Protagonist Aiden is able to exploit weaknesses in ctOS' security and use his smartphone to hack and interact with anything that is connected to it. Data from all these devices flows through a number of nerve centers spread across the city, where much of it is also stored - something that most people don't know. Which is, in a Chicago of the very near future, ctOS – a Central Operating System - connects almost everything from utilities, ATM machines and CCTV cameras to public transport, webcams and even smartphones. I’m not going to spoil it, and I’m barely going to tell you anything about it beyond what you very likely already know. Plus, of course, the thing known as The Campaign - Watch_Dogs’ centerpiece that is its storyline. A veritable feast of toys, puzzles, games, missions and attractions are squeezed, singularity-style, into its scaled-down, 20-minutes-into-the-future, sandbox Chicago.

But what it lacks in size it makes up for in density. It’s big enough, sure, but it’s nowhere near as big as its arch-rival GTA V. Oddly, though, despite Watch_Dogs being a big game, its map isn’t. Actually, there probably is stuff I need to check, because Watch_Dogs is mind-bogglingly huge and I'm sure I've missed a few things.

I’ve been playing it obsessively for days, and it’s taking every ounce of my self control not to abscond to my PS4 because, you know, there’s something I need to check. All you need to know at this point is Ubisoft’s Watch_Dogs is really, really, holy good. I reached out for my thesaurus so I could start this review with a smorgasbord of superlatives, but decided not to because I didn't want to get all hyperbolic and peak early.

Watch dogs ps4