I think the reviews that give WD an 8-8.9 are spot on. The game is a great new IP and building blocks for future games. Its really fun and you can easily get lost just walking around the city and watching the NPCs, plus you can also drop hours and hours in playing poker.
here are some pros and cons
Pros
The hacking is very fun and a great addition to this type of game.
The AI is really great and the cops are pretty smart and the enemy Ai act like real humans, not like all seeing robots. So you can actually stealth pretty well.
I have been to Chicago quite a few times and its pretty spot on, it does feel like a living breathing city.
The GPS being on the road is a great addition so you can watch the road and not have to watch a dot on the map when driving. I can actual enjoy the beauty of the game.
There is a ton of side missions to so it seems like the game will never get boring or tedious like most open world games if you rotate the different types of side missions.
Cons
The driving is a little floaty and could be better. I do like the motorcycle the best to get around. It probably feels the best to drive.
The controls are good but they are more like AC than GTA so that isn't the best for this kind of game. Its weird not having a melee or jump button. But I hope I get used to it. It doesnt ruin the game, it just makes it feel weird.
Some missions are auto fail, which can be head scratching like of of the first missions i am chasing a car and the game thought he got too far away so I failed the mission even though I could still see his car in the distance.
The main character suffers from Bales Batman voice which can get grating just like batmans voice, but that is more of a nitpick.
This game isn't a disappointment at all. Most reviews seem to be in the 8 range and that is pretty accurate based on the two hours or so i have put into it.
The game is a good foundation for future games.
All they have to do is add more hacking options , fix up the driving and give us the ability to melee and jump. I also think the game looks great, sure its not as good as the 2012 E3 footage but I would rather they scale back the graphics and all in all this great AI living breathing city, than have pretty graphics and boring AI and a boring City.
I was walking by this girl yelling at her bf how he hits her all the time, so he smacked her in the face. He started to walk for and I blew his head off. He won't touch her again, not on my watch. I had to evade the police after that but it was worth it. Once less batterer in the world ha
----------
I dont understand some areas of the game though, firstly the driving - I don't know if I'm just a bad driver but it definitely needs improving. Not being able to shoot out of a window while driving - fair enough its not GTA but surely this is something that we expect to be able to do in this type of game. For an open world game certain things feel restrictive.
Cant comment too much but its fun up to now.
The answer I have to people that ask about the not being able to shoot while driving, my answer to that is, well if you think about it Aiden has his phone in his hand at all times, so the other hand is on the steering wheel, he has no way of holding a gun, his phone to hack, and the steering wheel at the same time.
The game wants you do use hacking when you are in your car and not your gun. That is the way I look at it anyways.
Also for driving, the best tip I have is drive like you would in a driving game or real car, don't hold the petal all the way down, you want to lightly push down the gas and also use your hand break and even focus mode when taking corners.