Watch Dogs

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting and characters ===
In the backstory of Watch Dogs, a computer hacker is discovered to have been behind the Northeast blackout of 2003, which led to eleven deaths. This event prompted the Blume Corporation to develop ctOS (Central Operating System) a supercomputer that connects everyone and everything — including personal information, security cameras, and traffic lights, after being implemented in Chicago, Illinois (the setting of the game), it becomes the most technologically advanced city in the world.
In Watch Dogs, players take control of Aiden Pearce (Noam Jenkins), a grey hat hacker and vigilante. After a hacking job gone wrong, a hit is sent out on Aiden. While intending to kill him, hitmen accidentally killed his niece Lena, and Aiden seeks to bring his own kind of justice to the people responsible, all while protecting his sister Nicole (Anne Hopkins) and nephew Jackson (Nicholas Bode). Aiden meets a host of allies over the course of the game: Jordi Chin (Aaron Douglas), a "fixer" and Aiden's hired partner; Clara Lille (Isabelle Blais), a tattoo artist and member of the "DedSec" hacker group (under the alias 'BadBoy17'); and Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney (John Tench), a former ctOS engineer, and the hacker responsible for the northeast blackout in 2003. Aiden also encounters many enemies, including Delford "Iraq" Wade (Jerod Hayes), a gang leader with a military background; and Dermot "Lucky" Quinn (Myron Natwick), owner of the Merlaut Hotel and crime boss of Chicago's crime underground. Other characters include Damien Brenks (Daniel Kash), Aiden's former mentor and partner-in-crime; and Maurice Vega (Christopher Jacot), the trigger man who caused the accident that claimed Lena's life.
=== Plot ===
In October 2012, hacker Aiden Pearce and his mentor and partner Damien Brenks launch an electronic bank heist at the high-end Merlaut Hotel in Chicago, with Aiden transferring the funds through his smartphone. When they come across a strange file and alert another hacker, Damien tries to find the hacker, giving them both away. Unable to talk Damien out of it, Aiden stops him by leaving. Fearing for the safety of his family—sister Nicole, and her children Lena and Jackson—Aiden decides to drive them to safety under the guise of a surprise trip. However, on the way, two hitmen are hired to intercept the car and take Aiden out. One of the hitmen, Maurice Vega, fires the shot that crashes the car and puts Lena in a coma. She dies two months later.
A year later, Aiden, now a vigilante known as "The Fox" or simply "The Vigilante", tracks down Maurice, the hitman, at a baseball stadium in the Parker Square district of Chicago. After a fruitless interrogation about Maurice's contractor, Aiden leaves Maurice in the hands of his friend, a fellow criminal named Jordi Chin. Aiden then hacks the ctOS to help them escape unnoticed. As Aiden investigates further, Damien (whom he cut ties with since the Merlaut robbery) approaches him, requesting to find the other hacker from the Merlaut job. Upon Aiden's refusal, Damien kidnaps Nicole, forcing Aiden to comply with Damien's demands in order to ensure her safety, though he manages to prevent Jackson from being kidnapped and leaves him under the care of his psychiatrist.
With the help of Clara Lille, a member of hacking syndicate DedSec, Aiden is able to defeat a small hacker group named the Intraceptors, who pose a threat to him. Aiden is then able to track down the second hacker in the Merlaut: a former soldier and current gang leader, Delford "Iraq" Wade. Aiden obtains the electronic key to Iraq's server room and obtains a sample of the data from his servers. He and Clara find that Iraq has secrets on almost every citizen of Chicago, effectively protecting his gang from the authorities. When they come across encrypted data beyond Clara's ability, she directs Aiden to seek out Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney, whose hacking caused the 2003 blackout that led to the implementation of ctOS. After Aiden completes some tasks for him, T-Bone agrees to help decrypt the data.
Aiden mounts an assault on Iraq's compound, making it to his server room. After Aiden downloads the server data, Iraq confronts him; Aiden kills him and leaves the compound. While browsing the server information, another hacker, JB "Defalt" Markowicz, infiltrates their system, stealing the information before deleting it from their servers. Defalt also leaves a recording that reveals Clara helped locate Aiden and Damien eleven months prior, which ultimately led to his niece's death. Furious, Aiden demands that Clara leave. Later, when Aiden confronts Damien about the loss of the server data, Damien publicizes Aiden's vigilantism, alerting the authorities of his identity.
