While we’re still in full recovery from the mass deluge of information that came out of this year’s E3, I’ve gotta say that footage of Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs left me in absolute, goofy faced, awe. By now you’ve probably seen the show stopping demo that involved hacking, car accidents, and a bridge jump that would even make the Dukes of Hazard proud. If not, grab some popcorn and check out the visual feast below.
Chicago. Hacking. Deep Dish Pizza. Rollerblades?
How did Watch Dogs steal the show? Easy, it was actually a well kept secret! In development at Ubisoft for over two years, Watch Dogs was a huge surprise for even the most seasoned video game vets. What we do know is that Watch Dogs will be an open world adventure set in Chicago U.S.A. , go anywhere, do anything, and eat as much deep dish pizza as you’d like! Like our good friends Zero Cool and Crash Override, the main protagonist Aiden Pierce can control almost anything that’s wired into the grid. Hack traffic lights to cause a massive pile up. Intercept cellular conversations and be a nosy creep. Relive your John Conner fantasy and command that ATM machine to vomit up unlimited benjamins… Easy Money! After devouring every little bit of information I could find on this title, I’m fairly convinced that we’re looking at a game running on next generation hardware. It’s simply too beautiful to exist on an Xbox or PS3.
Innovation and multiplayer: Open world multiplayer is damn tricky to implement correctly. While other open world titles such as Red Dead Redemption and Saints Row the Third have made valiant attempts to perfect the formula, their efforts have met with mixed success. Why is it so hard? Part of the problem is immersion. Players of open world games like to feel like they’re part of a living breathing micro-world. The last thing the average player wants in their world is a random 14 year old racist swearing at them while doing donuts in a pink Lamborghini. From what we understand Watch Dogs will allow multiple friends to exist inside of a single Chicago at the same time (see: Saints Row). If correctly implemented, with little hand holding, this could be a whole lot of fun as two hackers are always better than one. Ubisoft is also hoping to include tablet support (smart glass?) for this title allowing players to control aspects of the game from an overhead map without having to access any menus. Hack the planet!
Setting the bar: Ubisoft has done it again. Years ago I remember seeing footage of the first Assassin’s Creed title and being similarly dumbfounded. While the launch of Watch Dogs is still completely unknown, Ubisoft looks to have something truly innovative and amazing on their hands. Let’s just hope they include the use of sweet rollerblades..
