games – Sixtydgree

I have only just begun to really get into the full depths of Watch Dogs. The latest iteration from Ubisoft is without a doubt a marriage of GTA style shoot and scoot with a modern twist of network sabotage. I’ve read a few of the early reviews and I have to disagree with the maj0rity take. Watch Dogs has done something amazing.

A majority of the multiplayer-esque gameplay is seamlessly started with a click of the down button on the d-pad. It’s non-intrusive as the default setting is off for people to just hop in and reek havoc, but there are instances where you hack a particularly aware citizen, who then puts out a contract on you that allows other players to drop in and try to collect on your digital head. The only loading screens I’ve seen thus far are when you start/continue your game and when you respawn. The only downside I’ve found with online multiplayer so far is that, as a Windows user, I cannot download the ctOS Mobile app. I have not been able to use it and thus cannot comment on whether or not it’s worth using, but from some of the demonstrations I’ve seen online it seems like it’s a good idea.

The main campaign is supposed to be a total of 20 hours of gameplay on its own and with the available and future DLC it can go much further. Aiden has been described as “boring” and “less entertaining then the characters around him”, but I have found his character interacts well with the surrounding characters, and although his humor is somewhat dry, he still lends plenty of substance to the overall feel of the game. There is a lot to cover in the campaign but I don’t want spoil too much of the game for those people that haven’t played yet. So instead, I’ll just cover one particular mission that I found to be the most fun so far, and of course that mission involves going to jail.

Aiden is tasked with finding a man who can link him to several deaths that occurred at the stadium. To start this off you walk into a police station, gun drawn, and get yourself arrested. A bold move, but very effective. When being checked in you’re given your phone and baton back by an inmate that owed one to an acquaintance of Aiden’s. This gives Aiden the ability to change the name he’s checked in as and start hacking his way out of his cell. After hacking a few cameras and moving around as carefully as possible to keep from being seen, you reach a control room where you find out where this guy is. You find him on the roof where the other inmates are enjoying their yard time. While watching him Aiden wonders how he’s going to get to him, but he finds his task is taken care of for him when a couple of crooked guards take him off for some unorthodox questioning. So, you turn around and make your way down to the basement where you find your guy getting his ass handed to him. On your way into the room you find a shotgun and with a well place hack to cause a pipe to burst and take out one or two guards you start a pretty brutal gun battle in this tight space. This is the point where you’re introduced to the heavily armored police officer. This guy starts off scary, taking every shotgun blast with a laugh, but once you calm down and let him take his pot shots at your cover you notice he starts reloading. This gives you the perfect opportunity to show him how you hit something with a shotgun. And after a few rounds of blast and hide you take that smug bastard down. Cut to the scene in which you confront the snitch and scare this idiot into a special kind of silence.

Once that’s taken care of, you make your way to an elevator where you find someone has left you a gift. All of you gear in a duffle bag! Unfortunately you make your way to the parking garage where the whole damn department is waiting for you. A few well place grenades make getting out of the parking garage a snap, but the chase is on. Hack the chopper to temporarily shut down its ability to track you, and few well timed hacks to traffic lights, steam pipes and blockades and your home free.

I make all of this sound ridiculously easy, but the truth is that sneaking around is slow work and driving takes a lot of getting used to. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the fine tuned light touch of games like GTA and NFS, but I find that the driving controls need some help. And sometimes I find myself ready to chuck the controller when the right bumper doesn’t work, but this is all stuff that can, and probably will be, fixed in an update.

Overall, I would say that this game is a resounding success. I look forward to seeing how this franchise impacts the industry and how we play games on a social level. Have fun, and I hope to see you in-game.

UPDATE:
After having finished the main campaign, I have to applaud Ubisoft on yet another great story. Even the initial credits have added content to round things up. If a sequal is in the works for Watch Dogs I will definitely pick up a day one copy.

This is my first game review and I’m glad it happens to be for this game. I really liked playing the original because it was the first game I played where my choices were actually reflected by the NPCs and the way my character evolved.

This isn’t the first re-mastered game I’ve played and I’m sure it won’t be the last. However, as far as updates go, this is a good one. The storyline itself seems to have been kept in tact (as I’ve only just begun to dig into the game I haven’t found any major changes as of yet). I have noticed some issues with the voice overs being doubled over, as if when updating to newer sound bites the old ones weren’t completely removed. I’m sure as people complain this will be updated to oblivion, but for now it’s just a small Easter Egg for those who’ve played the original. I’ve also noticed some freezing and glitch-y-ness, but nothing you can’t get past, just remember to save frequently.

It’s often easy to go overboard with adding things just because you can and fortunately Lionhead didn’t fall victim to this easily tripped landmine. They’ve made some significant changes to the menus and control layout, although those who are familiar with Fable II and III won’t have a very hard time adjusting to the updated controls. The controls are little slow with a wireless controller and I find myself button smashing on occasion, but I plug in my wired controller and things become smooth as butter. The menus take a little time to get comfortable with, but are otherwise pretty intuitive. Lionhead also added a Smartglass app that makes exploration a little easier, for about $3.50 (after tax) you can even add a little bit of help finding books, those elusive silver keys, chests, and opening Demon Doors. I haven’t been able to get my Surface RT to keep up, but I got my WP8 to run it no problem.

Technical hooey aside, I find myself just as engrossed in the Fable universe as I was the first time. The changes in detail make it that much easier to fall in and lose myself in the game. Lionhead’s team did a spectacular job of making those changes just pop in a way that keeps you finding more of the details they’ve added each time you play. They stayed true to the way the original game moved and felt while still pulling you in with rich sound and texture. I truly hope that you enjoy this game as much I have and put some time into your character, you’d be surprised just how much detail they went into when it comes to character evolution.

UPDATE: As I continue through the game I keep finding instances where the game just locks up, and as we all know, the 360 doesn’t handle lockups very well. So, for those of you who don’t follow Lionhead closely, here is a link to a thread that their support has posted. Lionhead Support

UPDATE NUMERO DOS: There has been a patch rolled out in an effort to fix a majority of the bugs. Follow the link here and you will find the patch thread. Fable Patch Thread

**I’ll try to keep this post updated as I find things or as updates change things.