I'm also not crazy about the lack of continuity that referenced. With the GTA series, R* has always done a pretty masterful job making their music seem to fit the era/area in their games, and Ubi missed the mark in that respect. I think my biggest issue with the music is that it doesn't set a consistent tone. I'll admit that I did have a particularly poignant moment when 'Cold Night in Chicago' came on at just the right moment, but even that was later spoiled a bit by other attempts at 'on-the-nose' stuff like that shitty Winter in Chicago song which probably got included only because it was titulary relevant. There is plenty of gold on that soundtrack that would have been fitting. It's disappointing they missed out on the opportunity to include some classics from The Blues Brothers. I don't mind the soul, blues, and jazz stuff, because that's fairly appropriate. Still, I'm admittedly picky when it comes to music. I've liked most of the original score I've come across so far, though. An academic could attempt to write an essay on how it's a commentary about our impersonal relationship with music in the MP3 era, but I think the near-universally negative reaction to Watch Dogs' music is proof that you can't just throw great tunes from all over the map in a shuffle and host a party. It's disjointed and unappealing on both an entertainment and character level.Īiden's fairly random, obscure (even by my standards, as someone whose been paid to write about music for six years now) taste coupled with the fact he's always jumping to the beginning of a new song just makes for a world that seems as if it couldn't care less about flow, flavor or context in regards to music. Whenever you get into someone else's car there's no sense of they were as people the way there is in a GTA game you just jack the car, slam your iPhone into their aux cable and pound on the shuffle button. Because you're rarely driving for more than a couple minutes let alone the length of an entire song all you ever hear is the opening moments of a given song. Perhaps the worst thing they did in regards to the licensed music was turning Aiden into a neurotic who can't just keep listening to the song he was listening to before when he gets in another car. Why does Aiden Pierce have such a love affair with Chicago's post-Fall Out Boy emo pop punk scene? Why is his favorite Cool Kids song the one that's a bit of a tribute to Houston rap? Why is there randomly a folk playlist at all, as respectable as Califone (and perhaps the others) are? There are Chicago artists abound but few of the ones you'd expect especially for a near future hacking game. My problem with the soundtrack is that, while it's actually full of pretty great songs, even with the option to whittle things down to specific playlists it comes off as haphazard and unfocused.

Watch dogs 2 soundtrack