Eventually, Aiden and T-Bone locate and take down Defalt and retrieve the data again. Meanwhile, Aiden discovers where Nicole is being kept and frees her. Aiden drives Nicole and Jackson out of Chicago and into nearby Pawnee for their safety. Examining the server data, T-Bone discovers the contractor who ordered the hit that killed Aiden's niece: Dermot "Lucky" Quinn, leader of the Chicago South Club mob, notorious human trafficker, and owner of the Merlaut Hotel.
Aiden tracks down and confronts Quinn, shutting off his pacemaker. In his dying moments, Quinn reveals that he ordered the hit because he thought that Aiden was searching for blackmail video footage of Mayor Donovan Rushmore (whom Quinn is associated with), who accidentally killed his secretary when she threatened to expose his dealings with Quinn. After Quinn finally dies, Aiden races to Clara, who is ambushed and violently gunned down by Quinn's men. During Aiden's attempts to track down Damien, he discovers that Damien has unlocked ctOS, allowing him access to the entire city. In order to find him, Aiden uploads a virus into ctOS and shuts down the entire system, causing a citywide black out. By doing this, Aiden reaches Damien, who is hiding in a lighthouse. As he confronts Damien, Jordi arrives, revealing that he has switched allegiance. Nevertheless, Aiden manages to injure Jordi and kill Damien. As he watches Chicago come back to life, Aiden accepts his role of "the Vigilante", to protect and, if necessary, to punish. After the credits, Jordi calls Aiden one last time to tell him where Maurice is being held. Aiden heads to Maurice's location and chooses his fate. Aiden then uploads the video of Mayor Rushmore to the web, exposing his crimes and leading to his subsequent suicide. DedSec releases a video stating that they are tired of hiding in the shadows and declare war against the Blume Corporation and ctOS. The Blume Corporation then announces that the ctOS, which has been deemed a success, will be adopted in several other major cities across the country, using ctOS 2.0.
==== Bad Blood downloadable content ====
One year after the events of the single-player campaign, Aiden Pearce has gone into hiding while T-Bone erases all traces of himself leading to him from Blume's databases, and prepares to leave Chicago when he is contacted by his friend Tobias Frewer, asking for help after he had been kidnapped by Fixers. Upon rescuing Tobias, T-Bone realizes that both are being hunted by Blume and works with him to erase all their traces before fleeing the city, but their efforts are hindered by Defalt who, along with several other hackers, is working with Blume to track them down. T-Bone confronts Defalt and learns that he is after them in revenge for his brother, who was killed in the Northeast Blackout of 2003, which T-Bone himself caused eleven years ago. After joining forces to defeat and kill Defalt, who at this point has gone insane from his desire for revenge, T-Bone and Tobias decide to stay in Chicago to fight against Blume and consider asking Aiden to join their cause as they use the new ctOS against its creators.

Tags: revenge, murder, flashback

Review:
1. I want to begin with all the fuss that's on the web: This game got so popular before it even launched that people started already hating the game they haven't played.
If you are looking for a good story, like maybe: Max Payne - This game isn't for you.
I was amazed by the filling of hanging around outside by the bench, while I control cameras inside the building and knocking out my enemies that have no idea what hit them.Anyone, who enjoyed Splinter Cell - will probably enjoy this game.
In bonus, Watch dogs offers you a weaker character (Aiden Pearce), compared to Splinter Cells Sam Fisher, who can kill 3 guys in a momentum and take out forth with a bare hands.
But sometimes shooting is the only option and using your phone to hack nearby systems that act in your advantage - is the key for ultimate fun.As a open world game, Watch Dogs offers many side missions - finding murderers, suspects, potential criminals, codes hidden around Chicago and many more.
The driving mechanic is different - sure, but I'd say its more realistic than other games as each car has its own handling and stopping distances.
