Why did nobody warn me about Watch_Dogs?

I thought we were friends, guys.

Watch_Dogs is one of the worst optimized ports I've come across on the Wii U. I skipped the PS4 version (and all the holiday deals on it) because I wanted to support my homeboy Nintendo and because I thought the GamePad was a great fit for the hacking features of the game (like DX:HR). I only just bought it yesterday since I had been strapped for cash.

However, Watch_Dogs is a PoS on the Wii U and I had no warning. GameSpot, nor any of my frequented review sites had a review on the Wii U port.

Let this serve as a warning to any potential buyers: It's pretty bad. The game itself is good, but although I've heard horror stories of the PS3 version, it could be its worst on the Wii U. The game looks no better than last gen, it runs like a slideshow, driving controls are extremely laggy, the resolution is sub-HD, the on-screen text is not optimized for the resolution, the pop-in when driving fast is one block away, dynamic lighting is practically non-existent, and the GamePad is barely utilized.

As I was playing the game, I kept thinking of all the ways the GamePad screen could have been used instead of "Look at TV". The lock turning puzzles could have been done intuitively on the touch screen. Camera hacking could have optionally allowed the player to split views and play on both screens simultaneously. What if you could use the ctOS to automatically track a target for you on the bottom screen, changing cameras on its own with its own context hack takedowns while you play normally on the TV? What if highlighting pedestrians could show you their phone screen on your bottom screen? Nothing inventive happens with the GamePad despite the extra 6 months of wait.

W_D on the Wii U is not even close to $60 in value, even if you've never played the game and have nothing else to play that game on. It's sad to see 3rd party publishers speak ill of their sales on Nintendo consoles when they continually drop steaming turds on Ninty owners.

Thanks for the heads-up. The only thing I've heard on the Wii U version was from Digital Foundry, but their tech breakdowns are intended as geek-outs rather than consumer advice.

I didn't think anyone would actually buy the wiiu version. It's been out fi months in other systems there is no reason to.

everyone knew the game was trash when we saw the pc version was complete shit....there was no hope for the x1 ps4 versions ..let alone the wiiU.

You must have been sleeping under a rock TC if you think there were not warnings from this very forum about how terrible of a port Watch Dogs for WiiU was.

also System Wars is sometimes correct about these type of things. Take a look

@nini200: That thread was pre-release. The latest thread was this one:

www.gamespot.com/forums/nintendo-discussion-1000001/watch-dogs-wii-u-includes-some-of-dlc-and-preorder-31695521/#4

I was the last post in that thread, saying I plan on buying it as soon as I have the extra money.

I'm not actually blaming anyone here. This thread is more like a warning to potential buyers. And a thread like this was overdue since the board went silent on Watch_Dogs after that positive note.

Guess you didn't see this thread. Was planning to get it till I read that...they did nothing with the gamepad. :P

I watched tons of comparison videos. I'll still buy it but I'll wait until its cheap. If the frame rate was more stable then I would have been all over it.

Not surprised. I played it on X1 and it was a shitty GTA wannabe with nothing to do. Also why would you expect different from Ubisoft?

They only games that Ubisoft seem to give any love to is titles built using UbiArt Framework (Rayman, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts), everything else is get it in and out as fast as possible, regardless of quality. The only other exception was South Park, but that was practically finished before Ubisoft got the publishing rights, so they didn't have time to screw it up.

I had plenty of respect for Ubisoft before the Unity debacle. My hype in W_D was pretty tame and as far as the quality game itself (i.e. not counting hardware/graphics issues), I knew what I was getting into. Still, I had hoped the extra 6 months would have meant more content and refinement upon the older versions.

Simply put: I didn't know someone could screw up this badly.

Everyone was warned to avoid this one, I'm sure most listened.

So you passed on it for a stupid reason and paid the price

Consider this a lesson learned and do the right thing next time.

I think the gamepad is a legit reason.

Unfortunately, if he paid attention, it was pretty clear that Ubi didn't really care about the W_D port.

When nobody even bothers to review a game that's all the review you need.

I had to google for reviews for a few days after it came out in order to get any word on it. The consensus is that the port is garbage. There's a reason why Ubisoft had zero promotional videos for it. The pictures they released on the Wii U eShop are bullshots. The footage I saw on Youtube looked significantly worse than screenshots provided.

Similar happened with Assassin's Creed IV, but the product wasn't this bad. I might pick this up when the price drops to pennies on Amazon. With sales as bad as they are, that will probably happen in a couple months.

@elheber: .....So you're mad?

Yes, Ubisoft's Wii-U ports seem really horrible. I own Assassin's Creed: Black Flag myself. I put up with the horrible framerate about 5 hours until I took the game out and haven't touched it since. What the **** is the deal with releasing a game that runs like ass? I recently noticed the framerate is equally crap on the PS3. I'm used to the framerate I get on my (pretty old) PC, and I don't understand how people can be playing games that run like this. To those people: Don't ever, EVER get a gaming PC. You're gonna be pissed when you notice you've been playing crap all these years.

@elheber: I don't blame you for wanting the Wii U Version. When I very first heard about a Wii U version I was pretty excited. Real time inventory at a touch of the finger, live GPS on the screen? Sounded good to me but unfortunately Ubisoft doesn't like Nintendo at the moment. They seem rather confused that poor ports of old games don't sell....maybe they get confused easily, lol. Also before release they released a statement that Watch Dogs would be their last "mature" game for the Wii U and "Just Dance" is apparently more suited for the system. Kid you not, so combine that information with a big delay and most of us had a pretty high expectation this version would blow :(

@elheber: I don't buy inferior multiplats on my Wii U. Hell, I don't buy any multiplats on my Wii U. This is the same as last gen with Wii, the gen before that with GC, and the gen before that on N64. I have had about 20 years to learn to avoid buying multiplats on my Nintendo machines. I miss the old SNES and NES days, but I'm not going to miss out on better deals on better versions of games. No way.

Besides, there were MANY warnings in this forum and other forums, it's just you chose to ignore them; you paid more money for a worse version. If you haven't learned this lesson yet, learn it now.

If you need to be warned about third party software performance and features on Nintendo's hardware, not to be rude.....but have you been living under a rock? This has been known for years.

I understand it's difficult to convey some things with only written text. I'm not actually blaming anyone for not "warning" me. The last thread about Watch_Dogs prior to this one was overwhelmingly positive, and this topic was necessary.

....Because the last time anybody talked about Watch Dogs on Wii U, people were still hyped about its release, and it wasn't delayed for six months while the other versions proved to be adequate at best.

I'm not lying. The last thread was this one and was very positive.