5. It Has A High 'Embarrassment Factor'.
It seems a lot of developers forget gamers have families. With every "Hey Effer" or casual reference to a hot-button issue like abortion, playing Watch_Dogs in front of children or squeamish parents feels more and more like walking into a strip club across the street from a church. The game's NPCs curse at will, dropping variations of the F word every time Aiden is detected, oftentimes even overlapping to unintentionally hilarious results. When playing alone this is easy enough to ignore, but when in the casual company of others, these sorts of things constantly lavish negative attention on the game, video game stereotypes in general, and worst of all the person playing the game - the "Seriously, how old are you again?" stare of disapproval stings more than most folks would care to admit - especially if it comes during the mission where you're hacking your way through a high-rise gang hideout teeming with human trafficking victims being used for sex. While some games like Grand Theft Auto, and films like The Wolf of Wall Street turn their profanity and risqué content into a sort of poetry, Watch_Dogs' world simply doesn't have the texture to justify its casually vulgar dialog, haphazard poking at political issues, and graphic sexual content. It all feels a like desperate attempt to be cool and edgy, like a dad buying a skateboard. While extreme and controversial content can generate a buzz and get folks to check out a game or movie - generally the ones that have staying power use those elements to arrive at a greater point or influence the characters - not because the audience is craving softcore pornography. Watch_Dogs seems to be doing it because 'that's what you do' in an adult-rated game, and it comes off like something shoe-horned in to appeal to kids who think "boobs" is a naughty word. Toss in the fact there's a female hacker character deliberately designed to show some oddly off-putting cleavage, and playing Watch_Dogs with any kind of audience will likely result in eyerolls and scoffs, not just from you toward the game, but from your family and friends toward you, wondering what why in the world you're wasting time on such an immature title.