Watch Dogs: What Went Wrong?

SPOILER ALERT:

The following article will dive deep inside Watch Dogs and uncover hidden blunders.  As such, major plot spoilers will be dropped along the way.  If you don't want to spoil your gaming experience, it is highly recommended you complete the game first, before reading on.  Or you could just throw caution to the wind and become a vigilante like Aiden Pearce.  The choice is yours.

"So what you're saying is that poles and street lamps will collapse like twigs, but having the player drive into 

a tree or bush, will be like driving into a brick wall?"

"Makes sense, right?"

"Yep.  Let's get programming." 

Watch Dogs, the newest franchise in Ubisoft's arsenal, allows players to take control of Aiden Pearce and drive over pixelated pedestrians in virtual Chicago.  You're also granted the ability to kick anyone's ass with a nightstick; hack into people's bank accounts; jump into the water to avoid the police; hack other player's games; and most importantly, tap into a NPC's computer and catch them spanking it to virtual porn.  What more could you ask for in a video game?  Obviously, a little more, because although all the above is damn fun, Watch Dogs still averaged around a 7.5 in reviews.  Well, maybe it had something to do with Aiden's appearance?

AIDEN'S RACE AND OTHER RANDOM SILLINESS:

Aiden Pearce has been the discussion of many gaming podcasts and articles.  And most of the time you read or hear something along these lines: "Maybe it's because he's just some typical white dude that makes him so boring."  Or, "They shouldn't have made him a white dude in a hat and coat.  He needs to be different to be interesting."

Alright, stop reading and picture Aiden.  Yep, he definitely is a white dude in a hat and a very long and wavy coat.  That's probably why he's boring.  So let's make him more interesting.  Keep picturing Aiden, but now make his skin as green as Kermit the Frog.  Or, let's even go one step further and add a character creator to Watch Dogs like Saint's Row.  The game's now the perfect ten, right?  Nope.  Those changes may offer some added fun and humor, but it won't raise Watch Dogs to perfection no matter how naked your character is or how many points you garner streaking passed unsuspecting NPC's.  It doesn't matter if Aiden is blue, black, purple, yellow with red polka dots, or an alien Xenomorph.  The problem isn't in his looks, it's in his story.

"You wanna tell me what you're laughing at?"

"Sorry, sorry.  It's just...I went to a clothing store to buy clothes, but all they had were these ugly hat 

and coat sets, and well--look at what you're wearing."

WHAT ABOUT THE STORY?

Aiden tries to steal money.  He fails.  His niece dies when they try to kill him.  He seeks revenge.  With so many other things going on in Watch Dogs, it's easy to understand why the story was so simple.  So safe.  So frigging boring.  There are a ton of other fun things that Watch Dogs did right in the game (gang hideouts, hacking, digital trips, giant death-dealing-machine-spider-tanks, multiplayer), but they are all just distractions from the core story.  The first priority Ubisoft should have worried about is Aiden.  So why is Aiden "boring" according to reviewers?

AIDEN THE PIXELATED DOUCHEBAG:

No, it has nothing to do with his goofy looking hats or overly anxious coat or even the way he acts at college parties.  He's a douche because the story's theme (revenge) is his own fault.  Oops.  If he didn't attempt to rob a bank in the beginning of the game, or attempt anything illegal in the first place, none of his woes would have taken place.  And it seems he just can't keep anyone safe.  Even Clara, the pseudo girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo love interest, ends up resembling Swiss cheese.  Why?  Because Aiden can't make any good decisions.  Once a douche, always a douche.  And that's a shame.

So how do you fix this bank robbing douchebag?  Well, the game proclaims him a vigilante, but why?  Why was he robbing a bank—something illegal—in the first place?  Is he a freedom fighter and the money was going to a small country to release them from tyranny?  Maybe he was hacking the bank to show the world how they illegally obtained their own funds.  Maybe his dog was sick and needed a new lung, liver, heart, stomach, and fur.  Or maybe he's stealing money from banks because he wants fame, fortune, women, power, and a tiger…just like Tony Montana.  Either way, Ubisoft failed to show Aiden as a vigilante or even as a person with desires.

"Dammit, lady, I said no autographs.  Crap, now the trunk is going to need a little touch-up paint."

WHAT DOES AIDEN TRULY DESIRE?

No…really, what does he desire, because after playing the game it seems he just wanted to find his sister and kill the niece's murderer.  But after he does both, the game keeps going until he kills the ex-partner.  Why?  If Aiden is a good person—Watch Dogs makes it seem as though his actions are for good—then why kill the ex-partner?  Why not frame him or have him arrested?  Why does Aiden run around in the game killing anyone, including cops?  His only option should be to use his nightstick to harm (not kill) throughout gameplay.  Rampage killing doesn't make sense with "loss" as the theme, because every death that occurs lessens the impact of the next.  If losing his niece was so hurtful, then death shouldn't come easy to him.  It should be a tough decision to wipe people out, but instead he's gunning down anyone that's gets in his way.  He's a hacker, right?  Wouldn't that mean he doesn't like being in the middle of a firefight, surrounded by 80 cops, a dozen helicopters, and hundreds of gang members (some of which are dressed in riot gear)? 

