The open-world DriveShoot games Watch Dogs and Grand Theft Auto V have enough in common that they beg a certain amount of comparison. Despite GTA V‘s generally higher production values, Watch Dogs handily outdoes it in one crucial way.
Back when GTA V came out, I wrote an article about how the game’s shooting doesn’t work very well.
GTA V is overly reliant on auto-aim, to the point where if you set the game to manual aiming, zooming in jerks your aim up and makes it difficult to hit anything without first re-calibrating your reticle:
Furthermore, GTA V lacks a persistent reticle (except in the shooting range above), which makes it very hard to line up follow-up shots while in free-aim mode. Meanwhile, Watch Dogs‘ shooting works much better:
For all the complaints I have about Watch Dogs, Ubisoft deserves recognition for making the on-foot action handle far better than GTA V. It’s easier to run, easier to corner, and easier to take cover. If only GTA V’s foot-chases and shootouts could handle like Watch Dogs!
It’s a state of affairs that’s even stranger given that Rockstar’s own Max Payne 3 handled even better than Watch Dogs does. And of course they got the aiming right too:
We can always hope that the next-gen/PC versions of GTA V will feature re-tuned shooting controls. Failing that, there are always PC mods…
Comments
11 responses to “One Thing Watch Dogs Does Better Than GTA V”
Can we re-visit this when GTAV is actually on PC.
Another thing that watchdaogs is better than gta v is that you can hack into your enemies explosives so that it kills them without shooting
As hilarious as it is effective
That is SO satisfying! They scramble around, frantically searching their pockets and while sometimes they get it and throw it away in time, other times they don’t and I just laugh every time!
EDIT: Or the reactions to the communications disruption both during and after.
Totally! I was actually fortunate enough to witness one vic throwing his explosive away from himself into a group of militiamen next to a big ass gas tank. Whole trailer park damn near went up in smoke!
This game gets 2 Dolphs and A Van Damme from me!
That would have been beautiful!
I’d like shooting from cover…
I also really liked having a route displayed on the road – I feel that GTA V is the far superior game if comparisons are being made, but I would spend so much time looking at the tiny map in the corner rather than the beautiful expanse of Los Santos.
I also think Watch dogs did hacking much better than GTA as well
The GTA games have always had pretty horrible shooting mechanics GTA 5 was the best by far but still not great
i have an idea for the best GTA type game ever. combine the melee combat from sleeping dogs with the gunplay from max payne, next add in the hacking from watch_dogs with the grappling hook and parachutes from Just cause 2 and bam best open world game ever
For anyone who hasn’t seen the latest news today….
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/289v7w/watch_dogs_original_graphical_effects_e3_201213/
All the awesome E3 Trailer graphics are actually in Watch_dogs…. they’re just disabled. Some guy got into the game files and turn them all on again. The game actually runs better and looks amazing.
EDIT: I see kotaku already mentioned it here http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/06/modder-finds-files-for-better-graphics-in-watch-dogs-pc-version-2/
sorry, didn’t see it hiding on page 2
Ironically, with the ability to hack the locks and alarms of cars in Watchdogs and with Michael’s pet Chop in GTA, we have a situation where Watchdogs handles the theft of automobiles better than Grand Theft Auto while GTA better facilitates the watching of dogs.
When telling friends about Watch Dogs it’s mostly negative, except for when I’m talking about on-foot movement, stealth, cover and gun play. These are far superior in Watch Dogs compared to many games. When you have such stand-out features it feels like a greater shame when the rest of the game is so flat.
Big patch in GTA yesterday. Doesn’t look they fixed this issue though..
http://www.gamezone.com/news/2014/06/17/gta-5-title-update-1-14-notes-detailed