Ubisoft use nightmare sequences and flashbacks to really fill out his personality and how he feels about the circumstances surrounding the start of the game.He could have been filled out more - sure - and they could have talked about his past (before he started hacking) a bit more, but they did a really good job with his personality and this helps make sense of some of the gameplay (e.g. why he helps save other people).The other gameplay mechanics - such as stealth - are interesting and in a way, similar to splinter cell - although this works out well in the context of the open world.
Interestingly, some reviews have really played down Aiden/the player's hacking skill in the game.
It truly is the most realistic open world ever created.The supporting cast are also shaping up to be really interesting characters themselves, adding another level to how good the game is.On the negative side, the PS3 version occasionally gets shaky graphics and the occasional pop in when travelling in cars, although this is unnoticeable unless it is being specifically looked for.
The only downside are the high speed car chases that were infuriating and are exactly the reason I stay clear of GTA games.
Because I like Chicago, and I was tired to play games that are all set in New York or San Francisco.
It would be interesting to see some Polish characters, also replacing some of the pizza restaurants that can be found on almost every corner in Watch Dogs with some polish shops or restaurants wouldn't harm this game.
Watch Dogs is a perfect combination of hacking, driving and shooting.
It's like combining all the previous games published by Ubisoft such as Assassin Creed, Splinter Cell and Driver.
Cockpit view is something very unusual in games of this type, but developers decided to put this feature in Watch Dogs.
People are criticising driving model in this game, but for me it's perfect I found it more realistic then driving model from GTA V or Sleeping Dogs.
You will play this game to see how other players are panicking while you try to hack them.
Some people say that graphic in this game look worse than in GTA IV but I would suggest them to play GTA IV again because it's not true.
I give this game strong 9/10 because I had allot of fun with it, and I will definitely come back to explore the city even more and do some online hacking..
Here's what I like about the video game.1)Nice graphics.
Sure, the ones from the E3 demo were better but the real graphics are great.2)In my opinion, the story wasn't so bad.3)Plenty of vehicles to drive.4)I like the Car on Demand app in the game on Aiden's smartphone.
You can purchase a car pretty much everywhere you are.5)Good voice acting.6)A sign of a great open-world video game is you to be not able to progress throughout the story in your first hours of playing it because you are distracted by the open world.
Yes, I liked Aiden - he is still depressed over his niece's death.8)Everyone's profiles are different.9)Many people don't like the music selection but I like it.10)The open world has plenty of activities.11)I like that you can have a reputation of a menace or an anarchist, a citizen or a protector or a true vigilante.12)The most fun from the side activities I got from the Gang Hideouts.
13)The mission design is clever, even if most of the missions are pretty much the same.14)Both stealth and guns-and-blazing are rewarded.15)Collecting audio logs makes you more interested in the story.16)Collecting and listening to Maurice's audio logs made me like him a lot more.17)There are plenty of guns.18)Nice minigames.19)The open world is fun to explore.20)The different places in Chicago are different by themselves.21)Plenty of skills to unlock.22)Nice puzzles.23)The Q&R Codes are nice addition.24)The drinking game is enjoyable.25)There is chess, added in the game.26)When you die you don't get the weapons removed from you.Yes, there are lots of good things in this game, but there are same witch I don't enjoy.1)The gang hideouts or the mission where you can be stealthy or guns-and-blazing can't be replayed after you've finished them.
I want to be vigilante, which means I don't want to kill cops.2)Usually in games like this it is more fun to ride a motorcycle.
In this game motorcycle aren't that fun to use.3)The Missing Persons investigations concluded disappointing.4)The Human Traffic investigation were kinda boring except in the end.5)You can't fire a gun from your vehicle.6)After you've finished the cool stuff the game can sometimes get boring.7)(Minor con) The police's AI.8)(Minor con) Some bugs required me to exit the game and start it over.
There was also a loading screen that couldn't load.9)(Minor con) The handling of the cars is strange in the beginning.Overall Watch Dogs is a video game, that should not have been so over-hyped.
The gameplay is excellent, the story is solid, the open world is great and this can be the start of a great new franchise like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed.
He thinks also it's better than GTA :)I think Ubisoft have succeeded great with this game!.
Also, it even has more cars than GTA V, so I personally think this game is far more better!
Ubisoft never fails to make a good game!
Even for that standard it feel bad like, The controls feel crooked the whole combat mechanics were not up to any mark and the technology in the game felt bit of a push over and forced on you to support the story.
