Quick Look: Watch Dogs

They certainly didn't stray very far from the open world sandbox formula, did they? I mean, they have some half-assed Dark Souls invasions, and a bunch 'push button for awesome' mechanics, but otherwise more of the same formula with a slight twist. At least Sleeping Dogs had the combat, GTA V had the cinematics and character arcs, and Saints Row the raw, silly fun.

uuuuughhhhh this looks so boring

Nice to see the hive mind syndrome in full effect here yet again. How about you guys try the game out for yourselves instead of going along with whatever Jeff tells you.

Jeff really tries hard to badly represent games he doesn't like in Quick Looks instead of just going with the flow, it's a bit off putting.

@mrdoc:

Oh come off it, he's not "trying" anything. He's not under any kind of obligation to hide his lack of enthusiasm, nor should he be, nor do QLs have a duty to not dampen YOUR excitement or reflect your hype level.

Ouch, doesn't look good. Glad I cancelled my order. :)

If I was in San Francisco I'd be out in the streets looking for #HIDDENCASH #billionaire #millionaire #trillionaire #fuckitIcanaffordit #IgotsomuchfreetimeIshouldbelockedupforgood

Jeff obviously didn't give a fuck about watch_dogs. That's cool, it's his opinion, and he's entitled to it. That being said it's not very fair when you're missing clear stuff in the game and just being like *deep sigh* not my fault.

I'm glad Vinny seemed excited about it, we have pretty similar tastes.

Haha, Vinny is the heart and humanity of GB. He's the only guy expressing remorse or concern for Jeff's "murder everyone and barrel through playgrounds to get away from the cops" playstyle.:)

I think it's nice that Jeff can be honest about how he feels about a game. No feigned interest.

While one definitely shouldn't glue themselves to a verdict when they haven't played the game, it's pretty fair for someone to recognize that a game is probably not for them. Believe it or not, there's more than one person in this world who's had enough of this formula.

There's kind of an interesting phenomenon towards this game in particular. A lot of people would've known better than to get excited for this game, but the hype and promise of it lead them to think this game would shake things up and be something it never set out to be. So, disappointment? Surprise, surprise, it's a game only for people who still love this genre. And that's just fine.

(PS, it's better to analyze what this backlash for what actually is, rather than generalizing with this "hive mind" trite. Give people more credit.)

GTA2 is the best open world futuristic driving simulator third person action role playing strategy racing game of all time.

Would have been more interesting if you played as your own character.

Yeah it's really too bad that they aren't overwhelmingly positive in every quick look, especially for games they aren't interested in (????)

Vinny stifling laughs at his own soda-machine jokes made my day. Gonna miss you vinny.

That soda machine kill was pretty good, haha.

Honestly that's why I have come to really dislike this site. Jeff's constant negativity and his freaking sheep followers make it hard for me to want to be around any longer. I am sure I won't be missed.

@vonsoot: @jayeh: @romination: You know, most reviews are 4/5 or 8/10. Keep in mind Jeff is super cynical and has been down on this game for months now.

Just because a game gets good reviews doesn't mean everyone is going to like it or that it's actually great. Many boring, trite games get reviewed well.

Getting it only cause I have nothing else going on with my PS4. Mario Kart and Ultra Street FIghter 4 are going to quickly replace this. Be on the look out for my copy of Watch Dogs on ebay, everyone!

Now I can never unsee that haha

now we just need Zero Cool to show up and we're good to go!

Glad I avoided preordering this. Maybe on a steam sale.

It's a final Quick Look recorded with Vinny in San Francisco. Vinny is moving to New York. Watch Dogs takes place in Chicago.

FULL CIRCLE!

@everettescott: I am aware, Memeguy. My entire point was that you shouldn't take any singular review as the Word Of God. Also Jeff is playing like absolute garbage in this QL and seems mad that you can't kill civilians with impunity and also be a good guy.

I wasn't saying reviews are always right. Critics seem to like Transistor for some reason.

e: Good you can hack billboards to make them say memes. 0/10.

Reviews are broken, from what I'm seeing in the QL, this is a 6/10 game. Just because a big publisher spent a lot of money promoting a game doesn't automatically give it an 8 or higher. Theres not a lot revolutionary or special about this game. Its not the graphical showcase we wanted it to be. From all I've seen I just don't understand the people who gave it 8,9, or even 10s.

I feel like I've seen this game a thousand times before.