For gamers to relate with or have empathy toward a protagonist, the protagonist has to have an internal struggle.  This was shown expertly in The Last of Us, as Joel's internal struggle was with love.  Could he love again in a world so full of death and hate?  This creates a strong bond to the character.  Aiden, on the other hand, seems to desire just finding his sister and his niece's murderer.  Both problems he caused.  And in terms of story, this is an External Struggle: just a problem that needs fixing through actions.  For example: even though watching Rambo cut down hundreds of enemies with a mounted machine gun is awesome (external struggle), you're not bonding through his actions.  Aiden's internal struggle should have been: is searching and killing other people—performing evil—worth revenge.  He should have struggled with each and every death, making you relate to his desire to do what's right for his family, but is just going about it the wrong way.  And then Aiden could have grown as a character by learning that his family is more important than revenge and that murdering others won't bring back his niece.  Instead, Watch Dogs' story underwhelms and after a few hours in, most gamers forget about the protagonist because they're having too much fun playing pixelated poker.  That leads to two more problems: concern for the main character and story escalation, both of which Ubisoft decided to throw under a bus.

"Mr. Pearce, you want to tell us just what exactly is going on in this photo?"

"Uh, as you can clearly see Officer, my windshield has sprung a leak.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like 

to get it fixed before it becomes a problem."

CREATING CONCERN:

Aiden can hack cameras and ATM's like a boss, but did you give a crap about what happened to him or his sister or even his hacking associates?  (In a humongous plot hole, Aiden's sister even tells him that her captors are treating her fine.  Say what?)  The easiest way to create concern and worry for a character is showing them with everything they desire, and then taking it away.  Then all you have to do is show the character's struggle of trying to get it back.  Aiden lost his niece, but what was his relationship with her before the accident?  Again, The Last of Us did this perfectly, by starting the game as Joel's daughter.  In other words, TLoU showed their perfect relationship, and then sadly and emotionally, took Joel’s daughter away.  You quickly understand why Joel lost faith in society.  Watch Dogs needed to convey the relationship between Aiden and his niece, and then snatch it all away.  Make "loss" the reason he becomes a vigilante…because he's lost faith in the system.  And then have Aiden try to piece that "perfect family love" back together throughout the rest of the game.

"OMG, this guy is in like the perfect angle for an Instagram pic.  I can't believe there aren't 

people lining up to get a shot of this." 

ESCALATION:

When moving toward a story's climax, you don't want to just add more action or obstacles for the protagonist.  You want to raise the intensity.  Having Aiden find his sister without any resolve in the revenge department is called deflation.  The story flatlined.  Who cares if he goes on?  He rescued his sister and took his remaining family to safety.  Great, so who cares if he dies on his next mission or if the world ends?  The initial worry (if you had any in the first place) has been erased, so there's no need to game on.  Instead Watch Dogs just throws more cop chases and bad guys in Aiden's way, until he reaches the antagonist and puts a bullet in his head. 

But what if the bad guys not only caught his sister, but then took the nephew hostage and threatened both their lives at the end?  And the real climax was Aiden coming to terms with his hacking lifestyle mistakes, the death of the antagonist, his family's safety, and maybe realizing he should stop being such a douche.  Escalation.  Intensify the struggle at climax.  Don't compound it with more obstacles.  On top of everything, you come find out that the hit put out on Aiden was just a misunderstanding.  Talk about making all prior events throughout the entire story seem worthless.

There was one thing at the end that did add a little twist and a little drama, and that was finding out Clara was the one placing the flowers on the niece's grave.  This instantly added more depth to her character and created empathy by giving her desires.  But Ubisoft realized they accidentally made her more interesting than the main character.  So how did they solve that problem?  By killing Clara two seconds after this marvelous twist.  They couldn't have her outshining Aiden now could they?  Oops, too late.

"Well...so I guess that's over.  Oh look, someone re-tweeted my retweet.  Cool."

CONCLUSION:

In the end, Watch Dogs was an entertaining game.  And whether you like it or not, a Watch Dogs 2 is inevitable.  But erasing Aiden as the main character won't help the franchise, unless you have a great story to go along with a new protagonist.  Hopefully, Ubisoft learns their lesson and proceeds to show the protagonist's actual needs, desires, and frigging backstory.  If they're smart, they'll keep Aiden, and then Watch Dogs 2 can be the story of how Aiden Pearce became a vigilante.  It'll help establish the crap story in the first one.  And then gamers everywhere will rejoice, because they can play the games backwards and the story will finally make some sense.

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