does digital camoflague actually offer some kind of unique function or advantage over more traditional splotchy camo patterns, or is it just for show?
Long answer: It depends on the terrain, the distance, and the situation. Digital patterns aren't all hype, they do generally provide better camouflage than a lot of older designs, but the name is also misleading- all modern camouflage is digitally-designed, just not pixelated like ACU or EMR or what have you. Multicam or Scorpion are very much digital schemes, they're just more modern swatches.
As for the benefits- you have to understand, no camouflage is perfect. Multicam doesn't work in every environment, ACU works almost nowhere, so it isn't like they're magic or anything, but what a digital design process lets you do is make much smaller, more complex patterns. Something like EMR, the modern Russian scheme, is good in a wooded environment at fairly close range, Multicam is great in more loose, scrub-ish environments or deserts, it depends on where you are as to whether your camo is going to be good, and it being digital or not doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
I think the only big point of comparison I can make between an older pattern and a modern one is a rather interesting little thing we've learned: namely, that the size of the pattern matters. See, multicam is good close up because at something like 100 yards, it's patterned well enough that it makes it hard to make out a person's shape wearing it- which is what all camo does, in essence- but the farther you are away, the less your eye can make out the pattern, which can actually bring about an opposite effect, making you stand out as much as someone in just tan outerwear. Older camos, such as the cold-war era M81 Woodland, which has large splotches, is less good up close, but in the 300-400m fighting in central europe expected if the cold war went hot, would have done a good job. Some modern patterns- I think of the US Marines' much-spoken MARPAT- try to get the best of both worlds by having the small digital pattern form a larger set of shapes at range, but whether this works is really a matter of debate.
So, yes, there are benefits to modern digital camo patterns, but they're not a magical silver bullet.