strong suit. (However, I will give points to the mature level of crime shown.)
Now gameplay, because that's what kept me playing after the game opened up. I believe most people know about the atrocious driving. There's many missions that require you to drive all over the city while avoiding cops and race timed sections. You will be taking out half of the city's districts by the time you have completed the missions. (I always wonder if he's doing more harm than good.) You cannot shoot while driving. The game loves to point out when a target is fleeing, you can shoot the tires. But NOT while you are in a vehicle. I am still utterly puzzled by this gameplay decision.
The WORST side missions are the ones where Aiden, (who for some odd reason after shooting innocent civilians, destroying half of Chicago, assists other criminals), decides he needs to capture THIS particular criminal alive to "teach him a lesson and go to jail." It makes no sense logic or story wise. As I stated earlier, Aiden will kill if it helps his goals. He's not on some moral high ground. But gameplay-wise these missions are completely frustrating because you are at the mercy of the game itself. You cannot use firearms to "clip" your target, even in the foot, because they will die. You cannot use grenades, because it may clip the target and they will die. You cannot hack the explosives expert because they may panic, throw their hacked explosives towards your target and the target will die. You cannot get into a car chase because they may leave their car and get hit by a passerby and will die. These missions fucking sucked and completely sapped any fun.
There are smaller nitpicks that are not executed well and some of the gameplay mechanics are mediocre; maybe because it was released in 2014? Despite this unhinged rant, that I'm enjoying writing btw, I did buy Watch Dogs 2. So in the end, it did something right! I was generally having fun playing it, when it wasn't a knockdown or main mission. I want to see what the other games bring and pray it does not break my spirit.
Let's start with the concept and story. Playing in an open city as a hacker vigilante appeals to me. Most of the gameplay mechanics are generally fun. You can hack terminals to help you catch criminals on foot or while driving. You are able to spy on people and use cameras to plan your routes. While some missions require you to be hidden and sneaky, most of the open world missions let you start and end with a gunfight. I had more fun exploring the city and playing the side missions.
The main story is a revenge-fueled cat and mouse. It may sound interesting but it's less fun to play. Aiden, your playable character, is a combination of a stoic, stubborn hero (he is the only one that can save his loved ones) with a violent streak (he will do whatever is necessary to protect them). This makes him quite boring and predictable. He makes every situation worse. Because he has a one track mind and zero ability to reflect on his emotional state, he continuously uses others to get what he desires while ignoring the people he claims to care about.
Cue the two female characters that only exist to push his character forward. His sister that constantly has to hold his fragile, guilt ridden baggage over her deceased child and the hacker friend that has to pay the price for his poor actions. The two women are only there as caregivers for this poor, beaten down vigilante. Story and characters are not this game's strong suit. (However, I will give points to the mature level of crime shown.)
Now gameplay, because that's what kept me playing after the game opened up. I believe most people know about the atrocious driving. There's many missions that require you to drive all over the city while avoiding cops and race timed sections. You will be taking out half of the city's districts by the time you have completed the missions. (I always wonder if he's doing more harm than good.) You cannot shoot while driving. The game loves to point out when a target is fleeing, you can shoot the tires. But NOT while you are in a vehicle. I am still utterly puzzled by this gameplay decision.
The WORST side missions are the ones where Aiden, (who for some odd reason after shooting innocent civilians, destroying half of Chicago, assists other criminals), decides he needs to capture THIS particular criminal alive to "teach him a lesson and go to jail." It makes no sense logic or story wise. As I stated earlier, Aiden will kill if it helps his goals. He's not on some moral high ground. But gameplay-wise these missions are completely frustrating because you are at the mercy of the game itself. You cannot use firearms to "clip" your target, even in the foot, because they will die. You cannot use grenades, because it may clip the target and they will die. You cannot hack the explosives expert because they may panic, throw their hacked explosives towards your target and the target will die. You cannot get into a car chase because they may leave their car and get hit by a passerby and will die. These missions fucking sucked and completely sapped any fun.
There are smaller nitpicks that are not executed well and some of the gameplay mechanics are mediocre; maybe because it was released in 2014? Despite this unhinged rant, that I'm enjoying writing btw, I did buy Watch Dogs 2. So in the end, it did something right! I was generally having fun playing it, when it wasn't a knockdown or main mission. I want to see what the other games bring and pray it does not break my spirit.