Ubisoft Montreal has finally released its open-world hacking adventure Watch Dogs. The game was initially touted as a release title alongside the Xbox One and PS4, but Ubisoft decided Watch Dogs deserved better and delayed its release by six months to present a game that is worthy of the hype surrounding it.
In this third-person adventure, you play as Aiden Pearce, a hacker for hire who embarks on a campaign to avenge the murder of his 6-year-old niece. In a gloomy Chicago, Aiden can hack anything and doing so is one of the most exhilarating parts of the game even if it takes just the click of a button. Vehicles, people's mobile phones, ATMs, CCTV cameras and even traffic lights are ripe for hacking, and although the morality of doing so is questionable at times (listening in on phone conversations, changing traffic lights to cause carnage), nobody can question the entertainment value.
The comparisons to recent Grand Theft Auto games are many, including that you can complete story missions at your leisure and are free to explore Chicago in between. There are plenty of side activities to complete and you can opt-in to an online component and compete with other players in a standard selection of multiplayer modes.
Graphically, Watch Dogs is worthy of a current gen game but many of its features can already be found in other games. The storyline is thrilling and the fun of hacking is worth the cover price alone.
