When Watch_Dogs was revealed in 2012, it was unlike anything gamers had ever seen. The brief glimpse of the open-world rendition of Chicago looked like the game had a real, living environment for you to explore. Subsequent video previews and gameplay demos only added to the anticipation. It seemed that the player was free to do anything, and the world would organically present exciting opportunities to shoot, drive, and use the revolutionary hacking mechanic. The near-future plot centered around governments digitally spying on its citizens struck a nerve in people as we were dealing with the same issues. It was a truly next-gen experience.
What we got instead was an everyday action game might have impressed me if it were released two years ago. The visuals were nothing like the jaw-dropping first gameplay demo, and the mechanics could have been copy/pasted from a plethora of similar games. The promising open-world turned out to be a generic city environment with side quests and mini games for when you're not playing through the story. Those "organic" crime-fighting opportunities turned out to be optional side-missions that pop up on your HUD every couple of minutes. I realized about halfway through the campaign that Watch_Dogs could have been a much better game had it not aligned itself with the genre it thinks it can improve upon. By being an open-world action/shooter game, Watch Dogs stacks itself against the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, and Sleeping Dogs. It was destined to lose from the start.