I played this on a PC so experience on a console might be better with a dual controller but from a PC perspective i could not even get engaged in the game when am killing 20 people on the road and knocking 2 bus-stop while just trying to do one mission..
The graphics, story line, open world, and diversity of life in the bustling beautiful Chicago are a perfect score for me, but unfortunately..
the people would scream and shout dumb things you're way as if you'd shot towards them like a speeding bullet.
Sure, I may get flamed by basement dwellers who have nothing better to do than enjoy the virtual world of Watch Dogs and have taken the time to figure out the 54,678 controller combinations required to hide behind a box.
I'm just the middle-aged gamer who likes to play video games.
but honestly shame on me should have know better...people that like gta(like me) would have fun white it but its far from it an that said it doesn't stand apart from it what is a shame it is just mindless going true missions till the end with very weak cut scenes .
Well, after all that time, I finally decided to play it as it had been sitting in my HDD for ages.What I liked: Straight from the bat, the game looked beautiful, even if it is a downgrade from the initial reveal.
The best looking open world game taking place in a modern setting.The hacking mechanics were fun to use.
I especially loved how we could move around just using hacking cameras.In Ubisoft fashion, the game focuses a lot on stealth.
The hacking really enhances the stealth and makes you experiment with different ways to remain in stealth.IF stealth is not your thing, then the game does give you tons of firepower to go in guns blazing and third person shooting mechanics feel good.Variety in story missions kept the game from getting too repetitive.Ability to profile every single NPC in the game, hack phones of many of them to earn cash or learn something about them etc makes the world feel more alive.Running from the police gets fun, ONCE you unlock more hacking abilities.Some of the secondary characters were pretty good.Some parts of the story were interesting.What I didn't liked: The main protagonist was just OK.
Once you get used to it and unlock abilities, it becomes more tolerable.Due to the driving, the chase sequences in missions were not fun.Stealth only missions became annoying.Not many ways to utilize all the cash you can easily get by hacking.Tons of side missions yet I didn't had the motivation to actually do them as they were repetitive.Random crimes were also repetitive.Reputation system was mostly pointless.All in all, it is a fun sandbox/open-world game.
Let's start of with the good things in the game.
The hacking at times can be fun, but it can be annoying at times and that's my big problem with the game.
The main character of the game isn't really all that interesting to be honest.
His lifeless, dull and could have been a lot better then he was, and the other character's in the game are more interesting than him.
this is a very good game i liked the story it was an average revenge story the voice acting was average and the story's length was somewhere around 40 hours the graphics are definitely better then they were suppose to be and the city feels very alive which helps you lose yourself in the game the side missions are fun at first but then become repetitive which is somewhat disappointing...
This is one of the best games I have ever played.Chicago looks great (playing on ps4) and is good fun to explore.
Without giving anything away the villains are pretty hideous too so you want Aiden to bring them down.I think maybe this game would not suit gamers who ignore side missions and just run from one main mission to the next, as the side missions provide a lot of character information in the form of Audiologs.
Anyone used to third person shooters should have no problem.The online stuff is really good fun, especially hacking people from a good hiding place and watching them run around trying to find you.
but I prefer it to Rockstar's Euphoria engine driving (GTA.) I really think a lot of the bellyaching is coming from folks who aren't very GOOD at the driving.Mechanically, the engine is good, the stealth works, the driving is good, the game engine does everything asked.
The graphics aren't the greatest (looking like the E3 display settings are still on disc, but were nerfed for PC to drag it back down to console level) but they are plenty good enough.
Watch_Dogs...What to say...ohh what to say...Well The game is beautiful I must say.
I was informed that THAT was the only fun playing the game and the storyline sucked...I disagree.
The open world feature was pointless because you did nothing but: 1: Hack for money (GTM's) 2: Hack for information about money drops(Parcels with money lying around) 3: Hack for items used to build stuff like distractions etc 4: Hack to find out about people committing crimes( Which is where you run up to them, press the F- key.
Hell...they might just hack you guys Ubisoft just to get more fun out of this experience!About the clothing...
The graphics are stunning (though they are probably much better on the ps4 as i played it on the ps3).The controls was good and it was very easy to progress through the storyline.
