Review: Watch Dogs


Ubisoft’s highly anticipated video game since it’s announcement, Watch Dogs, is finally available for pick up. Though will the game be worth your hard earned money? Read what we have to say about Watch Dogs and how well it stacks up against other top third-person video game contenders already on the market.

So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple years, you already know the gist of Watch Dogs. Although for those still living undisclosed about the game, Watch Dogs is a video game title developed by Ubisoft. Think of the Grand Theft Auto series meets Splinter Cell with a bit of Batman: Arkham City tossed in for good measure.

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Players take the role of Aiden Pearce a man who is smarter than Bill Gates and Steve Jobs combined but uses his knowledge and gadgets to further take down any threats. We learn that Aiden had a hack job which made a turn for the worse as his niece ended up killed. This results in a long battle of getting sweet, sweet revenge.

Watch Dogs lets you play in several different ways tossing back and forth as an action-shooter to a more stealth-based video game. Really, it’s mostly decided upon how you wish to complete a mission of course we’re sidestepping around certain missions in which you’re objective results in you not killing anyone.

If you’re the kind of person to enjoy guns blazing battles then more power to you but I’m sure you’ll find an interest in the stealth route. Even gamers, who normally despise stealth take-downs should fee a bit more comfortable with them in Watch Dogs. The main key in you’re stealthy gameplay is having the ability to use your smartphone as a key to the city.

Chicago is a large and highly advanced. The city is filled with cameras, mainframes, circuits, I mean computers are practically everywhere and with Aiden’s intellect and phone, players can pretty much hack anything that holds a computer chip. This will make for easy for spying around the city cameras, escaping the threat with the ability to burst steam-pipes, change streetlights or even set off a grenade hanging from the belt of an enemy.

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There’s certainly more ways to use the city and the surroundings to your advantage when dealing with a threat but the ability to hack is more than just take-downs. Aiden can instead learn about anyone in the city through his phone. Simply aim and all sorts of information is bestowed onto you. Age, name, a bit of background to even their bank accounts to all the NPCs within Watch Dogs.

Side-missions will also keep players interested for much longer than the normal campaign is worth. Several side-missions will have Aiden traveling all of the city doing mostly odd jobs, or odd jobs for Aiden as that he can hack the city’s mainframe as if it’sĀ flipping on a light for the likes of myself.

Multiplayer is another aspect to Watch Dogs that adds more replay value after the main campaign is completed. Friends to other gamers can join into your gameĀ (of course you can play solo if you wish) and start new missions. These can range from one-on-one to team battles. You might find that a player has entered your game and started hacking your Aiden Pearce character. The hunt is then on, with you trying to avoid making a scene but also trying to figure out who the real player is among a flee of NPC’s. Team battles will have groups trying to maintain sections of the city while of course hacking and protecting certain objects while the companion application featured on iOS and Android will allow gamers to control the police and city in a time-based race.

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Watch Dogs offers an abundance of fun and worth the pickup. You’ll enjoy unlocking new perks, exploring the city and unraveling the story for the main campaign. With several side-missions, players will have plenty of opportunities to learn new techniques and plots of that perfect stealth approach to any given scenario when your player lands into a city inhabited by other gamers.