With the possible exception of T-Bone, practically everyone in Watch Dogs has the personality of a table. Our protagonist, Aiden, is a one-dimensional carbon copy of gaming heroes everywhere with a slightly snazzier coat. His female tattoo-artist chum is a clichéd femme fatale with villainous ties who ultimately dies for her bad decisions and he has, of course, got a partially psychotic criminal mate who is all about the craziness. Then there's Damien, he of the strange motives with a penchant for floppy sock hats. These characters all exist in a universe where our Aiden is a vigilante type who hacks things for reasons. Nope, we're still not quite sure exactly what they are, how it all ties together and why human trafficking and other assorted stuff is thrown into the mix for the hell of it, but he does. Watch Dogs is really let down by its storyline and character development. With GTA V doing characters really well (even an utterly bonkers one like Trevor), WD's bland cast and laughable dialogue stick out like a sore thumb. It's a real shame, because the concept is all there. Unfortunately the real meat of the piece is particularly chewy, bland and hard going, where it should be deliciously tender and full of flavour. In the inevitable sequel, this really needs to be addressed. You have all the tools to make this succeed Ubi; just don't bog it down in loads of metaphysical nonsense like Assassin's Creed did.
Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.
