The bug videos aren't really the problem. I like bugs, I actually do. If they don't break the game, keep them in. This was clearly never going to be a serious video game tackling the deep issues of our time.

I care, in the case of games like this, about fun. And Watch_Dogs isn't fun. You don't get a playbox to roll around in. You can't set people up to do weird bullshit. You can't climb on buildings to get a good view or declare this particular intersection holy to your secret religious order and proceed to murder anyone who defiles it. You can't go in to a back ally and then stare at an NPC who is clearly a shitbag but not a criminal and decide that today you are going to be that person's god, that by your vindictive and almighty hand you will judge and execute them according to your will and that they will live or die by your mighty whim.

These are NPCs. In an open world game, I do not want them to be people. I do not want them to feel "alive." I want them to have a hilarious physics engine reaction when I explodinate them, and I want them to scream in terror if I decide that I am not longer a hero. They fulfill a very specific purpose in their miserable life, and that purpose is to provide me with entertainment. The cops are there to provide me with a challenge.

I want the game to let me have stupid fun if it isn't going to be different. I mean fuck, the shooting is actually enjoyable! I like the shooting in that game, it feels fine! There's no way to track where your grenade go but okay, that's half the fun! Cars explode good! Bullets deal damage, people react to getting hit more than grunting, I like that.

What I don't like is using a silenced pistol to quietly murder someone in a back alley and then someone on the OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING CALLING THE COPS. WHEN THEY WOULD HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT THE NOISE WAS OR THAT THERE WAS SHOOTING.

The game has a fucking spidertank that you never get to actually use. Why? Why is it taking itself so seriously? It's a game about a hacking vigilante being chased by a police force that knows his name, with a baseball cap and a trenchcoat, who hacks literally everything he can with a touch screen smartphone. This is not actually a serious premise. It's not dumb schlock but it's not Papers, Please. It's like a burger, but they just sort of handed you the burger and there isn't a bun or anything with it, it's just a patty and it's cooked, but not how you want it.

I could've been playing Wolfenstein instead of this. Goddamnit.