Day Late and a Dollar Short Game Review: Watchdogs

Set in Chicago. It's got all things Chicago: L trains, buildings, the metal bean; they're all there. You jump into the shoes of Aiden Pearce, an underground hacker known for his skill at using an iPhone to crack everything electronic in sight. A man who lost his family to violence. A man who is trying to figure out who ordered the hit on his family. A man whose clothes dry instantly after swimming half a mile up stream to evade cops.

FYI: Open world games aren't my bag. I spent the majority of my early 20's immersed in the world of Everquest to know grinding out side quests is a drag. I'm over that type of gaming. Now I've found myself playing Watch Dogs for the past two days and I'm only on the 2nd act. It's a 5-act game. That's how distracting the side missions are. So why am I still playing this game?

It is fun and I'm having a great time. There is just enough variation in the game to keep me interested. When hunting down a local drug dealer, whom I'm not allowed to just kill, I get to knock them out to teach them a “lesson”. Otherwise, it's mission failed. In order to complete the mission, I'm forced to locate my objective by hacking security cameras first. I stick with singling out enemies, through distractions, traps, and in some cases causing their phones to explode. I’m taking them out one by one as I work my way toward the mission’s target. You can't go in guns a-blazing. You have to take few minutes to think about your approach.

Hacking is straight forward. Move the game camera to highlight something to hack, hit X and you're off. Line of sight is important. Most of the time this isn't an issue, but if you’re sneaking around a building picking people off, you will have to reposition yourself: either your body, or the camera(s) you just hacked to get a good angle.

Now, the game isn't without its faults. “Chase ‘em, and knock ‘em out” missions are the hardest to complete. You're given plenty of tools to hack traffic lights, bridges, and security barriers. This should be easy, but it's not. I've had plenty of missions fail because a car pile-up keeps piling up and turns my bad guy into a road stain. If, IF, I'm lucky I can complete the mission in 20 attempts. The “Chase ‘em and kill ‘em” missions are easier. Those only take me 15 attempts.

Controls and the in-game menu system are not up to snuff. A slight movement of the controller turns your character 90 degrees. The menu system uses the right stick to navigate, which is a problem because you use your left stick to move your character. Maybe I'm old, but it takes me too long to switch the gears in my head. Left should always be movement, including menus.

While it's not perfect, Watch Dogs has some good moments and exciting game play. A good game that will cost you under 10 dollars, and give you more than 40 hours of game play. That's a good deal in my book.

Recommend : Buy if under 10 bucks.