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Watch Dogs Review: Technologic

In the late 90s, one of America’s most infamous hackers was arrested and locked away in solitary confinement. At the time it was believed he could launch a nuclear missile by just whistling into a phone. While back then this notion may have seemed quite far-fetched, computer technology has become an integral part of everyday life, and with more devices becoming interconnected there are growing fears about what some people may be able to do if these systems were to fall into the wrong hands. Ubisoft’s latest title, Watch Dogs, takes this idea and puts players in control of a future where digital warfare is a scary place to be caught in the middle of.

Set in an alternate version of Chicago, gamers take the role of a computer hacker named Aiden Pearce. Using a tool known as the Profiler, Aiden is able to hack objects within the open world of Chicago and use them to his advantage.  Because the entire city is connected — as we all know by now because of the Watch Dogs‘ hype train — using a central system called ctOS, it also gives Aiden the ability to discover personal information about other people. Furthermore, it displays the questionable access that this system has overall within the streets and homes of the city, unknowing to those living in it.

The game sets itself up to play more towards a stealth approach. Throughout the world security cameras play an important role of providing a strategic view of the area and mapping your plan of attack. Because Aiden is not your typical video game bullet sponge you’ll want to avoid running into a mission with an assault rifle just gunning down enemies.

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Instead, slowly taking out each foe one by one is a more reliable and satisfying task with the environmental hacks you’ll have at hand. Even when driving around you can trigger a number of events to aid in your missions, like manipulating traffic lights to cause chaos at intersections, raise and lower bridges to slow down pursuers or deliver a blackout to the city and shutdown every electronic device in the area. When you successfully pull off one of these events it’s great to see the outcome as the game will normally switch to a cinematic camera to show the damage you’ve caused.

There are some small touches that help make the world a little more realistic. You’ll randomly see a car accident and the people involved will jump out of the driver’s seat and engage in an angry conversation. Passers-by on the streets will recognise you from the news and, depending on your notoriety, may contact police officials to notify them of your whereabouts.

Apart from the quite lengthy campaign, there is a lot of side content to explore within Chicago. In addition to this you’ll sometimes receive information about events taking place nearby as you are driving around. As you progress and complete tasks the skill system allows you to unlock a vast array of extras for Aiden ranging from new skills to weapons and vehicles.

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There are however a few things that really stood out as problem areas in Watch Dogs. I found Aiden Pearce to be quite a bland character; there isn’t much of a personality behind him. The story starts off quite slowly and it does not give you much of a backstory relating to who Aiden is and what his motivations for hacking are. At the beginning of the game you are given a brief flashback of Aiden’s past, but this doesn’t start to unfold more until half way through the main campaign, by this time I had lost complete interest in the character and didn’t really care about him at all.

One of the most interesting directions Watch Dogs takes is with some of its online multiplayer components, borrowing the popular player invasion system that can be found in Dark Souls and Demon Souls. While roaming around the world you can be invaded by other players who have been tasked with an objective. At the same time you’ll have to try and stop them from completing their mission, which usually involves first profiling your target and eliminating them. What makes this so fun is that the person that initiates the invasion will have their appearance changed to look like an ordinary NPC; they’re able to blend into the surrounding environment.

The challenge for the invader is to complete their task without being found to be another player; a stealth approach is usually a key factor. This gameplay makes for some really intense situations that you don’t normally find in the course of the main game. Apart from the invasion system there are a few other multiplayer modes including online races and free roaming. This is bound to keep many players engaged after working through the main story.

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It’s hard not to compare Watch Dogs to Grand Theft Auto V; as the latter was one of the biggest titles of last year and also set in an open world, you can draw parallels straight away. Grand Theft Auto V does a lot of fantastic things that really build the world and the characters within it, which is something I don’t think Watch Dogs does nearly as well. The way Rockstar Games handles its storytelling, characters and missions is what puts them on a completely different level compared to other open world games.

The fact that Watch Dogs has come out as second-best against the juggernaut that is the Grand Theft Auto franchise doesn’t mean it’s a bad game; it’s quite the opposite. It’s quite a great achievement for a brand new IP to come out and be as good as it is and to also try to do some new things on such a large scale. Its multiplayer is by far one of Watch Dogs‘ stand out components and this is where you’ll start to see some great videos floating around online from the community as they invade your game. Watch Dogs has dozens of hours of content and will certainly keep you entertained its world and what’s on offer.


8 out of 10

The good

  • Invading in multiplayer is intense and fun
  • Visually impressive
  • Lots of content on offer

The bad

  • Main character is a little boring
  • Story takes a while to get going

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About the author

Luke Lawrie

Writing and producing content about video games for over a decade. Host of Australia's longest running video game podcast The GAP found at TheGAPodcast.com. Find me on Twitter at @lukelawrie