Climb the busted radio tower, unlock more stuff, climb the tall building, unlock more stuff. Hack the communications tower... unlock more stuff. Listen Ubisoft, it's actually kind of cool that a lot of the major games you release have some elements in common because most of those elements are pretty good. Deciphering the puzzle that's also a radio tower in Far Cry 3 is a wonderful change of pace from all the wanton jungle warfare, as is climbing to the top of a church in Assassin's Creed, and hacking a communications tower in Watch_Dogs. But it's also a little 'been-there-done-that'. We've been climbing tall stuff and using it to unlock other things in open-world games for almost a decade now, and it's getting a little worn out. There's side missions because games like this have side missions. There's mini-games because there has to be mini-games, there're towers to unlock more points of interest because that's what games do. Aiden Pearce is sandpaper-tough too, because that's what some video game characters just 'are' in this genre. It blows so hard the wind travels across the globe and sucks the air and enthusiasm for this game out of your lungs. It sucks because even though Watch_Dogs is of a good quality, it feels like a missed opportunity; where millions of dollars were spent to make a beautiful, flowing, living world, just so you can go around shooting people it in like you've done countless times before. It's junk food in a 24 karat gold wrapper, and it's something Ubisoft does constantly, and very well - but gamers are yearning for them to get over that hump and deliver something truly profound.
