Watch Dogs - Everything Is Connected - Connection is Power (All Consoles)

[MegasonicZX]

I thought the only difference between the PS3/PS4 versions of MGS5 was resolution and (I think?) a small FPS difference.

[Sami]

I thought the only difference between the PS3/PS4 versions of MGS5 was resolution and (I think?) a small FPS difference.

 

Huge difference, actually. Runs at a silky smooth 60fps on both PS4 and XB1, compared to a relatively unstable 30fps on PS3 and 360. Resolution is also improved in both versions, although the XB1's 720p isn't that much better than Gen 7's 644p or whatever it was.

[Da Blu Hedgie]

Watch Dogs ps4 stream this Thursday at 11AM. It's only an hour though, so probably some minor spoilers at best.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/19/ign-live-presents-watch-dogs?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[Crash]

I keep reading all these posts about frame rates, graphics and all that stuff but does it matter too much at the end of the day? As long as a game is fun that should be all that matters and seeing as we now know the game doesn't look as awful as that car on the bridge clip any more should we really be moaning? Also, we should not be completely ignoring the 360 and PS3 because some people (including myself) don't have the money to make the jump to the PS4 and Xbox One yet, I know that cross-gen games aren't always a good thing but we can't drop them altogether yet, especially when developers are still learning how to create the best games possible for the new systems.

[Sami]

I keep reading all these posts about frame rates, graphics and all that stuff but does it matter too much at the end of the day?

 

Yes.

[Willsy]

You're quite right when you say that graphics shouldn't come over gameplay in terms of priority, but the graphics really help build the atmosphere of the game and makes it more immersive. The problem here is that the next gen versions cost considerably more for very little difference, and they've hyped those versions up to have superior graphics.

[Doctor MK]

I keep reading all these posts about frame rates, graphics and all that stuff but does it matter too much at the end of the day?

 

Ordinarily I'd agree and say that gameplay is the most important - but in the case of Watch Dogs, I'd say that graphics are indeed a pretty major factor. Now, that's not with any kind of "graphics whore" mindset, rather that Ubisoft have promised and outright marketed Watch Dogs as one of the first truly next-gen experiences, so people are going to expect really powerful visuals that live up to the PS4 and Xbox One's capabilities and give them a definitive reason to buy it on the new system as opposed to it simply being just another sandbox game, albeit one with a unique hook.

 

If the next-gen versions of a "next-gen" game don't appear to live up to the billing that they've been given, then understandably people are going to feel somewhat let down.

 

But yes, ultimately, as long as the game plays well then Watch Dogs will still be considered a success - it just won't be quite be living up to the lofty expectations its creators instilled in us.

[Sami]

The best part is that they did it to themselves. The final game looks decent enough - nothing impressive, but nothing awful either. The resolution reeks of laziness and/or incompetence, but apart from that it's passable.

 

Too bad it looks like shit in comparison to what they tried advertising it as in the past. Same goes for Dark Souls II. It's their own fault.

[Chaos Warp]

Really I don't personally care that about graphics as long as the gameplay: what truly matters to me: is up to par, but I can see other people caring about graphics more then me which I'm okay with (I start having a need to argue it when people start caring about that more then gameplay). That being said lack of 60FPS does affect gameplay which makes me sad.

[Doctor MK]

So apparently the first "legit" review of the game has surfaced, from French magazine JeuxVideo:

 

 

Gameplay: 5 stars

Everything works perfectly, the ultra-intuitive hacking allows for exhilarating moments in the game.

Graphics: 5 stars
Very solid on the technical level, especially in the sensation of life that makes Watch_Dogs great.

Sound: 4 stars
Excellent ambient music and sound effects, but the track selection is a little limited.

Longevity: 5 stars
Because it’s a open world featuring multiplayer, there there’s an extreme amount of interesting things to do.

Pros:
Gameplay and level design
The life in Chicago
Generous content

Cons:
The Story, blah!
The first loading
That’s all!

