Who Watches the Watch Dogs?


First revealed at Ubisoft’s E3 breifing, Watch Dogs quickly became the talk of the show, not just due to its incredibly interesting “cyber warfare” gameplay, but for visuals – causing many to question whether or not we may have had our first taste of what’s to come with the next generation of home consoles.

Watch Dogs stars Aiden Pearce, an antihero with the ability to hack into nearly any device connected to the network. The short unveil demo showed Aiden tapping into people’s phones in order to pull up their background information; disrupting all cell phone/ network traffic in a centralized area; and changing streetlights. Then there’s tapping into security cameras, eavesdropping on phone calls… Aiden is wired and in control of everything around him, a tool he’ll use to do…. well, we’re not really sure on that part yet since Ubisoft is being incredibly tight lipped on everything Watch Dogs entails.

We do know Watch Dogs will take place in an open world environment, allowing you to travel throughout a massive city. The demo also showcased some of the game’s other elements, such as driving and gun battles, both of which benefit from Aiden’s ability to control the digital world around him. At one point in the playthrough, Aiden tapped into a corrupt businessman’s phone to track his movements. He then used the traffic lights to create a multi-car pile up, trapping the businessman in a maze of mangled, burning cars.

The end of the trailer also suggests the "wired" theme may go beyond gameplay, allowing for some sort of "always online" multiplayer component.

Watch Dogs is easily one of the more visually stunning games at E3 2012. The demo showcases numerous visual touches, such as Aiden’s coat blowing in the wind and realistic rain patterns. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in a current generation console, suggesting (or, causing massive speculation that) Watch Dogs is meant for whatever Sony and Microsoft have in store for us with their next round of consoles. According to Ubisoft’s press site, Watch Dogs is set for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, so the current systems might just have a little more juice yet to give.