Watch Dogs

When an interconnected computing system puts a metropolitan city at risk, it's up to an elite group of hackers to reclaim control of their homes. In Watch Dogs, you must brave a fictionalized future where surveillance and private corporations rule supreme in order to gain revenge. This intense third-person stealth and action game features an open map to explore, interesting multiplayer functionality, and some absolutely awesome hacking abilities. If you're yearning for an adventure where tech trumps all, Watch Dogs is for you.

Main Game Features

• Become an elite vigilante hacker
• Exciting third-person shooting and action
• Free-roam online multiplayer

Story

In Watch Dogs, you play as Aiden Pearce, a hacker who is targeted by a mysterious assailant and must track down the truth. Set in 2012, Aiden lives in a fictionalized version of Chicago, where the mega-corporation Blume has instituted a new form of technology. Every device in the city is connected through ctOS, a computing program that promises endless convenience and implementation. However, Aiden is able to see through the smoke screen and begins working with a hacker group called DedSec to uncover Blume's true motives.

The story of Watch Dogs isn't extremely revolutionary, with lots of unnecessary twists and some boring characters. However, the city itself is very cool to explore, and feels like a less futuristic version of Night City from Cyberpunk 2077. Seeing how ctOS is integrated throughout the six main regions of the game is constantly rewarding, even if the main story lacks solid pacing. While the main narrative surrounding Aiden and Blume can be pretty disappointing, there are still some interesting side missions to balance things out.

Gameplay

The fun of Watch Dogs rests almost entirely in its hacking mechanic, which is at the forefront of combat and exploration equally. Watch Dogs is structured in the same style as many other open-world games, including Grand Theft Auto V and Saints Row, where you must travel to various points on the map to start missions and side activities. Combat is mostly stealth-based, but Aiden can use his melee baton as well as a few firearms when needed. The big focus is on your branching hacking abilities, which let you disable pursuing vehicles, tap into mobile phones for information, and much more.

With Watch Dogs' focus on connectivity and futuristic technology, it's only appropriate that the game has an extensive online multiplayer mode to enjoy. Like the main game, players can explore the open city as they please, with up to seven players occupying the map at any point. During multiplayer games, you can work with other players to complete missions, compete in street races, and more. You can even hunt down other players through contract activities, which adds a fun manhunt-style twist to the experience.

Conclusion

Watch Dogs might not feel totally new in every way, but it's still very fun to play, especially in multiplayer. Upgrading Aiden's hacking abilities and trying them out in new ways never gets old, even when some of the missions do.

Pros

• Detailed graphics and levels
• Cool use of hacking
• Multiplayer is fun and unique

Cons

• Somewhat boring plot
• A few cliche puzzles
• Online lobbies are mostly dead

Watch Dogs is an action-adventure film about the invisible war between the city's craziest hackers and the biggest corporations. Chicago of the future doesn't forgive mistakes, and neither does Aiden Pierce, who has declared war on a major network that is implicated in the assassination attempt and murder of his sister.

Pros of the game:

• An open world allows you to not follow the path set by the quests, but to do what you like
• Special war system. No need to break into offices with a machine gun, because you can break into their security system