Conclusion:
Watch_Dogs accomplished all the hopes placed on it and delivers a successful new take on open world games. Almost perfect, but with a slight disappointment on the story.
Final Score: 19 out of 20

 

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/228644-first-legitimate-watch-dogs-review-surfaces

 

No idea which version it is, but I'm sure Ubisoft won't care about this review leaking out early. I don't know whether to be pleased or dubious that it got a near perfect score.

[KrazyBean]

Damn. That's...a REALLY high score.

[Gabz Girl]

I'm waiting for more reviews to come out before I say anything but sheesh, a near perfect score? One of the negatives is story too, which I'm not surprised about because honestly the story in Watch Dogs does not interest me in the slightest and looks uber cliche.

[Chaos Warp]

So could this review be bought out or.......

[Doctor MK]

So could this review be bought out or.......

 

Too early to say, really. We need to see how other reviews score it to give a fair point of comparison. Yes, Ubisoft might well be doing their own sneaky bit of Watch Dogs style 'hacking', but on the other hand it might genuinely be a phenomenal game that deserves such high praise.

 

Unfortunately though, we won't really know that until launch day - by which point Ubisoft will have already secured lots of people's money.

[KrazyBean]

It's probably fake, but I thought it looked pretty damn cool. It was posted on the Watch_Dogs Facebook page.

 

[Gabz Girl]

So some gameplay clips have been released for the Xbox360 version of Watch Dogs and MOTHER OF GOD. Just...look at this!

 

http://boards.deniableplausibility.net/i/v/image/1400/74/1400744981077.webm

 

I know it's difficult to program a game with high end graphics on five different consoles, but this looks icky! It reminds me of GTA 3, that's how bad it looks. They better not have messed up the Wii U version now because that's the version I want to get. 8(

 

Though TBH it was quite clear that the Xbox360 version would be inferior since it's an old console now and not as powerful as the other systems Watch Dogs is coming out on.

[Frogging101]

As someone who has built and worked with rendering engines, I'm not at all surprised. It is much more expensive than one would think to create a rendering engine for so many platforms. The Microsoft consoles use a platform-bound API (DirectX) for graphics, while the other consoles use OpenGL or variants of it. And then between the Xbox 360 and the Xbone, they use very different versions of DirectX. The Wii U, PS3 and PS4 are also different in which version of the OpenGL specification they implement.

In order to take advantage of the newer hardware to the extent that they have, while still having it run at all on older or less powerful hardware, they need to code multiple rendering backends and multiple sets of shaders (since different API versions support different shader functions). Someone's going to lose here, since they don't have unlimited time or money.

PCs with older graphics devices don't even get to run it at all, as the game requires DirectX 11 support on PC.

[PSI Wind]

WELL SWEET MOTHER TERESA ON A HOOD OF A MERCEDES BENZ! That looks fucking AWFUL! I saw the Xbone version yesterday but it was labeled as the 360 version. That...looks terrible.

[Chaos Warp]

Had a feeling this game was gonna suck on previous gen. It's too ambitious for previous gen. But this bad? Jesus......

[Brad]

Ahahaha that looks absolutely pathetic Ubisoft

 

Sort it out

[pppp]

So what about this clip:

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1vz8le_videogames

 

This 360 piece of footage doesn't look so bad.

[Frogging101]

Ahahaha that looks absolutely pathetic Ubisoft

 

Sort it out

Read my post. They literally cannot.

[Chaos Warp]

Read my post. They literally cannot.

The rendering engine thing probably has something to do with it, but with how awful the 360 version looks I refuse to believe it's the only thing to do with it. I can't not believe that Ubisoft and the dev team is at least not a little bit at fault. 

 

And on an unrelated note, you know how they could have solved this? By not making the game fucking cross-gen. I thought that was a stupid decision from the beginning considering how amazing the game looked at first. 

[Brad]

So because Ubisoft was hungry for money, they ported it to the Xbox 360 knowing it would look awful? 

 

Figures

[KHCast]

How does it look on PS3? Any better?