The whole game is fun but if you just do the storyline with no other walking around the city it gets quite repetitive.
A good open world game that unfortunately did not live up to all the hype.
Watch dogs was one of my most anticipated games of this year, I am a huge fan of open world games and am also a fan of Ubisoft's Assassin Creed and Far Cry series, I was really hyped up for this game.Watch dogs does have unique elements, you can hack everything use that to your advantage which makes for innovative game-play.
The missions are fun, specially the ones which allow you to play the game anyway you want, MSG style by silent head shooting enemies or taking them them down.
Driving in this game is not good, it is hard to make turns and control the car specially at high speed and off-road.The side missions are even more repetitive.
The mini-games like Poker and Chess are fun.
Poorly handled.There are also annoying restrictions like why cant you punch anyone in the game but the A.I can, that is just another mind boggling decision along with with No drive-by.Chicago is a good looking city although some landmarks have been missed but many many hot-spots are highlighted telling you about the history of that place which is actually interesting.
The characters are all actually good apart from Aiden Pearce, he has a cool look for a protagonist, thats about it, he is a hard guy to like, he just does what he wants, never listens to anyone, hardly showed a lot of emotion, plus I am confused about the moral high ground he stands on, in one mission he knocked out and killed several enemies to save someone he cared about after that he showed remorse, WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE HE KILLED?
The voice acting is actually good, although I think Aiden's Voice actor just sounds robotic in many scenes.The OST is good specially during missions, off mission OST is OK but the cop chase music is excellent, but the songs are poorly implemented they are not divided into radio stations like in most open world games and they are a very few of them some are flat out bad, some are repetitive, I only liked around 3-4 songs.
Apparently this game hates it owns songs because they wont let you play them during any main or side missions only during free roam, another confusing decision.Watch dogs overall is a fun open world game but was falsely advertised the the game-play in the E3 trailer is not even there plus the game has been downgraded in some ways and it feels apparent, but the game has many unique aspects going for it and does have a lot of lasting appeal and tons of things to do, even if those things will get repetitive after a while.
But it is still a pretty good open world game but it just did not live up to all it's hype.Rating: 7.5/10.
But, anyways...When Ubisoft announced Watch Dogs, I had a lot of hopes for this game.
But like other players, I was disappointed after playing the game.
Sure they do downgrade the graphics but that's not why a lot of players hate this game!
They expected so much more from this game!Hope they make it right this time at Watch Dogs 2..
It is an open-world game where the player can hack almost anything electronic.
The driving was very acceptable with respect to other open-world games.
Traveling through open world cities is nothing new, but with a hacking element Watch_Dogs carves itself a nice little niche..
For between going into a building and doing a one man war against a local gang; taking down drug caravans; sprinting to drop off cars, or driving around as a decoy; and the million and one hacking mini-games, amongst other mini-games; Watch_Dogs does a lot which GTA didn't.
Thing is, compared to other open-world, city based, games, the question is whether Watch_Dogs doesn't have much more than its hacking gimmick?Characters & StoryAiden Pearce (Noam Jenkins) is a hacker located within a futuristic Chicago.
Speaking on some of my favorite side-missions/ mini- games leads me to first speak on the "Gang Hideout" missions, in which you infiltrate places like a parking lot and try to take down, not kill, one single member, while dealing with their associates.
Having the ability to play in such a non-linear way was so exciting, even though going guns blazing was the only one I could do with any sort of success.Then when it comes to convoy missions, basically it is you versus a few cars filled with people who have guns, and due to Watch_Dogs not letting you shoot while in a car, between ramming and hacking your environment, that is your only option unless you want to get out the car, shoot, and hope to not be ran over or overwhelmed.
Which when you consider games like Grand Theft Auto and Sleeping Dogs exist, it makes not having any grandeur missions seem like Ubisoft is not even trying to compete.
And perhaps when it comes to this game, all of its damning features come from thinking between Ubisoft and what other open-world action/adventures offer, this should be better than it is.Overall: RentalQuite honestly, I am disappointed.
Watch_Dogs main thing worth praising are the side-missions, which was one of the few things GTA V lacked so really that is the only way it competes and stands out.