Watch: Digital Foundry pits Watch Dogs against its E3 2012 reveal

Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry released an analysis of Watch Dogs compared to its E3 2012 reveal.

It’s safe the say the analysis was demanded by the gaming public after a wishy-washy graphical reception thanks to promotional content released over the last year by Ubisoft.

Their verdict? Largely positive.

“Watch Dogs meets most of our expectations of a next-gen title, but falls a little short on others,” Digital Foundry said. “It’s clear that the six-month delay has resulted in a significantly more polished title, but some parts of the visual presentation are still stronger than others. Night-time lighting counts as a huge high point, for example, delivering on the early promises made in its rain-soaked E3 2012 showcase. In concert with the Havok physics used for cloth simulation, ragdoll impacts and water, the world not only looks, but reacts in a way we hope future titles will expand upon.”

“Does Watch Dogs truly deliver on the promise of its initial E3 2012 reveal? The short answer is yes,” Digital Foundry continued. “Cutting away the obviously pre-rendered CG inserts at E3 2012 leaves a slice of gameplay that is indeed a close match for the final game. In fact, the finished game comes out of the comparison very favourably, because that original demo only represented a tiny fraction of the overall offering; Watch Dogs as it ships is an ambitious project with a massive cityscape to explore and a vast array of tasks to carry out. The only downside is that, on a conceptual level, this still feels like a game that takes the template established by the last-gen Grand Theft Auto titles and merely embellishes it – often dramatically – as opposed to completely reinventing the genre in the way that many might have hoped.”

Expect our Watch Dogs review shortly. The game is currently available on Windows PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4. A Wii U release will follow.