Game Review: Watch Dogs

Thought I'd do some more game reviews and I also thought for a practice I'll do the first game I got for the PS4;Watchdogs. I have recently been playing it again so I thought why not review it, also like with some of my reviews I'm not going in depth I' m just going to go over the good points and bad points to save time and then give my final thoughts on it.


Good

Open world/side missions: Glad that it decided the take the free roam route like GTA and The Witcher for example because there was plenty of place to explore and plenty of side missions that the first time I played it, it took me a while to finish everything.

Hacking: They really glamourize hacking in this that it makes me wish I knew how to do it IRL lol. As for gameplay it is great that you can hacking a lot of electronics to turn combat to your advantage.

Gun fights/variety of weapons: I did find the gun fights to be really enjoyable and intense, it is cool when you have one in the street and everything explodes around you. Then of course there are plenty of weapons for you to chose from.

Story: I have finished the game four times now can that is because I just really like the whole story and the characters you interact with.

Car chases: These can be really fun especially when you are running away from the police ad how much damage you can cause to other cars and yourself.

The racing multiplayer: I am not really a fan of the other multiplayer modes but the races I enjoyed because they have a mix of cars and bikes and you can hack everything around you to win.


Bad

Should have had more hacking: I know this is the first game (hopefully there will be a sequel) and I know I said I enjoyed it but still there should have been way, way more stuff to do with it. For example the mission where you have to get into DEFAULT's club and you can distract the guard; it should have been more like Hitman where there are several more ways you can get in. I just feel that hacking doesn't play an important role as it should have in missions where most of the time you can just use your gun.

Enemy A.I/Not too difficult: I have finished the game four times now (like I said above I really like the story) but the last three times I have set it on it's highest difficultly with no auto aim assist. It's not like it's very easy but it really isn't much of a challenge for me now.

No shooting out of car window: This one is so annoying because I just hated only bashing cars to stop them, I know you can hack obstacles but  the A.I can shoot out of windows so why not us?

Not much to do when you finish: After the story and side missions there really isn't any permanent things to do besides poker and repeating side missions. Sure there is a lot of side missions but they it is just a repeat of the same type of missions over and over again.

Notoriety meter didn't have much of an impact: On two of my play throughs I decided to get my meter red but I swear I barely noticed any difference. I think only a few civilians noticed me and called the police but that was the only thing that changed, even when the meter is blue they don't really do anything else. For example when you do keep doing good things maybe the civilians will protest against the police or cheer you on and maybe if you do bad things the civilians will attack you or A.I. bounty hunters will keep coming after you. 

The multiplayer should have been more expansive: Besides the racing I really didn't enjoy much of the other game modes. They should have picked classics like TDM or CTF but instead they tired these unique hacking ones that I wasn't a fan of, plus the teams could have been way bigger.

Overall Watchdogs has come really great moments and had some great potential in some of it's areas but because that potential isn't fully realized I feel this game was just a test for it's hacking style gameplay. That if this test proved popular they would (hopefully) improve the hacking and some of it's gameplay in a sequel. I would recommend this game if you are a fan of ones similar to this like GTA however only for the story mode since their is a lack of content in comparison to other open world games, for example the multiplayer in this does not even compare to GTA's.

The Flash Season One: Going Rogue

The episode begins with Barry testing is multitasking skills against Caitlin, Cisco and Wells; he beats the first two but loses in chess against Wells. Meanwhile a armoured truck is being robbed by an unknown group and Barry quickly rushes to the scene, he manages to stop the robbers but they get away because Barry was busy getting a guard who was shot to the hospital. When the police arrive Barry says to West that he saw the leader's face and West identifies him as Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller), son of a dirty cop and professional thief. Later Iris tells Barry she has started a blog on The Streak but before Barry can talk her out of it they run in to Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) who has arrived from Starling City to check on Barry.

"Do you really think you can beat me at table tennis now?"

