Watch Dogs Reviews

Watch Dogs is ranked in the 79th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
8.9 / 10.0
May 26, 2014

Watch Dogs isn't inspiring or revolutionary, but it's a well-rounded approach to open world gameplay. Completing the story and merely sampling the various side activities can last over thirty hours, with plenty more left to do. The focus on hacking lends to more cerebral gameplay, and the multiplayer is solid. So get out there and get hacked.

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8.9 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

What you can walk away with is, like Assassin's Creed before it, Watch Dogs has walked into a genre otherwise owned by one of the most popular and rewarded developers in the industry and holds its own. The question will always be "is it better than GTA?" and at this stage the answer is invariably no, but it's early days for a game that builds on the strengths of its core marketing line, while balancing itself out on various fringe areas. It fails to expand upon its own principles though, and as a result remains slightly out of line with its potential. But damn, what potential it has.

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87 / 100
May 27, 2014

Creative hacking and covert multiplayer modes bring exciting new life to otherwise familiar open-world man-shooting.

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8.7 / 10.0
Jun 4, 2014

Watch Dogs satisfactorily fulfills its premise but not quite its promise. It is not a game-changer by any means, but it is well-crafted, high-quality, adult entertainment.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

The hacking abilities are a legitimate game changer and give Watch Dogs its own identity

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85 / 100
May 26, 2014

Though the new-generation moniker may be cliché, it rings true in the dense and beautiful presentation of Watch Dogs. Most of the many, many systems on display have been sharpened to a fine point despite a few that fail to reach their full potential. While minor bugs, inconsistencies, and a lackluster story restrain Watch Dogs, its impressive environments, fluid interconnected mechanics and welcome multiplayer components set the bar for future open-world experiences, and help it to stand as a sign of things to come.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

Does Watch Dogs live up to the hype? It depends on how hyped up you were. For me, the game wasn't a disappointment at all. It's a fun, addictive game that will offer hours upon hours of playing time. The hacking aspect is the shining light of the game, and is done very well. With that said, I didn't feel like it was breaking much new ground in terms of gameplay or story. Watch Dogs is worth the investment, but don't expect something that reinvents the wheel.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

Watch Dogs is an excellent open world title whose story and gameplay options will keep players interested right up to the end.

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85%
May 30, 2014

Watch Dogs is an unmitigated triumph, that's for sure. Considering the game is a new IP, it does a lot of things incredibly well and lays the foundation for a franchise that has the makings of being a potential Assassin's Creed beater. Despite a few puzzling design decisions and an almost glacial start to the campaign, Watch Dogs is worthy of your time. There's no doubt about that.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

Ultimately, Watch Dogs feels a lot like what you'd get if you asked the Assassin's Creed team to make a game in a similar vein as Deus Ex: Human Revolution. While it doesn't quite hit the high points that Deus Ex does, Watch Dogs smartly combines elements of the two franchises into something that's certainly worth playing.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 30, 2014

Watch Dogs has the guts of a masterpiece. This ambitious project had the foundation to be one of the most amazing interactive experiences in history. Therefore, it's with a somewhat dejected heart that I must deduct points for falling short in several areas.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 26, 2014

Watch Dogs is a fun open world experience. However, the repetitive chases and the formulaic gameplay tend to get tedious and boring after a while. As such, you might want to enjoy the different multiplayer experiences and take frequent breaks to just roam around the city.

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Dan Stapleton
Top Critic
8.4 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

Watch Dogs is an excellent open-world action game with some unique hacking-magic that makes it a memorable experience.

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NZGamer
Top Critic
8.4 / 10.0
Jun 3, 2014

It's probably one of 2014's most hyped games, and it delivers on some levels. It is just let-down by the fact that Watch Dogs promised so much two years ago when it was revealed.

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8.3 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

Watch Dogs isn't just another open-world game. It redefines what is possible in the genre and sets new standards which the competition will be hard pressed to match. Here's hoping that this is just the first chapter in the story of ctOS and vigilante hackers, and that Ubisoft can find a convincing way to continue the series in the future. The first piece of DLC, another single-player campaign, has already been confirmed. Chicago is a pretty big place and could still be concealing all kinds of interesting characters we've yet to meet.

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83 / 100
May 27, 2014

Watch Dogs refines stealth action in an interconnected open world that's worth exploring.

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May 27, 2014

Watch Dogs' interconnected world is a wonderful, explosive, high-tech playground. Shame the people who inhabit it are so forgettable.

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8 / 10
May 26, 2014

Watch Dogs' attempts to say something serious are overshadowed by how enormously fun it is to create chaos in its impressive open world.

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Polygon
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
May 26, 2014

WATCH DOGS OPEN WORLD IS TRUMPED BY ITS SMART, LAYERED MECHANICS

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8 / 10.0
May 27, 2014

These games are all crafted with more care than the actual storyline, and come complete with their own skill trees and upgrades. If I ever got bored with anything from the core game I found myself getting distracted by these for hours on end. Even if you don't play open world games, it's worth giving Watch Dogs a try just to get your hands on these experiences.Despite the fact that Watch Dogs hasn't made any meaningful impact on the genre, I found myself having a ton of fun with it. Between the deep levels of customization and the sheer breadth of content, there's no shortage of things to do. If Ubisoft can take the game's core fun factor and marry it with an actual "next-gen" experience the next time around, they'll have something truly special.

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