I am vengence...I am the night...I AM HACKMAN!: A video game review of Watch_Dogs

    At E3 2012, Ubisoft revealed to the world a new ip that would take the crowds by storm, having people clamor and beg for it for months on end. This game was Watch_Dogs, an open world, action adventure, stealth game, where the chief mechanic was that you could hack and use the city as your weapon. As the months rolled on by, and the next gen consoles were revealed to the world, Ubisoft made a deal with sony, so they could bundle the game with their console the PS4. Pre-orders for this bundle were high until october of 2013, when Ubisoft announced that the game was going to be delayed until May 2014. This caused many people to rage, and more to lose faith in the game. They preordered the game with the console! A few months later and the game finally came out, but was it the game that we were promised 2 years ago? I decided to find out.

Story
    The story of Watch_Dogs is set in a world where the Northeast Blackout of 2003 was actually caused by a hacker, and to fix that problem, cities have had everything connected onto one large server. It is about a hacker, Aiden Pearce, and after a botched job, trying to hack into a hotel, a hit was called on him. When the hit was held out in a tunnel with Aiden's car, his niece, age 6, dies in the car accident. A year later, Aiden, working alongside a hitman named Jordi and a mysterious hacker, has begun a crusade to stop crime in the city of Chicago as a vigilante. On his crusade, he must find the man who ordered the hit, stop his demented ex-partner from ruining his cause, and topple the criminal empire plaguing the great city.
   As I read this short premise of the story, it sounds quite a lot like a comic origin, which isn't really a bad thing if executed correctly. For the most part, the game does execute it very well. The character of Aiden does well as the stoic hero, who feels shame for what he has done in his life. You see a man who wishes to correct his mistake, but also cares for his family, rather than try and cut them out of his life like most superheroes. The antagonists of the game can truly be compared as Aiden's supervillain rogues gallery. 
    The main antagonist is Damien Brenks, Aiden's ex-partner, who has come back to the city, in his attempt to try and find something, using Aiden to get it. Damien is witty, unkind, and occasionally funny. I would call him Aiden's Joker, but unlike the Joker who has no plan usually, Damien has a plan and a goal. If anything, he is Aiden's Moriarty, always bantering, always getting the better of him, always scheming. He is a truly brilliant dark mirror image to the protagonist, where people now a days make just insane characters that seem to rip off the Joker, in one form or another  
    The story has also provided a character that will make you think, in the form of the hitman who tried to take out the player character in the game's intro. You instantly hate the man for killing a small child, but on one collectible hunt, you find out that he regrets it, even haunted by the events in the tunnel, only doing jobs like that because he needs the money. You go through the game, and begin to see similarities in both the hitman and Aiden and you begin to wonder if you should exact your revenge on the man who killed your niece, even though he hates himself for it now.


Gameplay
   The combat system in Watch_Dogs is very simple with a 3rd person point of view. It is tailored to fit nearly any play style. Want to go in blasting? Heres an assault rifle and some grenades soldier, dont forget to use cover! Want to plan your every possibility? Heres some Proximity IED's and a sniper rifle, draw them out! Want to be undetected? Heres a silenced pistol and a few lures, stick to the shadows if you want to live! You will definitely use the hacks in the area to your advantage as well. You can lead your enemies into traps of your choosing, in the form of power boxes and steam pipes.
    While we are on the subject, the hacking system is near the best mechanic of this game. You use the hacking features mainly to help you either fight, escape, or gather intel on people on the streets of Chicago.The intel that you pick up comes in the form of locations for side missions, crimes that are about to go down, or their bank accounts, in one of the only, if not THE only way to get money. When you cause to much of a ruckus, the cops will be called on you, and this system works exactly like in Grand Theft Auto. You start with one block, and builds up over time, having the police attack get worse and worse over time, making it harder to evade the cops. That is where the Hacking mechanics come into play. You can use the hacking to crash your opponents, opening up new opportunities for you to escape. 
    The only problem with this system is the fact it can be a real pain in the ass occasionally when you need it. I can't count the amount of times I detonated a power box but wasn't trying to, trying to get to the cellphone to attract the enemy. You really need to be careful and make sure you know exactly what you are hacking into. If you hack into the wrong devices, your plan could get thrown out the window, or you could get a bounty on your head if you hack into the wrong phone.

Art

    The art style of this game really comes off as a more realistic take on the world, as expected. Thanks to next gen technology, the world looks amazing within itself. My favorite sight in the game is when i'm out on the water at night, and I see the city alive as the clock rolls past midnight. Each section of the map has a different unique look to it, which I can only assume is what the actual city of chicago looks like. From the lake side village of Pawnee, to the industrial district of the Brandon docks, to the pristine center of the city The Loop. I would sometimes just drive around, absorbing the city in, because that is how amazing it looks.







*SPOILERS!*
   Some of the character's designs,specifically the heroes, have a uniqueness to them that will make them stand out from the rest of gaming right now, while others seem to fall a bit flat. Aiden's look from the beginning always gave me that vigilante feel about him, while Damien's on the other hand just looked like a passerby with a brace. While Jordi's look sent off a Yakuza feel, Lucky Quinn's, the head crime boss of chicago, look was a little expected for an old man. The only exception to this rule was the character of Defalt, a brilliant hacker who was inspired by the dj DeadMau5. His glowing purple mask felt like his own, despite knowing he was based of the real world dj. He sent off vibes of mystery, which is perfect because you don't learn much about him, and you might see him again.













Final Verdict
    This game was overhyped, I will admit to that, but that doesn't mean that it was a bad game. The opposite in fact. The game was absolutely fantastic. The gameplay was solid and versatile, despite the hacking mechanic can be a little spastic when it comes to hacking one thing in particular, when theres 3 other things around it. The art helps provide immersion to a wonderful world and a fantastic story with great characters. I recommend this game to anyone who loves alternate history, neat  new mechanics, and a lover of fighting crime, or causing it if thats your taste.

8/10

C:Watch_Dogs>AMAZING.exe

  So what did you think of Watch_Dogs? What did you think of this review? Leave a Comment below and I hope you come back for more!