Watch Dogs is a solid open-world game that doesn't do enough to set itself apart from the pack.

After a generation that brought us seven years of countless linear and identikit shooters, Watch Dogs is the open world adrenaline shot that fatigued gamers needed. While the story could have been better and Ubisoft have made a few questionable design choices, it's rare to see a big budget game that...

One-button hacking might be overly simplistic, but it does give you abilities that make playing through Aiden's story feel powerful and fun. Doing side missions and multiplayer as you make your way through the dark and lengthy story makes it feel like a huge adventure, and stealth options let you...

Great open world; Hacking powers; Mission variety

Weak car chases; Auto-fail stealth missions

"Hacking is your weapon" declares the advertising for Ubisoft's latest franchise-starter, but after more than 30 hours of gameplay it's fair to say that my body count from assault rifles, grenade launchers and stealth kills is far more impressive than anything I can credit to my hacking skills.

Watch Dogs stunned the world back in 2012 by proposing a massive open world of Chicago in which a complex IT system, the ctOS, ruled the streets and could be used for your own purposes by simply hacking into it using a smartphone .

Big open world; Hacking is fun; Complex story

Stealth is kind of mandatory; Lots of tedious chases; Camera hopping gets boring

While the writing and dialogue likely won't win any awards, they're strong enough to drive the tension between characters while moving the action forward. Aiden moves from one plot point to the next trying to tie up loose ends and murdering security forces, goons, and gangsters because it's his only...

Story carries tension well; Incredible recreation of Chicago; Profiler and hacking powers; Good blend of stealth; shooting; and strategy; Almost overabundance of side objectives; Cool digital trips and online modes

Incredible recreation of Chicago; Lack of gun and clothing customization; Almost overabundance of side objectives

Watch Dogs is exactly what you think it is. It's Assassin's Creed 4 meets GTA 5 meets Batman Arkham City… but--despite the pedigree of ...

The hacking system is simple and delightfully fun; Fantastic non-story content will keep you busy; Multiplayer is enjoyable and smartly-implemented

Generic plot driven by cliched characters; Lots of tedious chase / tailing missions

99 problems and a glitch ain't one.

Expansive Chicago; Tons of ambient missions and gameplay variety; Seamless next-gen multiplayer; Easy to learn controls; Hacking minigame

Meandering story; Nonsensical missions; Mimicking GTA; What happened to Poppy; Focuses too much on setting up a sequel

Out of the box really annoying as you can't use the correct L1 and R1 to aim and fire. You are, like with Battlefield 4 forced to use the accelerator / brake combi L2 and R2 which apart from causing a delay in aiming and firing due to it's set up, is really difficult to get used to and does not...

Watch Dogs is the first game of this new generation to break under the weight of its own hype. It has had a massive PR campaign from Ubisoft, and was subject to a six-month delay at the zero hour, which is usually not a good sign.

+ Hacking is as advertised + Multiplayer + Socially conscious

- Seems more like an almost-ready beta - Server issues