Snark meanwhile kills a member of his gang because of his slip up in killing a cop but says he has figured out The Streak's weakness. Barry shows Felicity is power and even takes her to S.T.A.R labs which is permitted because she works with the Arrow, elsewhere West is still having a hard time accepting his daughter dating his partner. Snark later receives a high powered flamethrower and a cold gun from a janitor who works at S.T.AR labs and kills him with the cold gun, now becoming Captain Cold. Iris and Eddie later invite Barry and Felicity to trivia night and are surprised with how much they have in common however back at S.T.A.R labs Cisco discovers that the cold gun is missing which angers Wells who orders him to find it. Captain Cold later uses his cold gun to break into a museum to steal the diamond at the beginning of the episode, Barry arrives but is shot by the cold gun that slows him down and makes him fail to save a guard.

Badass!

At S.T.A.R labs it is revealed that the cold gun can slow down Barry's speed and regenerative abilities and that Captain Cold isn't a Meta - Human. However Barry is furious to learn that Cisco designed the gun to stop Barry in case he didn't become a hero, Barry can't believe they never trusted him. Captain Cold later steals the diamond and Barry rushed to stop him, West and Eddie arrive first with Eddie managing to save West. Captain Cold then destroys a train and Barry uses his speed to save all of the passengers but is shot by the cold gun. Barry is saved however when Cisco and Caitlin, after a pep talk from Felicity, arrive to save him with a fake cold gun, Captain Cold still escapes.

Really like it when they slow - mo for his speed

Later when Felicity says her goodbyes Wells tells Cisco to never create anything like the cold gun ever again while at the police station West accepts Iris seeing Eddie. While Felicity is on the train Barry speeds in and they discuss the reason why they aren't together, he then leaves after they kiss. The episode ends with Captain Cold meeting an old accomplice and pyromaniac Mike Rory (Dominic Purcell) asking him for his expertise. He gives him the high powered flame thrower and Mike accepts becoming Heat Wave.

Now this could be the best team up of villain in live action ever!

Even though I know that there is a crossover episode coming soon called The Flash vs. The Arrow I guess you can call this the first one because of Felicity who played a larger role in this than Oliver did in the first episode (that was really just a cameo). I am really glad to see Felicity in this because she is such a great character; like Barry she is just a really likeable nerd and she is funny and has a sense of light hearted humour. She also plays a major role in this episode, she wasn't there just for the sake of it, and I liked how she compared Barry and his team to her, Oliver and Diggle. Also I just want to point out that Barry has made a major mistake not wanting to be with Felicity, I mean did you see her in that black dress!!

You should guest star more often Felicity

For another star in this show is Captain Cold and he is one of my favourite DC villains and they have truly done him justice in the show. He is just really cool in this and he puts up one hell of a challenge for Barry and great casting Wentworth Miller for him as well, he was great as Chris Redfield in Afterlife. His cold gun was just awesome as well and it is great that someone now has a weapon that is a TRUE weakness against The Flash, just like Cisco explained cold beats speed. Plus the end of this episode has me super excited for future ones since Captain Cold is recruiting Heat Wave, they usually partner up in the comics and I know they are going to cause mayhem here.

"The only thing that can save you now Flash is if a team of nerds show up"

Another part of the episode that I really liked was the conflict between Cisco and Barry and the fact that the cold gun was created as a counter measure for Barry. I kind of agree with both of them on this; on the one hand Cisco did have to prepare in case Barry did go crazy with his power but then again he still never told Barry about the gun even though he proved wasn't crazy and it cost a guard his life. I am glad they patched things up in the end, all thanks to Felicity who uses her own experience working with the Arrow.

"Forget The Streak my name is The Flash!!"

Small other things I want to mention is that I am glad the issue with West being okay with Iris dating Eddie is resolved because you see that in everything about cops, partners and their daughters and I didn't want it to drag on. Also Wells can be damn scary in this in the way that he kind of threatened Cisco about the cold gun. Since Wells has a way to see the future maybe he has already seen the damage Captain Cold will do and is angry at Cisco for allowing it to happen. One other small thing is that when they tested Barry's multitasking at the beginning and he lost against Wells, will that be significant in future episodes?

They learned now never to p*** Wells off

Overall this is defiantly my favourite episode so far and just proves that The Flash is off to a fantastic start. It had a great guest appearance by one of the best characters in Arrow and a great villain who isn't even a Meta - Human yet still beat The Flash. I am going to give this a perfect score because there isn't anything in this episode that I didn't like.

SCORE: 10/10 

Highlights: Felicity Smoak guest appearance
                   Captain Cold and possible team up with Heat Wave in future episodes
                   Everything else

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/