If his opinion is no longer of value to you, absolutely you should be going elsewhere for your coverage, and that's totes cool. You should be following the people you're interested in hearing from.

Dismissing guys as "sheep" because they don't agree with your sensibilities is pretty rude, though. It's pretty reasonable for people to either like or dislike what this game looks like.

Are you saying me and Jeff have a telepathic link? Because I'vee been talking to friends about this game a lot lately, what with all the pre-release hype and comparing previews to the reveal trailer, and we all came to the conclusion that there just isn't any way that it'll even get close to living up to expectations. Maybe not even the expectations set by other games in the same genre. A friend of mine talked to another friend of his, they solemnly agreed in much the same way, and everyone cancelled their preorders.

And now this; Cue a sigh of relief from everyone involved. But are you saying that what actually happened is that me and my friends caused Jeff to not like the game, based on our opinions, and so his views exist only to justify our own?? Because that's what "hive mind" implies in this context, isn't it? Going along with other people's opinions, that they probably had before we had a chance to form our own?

My point is, we knew what we thought about this game long before the quick look and review came up. Suddenly having someone independently come out with the same conclusion elsewhere, is not proof that there's some kind of "hive mind syndrome" going on. But maybe, just maybe, it might be a clue that a segment of people will find the game kinda boring.

I feel like they should make DLC for this named Watch_Pups and have our own Rorie be the main dude.

Jeff is so jaded.

Aiden kinda sucks. Seems solid if not particularly revolutionary, I might pick it up after a price drop.

@jackelbeaver said:

Really glad someone else noticed that glitch. Even in next-gen, open world jank is still present and still hilarious.

Games does look pretty good though. As a Chicago-land resident, I just want to drive around the city.

It sucks. I no longer look forward to any of his game's coverage. I especially have no interest in his E3 coverage knowing that he will just have the same jadedness and now that Vinny is leaving to NY he has no one to balance his negativity.

i shat brix

(wish they noticed it)

I must be crazy, because this looks great to me.

Yes! You walk around Chicago/San Francisco taking pictures of dogs you run into for your blog. Then you get to chomp them!

@leejunfan83: Completely agree. I don't think Jeff needs to do any QLs. With Vinny and Patrick out of the main office I'm not sure where this is all going. So what if the game isn't up to his expectations, just don't act like the evening news, right?

This really looks a lot like Sleeping Dogs to me. Right down to the oddly stiff on-foot movement and cover system.

I'd rather continue playing the game rather than 'analyzing the backlash', I'll leave that to you.

:D This game may not be great, but it has Lawrence Arms, therefore, it's great.

So within crafting Jeff has two options, one being a skill that he feels they should have given you automatically and and is "the way you are supposed to play the game" and the other lets him craft a weapon he hates using in games like this, and he chooses the weapon he hates using? Also he complains about how hitting pedestrians affects your notoriety level and then like uses no caution while driving at all.

So you knew what you thought of a game long before its release, and Jeff's opinion is all you needed to confirm your bias?

I'll repeat what I said before, maybe, just maybe.....try playing the game.

am I the only one who feels this should be a GiantBomb Chicago video!?

Agree 100%. In fact, I was able to predict the score of a few other sites like Polygon, who continuously give games a higher score than they generally deserve (in my opinion, of course). It seems like some critics buy into the hype/marketing a lot more than other critics. Jeff does not, and I love that about him. When I wrote iOS game reviews for TouchGen.com (no longer being updated), I was often accused of being "jaded", but I simply wrote honest reviews, without all the marketing bull shit. Some people will probably really like this game, and Jeff acknowledges that in his review, but he simply commented that this isn't much different than what we've already seen time and time again. 3/5 seems perfectly fine.

I think you know my point was to consider that people maybe have good, solid reasons for their opinion, rather than the knee-jerk "they must all be mindless drones" reaction. I'm glad you love the game. I just think people should talk that part up, rather than dragging everyone else down. It's kinda counter-intuitive for conversation. There's something to be said for trying to figure out where everyone's coming from, too.

Maybe you know that, and were just letting off steam. I'm not holding anything against you. This has been a trend in the comments around this game though, and you're just who I happened to quote.

Wee, a trio quick-look! Never cared much for this game, but still glad it's finally out so the speculation can stop.

I'm not arguing against anybody's opinion of the game. My issue is with the people who are making up their minds about a game they haven't played.

Edit: Case in point, look at the comment below this.

Maybe I'll just go replay Sleeping Dogs and pick this up in a few months when it's cheaper.