Watch Dogs: Legion is one of the most ambitious games I've played in years. Watch Dogs: Legion is an open-world game set in a dystopian London of the near future, where an operating system called CTOS has integrated consumer electronics and urban infrastructure, and Londoners live under more or less constant surveillance. After a devastating bombing, civic hackers from an Anonymous-like group called DedSec team up to find the culprits and save their beloved city from techno-fascism.

The big twist is that you don't control the DedSec operatives alone; you can recruit anyone you meet in the world. Each of the thousands of civilians you meet in Watch Dogs: Legion has a unique set of skills, equipment, and backstory. Anyone can be a civic hacker, from spies, assassins, and security guards to computer specialists, lawyers, and paramedics.

The idea is great and the fact that it actually works is impressive. I just wish it was more fun to actually play.

I recently had the opportunity to experience "Watch Dogs: Legion" for a full three hours. After a brief tutorial, I took control of Luke the hacker and was able to maneuver him throughout London at will. There were several plot missions, so I started with one that involved breaking into an enemy facility and collecting forbidden data.

The first thing I noticed was that, as in the previous two games, the vehicle controls were jumpy and imprecise. No matter what vehicle I used, no matter how carefully I drove, crashing into other cars, signs, pedestrians, and walls was a common occurrence. Fortunately, you can use real-life subway stops as fast-travel points, but first you have to discover them.

Infiltrating an enemy base is interesting in theory. You can set up store outside, slip past the surveillance camera network, set traps for enemy soldiers, or download data from an encrypted computer. They can kick down the front door and shoot everyone in sight, or they can stay low, turn a corner, and quietly take out the enemy with a stun gun or baton.

The only problem is that the options are often more limited than they appear. If a video camera or hacked drone can give you the information you need, the only challenge is finding a camera close enough to the target. If that is not possible (and in many cases it is), you will have to sneak or shoot your way through a large number of soldiers. This becomes repetitive, especially since the enemy can find you quickly and your guns are not very powerful. If the enemy finds you, they will quickly call in a large number of reinforcements. Although Watch Dogs: Legion is marketed as a kind of hacker-spy fantasy, it actually plays like a generic stealth game or third-person shooter.

Switching between various characters keeps the game fresh. Everyone can perform basic hacking, such as hijacking surveillance cameras or remotely downloading data. They can also disable drones, deploy rootkits, and overload conduits. Character differences are often as simple as what weapons they have (most weapons can be bought in stores) and what clothes they wear.

For example: one mission required me to sneak into a meeting of the rogue organization Albion in the Tower of London. To do this, I had to recruit Kieran, a disillusioned Albion guard. Once I had him under my control, he was able to sneak into the tower unnoticed in his Albion uniform. Oh well. In fact, unless he was relatively close to other Albion soldiers, at which point they would quickly become suspicious. It still makes sense to have some sort of challenge, but it's not very fun, and recruiting new characters is not particularly rewarding.

What really caught my attention in Watch Dogs: Legion, however, was what I called the "cascade effect" while playing. The basic concept goes like this: each time a fault occurs in the game, the amount of work required to solve it grows exponentially.

For example: in one story mission, I controlled Joanna, a skilled spy and a reasonably decent character. (Remember: there is no "main" character in this game.) At a crucial point in the quest, I set off the alarm and found myself surrounded by gun-toting Albion guards. Joanna was in jail and the game told me that I needed a barrister to take her out.

Plausible. I took control of a hacker named Luke and roamed the streets of London until I found a barrister named Yusif. A street gang called Clan Kelly was kidnapping people in Yusif's neighborhood and they wanted me to help them steal Clan Kelly's records to prove their guilt. The only problem is that Luke, who was infiltrating Clan Kelly's stronghold, got caught in the crossfire and found himself in a hole in the ground.

Now, I had to manipulate a police officer named Melody to find a paramedic to fix Luke. And when I finally found Neil, the paramedic, he demanded that I infiltrate another enemy base and accomplish a series of other objectives before he could do so. [The problem is simple. If you control only one character, failure is infuriating, but not a major setback, as you can simply reload. If the entire cast is available, one must be attentive to all of them, which can quickly become overwhelming. I don't think this problem would be as noticeable later in the game when there are plenty of alternate characters and you have already recruited a medic, lawyer, or other character to treat a party member who is out of action. However, every time I failed a mission, the game added insult to injury by placing huge obstacles in my path.

I don't want to give the impression that there was nothing to like about Watch Dogs: Legion. Especially since each character has a unique voice actor and you get to hear fully voiced dialogue even in story cutscenes. There is a wide variety of clothing and weapons to customize each character, and it is nice to be able to upgrade your hacking skills as you go, starting with jamming phones, then jamming guns, short-circuiting entire systems, and so on.

Still, "Watch Dogs: Legion" may actually be boring--at least if you jump into the middle of the game. When it's released, I'd like to play it from the beginning to see if a more gentle learning curve makes saving London feel more like an adventure and less like a to-do list.