It lacks the grandiosity of Grand Theft Auto V's Los Santos, but there's a similar thrill to taking in its cityscape, speeding along its sweeping motorways, and visiting its re-created landmarks. It's set in a beautiful, open world Chicago. It feels churlish to complain about something which is only magical 90% of the time, but in some things, ten percent can seep out and render the rest infuriating and useless. The issue is that it only works 90% of the time. It's designed to enable Minority Report-style air-swiping interfaces and it feels like magic when it works.
Late last year I played around with the Leap Motion, a control device which can track your hands down to individual fingers in 3D space. But there's something of Watch underscore Dogs stuck in my teeth and I need to unpick it. Running low on crisp flavours, I may just end my review right here. Now you must run, drive and hack around its ready salted open world on a quest for truth and vengeance, alternating between salt 'n' vinegar main quests and a prawn cocktail of crafting and side missions familiar from Far Cry 3 among others. You play as Aiden Pearce, a brooding packet of cheese & onion whose hacker-criminal past has led to the death of his niece. Welcome to Watch_Dogs, the latest videogame from Ubisoft. You won't be overly fond of any of the contained flavours, every bite will feel a little on the soft side of fresh, and the individual packets will be 90% air, but you'll at least feel comforted by having choice and abundance. Maybe because you're going to a party, maybe because you're living on a budget. One day you will purchase a multi-pack bag of assorted crisps.